LG Dare is a 3G phone on Verizon’s EVDO network

By: Peter Chubb | Posted: June 26, 2008 | 1 Comment
Filed under: Cell Phones, Handsets

$LG Dare is a 3G phone on Verizon\'s EVDO network$
When you take a look at different carriers in the U.S. they seem to have handsets that are limited to just them, Sprint has the Samsung Instinct, AT&T has the iPhone, and now Verizon Wireless has their own, the LG Dare which is launched today. The main features of this phone are the touch-screen and having 3G, the high-quality video recording and the 3.2-megapixel camera, which is a better offering than the iPhone.

When phone companies like LG design a touch-screen handset like the Dare, they seem to all follow in the iPhones footsteps, and that is with a black slab design. The phone’s dimensions are 4.1 by 2.2 by 0.5 inches and weighs in at weighs 3.76 ounces. The 3-inch 262k-color touch-screen is a 240-by-400, and viewing your images which you have taken with your 3.2-megapixel camera looks superb.

If you thought that the new LG Dare was a smartphone you would be wrong, the handset runs a modified version of the operating system that is used on the Verizon LG Voyager, it is packed with a host of fun features. Some of these features include, a favorite’s display, this allows you to arrange your photos of your friends on screen, so you can speed dial just by selecting a friends picture. Ok I know what you are thinking, the HTC Touch also does this, and yes we know it does, but LG have managed to make it a cuter system.

According to PC Mag, they reckon that this is not the biggest feature of the LG Dare though; it is the camera especially the video camera. The LG Dare will record at 640-by-480 video at up to 120 frames per second; this is unheard of from a camera phone from the U.S. before. Taking still images is also a dream, the 3.2 megapixel camera uses a Schneider-Kreuznach lens, and this produces images greater than most camera phones in the U.S. today.
The LG Dare is a lot like the iPhone, as it uses an accelerometer, this means that when you turn your phone the orientation of the picture will also change. It seems as if the Dare is more like the iPhone than LG would like to think. However; things do take a turn for the worst when it comes to its Web browser, it uses Teleca’s Obigo. The software is clunky and becomes very frustrating, the browser is also on the slow side, and LG should have taken some pointers from the browsers used from some of their competitors.

The LG Dare goes on sale today June 26, and will cost $199.99, with a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year contract.