Verizon LG enV launches, QWERTY nerds rejoice

Certainly no secret up until now, the VX9900 (aka the enV), successor to the VX9800 (aka the V), predecessor to what will surely be dubbed the VX10K (aka the Flying V), is now officially out -- November 27th, as stated. It can be had for as little as $150 with two year agreement and rebate, and features that fat QWERTY keybord, tiny ass bezel-tastic display, EVDO, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 1.2 with A2DP, OBEX, AVRC, microSD slot, WMA support, and all the V CAST support you'd ever want. Online now (big surprise), ready for ordering.

[Thanks, Tyler and Michael]

[Alex @ Nov 27th 2006 12:56PM]

Wow Ryan, never thought I'd heard the words "tiny ass" in conjunction from you. By the way, you mispelled keyboard before that.

I never really cared for these LG phones. Lovin' my T-Mobile Dash!

[navamske @ Nov 27th 2006 1:27PM]

Misspelling "keyboard" isn't as bad as misspelling "misspelled."

[matt thomas @ Nov 27th 2006 3:21AM]

That thing is ugly!

[Nick @ Nov 27th 2006 4:10AM]

tiny ass lol

should that be hyphenated?

[Superdotman @ Nov 27th 2006 4:35AM]

Yeah, it should be "tiny ass-lol".

[Rynth @ Nov 27th 2006 4:20AM]

Daayuumm that things fugly. Cool, but fugly.

[Chris @ Nov 27th 2006 6:45AM]

Well, it's certainly thinner than the V, but that inside screen should definitely be larger than it is.

[Scott @ Nov 27th 2006 8:52AM]

Are you saying that Verizon didn't cripple the bluetooth object transfer profile like they do on the rest of their phones? Amazing! Now if they only left the OEM interface alone instead of replacing it with their "sea of red" garbage. My gf's Razr is twice as hard to use as a Razr from T-Mobile or Cingular, and some standard Motorola features don't even work!

[kadajawi @ Nov 27th 2006 11:51AM]

And I thought the Nokia Communicator series was ugly... but this thing is a new definition of ugly. It really looks cheap, like one of those very cheap prepaid phones. The inner display is tiny too...

[GJP303 @ Nov 28th 2006 8:17PM]

nope, after refreshing my memory on wut the nokia communicator looks like, i think it can retain its award.

[Chris @ Nov 27th 2006 2:35PM]

Anyone know what OS it's using, and whether you can upload Java apps to it? Wondering what my chances of getting an ssh client on there would be..

[Jamie @ Nov 27th 2006 1:42PM]

Loving the Flying V reference =D

[Dave Pevsner @ Nov 27th 2006 5:50PM]

OS: proprietary verizon garbage box.

wait, a verizon phone with OBEX? are you out of your mind? sprint made OBEX impossible to figure out on the A900, there's no way that verizon would even make it usable on any of their phones!

[Dave Pevsner @ Nov 27th 2006 5:50PM]

and also, verizon OS means no java. BREW only.

if sprint releases an enV competitor/killer, the sprint model will support java.

[sc00ter @ Nov 27th 2006 7:17PM]

my sister has had this phone for about a week!??! and it is actually quite cool. I personally, hated the V. it was bulky and ugly ,but this phone is nice. beautiful screen sexy body and a tiny ass. its cool

[Ryan L. @ Nov 28th 2006 1:18PM]

FedEx just delivered my enV, Ordered yesterday Morning around 8:30am EST. I must commend them on there fast service, and Free Standard Overnight shipping. - As A Previous owner of the 9800, I must say that it is quite an improvement over the previous version. One thing I hated about the 9800 was it's bulkiness, and this phone answers and corrects that issue, it is very slim and very sexy. The outside screen, although "tiny-ass" is very bright-crisp and easy to read. Once opened, the inside screen is equally as bright if not brighter, and the Qwerty keyboard has a good feel to it, and illuminates blue when needed. Overall, this is a great improvement on the 9800 and anyone who owns that particular phone, will dramitcally see a difference between the two.

Hopefully this mini-review helps you guys out in deciding whether or not to pick this little guy up.

[DOC @ Jul 9th 2007 8:12PM]

RYAN,THANK YOU FOR YOUR INFORMATIVE REVIEW,ITS ONE THAT ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING, DIDN'T FIND ANY OTHERS THAT DIDN'T SOUND 'STREET', AS IN NO HELP,JUST BANGIN AND RUNNIN ON

[hermy @ Dec 3rd 2006 1:23AM]

Does anyone know if the enV supports AVI, MPEG, or MOV files? Or what format it does use? I know that you can put your own MP3s on it, so I would presume that if you had a video in the correct format that you could also put it on the memory card and view it on the phone.

[profreez @ Dec 5th 2006 1:20AM]

it suppors mp4 and 3gp for video files. and for audio it supports wav, mp3, and wma
pretty good phone. i found some info at phonscoop and at skatter tech
here are the links:
http://skattertech.com/2006/11/lg-vx9900-env-verizon/

[hermy @ Dec 6th 2006 1:10AM]

That was a good review. I'll be picking one up on Friday. Thanks!

