LG Dare hands-on

We spent some touching (get it?) minutes with the new LG Dare that's hitting Verizon Wireless today, and while we didn't come away from the experience a changed human being, we've gotta congratulate LG and Verizon for the obvious effort they've put into this unit. Particularly with the hardware the phone seems determined to differentiate itself from its iPhone competition, with helpful tactile feedback while typing, (almost helpful) handwriting recognition, video recording (in slow-mo, if you'd like) and even editing, and the beefed-up photo taking capabilities that a 3.2 megapixel sensor and built-in flash provide. The basics aren't too bad either, with a sturdy and bright screen, peppy EV-DO Rev A., expandable memory and a flush 3.5mm headphone jack.

Gallery: LG Dare hands-on

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Unfortunately, where things start to fall apart is polish. The phone inexplicably carries two app menus, one a "shortcut menu" accessed by a button off to the side of the home screen, the other a full-fledged affair accessed by the primary soft button row... which is also on the home screen. We also had trouble with the QWERTY keypad despite the abundant horizontal real estate the Dare commits to it. We got better as we became accustomed to tapping with our fingernails (thumb presses don't work, it's not a capacitive touch screen). Other things like the inability to fling your way through menus and long web pages are minor niggles, but detract from the overall experience.

It's also quite clear that the Dare is a featurephone, not a smartphone, so if you were hoping to manage email effectively or keep up with your appointments, you're probably better off sticking with one of those Big Kids phones -- even if the Dare's messaging and contact integration is admirable. The browser is also a "full HTML" browser in the most minor of senses. Sure it understands HTML, but it won't be rendering web pages anything like they're supposed to look, other than specially formatted mobile sites -- which sort of defeats the purpose. At least the anti-aliased fonts are a step up from traditional Verizon fare.

In all we'd liken the phone to its incohesive and boring external design: all the right elements are there, but they might need some more time in the oven to really make sense.

[brickwood @ Jun 25th 2008 9:34AM]

sold!

but what bout battery life?

[El Taco @ Jun 25th 2008 10:14PM]

exactly what I was thinking (both things)

[John D @ Aug 13th 2008 9:07PM]

I have had mine for bout 3 weeks and the battery life is really good. I jst mine constantly and i get 2 days out of one charge.

[Blake-Dare @ Aug 17th 2008 2:58PM]

The battery life is good on the LG dare..u can learn more about it at http://lg-dare.com..it has lots of info!!

[Blake-Dare @ Aug 17th 2008 3:02PM]

The battery life is good on the LG dare..u can learn more about it at
http://lg-dare.com it has lots of info!!

[agroupofletters @ Jun 25th 2008 9:38AM]

why doesn't it have windows mobile or s60?

Obviously this is trying to compete with the iphone (which i am no fan of) why would they put a crappy verizon os instead of making it a real smartphone?

[Tom Robertson @ Jun 25th 2008 9:59AM]

Because it doesnt. Also WM6 will just crash all the time like any other Windows OS!

[Ace b @ Jun 25th 2008 10:37AM]

Well,it's verizon.And if they didnt put it on the voyager then what would make ya think the would put it on here?

[thatrotierkid @ Jun 25th 2008 10:53AM]

funny, b/c the last night ive had any windows OS shut down unexpectedly on me (between my laptop (XP/Vista), work computer (XP), home computer (Vista), media center PC (XP), secondary home computer (XP)) was when lightening struck the power lines outside my work over night and cut power to building, but im sure whatever you use would be able to not shut down after that right? and in case your wondering, the time before that was when i was overclocking my graphics card in my home computer from 600Mhz to 800Mhz.

seriously... grow up

[michas_pi @ Jun 25th 2008 1:11PM]

Verizon? Putting a crappy OS on a nice device?

Dude, that's their SOLE PURPOSE as a wireless carrier.

I think the only phone they didn't jizz all over was the Motorola E815, debatably one of the best mobile phones ever made.

[DJDevine @ Jun 25th 2008 1:52PM]

Jizz all over lol... ya the e815 was a solid rock, that or the v325. Blackberrys are still the best for me anyways

[El Taco @ Jun 26th 2008 3:32PM]

this phone isn't aimes toward the smart phne audience, it's aimed toward the cool phone audience. For me, a 14-year-old, if anyone got this phone they would be the envy of everyone else at school. They don't need a smart phone. It is a functional phone, has a calendar, and is still cool, which smart phones are not. I am the audience Verizon is aiming this at.

