LG L1400 / C1400
Average Ratings
Nice but cheap
The old saying, "You get what you pay for" applies here. I paid $29.99 with a new Cingular contract and now I'm stuck with this phone for two years. I do not like that Cingular has chosen to override every aspect of this phone with their logos and banners. The front screen would be wonderful if you could change the scrolling banner, but alas, you can't. You can put a picture on the inside screen, but Cingular overrides it with their logo right across the middle. Annoying as all get out and unremoveable. Total overkill. The phonebook is very limited in the amount of numbers you can assign to any one person. The menus are limited but functional. All in all, it's worth $29.99, but if you have to pay more...SAVE YOUR MONEY!
Get what you pay for!
Pros:
Attractive phone
Easy to navigate
Nothing else!
This is my first LG and last LG phone. I miss my SAMSUNG already and wish I would of bought a Motorola from this provider.
I bought the phone on-line through the providers web site for $29.99 that list for $129. The phone is not worth more than the $29.99 and should of been listed at that price and free to new consumers.
Cons:
No speaker phone
Providers marketing is all over the phone and can not be removed from display.
All plastic with no weight to the phone and seems easily breakable.
Horrible ring tones with no selection.
Ear piece on headset is not loud enough as well as the ring.
No choices for wallpaper other than providers logo in every one on the phone.
Address book gets duplicated when you transfer to SIM card.
I'm looking forward to trading this phone in and spending more money for a better quality phone.
This is a great phone for your kids to keep track of them after school and for them to take pics. For you ladies that keep your phone in your purse you will never hear it and will miss ever single incoming call.
my first camera phone
the pros:
light, easy to use, reception and calls have both been good, camera quality is nice, the phone itself looks beautiful, battery life has been good, web navigation has been good (although the web navigation is a little confusing at first, and i still wish they had a traditional "back" button for their browser, it only comes up sometimes not always)
---
cons:
-no speaker phone
-not enough customization for ring tones & pictures (this is the same LG operating system that is used on all their phones, and they should think about updating it some)
-i was able to connect the IR w/ my laptop but i couldn't transfer anything to and from the phone and i could not find software to fix this, maybe in the future?
-no external speaker for a ring tone, so when someone calls and your phone is flipped close the ring is a little muffled, but its not a big problem, might be if you are in a loud/busy location (but you can always turn on the ringer with the vibrate mode)
overall i like this phone and i hope i don't destroy it! :) the only real thing that bugs me is the lack of customization (i'm coming from a Sanyo phone, which was absolutely great), and I miss having a speaker phone. for the basic phone needs its great, calls are very clear and you can hear the person very well.
Can't beat it based on price, but...
First, reception. I live and work out of the DFW metroplex and have used AT&T for the last 5 years. I actually still have my AT&T phone (Siemens M56) active right now and am currently carrying both phones with me. And I travel for work, very far sometimes and really get a chance to test cell signals out in the middle of nowhere. Strangely enough the LG did great while traveling up into the Texas/Oklahoma border region, granted it went into Cingular Extend mode. But at times it has lost complete ability to make calls right in downtown Ft. Worth and Dallas. My Siemens M56 has impressed me greatly over the past year and was able to quickly connect some calls that the L1400 couldn't. It seems as though Cingular doesn't have enough cell towers in the metroplex to guarantee reception because my girlfriend has had the same problem with her three Motorola V400's from Cingular. Hopefully the merger with AT&T alleviates this problem.
Product quality.
Pros:
Ring tone quality is awesome
Navigation and button feel is very good
Lightest flip/camera phone I've held
Cons:
No quality cons, but I do have some problems with the design.
-Placement of the 2.5mm headphone jack is on the left side of the phone instead of the top or bottom, preventing you from putting the phone into most car holders with the headphone plugged in
-Picture storage is pathetic. I filled up the memory within 30 seconds of playing with the camera
I thoroughly researched this phone before purchasing and was comparing it to a number of other LG phones (L1200, L1150) and figured out that these were all pretty much the same phone with the exception of style and carrier. I went with the 1400 for the obvious price reason, but also because it was the only one with a full color screen on the outside. This is my first flip phone and camera phone and I must say its pretty cool. Everybody that holds it is jealous of how light it is. For the current price, its a steal.
OK
I just bought the phone from Cingular and most things about it are O.K., but some simple things are missing.
Pros:
-nice bright screen
-full color outside screen a plus
-I have had the V400 (low volume) and the earpiece volume is plenty loud on the LG 1400
-vibe AND ring at the same time is very nice
-very light-weight
-external snapshot button is helpful
-ringing is loud even though it comes from the earpiece when phone is closed
Cons:
-NO SNOOZE option on alarm. I use my cell as an alarm wherever I am and I really like to snooze.
-Screen is smaller and not as crisp as Moto V400
-sound volume is good, but callers sound "tinny" compared to Moto V400 earpiece
-scrolls that annoying "Cingular" logo stuff on the external screen as it goes to sleep (similar to LG 4050)
-feels cheap, buttons seem loose, overall feels easily breakable
-lousy "normal" ringtones
Some good, some not so good
Had this phone for about 30 hours now, so far a good experience. There are some definite tradeoffs with this phone though.
If you get this phone, request both the "PUK" and "PUK2" codes. These are unique to your SIM and are used to unlock your phone in certain circumstances. Do NOT incorrectly type the PUK or PUK2 10 times in a row, it will FRY your SIM (yes, I found out the hard way)
PROS:
- Very good reception, can make and maintain a call with only 1 bar
- Lightweight
- clamshell
- Came unblocked from Cingular (i.e. use any SIM. Tested with a T-Mobile SIM)
- 1800 frequency for overseas
- Nice colors
- Can use a snapshot as background
- multishot (rapid successions of pictures)
(3 @ 640x480,
3 or 6 @ 320x240,
3,6, or 9 @ 160x120, 128x160, or 96x96)
- Can take pictures when closed
- Outside screen shows photo ID on incoming call
- conference calling and call waiting features are robust and easy to use
- microphone mute during phone call
- can record up to 30 seconds of a phone call
- T9 predictive message when typing
- Vibrate & audio ringing possible at the same time
- can have different pictures on outside and inside screen
- one-touch speed dial
- world time display with map
- unit conversion tool
- can turn off snapshot sound
- keystrokes can speak digits (i.e. press 1 and a voice says "one")
- can choose to ignore incoming call without opening phone
CONS:
- Voice memos limited to 3 messages of 30 seconds each
- Speaker volume is not loud enough
- No video capture
- No 900 frequency for overseas
- No speakerphone
- max camera resolution is 640x480
- Infrared is locked down (can't send/receive pics or ringtones to the phone through IR, I think it is only useful as a data/fax modem)
- built-in ringtones are dorky
- picture taking sometimes showed colored boxes on the screen (did not affect actual snapshots)
- voice dialing seems to not work so well
- individual ringtones by caller group only (not per phone entry) (6 caller groups max)
