LG LX370 Review

Introduction:

LG and Sprint have always had a tepid relationship; the manufacturer has had a continued presence on the carrier, but Samsung and Sanyo have always taken top billing and LG’s offerings were usually limited to one or two devices.  The LG LX370 joins the Rumor 2 and Lotus in Sprint’s lineup, giving LG more of a presence than they’ve ever had and perhaps marking the start of a closer relationship with the #3 carrier in the run-up to a featured Android device later this year.  Nevertheless, the LG LX370 is a mid-range slider with a 2-megapixel camera, EVDO and Sprint’s One Click UI.  Included in the box you’ll find the microUSB AC adapter and a 1GB microSD card.

Design:

The LX370 follows the simple slider design.  The front contains the 2” QVGA display and navigation cluster, including the 5 way directional pad, soft keys and Send, End and Back keys.  Sliding it open is very smooth with good resistance then spring.  There is a simple 12 key dialpad below.  The bottom of the phone tapers in, solving one of the biggest issues we see with slides: overhang.  Often this interferes with the first row of keys, but not so on the LG LX370.  All of the keys on the phone are large enough and offer good feedback.  T9 texting is downright pleasant on this phone.



You can compare the LG LX370 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The LG LX370 has a very good and solid feel to it.  As we said the slide is reassuring, a sentiment that can be used to describe the overall build quality as well.  The display is crisp, but too small for our tastes.  There is a lot of room around it, and for the price that they are charging ($100 on contract) we would like to see something bigger.

On the left side of the phone is the volume rocker and microUSB port.  To the right you’ll find a 2.5mm headset jack, microSD slot, speakerphone/voice command button and camera key.  The back is very plain, with the small 2 megapixel camera perched at the top and the single speaker off to its right.  The door is tricky to get off if you don’t use the textured part at the top, but the only reason you’d need to remove it is to get to the battery.




We’re impressed with the LG LX370.  It’s not going to win any design awards, and we think it’s overpriced for what it is, but the design is very good.  It feels great in hand, it’s small enough to slip into a picket and we don’t foresee wear being an issue.

User Interface, Phonebook and Organizer:

The LX370 runs Sprint’s One Click UI, which was debuted last October with the Lotus.  We gave a full rundown at the time, and still enjoy it very much.  As far as carrier UIs go, this one is by far the best.  Unique to the Exclaim is a twitter tile, which allows for easy tweeting from your homescreen.  MySpace and Facebook are not preloaded like the Exclaim, though they can be added easily enough.  The twitter tile from the Exclaim is not available on the LG LX370.  The main menu has the familiar 12 icon layout that most Sprint phones feature at this point, nothing new to report.



LG’s phonebook is only slightly above average.  It allows for everything you’d expect to see, including IM names and memos, and there are some niceties like custom vibrate patterns and secrecy options.  As the line between smart and dumbphones continue to blur we would have much preferred to see some more detail available, as with the Motorola contact layout which allows you to add more personal information such as birthdays and addresses.  Nuance takes care of the voice dialing.



Other features remain standard as well.  The user is given a basic personal calendar, and exchange calendars are supported by the Sprint Mobile Email program.  The latter feature is very cool, but we just don’t see many people who have an Exchange account using a phone like the LG LX370.   Other basic amenities include an alarm, basic and tip calculator, unit converter, world clock, notepad and voice memos.

Connectivity and Data:

The LX370 is an EVDO Rev. 0 phone with GPS and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR.  The HSP, HFP 1.5, DUN, OPP, FTP, PBA, A2DP, AVRC and BPP 1.2 profiles are supported.  The WAP browser is as you would expect.  Sprint’s homepage is pretty good and gives the user quick access to basic info such as news, sports and weather, but we’d still recommend a download of Opera Mini for a better browsing experience.  Still, on the 2” display it won’t be great.

Messaging and Multimedia:

Again, everything is pretty much the same here.  Text messaging is threaded so the user sees conversations in their inbox, not messages.  The included IM client supports AIM, Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger.  Sprint Mobile Email is one of the better email clients we’ve seen for basic phones. It supports most everything you can throw at it, including Exchange.

As an EVDO phone the LG LX370 features all of Sprint’s multimedia offerings; Sprint TV, Radio and Music Store.  With support of 16GB microSD cards it acts as a decent on the go mp3 player, though it won’t be replacing many iPods.  The 2-megapixel camera was not very good.  Colors saturation was poor, images were dark and detail was only so-so.  LGs for Sprint have never performed well, and the LX370 is no exception.

Performance and Conclusion:

Call quality on the LG LX370 was above average, but not by much.  Callers rated us a 6.5/10, saying that we sounded like we were on a cell phone.  To us they sounded very thin; the volume was fine but there was no beef to their voice.  The battery is rated for a very robust 6 hours of talk time and 11.6 days of standby, both impressive numbers.

The only real complaint we have with LG’s LX370 is the price.  At $100 it is more expensive than most phones in Sprint’s lineup, including more compelling offerings like the BlackBerry Curve and Samsung Exclaim.  We really like it as a mid-range phone, the form factor and build quality are great, but would like to see the price tag come down to $50 or less.  At that price we can overlook the poor camera and so-so all quality, but at $100 we’re inclined to look elsewhere.

LG LX370 Video Review: