Home

GeckoBeach's Sister Site
IHateTaxis.com: Arrive Stress Free
Be a smart traveller and know your ground transportation options, from airports, train station, terminals, and tourist destinations.


LG 2000 Review
9 Visitors Online

The LG 2000 was released in Canada in August 2005 by Fido (owned by Rogers Canada) and earlier in the US by Cingular Wireless. It is a GSM tri-band world phone (800/1800/1900 MHz), thus supporting both frequencies that Cingular and Fido use (850/1900 MHz), in addition to 1800 MHz for overseas use.

My LG 2000 was tested throughout British Columbia and Northern Washington state on the Canadian Rogers Wireless network.

Review written by ejohan.
Original publication date: 11 September 2005.

Dimensions & Design


LG2000 The LG 2000 is similar to most other flip phones on the market, except for one very noticeable difference -- it is BLUE! This is a refreshing change from the usual silver we see on handsets, especially those on the CDMA market (providers like Telus, Verizon, Bell, Sprint, etc). Besides the blue, it looks very similar to almost every other external display flip phone on the market today.

The LG 2000 is relatively small and light, measuring in at 8.8 x 4.6 x 2.4cm3 or 3.49" x 1.81" x 0.96" (H x W x D) and an approximate weight of 96.5g or 3.4oz.

Both displays on this phone are easy to read and quite bright. I liked the outside faux-colour screen on this model because it does not change colour (i.e., it is always black on a light blue sky pattern). When the backlight disengages, you can still make out the black text.

The inside 65K STN screen is bright, easy to read in almost any lighting condition, and is very clear. In my opinion it does the job well.

This phone is built well and it shows. Everything from the outside blue finish to the inside rubbery buttons seem well designed and built to last. Much better then some of the older South Korean products I've tested.

I also found that the VGA camera on this phone is better than other ones on the market. It takes pictures without a coloured border or obvious marks you can see from the curved lens on some other camera phones. However, like all the other camera phones, it is only for your quick "Oops! I should have brought my camera!" snap shots. It is definitely not a replacement for your normal digital or film camera.

I wasn't too impressed with the menu on the LG 2000. The menu setup is for the beginner and doesn't give you many personalization options beyond a poor choice of ringtones and wallpapers.


Coverage, Sound Quality & Reception Quality


In my opinion, the LG 2000's sound quality was quite good compared to other models. Sound quality (garbling or distortion) was better than I've tested on other models. However, using both my Belkin & Motorola branded generic 2.5mm headset, I often heard "transmitter buzz" which I found annoying if you're a regular user the headset like I do. Having said that, I did not notice the same on the LG branded headset though.

The RF (ability to make and keep calls in an weak area) was quite good on this phone. Every time I could make and keep a call with my Nokia 3595 & SE T637, I could also make a call with the LG. Most of the other handsets I've tested could not do this. The LG 2000's RF is better then every single Motorola I've owned (V300, V500, V635, etc). I was very impressed when I was able to make and keep a call all the way from the city of Bellingham, WA, USA on a fringe 1 bar of signal, all the way to the Canadian border, which is at least a 20 minute drive on the rural highway, locked on the home Rogers network. That also was not possible with most other phones I've tested.


Wireless Data and Web Browser


This phone only supports GPRS and it shows -- data was slow and unreliable. Transfer rates seemed very slow compared to EDGE and 1X phones I've used.

The browser on the LG 2000 is also badly designed and unreliable in my opinion. It crashed several times when I was trying to browse the Fido content site and several more times while looking at other WAP sites.

However, the SMS worked pretty well, although I still prefer Nokia and Sony Ericsson's method of T9, where you can make changes to the dictionary. I could not figure out how to add words to LG's dictionary (if it is even possible).


Battery


The 1000 mAh is rated by Fido at 5 hours talk time and 8 days of standby time. I found that these estimates were not even close. My tests with the handset noted a standby time in a strong signal area with no talk time of about 4 days. With heavy use, I had to recharge the handset for about every 3 hours of talk time, which is about average for this type of phone.


Overall


This is one of the better phones on the market for those individuals that are looking for a cool blue phone with decent performance.

If, however, you're someone that likes customizing your phone with options, ringtones, or using data features, then this might not be the best choice. There are better GSM phone choices currently offered by Motorola, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson.


©2005 ejohan, all rights reserved. This review may be republished provided both the author's name and source (GeckoBeach.com) appear in the article.

Top


Home
Reviews

Site Map