[LGDare kid @ Aug 14th 2008 5:36PM]

its not a smart phone its a touch smart phone and its not trying to compete with the iphone its been out before the iphone in south korea

[agroupofletters @ Jun 25th 2008 9:39AM]

clak?

[El Taco @ Jun 25th 2008 10:14PM]

he must be gone today

[kresolution @ Jun 25th 2008 9:42AM]

Mmmmm...nope, the curve it is.

[Nit Picker @ Jun 25th 2008 9:43AM]

If you are going to use a real camera to take a bunch of photos of a device and actually have more than a millisecond to review the photos prior to publication can't you, you know, arrange the lighting so there are no device-obfuscating bright spots in the photos?

You know...clickety click...oh, that one could be better..clickety click...yeah, that's a good one...etc

[mike @ Jun 25th 2008 9:51AM]

what ever happened to "tactile response"

[Don @ Jun 25th 2008 9:53AM]

Looks sorta phoney.......... no i didnt mean iphoney *rolls eyes*

[7of7 @ Jun 25th 2008 9:54AM]

Dude, cut your nails. That's gross.

[Blackstar @ Jun 25th 2008 9:57AM]

Wow, this just goes to show you guys don't know what real women's hands look like lol!

[DJDevine @ Jun 25th 2008 10:06AM]

thats a woman, dont you hear a woman talking, saying did u get that? Shows how much time you been around women hermit!

[Khris @ Jun 25th 2008 10:07AM]

Long nails on a woman is one thing......on a guy it's another.

[primetime4 @ Jun 25th 2008 10:17AM]

That's not your mother it's a man baby!

[Jon @ Jun 25th 2008 10:52AM]

Man, woman, or alien, thems the damn fugliest hands I ever seen!

[Frankenstein Black @ Jun 25th 2008 11:38AM]

Yea, that hand needs a manicure or some French tips or something. Some lotion wouldn’t be a bad idea either, just sayin...

[riggs @ Jun 25th 2008 12:01PM]

there is a new cool phone out and yet yall are focused on cuticles and nails......dont call yourself men anymore.

[[e-mail] @ Jun 25th 2008 9:54AM]

Come on cut your nails

[Sung @ Jun 25th 2008 11:13AM]

And funny enough, you can't use the iPhone's touchscreen with your fingernail, it won't recognize it. So, I guess the Dare has an advantage there, if you're like this person with long, nasty fingernails.

[RC @ Jun 25th 2008 9:58AM]

Looks like ET's thumb with manicured nails.

[Dude @ Jun 25th 2008 9:58AM]

Sounds like the only negatives are that it's not an iPhone and doesn't try to be one either. Sounds good to me.

[Krisby @ Jun 25th 2008 9:59AM]

that click click of those long nails drove me crazy! Other than that its pretty neat. All phones have their problems and downfalls. Hopefully the benefits outweigh the negatives. Also would have been nice to see how responsive it is with fingers not nails. Specifically my meat paw's when using this thing. Also *crosses fingers for firmware update later*

[EdgeOne @ Jun 25th 2008 10:00AM]

Looks great! .... if I had fingernails that long to operate the touchscreen. Blah.

And why can't portable devices handle voice to text (other than Nuvi 800 series that cost as much as a laptop)?

[Krisby @ Jun 25th 2008 10:13AM]

Some people would rather buy a Iphone ripoff then go sign their life away to AT&T. Also is it not a good thing all the companies are trying to compete? instead making the Iphone a fluke and no one tries to do anything about it. Like say the Ipod? Remember it took companies a lot longer to answer or at least try to answer the Ipod. I think its a good thing we are getting so many alternatives so soon. Competition=Consumer Wins

[Krisby @ Jun 25th 2008 10:16AM]

That was for the guy under you lol

[vdogg89 @ Jun 25th 2008 10:03AM]

looks cool, but it still fails.

[naz @ Jun 25th 2008 10:14AM]

Nice phone pretty much everything you would want but 2 bad about the camera, they could of really took advantage that the iPhone only has a 2mp camera but putting a 5mp into it instead of a still fairly mediocre 3.2mp unit.

[retro77 @ Jun 25th 2008 11:03AM]

3.2MP is still damn good for a phone.

[amoo3 @ Jun 25th 2008 11:07AM]

lol 3.2 MP is better than my old pos digital camera

[Haikibutsu @ Jun 25th 2008 10:17AM]

Probably. He does the stupid apple symbols.

