Review of the LG Dare
Jenn June 29th, 2008
After owning the Dare for about four days, here are my early thoughts:
Overall
The Dare seems to be living up to everyone’s expectations, including mine. I really have not been disappointed with anything yet. Actually, I have been regularly surprised as I discovered new, unexpected features. The Dare already has reviewers asking if the iPhone(y) can keep up with the Dare. I know all the fruitcakes out there will have a fit that anyone suggests that anything beats their product, but remember: LG was in the touchscreen business for cell phones before there was any talk of an iPhone. The Dare was definitely worth the wait.
Physical aspects
It feels very good in the hand. The back is made of some type of silicone, rubber, or soft plastic. This is a real bonus for people like me who are prone to dropping their phones because it gives the phone a “stickier” feel. The size feels great in your hand. I would not want the phone and smaller or any bigger. The screen is plastic and measures at 240 x 400 pixels. I find the display to be bright and clear. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack that allows you to use the music/video players with regular headphones or easily tether it to another device without an adapter. The dare also has a lanyard hook for accessories or even a stylus. The phone has a micro USB port for charging and connecting to a PC and a slot for a micro SD card. The battery performance seem outstanding, even with heavy data and Bluetooth use.
Touchscreen
I have found the touchscreen to be flawless. Like any touchscreen device, there is a learning curve, but I found it to be short and painless. Some were concerned that this is a pressure sensitive touchscreen. This is not a point to be worried about. The screen is easy to use. You may calibrate the touchscreen and adjust the haptic feedback level. It is remarkable how the integration of sound and vibration aid our brains in resting in the fact that our action has been in fact registered by the phone. The phone’s accelerometer allows you to hold the phone in a landscape position for a fuller screen display. When messaging or entering text, the landscape position automatically display the on screen Qwerty. I had reservations about a touchscreen Qwerty, but I make no more mistakes with the touchscreen Qwerty than I did my physical Qwerty.
Interface
I like the Dare’s interface. It is orderly, intuitive, and yet has the flexibility to be a little creative or edgy. 5 icons line the bottom of the screen for messaging, phone, programs, contacts, and favorites. Favorites are photo tiles that represent your 8 favorite contacts. You may drag and drop those tiles in any way you want on the Favorites screen. At the bottom of the favorites screen are icons for messaging, calling the contact, or looking at the contact’s information. The shortcuts menu is easily accessed by selecting the arrow half way up the right side of the home screen. You may customize your favorites .
You may choose either a traditional black theme or a white theme, in which the programs is white with scatter icons. The theme only applies to the submenus. The main screen is customizable with various types of static and animated wallpapers.
A note: those of you looking for “Get it now” can find it under a new icon name, “Media Center” or under the different categories like ringtones, games, etc.
Camera/Video
Unbelievably good for a cell phone, the 3.2 megapixel Dare camera features a Schneider Kreuznach lens and flash.. The camera features, auto focus, face detection, adjustable settings, and white balance adjustment. There are 4 shot types: normal, split, panorama, and frame and several modes as well (night, landscape, sports, beach, and portrait, and normal. You may shoot in bursts of 1, 3, 6, or 9.
The Dare includes the ability to edit your photos and videos on your phone. You may crop, adjust, or enhance your photo using special preloaded formats to the photo and the upload it directly to a blog or social networking site. It should be noted that edited photos and videos will increase the file size.
The video camera also performs exceptionally. Video messaging is only supported at 176 x 144 or 320 x 240. Videos recorded at 640 x 480 must be transferred to your PC. You may record at high speed recording (120 fps) slow-motion (15 fps). Video also allows you to set the flash, color effects, and white balance.
Messaging
I have not been much of a text message person, but one cool thing I noticed accidently is an icon that actually reads you the message. Mobile email is OK. Of course I wish it was better and had the ability to handle attachments, but it is not a Smartphone, so I can’t expect too much. I have been able to use the mobile options tools in Outlook to send me my calendar and reminders as well as to alert me of new email. This has helped me transition away from using a Smartphone with push email and wireless sync.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is great. Besides stereo Bluetooth, you can also push vcards, vcalendars, photos, videos, and music to and from PC and other compatible Bluetooth devices.
Miscellaneous “Nice to Have” Features
- Alarm clock,
- Tip calculator
- Vcast video player
- In Case of Emergency Icon at the top of your contact list
- Handwriting recognition
- Drawing pad and note pad
- Stopwatch
- Calendar
- Ability to play DVD quality videos (can store and play from micro SD card)
- Tech
- Comments(22)
Overall I like your review of the Dare, Im seriously thinking about getting this phone. I just felt that there were too many facts in the written part, I wished there was more of your opinion, and a part saying what things you think need improvement. Great video review.