[PC @ Dec 7th 2006 7:07PM]

I own a VX9800. Besides the look, are there any differences? Are there any differences in functionaltiy? If not, I'll just keep what I have.

[rachelrose @ Dec 29th 2006 2:00PM]

uhm, excuse me people!? that thing is f***ing beautiful! im getting that oh so soon and im wayy excited (: why do you say its ugly or tiny? i know people who have that phone, it aint tiny, and it aint ugly! so speak for yourself betches! kay? thanx byes!

[rob @ Jan 18th 2007 12:12PM]

Anyone know if there's a way/plug in/app that will show the time on the front (closed) lcd in large numbers. Right now the only options seem to be itty-bitty digits (digital), or very-boxy-difficult-to-read small analog "clock face". Wouldn't care if either large numbers or large analog that would be easy to read AT A GLANCE -- since i often use my phone to check the time. Thanks!

[aj @ Jan 20th 2007 2:57AM]

Sweet phone; looks like a little race car. Needs a speaker phone on the out side; instead I have to flip open the phone to use speaker. Also, seems the damn thing won't bt sync with my laptop with out purchasing the f... service. Weak, for what I pay this thing should sync. Or why not hop on my wireless network without the use of verizon internet. This seems to be stone age. Phone should hop right on any and all avaliable networks. Ice age. I dig the phone and these are the areas I would improve.

[hillary @ Jan 30th 2007 6:40PM]

Okay so i have had my phone since the beginning of December and a lot of the times when i want to erase a message in my outbox, my phone turns off. and then that message will be deleted when it turns on again, but then in my outbox it will like show that there are messages in the whole outbox but it is like clear like it looks like a page, and then when i open it, its something i already said. its weird and im looking to see if anyone else has this problem, comment back.

[Elyse @ Feb 7th 2007 3:04PM]

I've had this phone for a week.... I LOVE IT!!! run out and get it as soon as you can!!!!

[Christine @ May 19th 2007 11:26AM]

i just got the env today. it's cool, but is there any way to increase the size of the photos for contacts. the picture that comes up is TINY! totally surprised by that! any way to fix that in the settings?

[Lewis @ Jul 1st 2007 10:19PM]

what the hell? i really dont think this thing is ugly at all. how is it ugly? it looks fine to me

[Tina @ Jun 26th 2007 11:08AM]

Hi I was thinking about getting this phone and im not sure if it is a good first phone. If there are any major flaws can you please tell me. Thanks please write back

[unclepedro @ Jul 16th 2007 7:59PM]

Just got the enV, and I came here looking to see if I could run Java apps on it. Looks like no, which is a bummer. That said, this is a sweet little phone! It's not THAT big, although kinda like the old "candy bar" style phones, but I don't mind that.

I agree the front screen is tiny, but sufficient, and the inside screen is *great*. I also agree that speaker mode on the outside would be a good addition, but not a big deal. Another thing that seems odd to me is the camera location -- I think it should be on the other end of the phone, since when I started using it I kept gettng my fingers in front of the lens. But after a couple minutes of goofing around it felt natural enough.

I really like that the phone flips all the way open flat -- much more convenient for typing. It should really have a camera on the inside too -- when the data network can support it, this kind of platform would be an *ideal* videophone where you could talk and type. Of course it doesn't have that feature, but oh well.

The construction also feels pretty good. I don't think it feels cheap or fragile -- not that I'm going to drop mine any time soon, but it has a good feel, and they keyboard feels really good.

I basically wanted the most PDA-like phone I could get without going all the way to PDA city (at 3-5 times the price). I have no plans to pay enough for a full data plan, etc. so I was basically looking for a good "communicator". I also wanted to be able to use the "planner" features on my phone, but I can't handle them on the small phones with just a dialpad... similarly, I think texting is great but I hate dialpads. I also wanted a phone that was stylish. On these counts, the enV really delivers.

So basically, acknowledging the usual stupid interface mistakes that cell phone designers always seem to make, and the verizon OS (not having seen the OEM to compare), I really like it.

[slilly92596 @ Jul 26th 2007 11:19PM]

What is available for inout in the contacts? ie: street address, email, etc.

[Kris10 @ Aug 2nd 2007 7:10PM]

Love it! Got it yesterday and haven't been able to put it down since. Fabulous buy and a spectacular phone!

[ciodlo @ Aug 10th 2007 6:21PM]

I'm SO in love with my enV - I got mine two weeks ago and its opened the doors for me to be a 'text' person (which I HATED on a traditional keyboard). The speakers are awesome and it's got great functionality as an MP3 as well. A fun and very functional piece of equipment!

[Cindy @ Feb 9th 2008 3:40PM]

Has anyone had problems with the env breaking, messing up, whatever after a few months? My son had a razor for 2 years without a problem and i hear they are very frail. but he took care of it, now he is on his 2nd env in only 4 months and this second one is having issues. Not sure how to proceed on this, would love to switch to another model but don't think i should have to pay again. as far as it's capabilities and ease of use he loves it though. any advice?