LG Exalt II / Wine IV
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Good phone, front display worthless
Carrier: Verizon
OK, I decided to bite the bullet & buy this Exalt II, replacing a Samsung Convoy 3 which died on me, so my review is a bit compared to the Convoy.
The Exalt II is a total different shape. Much slimmer, thinner, but also much longer. Actually, itâs the longest flip phone Iâve ever seen. The advantage of this is both the screen is longer (so you could see more info at a time), & also that the keys are large and divided, which makes for a comfortable use. Speaking about the keys, itâs way too âclickyâÂ, the Convoy felt more quiet & rubberized, while the Exalt II is more noisy, so typing can disturb in an otherwise quiet room. Some more nitpicking? I loved that on the Convoy 3 the SEND key is green, END is red. On recent LG flip phones, all are white. I also donât like the number fonts on the keys. I am a bit surprised to see an extra key for âAlarm clockâÂ. I canât see the need for it.
The feel of the phone is quite high quality. I like the color and the feel of the exterior. The SD card slot is in the rear of phone, you need to remove the cover to access it, but thankfully not the battery.
The single biggest problem of this phone is the lack of a regular external display. The cartoonish display LEDâs are basically worthless. The inside display is nice & huge. Resolution is not bad, but a far cry from today's excellent higher pixel displays.
The camera takes relatively good photos, but is extremely slow to focus â like 4-5 seconds minimum. Another big issue is the placement of the lens. Itâs on the lower part of the phone, where your fingers usually sit when pressing OK, so most of the times the lens is blocked by your finger. Big mistake! Thereâs no flash (or flash light). I am spoiled by the Convoy 3.
The software is typical Verizon interface, same as most recent flip phones. I prefer LG over Samsung that the custom words in text msgs are being saved in a user dictionary. There's a variety of lovely relaxing ringers.
