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Review: LG Glimmer

Body Basics Extras Video Wrap Up Comments 11

Screen

It's big, it's bold, it's beautiful. It measures 240 x 400 pixels and has 18-bit color. Icons and animations are smooth, web pages look nice and sharp, and pictures look very true to life. It is very bright, and is easily used outdoors, though direct sunlight will show off your fingerprints more prominently. It offers plenty of real estate for all applications.

Signal

Where we tested this phone, we were roaming on networks other than Alltel's, which doesn't provide its own coverage here. We surmise that our test Glimmer is roaming on Sprint's network, as signal strength was similar to a Sprint phone we are also testing. A Verizon phone showed full coverage, the Glimmer provided just one or two bars. Signal strength will most likely be much better in markets that are actually served by Alltel.

Sound

Ringers for the Glimmer were surprisingly quiet. With the volume set to full power, the phone was barely audible from several rooms away. The earpiece speaker was also relatively quiet. Even at its highest setting, you will not be able to hear callers when in a coffee shop or other semi-noisy environment. If you're at a loud bar, forget it. You're making a trip outside to find out where your friends are. For some reason, music was different. When playing through the speaker, it was much louder than the ringers, even though it uses the same speaker. Quality wasn't fantastic, though. There was mild distortion at high volumes. At lower volumes, the music sounded thin and treble-y. Playback sounded slightly better through stereo Bluetooth headphones and regular headphones, but not much.

Battery
Battery life was reasonably good for the Glimmer. It managed to scrape together three fulls days of use consistently, no matter how we seemed to use it. Averaging several calls per day, checking email and other light browsing, and sending of perhaps a dozen text messages didn't tax the battery overly much. Streaming music to stereo Bluetooth headphones, however, did drain the battery more rapidly. We'd say you're probably safe leaving the charger at home for a weekend, provided you have a full charge when you leave.

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LG Glimmer / UX-830 / Vantage / Spyder

2.8" display 240 x 400 pixels
800 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot

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