LG Lotus
Phone Scoop Review
Oct 31, 2008 by Eric M. Zeman
The LG Lotus is one odd duck. Hidden in its goofy shape is an average phone that does many things, some of them well, others not so much. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Very Cool!!!
I must say that I am very impressed with this strange looking phone. I activated it for my daughter on Saturday and have been playing with it ever since. At first I was a bit worried because it kept rebooting for like 15 minutes after activation but I think it was just provisioning because it hasn't happened since. First, the web browser can play you tube videos. This is great. The audio is loud and bluetooth support is great and has average range. Battery life seems good but my daughter has been using alot of data and music so I can't say for sure. It's a little big when closed but the overall feel is verv nice.
Pros: Web, customization, camera, volume (just about everything)
Cons: Really the only thing that I can say at this point is that it is a strange size and shape.
Overall, highly recommended
LG Lotus Phone Pretty Great
I just got the Sprint LG Lotus, and I love this phone. The texting is great, the new one click interface is pretty cool, just have to get use to it.
The texting is the major plus on this phone. The keys are pretty small, but are raised so it helps a lot. I thought it would be hard to text on this phone but it is pretty simple.
The form is pretty good, it is definitely an eye catcher. The camera is good, but it is still a camera phone, so I rarely use it. The camcorder is good as well, again I rarely use it.
I love the screen size, the battery is pretty good. I can last 2 days without charge, even when talking for a long time. Great call quality and reception.
Only problems I have, is that the one click interface is the only one you can chose from. They locked out all the other themes, and although the interface is cool, it would be good to have some options.
Also there is a issue with bluetooth and hands-free link with cars. I checked around, and there is no auto-transfer feature when you dial a number in your car. With my old samsung, the call would transfer automatically, but with this phone you have to transfer manually. It gets annoying sometimes. I looked around and it is a privacy feature, but it would great to have the option at least. The same issue for the Sanyo phones.
Also, I would like the option of spell check. The texting is great, but there is no T9 because of full qwerty keyboard, so no spell check as built in on T9. I would like something like the iPhone, where it marks the misspelled words in red, or offers suggestions or something. That would be a good feature.
But overall this is a great phone. I have had it for only a few days, but I love it. Probably one of the best phones sprint has to offer currently.
I will update my post if anything bad happens.
And if those small issues were fixed, no reason why it wouldn't be a 4.5 out 5.
Cheapest Blackberry Around
This is the cheapest blackberry you can buy. True it doesn't have a trackball but that's about the only real difference between a blackberry and this phone. This phone is absolutely amazing. Calls are clear, the speakerphone is great, the bluetooth range and clarity is top notch. The QWERTY is a huge plus and is very useful. You can link an internet email account to the phone and it rings (you set the ring of course) when you get a new email (who needs a blackberry), and of course you can respond to that email while still on the go. Text messages are chained by person (but only in inbox view, and while you are responding, the message you are responding to is put above your input window) and the screen is large enough that you can send and receive messages without having to scroll to read. The camera is 2 MP so the images are sharp and the video capture mode actually looks like a video, not the grainy choppy stuff that you are used to from camera phones. The internet is pretty good, even for html (normal) websites when there is no mobile version. I also recommend (pardon the referencing other reviews) Opera Mini if you want the internet to be faster. Sprint's new one click interface, while it took a little getting used, is so helpful. You can put icons for facebook, cnn, weather, email, and many many more and all you have to do is scroll left or right, no hunting in menus for them. Lastly, the shape and size is unique, practical and yes...fun. I'm a guy (if you couldn't tell from the name) but my friends who are girls think its a great butt pocket phone, because its slim (so it fits) and wide (so it adds depth to your posterior, I believe), so they tell me. For us guys, it fits well in my jeans, and it looks professional when I retrieve it from the inside pocket of my pea coat. Basically...I LOVE THIS PHONE!
While I love it, it can be slow when coming out of internet mode or if you scroll through the one click icons too fast. Just give it a second and it'll be fine.
Really great phone....
I have had this phone for about 2 days now and I have to say that it basically ROCKS! I took back the Samsung Instinct (which I was REALLY unhappy with) So far this phone does everything that I want it to. I have always been primarily a smart phone user so I was a little wary about this. The texting is thread, the camera is great and I set up my personal email and my work OWA email with a breeze. After 2 weeks Sprint Tech support still could not tell me why my OWA email would not work on the Instinct. I recommend this phone at this point. Also, it is MUCH smaller in person than in pictures.
Pros:
Coversation Text
Camera
Email
Qwerty Keyboard
Sprint One Click
Very user friendly
Cons:
Could have faster web browser
Overall - Definitely worth the money!!!
Everything I Wanted From More Expensive Phones
When it was time to shop for a new phone, I really wanted the Instinct from Samsung. Looking for an alternative to the expensive data plan, I waited for the right phone to come along at a better rate. The Lotus is definetly everyting I wanted in a more expensive phone at a much better price.
I absolutely love this phone and I'm glad I waited.
