Check out AT&T's FREE camera phones
-
CNET editors' rating:
4.0 stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 42 reviews
- See all user reviews
Product summary
The good: The LG Glimmer is a stylish phone with a really smart concept, combining a touch-screen display plus a slider keypad. It has excellent features, including GPS navigation, EV-DO support, and a 2-megapixel camera.
The bad: The LG Glimmer offers a lackluster Web-browsing experience, and we thought the EV-DO connection could've been a lot smoother.
The bottom line: The LG Glimmer combines the glamour of a touch screen, the convenience of a slider keypad, plus high-end features to produce a top-notch phone for Alltel customers.
Specifications: Band / mode: CDMA2000 1X 1900/800; Talk time: Up to 210 min; Combined with: With digital camera / digital player; See full specs
Price range: $99.99 - $479.99
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 03/27/2008
- Released on: 03/12/2008
Alltel has long been the fifth wheel when compared with the big four national carriers. It doesn't have its own network in as many states as the others, and its cell phone lineup has traditionally been rather mediocre and stale (with a few notable exceptions such as the LG Scoop and the Motorola Rokr Z6m). That has all changed with Alltel's latest newcomer, the LG Glimmer. Not only is the Glimmer making its nationwide debut with Alltel, but it's also one of the finest LG phones we've seen till now. For one thing, its design combines two things we love: the glamour of a touch-screen display and the convenience of a slider keypad. The Glimmer is also brimming with high-end features such as a 2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, EV-DO support, and GPS navigation. We did wish it offered a better Web browser, and it lacks proper e-mail and instant message support, but the Glimmer still stands as a well-designed, excellent performing phone. You'll have to pay for it, though, since the Glimmer retails for $249 with a two-year service agreement.
Design
If the LG Shine and the LG Prada got together to have a love child, the LG Glimmer would be its offspring; it combines the slider keypad from the Shine with the beautiful touch screen from the Prada. The Glimmer certainly lives up to its name, sporting a gun metal chassis with a brushed stainless steel finish as well as an incredibly vibrant touch screen. At 4 inches by 2.05 inches by 0.59 inch, the Glimmer also weighs a little heavier than most phones at 4.48 ounces. It feels sturdy in the hand, and it slides open and closed smoothly.
The Glimmer's touch screen is indeed the star of the show. Measuring around 2.8 inches diagonally, the display supports 262,000 colors with graphics and icons that simply pop from the screen. Like many displays, it also shows the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and photo caller ID. It also acts as the camera viewfinder. You can adjust the backlighting time, as well as the font size for the browser and the notepad.
Like the Prada, the entire phone's navigation is done via the touch screen. On the landing page, there are four icons along the bottom. From left to right, these icons access the main menu, activate the phone function, open the messaging menu, and open the contacts list. When the phone is closed, the phone function activates an onscreen dialpad; when the phone is open, it brings up a list of phone number shortcuts (from Recent Calls, Speed Dial, Message In-box, and the Contacts list). Along with the four icons is a small arrow icon on the left. This arrow leads directly to a customizable shortcuts menu--we suggest using it for frequently used applications such as the browser or the calendar.
Using the touch screen is quite intuitive, and involves simple tapping and scrolling. A slightly firm touch is required, plus there's a bit of a vibrating feedback when something is selected, which we like quite a bit. If you're having trouble with the sensitivity of the touch controls, you can reset the touch calibration in the Settings menu. On select menu options, there's a right-hand scroll bar that we can swipe up and down to scroll through the page. We didn't like this too much, though, as the scroll bar is pretty skinny, and it takes a bit of maneuvering to avoid selecting an option by mistake. The Web browser has onscreen arrow keys on the bottom to assist in scrolling, which we would've liked to have seen in all the applications.
Along with using the slider keypad to text, you can also choose to text via the touch screen. It supports T9, so we're able to tap out words and phrases using the onscreen dialpad without a problem. We did wish there was a virtual QWERTY keyboard of some kind, though, as that would've made it easier to tap out messages. Also, we wish there was a way to switch the screen orientation from portrait to landscape mode.
Rounding out the exterior of the phone is a Hold button on the left spine, while the right spine is home to a dedicated camera key, a volume rocker, a charger jack, and a headset jack. The microSD card slot is inconveniently located behind the battery cover. On the back of the phone is a camera lens with a flash and self-portrait mirror.
Slide the phone open and you'll find a slim keypad similar to that from the LG Shine as well as the Motorola Razr. The Talk, Back, and End/Power keys are along the top followed by the dialpad underneath. Like most slider keypads, the keys are pretty flush to the surface, but thankfully LG had the forethought to have raised bumps in between each key. Also, the Talk and End/Power keys have raised letters. Though we still wouldn't recommend dialing by feel, the raised keys do make it easier to dial and text.
So why would one want a slider keypad if you could already dial and text via the phone's touch screen? The answer is simple: convenience. Not everyone likes using a touch screen to dial and type out messages, and for those people, the ease of using mechanical keys via the keypad is a huge boon. For that alone, we think the Glimmer stands out from most touch-screen phones out there.
Continue reading- See more CNET content tagged:
- LG Glimmer,
- LG Electronics Inc.,
- Prada,
- LG Shine,
- touch screen
User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 42 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 3 of 42 user reviewsSee all 42 user reviews
-
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
-
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
-
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
- See all 42 user reviews Write review
