Simple Technology Choices - Cell Phones

The Sprint PCS Vision Phone LX350 by LG

Ease of Use: Overall Rating:

Reviewed by Jamie Lendino 7/15/06

One thing was clear right away; you’ll never wonder if you’re charging the LX350 or not. A large, bright red light illuminates the entire corner of the room by the outlet. Fortunately, the LX350 has other compelling features, like a 1.3 megapixel camera, well laid out menu system, and an overall good feature set for the price.

The LX350’s design won’t set the market on fire. It’s a fairly generic, plastic affair, with a (short) fixed antenna and detailed, color external screen. It does appear to be built well, and we feel it will withstand a good deal of abuse. When flipped open, you’ll enjoy an extra bright, if low-resolution screen, and nicely spaced, raised keys. The camera takes decent photos that manage light sources well, but they lacked detail and had soft contrast. When making calls, the LX350 sounds natural. Voice tones were clear, if a little on the dull side, and generally better than you’d expect in a low-cost phone.

The menu system couldn’t be simpler. It starts with nine well-drawn icons. Navigating to each one is easy with the directional control pad. Even setting up Bluetooth to work with your hands-free device is easy, which is not something we can say about all phones. Entering camera mode requires two button presses instead of one, and you can’t send any pictures without first setting up a Picture Mail account, which is frustrating. The account setup was straightforward; all we needed to do was select a password and say OK a couple of times. After that we were able to send test pictures without a problem. (This is also true on the Samsung A900).

We’re not huge fans of the LX350’s pleasing-but-generic form factor, but we like its build quality, camera, and menu system. We strongly recommend it for someone looking for an easy-to-use phone on Sprint’s network. It’s not the most sophisticated design on the market, but it scores points with its feature set and sound quality.

Pros: simple to use, well made, good sound quality, solid camera
Cons: generic design

Details:

LG LX350
Carrier: Sprint
Price: $79.99 w/2 year plan
Dimensions: 3.6 x 1.8 x 0.9
Weight: 3.7 ounces
Camera: 1.3 megapixels
Bluetooth: Yes
Card slot: No
Battery Life: 4 hours talk time

Ease of Use Rating: 4 stars
Overall Rating: 3.5 stars