[Quix @ Jun 25th 2008 10:18AM]

Hmm, where have I seen that VZ Navigator icon before???

[jefffaucher @ Jun 25th 2008 10:19AM]

If all you IPhoner people are so happy, why are you reading reviews of other phones. That's like having (insert name of most beautiful woman) in your bed, and you're on the computer looking at porn. If you love your Iphone, go play with it. Leave the rest of us alone.

[spook4thecia @ Jun 25th 2008 12:33PM]

Keep you friends close but your enemies closer?

And who's to say that just because we like the iPhone, we can't like other devices? Am I not suppose to look at gadgets because I have one that I like. If I owned a Ferrari, should I never go to car shows, read car magazines? I'm a Honda guy, I think domestics domestics are POS's but that doesn't stop me from reading Hot Rod magazine... because some of it interests me. Windows is a s***y OS, but you can do things on Windows you can't on OSX, so I keep up with PC developments.

Way to kill off the moderates who can respect all technologies.

[Tony @ Jun 25th 2008 1:12PM]

You call Windows shitty and say you respect all technlogies.

Yeah right.

[DJDevine @ Jun 25th 2008 2:09PM]

what he's saying is people are tired of bashing a new touch cell phone just for the fact it is not an iPhone. Because there is no apple on it, it must be crap. I wonder if any of you f**king fanboys remember the old days of the 90's, when APPLE spelled FAIL, in the days of the PowerPC and Infared ports, or the days of BBS that you could only goto one site out of a hundred that was made only for Macs.

Apple has had it's share of failure. All companies have. Don't treat it like it's a bullet-proof idol of gold. Whats being said here is if you like your iphone, good, but don't belittle people for not having one or the phone is terrible because it's not an iphone... it's the same mind frame as racism or sexism, its called bigotry and ignorance.

Iphones are innovative is many ways, but blatantly primitive in others, no MMS, 2MP camera, barely out with 3G on a network that only has 2% of the country covered with 3G speeds. Thats why ATT phones all have WiFI, because EDGE is like a canker sore on your junk that won't heal, and WiFi is an ointment so you can pretend you don't have a phone that can't have high speed data access.

I salute the phone as a good stab at innovation and triumph over the Voyager (hopefully), and its going to sell. They don't say It's The Network for nothing...

[DB @ Jun 25th 2008 3:06PM]

so we are supposed to look porn at on our iPhones not our computers?

[01 @ Jun 25th 2008 3:48PM]

iPhone for one, please try and spell correctly if you're bashing.

I also hate to tell you this, but I sleep next to a beautiful woman every night, and we BOTH look at porn every day....I'm not really sure what you're trying to say there.

[nikster @ Jun 26th 2008 4:17AM]

I didn't know I am married to my iPhone?! So now I can't look at other phones? Is that in the contract?

There used to be a time when I would stroll through the mall here in Asia and look at all the shiny new phones from all the different manufacturers. Nokia, Moto, Samsung, and all the others and a few chinese brands you have never heard of. A plethora of phones on offer. There would be new models every week. I would go through and pick the ones with the nicest design and check prices. That used to be one of my favorite pastimes when the wife went on a shopping binge.

Since the iPhone, it has become extremely boring, to the point where I don't do it anymore. Everything else is just so far behind, it sucks. There's iPhone wanna-bes, some with nice hardware design (HTC Touch). But if you try them you find the touch screen doesn't really work and the software sucks big time. There's traditional candybar phones, they just look so bland. Can't do anything on that itty bitty screen, and maybe some comically slow version of Symbian S60 - it feels like 1999.

So there you have it - I am interested in this review because I want to know if somebody, somewhere can get something out the door that is either a good clone of the iPhone or even - gasp - something else entirely which doesn't feel like it's 5 years older than what I am already carrying in my pocket.

I wish Nokia and the others get back on track with their stuff, that they wake up and realize how crappy their offerings really are and how lame it is to pack a million barely-working features into their phones.

My only hope is Android at this point, but I am missing the enthusiastic embrace that would be necessary to make this a real competitor any time soon, instead they waste time on old, broken systems (winMo, S60). The mobile market is seriously lacking for competition right now.

Good enough for you? And please don't mention the F... word - we are gadget freaks that's why we are here, and we demand better.

[willyboy @ Jun 25th 2008 10:19AM]

Dam it! I just trimmed my nails!

[doctorSpoc @ Jun 25th 2008 10:19AM]

are you guys looking at the same interface i am? cuz that's friggin' OOG - A - LAY!! just brutal!!