LG enV Touch VX11000 Review

Introduction:

When the LG Voyager was introduced for the 2007 Holiday Season, it was the “must have” device from Verizon, as it was the first non-smartphone to incorporate a full touch-sensitive display with internal QWERTY keyboard.  Since then, there have been other phones introduced with touchscreen displays, such as the Dare, Versa, and Krave.  Then the beginning of this year, rumors started that a “Voyager 2” was coming to Verizon, but the Voyager name was retired, and the device was dubbed the LG enV Touch VX11000.  The most notable improvements include two large 3” WVGA displays, better user interface, call quality, and a 3MP autofocus camera.

The retail package includes the enV Touch phone, 950mAh battery, combination wall charger/microUSB cable, and user manual.


Design:

When looking at the enV Touch for the first time, you can easily tell it is an upgrade from the Voyager, since both share many design characteristics.  The clamshell form-factor remains intact with the familiar 2-stop hinge.  Most of the front real estate is taken up by the display, with pewter chrome accents surrounding it.  We like this choice since it’s not as shiny and reflective as the mirror chrome used on the Voyager.  The back still uses the soft-touch coating, but has geometric indentions to it, which is also found on the enV3.  The device’s overall height and depth is now slightly less, but it is also a little wider (due to the size of the display).  Because of this, it less “brick like” than the Voyager, but it is still not as compact as the Alias 2, enV3, or Versa, and is noticeable while in your pant’s pocket.  The overall construction feels solid for the most part, but we did notice some plastic creaking sounds when pressing on the chrome edging around the display.  The Voyager and enV3 also exhibit this, but to a lesser extent.



You can compare the LG enV Touch VX11000 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

As previously mentioned, the external 3” resistive touchscreen display is quite impressive, as it features WVGA 800x480 pixel resolution and supports up to 1.6 million colors.  The internal display is the exact same size and specifications, except that it is not touch-sensitive.  When looking at the displays on the LG enV Touch VX11000 next to the Voyager, you can easily see the difference it’s size and quality of images it produces.  The enV Touch also has a light sensor, which automatically adjusts the brightness of the external display based on surround light levels, as well as a proximity sensor that turns off the display when the phone is next to your face and you’re on a call.  Our only complaint here is that there is no way to manually adjust the brightness of the displays.


Since the touchscreen is resistive (pressure) sensitive, you can use your finger or a stylus for input, but we found a stylus really isn’t necessary.  It provides a haptic (vibration) feedback when pressed, but you can change level of the vibration or even turn it off.  The overall responsiveness of the touchscreen is good, but it does require a slightly more pressure than the Versa to get a response; about the same amount as the Dare.

Just like with the other LG touchscreen phones, the only physical buttons located on the front are for Send, Clear/VoiceCommand, and End/Power.  They have a metallic look to them, but are in fact plastic.  Along the left side is the camera button, volume rocker and lock button, with the 3.5mm headset jack and microSD card slot on the right side, microUSB data port on the bottom, and 3MP camera with flash on the back.  We are glad to see the proprietary data port and 2.5mm headset jack used on the Voyager was replaced with the more standardized microUSB and 3.5mm formats.



When opening the phone up, you have the familiar 2-stop hinge that is found on the Voyager and other enV models.  Below the internal display is the QWERTY keyboard, which has undergone some changes.  The buttons are still about the same size, but have more rounded edges to them.  There is now a single space key in the center, instead having two on either side, which to us feels easier to use.  The d-pad is larger, and there are buttons for Favorites and New Text Message located on the left side.  We found typing messages on the QWERTY keyboard to be slightly quicker than the Voyager, due to the center space key.  When compared to the Versa (with keyboard attachment) the backlit buttons on the enV Touch were easier to see and are not a cramped together as on the Samsung Alias 2.  Big hands will also like the larger keyboard on the LG enV Touch VX11000 than the enV3.