CTIA Fall 2010
LG has refreshed the Neon, and AT&T plans to stock the LG Neon II soon. This second take on the Neon makes changes to the main controls of the device, but the only new real feature is 3G.
The front controls have been heavily revised, and mostly for the better. There are capacitive controls at the bottom of the screen for soft keys, but the send/end keys have a better feel to them with improved action.
The one change I really don't like is the D-pad. It has been replaced with a nub, similar to what you'd see on a Lenovo/IBM laptop. I really can't stand nubs for on-screen navigation. You're better off using the screen.
The Neon II has a capacitive touch screen, but is only used for dialing phone numbers. You can't access any other systems or menus by touching the screen. It was very responsive to being touched.
The slider mechanism felt okay, though not perfectly solid. The QWERTY keyboard was roomy, despite the small size of the phone itself. The buttons were well defined and had good travel and feedback, though, again, the round shape kind of bugged me a bit.
One nice touch is that LG brought a set of 4-way directional keys to the QWERTY keyboard for navigating the menu system. Basically, it doubles as a D-pad on the keyboard itself, so you don't have to reach up with your thumb to the nav controls on the front of the phone.
The menu system itself was a basic AT&T feature phone menu with no surprises.
The Neon II will be a solid messaging phone for those who don't need a killer device.
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