LG Accolade VX5600 Review

Introduction:

Since the introduction of the LG VX5200 back in 2005, there has been a newer model released by Verizon each year (except for 2009), including the VX5300, VX5400, and VX5500; up to the new Accolade VX5600 for 2010. There have been some changes in features between models as well, such as removing Analog support, going from Bluetooth 1.0 to 2.1+EDR, and increasing the camera from VGA resolution to 1.3MP, not to mention the cosmetic appearance. But one concept has remained within the series: that it is intended for people who are looking for a basic mobile phone at a low price and without a lot of added bells-and-whistles that they’ll never use. The only competition to the LG Accolade VX5600 currently would be from the Samsung Smooth and the Nokia 2705 Shade, as both are also basic phones at a low price.

Included in the retail package are the LG Accolade VX5600 phone, 1000mAh battery, wall charger with detachable microUSB cable, and user guide.

Design:

Who says a basic and inexpensive flip phone has to look bad? Not LG, as the Accolade VX5600 looks better and has a more streamlined appearance than its predecessors. The front of the device is more simplistic and has a two-tone design with a mirror-like finish around the 1.04-inch external display and 1.3MP camera. We also like the darker graphite-gray color that is used instead of the silver color of earlier models. The LG Accolade is easy to hold, as the corners are rounded and the device is of average size, though its plastic construction does feel a bit flimsy as you can bend and flex the phone some. Located on the left side are the volume rocker, voice command key, microUSB port and 2.5mm headset jack, with the camera button on the right side. There isn’t a microSD memory card slot included on the device.



You can compare the LG Accolade VX5600 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The hinge opens and closes smoothly, but once opened it does bend back rather easily if any pressure is applied. The internal display remains 1.76-inch, with a 176x220 pixel resolution and 262K color support, which is the same as the VX5500, but we did notice that colors and image contrast did look better on the Accolade. There are also 7 brightness levels for the user, but even with it set to the maximum, the display can be difficult to read in direct sunlight.


Located on the bottom is the d-pad for menu navigation. The only change we noticed here is that the center OK button is now larger and doesn’t stick-out as much, so it is easier to use with your thumb. The numeric keypad has also undergone a minor facelift, as the numbers are now larger in size and the LED backlight is white instead of yellow, allowing it to be easily seen in low-light conditions. Pressing on keys still provide a good “click” response and their large size makes for dialing number or typing a text message a breeze.

So, we prefer the design of the LG Accolade VX5600 to that of its predecessors. It's fairly compact and fits well in the hand, thanks to its more rounded shapes. Still, if we are to compare it with most of the handsets that get released nowadays, we believe that it doesn't look as contemporary. At least using it is relatively pleasing, thanks to the larger d-pad and number keys.

Software and Features:

One area that hasn’t changed much is the Main Menu, with categories for Media Center, Messaging, Contacts, Recent Calls, and Settings & Tools. What really bothers us is that the only real difference from year-to-year is with theme choices, with the LG Accolade VX5600 including Classic, Urban, and Metal, as well as being able to display them in Tab, List and Grid view. Other than that, you can also select wallpapers, three different fonts and sizes, and seven clock formats. Even in such a low-end phone, we would have liked to see some innovation, at least here, in the interface department. Maybe next year...



Up to 1000 contacts can be stored, each with their name, 5 phone numbers, 2 emails, IM screen name, picture, ringtone, group, and street address. You can easily access the list by pressing the right soft-key or by going into the contacts menu and it will show the saved contacts in alphabetical order. From here you can scroll through the list, or enter in the first few letters in the “Go to” felid to perform a search. There is also the ability to assign saved contacts to one of 999 speed-dial locations.



Most other software features remain unchanged from the previous years, such as the appointment calendar where you can save alerts, text and picture messaging, Mobile Web 2.0, VZ Navigator for GPS guided driving directions, and the ability to download other ringtones and games. Since the device lacks a microSD memory card slot, and only has 34MB of internal memory, there isn’t a music player included. One new feature we were surprised to see was the Microsoft Bing search, where you can perform searches on the Web, Local (GPS), or VZW Media. If you do just a standard search, it will search the Web for results, where the Local search is good for restaurants and local places, and the VZW Media search will scan for matching Verizon ringtones, wallpapers, games, etc.



The LG Accolade VX5600 is the first in the series to have a 1.3MP camera that supports taking images at 1280x960 resolution, instead of a VGA camera with 640x480 resolution. However, this increase in resolution is almost useless as image quality is still lacking, and since there isn’t a memory card slot to save the pictures, you are forced to send the pictures to your PC via MMS. Because of this, if the file size is larger than 300KB, the phone will automatically reduce the resolution from 1280x960 to a mediocre 426x320, thus lowering the file size. We were not aware of this to begin with, as we took several sample pictures outside and indoors. Once we began sending them to our PC, we noticed that some stayed at 1280x960, while others were downsized to 426x320. A quick check of the original file size showed that all the images larger than 300KB were reduced when sending. Because of these limitations, don’t expect to take any award-winning pictures with the Accolade. And in case you were wondering, video recording is not supported.

Even though the LG Accolade VX5600 is a basic model… it is still a mobile phone, so we’re glad to see (or rather, hear) that call quality has improved from previous year’s models, and the background “hiss” that we heard while using the VX5300 is now just a distant memory. Voices on our end through the earpiece speaker were clear and distortion-free, though we did have to turn the volume all the way up to the loudest setting. People that we called also said that we sounded good on their end. However, the signal reception on the LG Accolade VX5600 averaged only 1-2 bars in high-coverage areas, while the VX5500 would have 2-3 bars. We were curious about this and went into the service menu on both phones. The LG Accolade VX5600 was showing a signal of-99dB while the VX5500 had -91dB (remember the closer to 0 the better). We’re not sure why the Accolade is picking up less of a signal than the VX5500, but this should be a concern for people who travel into fringe areas. However, during our testing in south Florida we did not drop any calls.

The included 1000mAh battery is rated to provide up to 7.6 hours of talk time or 28 days of standby time on a full charge. During our testing of the LG Accolade VX5600 we were able to achieve up to 7.5 hours of continuous talk time on a full charge, which is almost unheard of. This is a substantial improvement over the 2.5 hours of talk time we got with the VX5300 a few years ago.

Conclusion:

The LG Accolade VX5600 is simply a basic mobile phone designed for people who will use it for its primary purpose… making and receiving phone calls. The overall design is now more streamlined with smooth rounded edges and an attractive color scheme, and the numbers on the dialpad are larger and easier to view. Even though we were pleased with the voice quality of the Accolade, the lower signal reception can be cause for concern if you do a lot of road traveling through fringe areas.

LG Accolade VX5600 Video Review: