LG enV2 Cell Phone Review - Messaging
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 09, 2008 Comment on this |
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With a full QWERTY keyboard many will look at the LG enV2 as a messaging device, and it does a solid job for text messaging. If you want email capabilties, however, you'll need to look elsewhere as only web-based email is supported. |
Unfortunately, despite it's messaging focus, the LG enV2 does not come with a built in email client. You can use web based email, which is accessible in the messaging menu, but we don't award points for web based email because it does not allow you to download messages onto your device for viewing when you might not be connected to the internet. You also have the option to purchase an email client for your device for a charge of $5 per month, but we don't award points for additional service such as this either. As a result the enV2 will receive a zero in many of these sections.
Push Email (0.0)
No email client.
Multiple Email Accounts (0.0)
No email client.
HTML and Attachements (0.0)
No email client.
Email Customizations (0.0)
No email client.
Time to a New Email Message (0.0)
No email client.
Email Usability (0.0)
No email client.
Instant Messaging (0.0)
The LG enV2 has an instant messaging client that allows you to access AIM, Windows Live and Yahoo messaging services. One nice feature of the client is that you can be logged into multiple services at a time, a feature that is not available on the Sprint IM client that we saw on devices like the Samsung M520.
instant messaging client
Unfortunately Verizon, like most carriers, have set up their IM client to charge users a text message for every instant message sent or received, even if you have an unlimited data plan. As such we won't be awarding points for it. We feel that users who have unlimited data plans should have unlimited access to all data services, not be nickel and dimed for additional services.
MMS Support (7.0)
The LG enV2 has solid support for MMS messages. It is well integrated into both the camera, camcorder and album software. In the messaging software you do have to choose the type of messag you want to send, we prefer an integrated interface, but all message types do go to the same folders so you don't have to go to a different inbox for MMS like you do on devices like the SMT5800.
new multimedia message
SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
Unfortunately the LG enV2 does not have support for smiley faces. Not only does it not turn smiley faces received in a text message into graphical equivalents, it also doesn't have a menu where ou can easily insert smiley faces into a message you're composing. This is dissapointing as everyone loves smileys and we would expect a messaging focused device like the enV2 to do a better job with them.
SMS/MMS Ease of Use (7.0)
Like many other software features on the LG enV2 the SMS/MMS interface has two modes, one when the phone is closed and another when opened. When the phone is closed you can acess the messaging features by pressing down on the two-way control. This brings up a menu where you can create new text message or view your inbox. A more complete interface is available when you open the phone up.
messaging menu
Here you can enter the messaging menu by hitting the left soft key on the home screen. This menu allows you to access your folders like inbox, drafts and sent messages as well as create a new SMS/MMS message. Unfortunately you can't create your own folders and there are no search functions available. When you are in any of the folders you use up/down on the D-Pad to navigate between messages and press the center select key to open it. You can reply, delete, forward and otherwise delete messages from here. We like that all message types share the same folders, as we discussed above, and there are a few nice extra features like the ability to extract the text from a message and save it for future use.
Overall we found the SMS/MMS interface to be easy to use, but it lacks some of the more advanced features we like such as threaded messaging and a unified composition window. Most users should have no problem learning it, however.
Time to a New SMS Message (6.67)
As we mentioned above you can create a new message both when the phone is closed and when it is open. When closed you can get to a new message interface in a blazningly fast 0.3 seconds. Simply press down and then hit OK. Opening the phone up takes 2.7 seconds, as you imagine it takes more time and it's not a two button push operation as you have to hit the left soft key to open the messaging menu, then hit the center select key twice to get a new dialogue on screen.
new text message (interior)
We imagine that given the QWERTY keyboard on the LG enV2 is one of its key features that most people will open the phone to create messages but we can't ignore the fact that creating a new message via the external interface is so fast, especially give that the large buttons on the external keypad are very comfortable for typing. As such we are averaging the two times and awarding our score based on that average. You can see below that the average time of 1.5 seconds is significantly faster than average and amongst our comparison phones only the Samsung SLM and LG Voyager beat it out. The enV2's external interface time of 0.3 seconds, however, is amongst the fastest we've ever seen, so if you need to create a quick SMS that's the way to go. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
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