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September 7, 2008 LG Dare from Verizon Wireless (VX9700) Costs and deals In the Box First Thoughts - After getting acquainted with the LG Dare physical layout and the feel of the touch screen I found the LG Dare is easy to setup. Dialing is a snap as is entering text or numbers for contacts and e-mails. Yes I did push the wrong buttons many times. 3 Inch Touch Screen a really bright and screen with vivid colors.
Music - The inclusion of a 3.5 mm Stereo Jack made me very happy. My stereo headsets sounded great as did the Bluetooth stereo sets I tested below. VCast Music with Rhapsody is a pay-for-music site. It is an extensive and sometimes daunting area to search. If you want to download your purchases to your PC you will need to download the software from Verizon (It is also on the CD included with this phone.) I installed the software on the Lenovo ThinkPad. Downloads are .99 cents to your phone or $1.99 if you want to download to your PC and phone. The included USB/Charger cable will need to be used in its USB mode to connect the phone with your PC. Messaging - I have mentioned my occasional problem with using the touch QUERTY keyboard. Beyond that messaging worked quite well. I tested text, e-mail, and IM with positive results. I used Picture Messaging to send 20 individual photos from the LG Dare to my work e-mail address. I could find no way to select more than one photo at a time for sending. Bluetooth - I used a Jaybird HD-200 and Genius Bluetooth Stereo Headset for this test. The LG Dare paired with both and sound in each ear was fine. Hands free answering was perfect. Some other interesting Bluetooth functions on the Dare are; Print & Send User–Generated Pictures (JPEG) via Bluetooth Supported Profiles, Dial–Up Networking, Advanced Audio Distribution (stereo), Phonebook Access, Basic Printing, File Transfer, Handwriting - The handwriting tests worked well on photos but not so well when entering contacts and other data. It took a while for me to understand what was expected in the way of handwritten characters and how to move between the icons ABC. abc, and 123 when writing. Once I had those down things went smoother. Adding handwritten text or drawings to photos was more intuitive. Some colors are available. Be sure to use a stylus and not a pen or sharp object or you will mess up the touchpad.
Miscellaneous -Able to hold 1000 contacts with up to five entries each the LG Dare is well equipped for some business use. I would have liked to have the ability to do a “Delete All” from contacts or at least checkmark ones that I want to remove so as to remove them in bulk. The LG Dare from Verizon Wireless is a full featured, fun filled experience. It makes you feel cool while performing like a champ. Oops, There I go again. For more info on this and other LG products Click Here. |
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Navigation - It is possible to add contacts with photos to a Favorites screen for quick recognition and access to their contact information. Menu icons can be dragged and dropped to the home screen for easy access. Want to draw a map or just send a smiley face to a friend? The Dare does it. A small arrow tucked into the upper right slide of the screen will take you to a list of available applications. There are more application options than I had time to check out. On most screens there is a back arrow that helps you go back one screen. There are a number of animated drawings to entertain those who want that. The animations and the dramatic movement of the menu items when starting the phone are cute and snazzy for impressing friends. I guess that is why they are there. I was more impressed with the rotation of the screen from horizontal to vertical every time you change the direction you hold the phone. Moving the phone in that manor also changes the display. For instance you might be in the vertical Dial Pad and, when rotated to horizontal, the screen changes to the QWERTY keyboard. That tickled me so much that I sat there changing the phone’s orientation and grinning for quite awhile.
Camera - The Dare 3.2 MP camera was a dream as far as photos were concerned. 
Storage - The LG Dare for Verizon Wireless comes with minimal internal memory. It will handle up to 8 Gigabytes of memory on a Micro SD card. The memory slot is easily available on the left side of the phone.