PROS:
- Great keyboard layout with good placement of key modifiers and symbols
- Landscape oriented screen of a regular flip phone
- LOUD speaker.
- IMAP/POP support!!
- Speakerphone works really well from at least a lap distance.
- Volume keys page up and down in contacts.
- Amazing plastics that don't hold finger prints or smudges...feel amazing to touch.
- Side port location microSD card.
- Micro USB port supports 5-volt, 8.5amp USB connections for charging
- Solid hinge with rubber bumper stop for opening
- Background applications saves quite a bit of time from loading over and over again.
- Outer screen works for self portait camera
- One-click is time saving. Nice evolution from d-pad shortcuts.
CONS:
- Outer screen is hazy, still readable.
- Typing too fast can invoke lag
- Hard to open the phone without looking at it's orientation.
- Sprint browser can't be changed to default another application (like Opera)
- Lots of one-click "tiles" are just browser shortcuts
- "Text" button only is only recent contacts, not the full text menu system.
- Function key for punctuation sometimes used in applications instead (Opera browser)
Nice smartphone alternative
Coming off a smartphone (Treo 800w), I've found it quite handy for doing a lot of texting and an occassional email (gmail). I plan on keeping it beyond the 30 day trial as it does a great job on the basics. Other likes/dislikes:
LIKES:
-keyboard (nice backlights)
-bright display
-threaded text msg app
-camera pic quality
-handy form factor
DISLIKES:
-email app freezes up frequently
-web browser slow
-vibrate is weak
-Sprint "bubble" service outright stinks (very limited choices and content; auto updating of lags way behind realtime)
Sent Mine Back
I've been with Sprint for 10 years and I was looking for a replacement for my Sanyo DLX, which I love, except it is missing a keyboard. I was hoping the LG Lotus would make me happy but it didn't. I couldn't get used to the awkward shape and I wanted more customization including getting rid of the drab black/yellow/gray color combo which wasn't an option. I kept this phone for 2 days before sending it back.
Overall the phone was just ok. And the more I played with it the more I realized it wasn't worth the $150 I paid with it, along with a 2 yr renewal, so I sent it back.
Pros:
Beautiful Large Screen
Keyboard for Texting
Cons:
Signal strength wasn't as good as my Sanyo
On Screen colors could not be changed--hated the black/yellow combo
awkward shape
Close but...
after a few weeks living with the lotus I'm going to swap it for an instinct. pros are its a great music player, it does you tube, but crashes on you tube unless pluged into the charger. Love the keypad and scroll psd. great text phone
nice messaging phone
e-mail setup easy, nice screen, but I could use a bigger battery for heavy you tube use.
cons could use a bigger battery. can't assign quick launch buttons enough for my liking. . use my scheduler a lot but it is buried. the web browser is weak, even after mini opera.
battery life as just a phone is great. size is awesome, very easy to thumb text loved my motoQ until it went for a swim. had 3 batteries. so even though the lotus does much better with battery life I've ran low a few times. after heavy you tube use.
LG Lotus and Email
My previous phone was an HTC Mogul.
The most annoying things about smart phones is the delay between changing apps. Enabling the browser or looking at email and then switching back to phone mode was a problem and Windows Mobile on the HTC was almost intolerable.
I have always liked flip phones. I like that the screen is off and protected when the phone is closed. With my HTC, even though keyboard was locked, the phone would bump against my keys in my pocket and issue annoying beeps at me. And before the Lotus, all flip phones with qwerty keyoards were uncomfortably thick.
So, I have been anxiously awaiting the combination of the flip style phone and qwerty keyboard, and after playing with it a bit, I absolutely love the form factor.
The LG Lotus moves very quickly between the apps I have tried. The only problem is that with a proprietary OS, the apps are limited.
I use my phone for web browsing and email and the keyboard makes URL entry, contact info entry, email and text messages tolerable.
Many reviewers complained about the small keyboard, but I found that after using the keyboard just a couple of times, I adjusted quickly and have no problems.
I do think the email app which comes with the phone is too limited. Many of the standard options available in an email application are not present. I can also not find a way to change the account settings after an account has been created. This is really annoying. I have to delete the account and recreate it from scratch to change a setting like the outgoing server name or to turn SSL on or off.
The email app does not support TLS or other standard server options for send and receive. If you are buying this phone for email, check out the email options carefully to make sure it will work for you.
Power usage seems to be conservative. I used the phone for 2 days on the first charge. I have had the phone for less than a week, so I have not had a chance to use many features.
Lotus
I found problems with the GPS in particular the favorites and recent address categories, when i registered my new phone with the sprint gps it of course synced with the web site and downloaded my favorites to my phone then the next day when i tried to use my favorites the list was gone i had to re download sprint gps re register and then it synced again and i was able to utilize me favorites as soon as i left my gps and went back to phone use the favorites were lost again, i also experienced internal server error problems, linking to sprint servers. so they sent me a replacement phone and it has the same inherent problems, there for I would not recommend this phone to any who uses gps or the web very often from your phone.