Overall I like your review of the Dare, Im seriously thinking about getting this phone. I just felt that there were too many facts in the written part, I wished there was more of your opinion, and a part saying what things you think need improvement. Great video review.
I love the phone. I actually transitioned from Treo 700w to the Dare and do not feel like I have lost much. I think the touchscreen is nearly perfect. I only say nearly because I am sure there could be improvements - I just can’t imagine any myself. The phone quality is outstanding. I like the overall touch and feel.
The reason there wasn’t a lot of negative is because I really am not finding any negatives, which is always a pleasant surprise.
Can you set up this phone to receive GMAIL? I didn’t see that in the list of mail options. Is mobile email part of the $15 add-on to billing? thanks
none of the reviews I’ve read wonder if the iphone can keep up with the dare. No offense but its kinda the other way around. But you probably read a review that haven’t read yet.
And you’re probably one of the first that has shown the main menu interface in action. but it looks like the menu is still the same standard Verizon menu, just made prettier. Its not that much of an upgrade (UI wise) from my Voyager. The last phone with flash was probably the 8100
thanks for the review. can you tell us more about the calendar and the ability to sync. can it be done with the usb? does it seem easy to add and edit events? thanks
Ahhh…syncing the calendar. I am not sure there is an official way at the moment, but I expect that to change soon.
I plan on trying the synch kit software that is already out by LG, but I bet they will put out an update disk soon that includes the Dare and the Decoy.
You can send a vcalendar to the phone, but not an icalendar. I have not tried Remosync yet (through get it now).
It isn’t a smartphone, so I expected that calendar to take a little work. That being said, I really like the way the calendar looks.
thats a bummer…whats the point of the usb cable if you can’t sync info to your computer? i really like the phone, but the scheduling is a big feature for me.
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I had heard you could use this phone as a modem. is that true? and if so how exactly would you do it?
There are references to tethering, but I believe a special data plan is required. The disk that comes with the Dare has drivers for tethering. I do not know much about tethering the Dare because I have no plans to do so.
remosync.org - to sync outlook (exchange) with LG Dare. Contact, Calendar, Email, etc
Does it have Wi-Fi?
Doesn’t need it with true 3g Rev A. Wi-Fi isn’t as fast as 3g. Additionally, Verizon is not going to put out anything other than a smartphone with Wi-Fi anytime soon - it would compete with their own services.
do you know how to add a webmail account through mobile email? i was able to add my work account using the moto Q.
This phone as some great features but lacks on outlook contact/calendar sync capabilities which is important for alot of us. I tried it for a week but plan on exchanging for a PDA.
To add a mobile email account -
Select:
1. Mobile Email
2. Add Account
3. Other (or one from the list)
4. Complete required information.
thanks for writting this reviews its’ great!
I’ve been working for days trying to get RemoSync working with my new LG Dare but i keep getting a “Bad Request” error. Verizon isn’t any help and the credentials should be the exact same as my Q, which was workign just fine (ruling out issues on the Exchange side.) I like the Dare but without sync with my email, calendar and contacts it just doesn’t get the job done.
To start off, Great review.
- Is the calendar just a calendar, or can you add appointments? I’m especially interested in adding recurring appointment with audio reminders.
- Also, the Verizon website says it can take an hour to save a picture to the SD card. Is that dependent on how high the resolution is, or something about the SD card? That seems like an awful long time for such a feature packed camera.
- Even though the blackberry I’m replacing with the Dare will be deactivated, Is there a way to transfer contacts if you don’t use Outlook? Bluetooth maybe between phones?
- What options are there to transfer non-drm’d music files to the Dare via PC to Dare? My PC does not have Bluetooth.
- What is contained in the disc that comes with the phone?
Most of these questions will probably be answered when I get the phone and play around with it, but I’m still curious.
I have the original Jawbone bluetooth and everytime I try to use it with the LG Dare everyone tells me it sounds like someone is trying to beep in or my voice keeps dropping.
Has anyone had this problem? I’ve spoken with LG, Verizon and Jawbone and everyone keeps telling me it’s compatible and should work fine.
I have replaced the LG twice and the Jawbone twice, nothing changes. Any help??? Thanks
I have the original Jawbone as well and seem to be doing just fine with it. I think it sounds like your Jawbone is hyper-sensitive with its noise-cancelling settings. Have you tried disabling the noise-cancelling on the Jawbone?