The One about the LG EnV Touch Part I

August 1, 2009 by Dennis Amith 

It was time to upgrade my cell phone and I’ve been with Verizon for nearly ten years but I also have been with AT&T for three.  So, it was time to make a decision…as much as I wanted to try an Apple iPhone but because I still have six months with Verizon for my EVDO, I opted for the recently released LG EnV Touch.  Which I have been told by my Verizon store are instantly gone by the time they reach the store.

Now, I know that the Apple iPhone has the bells and whistles and apps that are quite appealing but my main primary drive is having a phone that has good battery power but a service with good coverage area and a price that was well worth the upgrade and needless to say, the LG Env Touch looked appealing and hopefully it’s as sturdy as the original EnV.  But I wasn’t looking for a smart phone for now, just a phone that is reliable for being a phone and using the speaker phone.  I don’t plan to use YouTube or any Internet on this phone but if I could view documents or add my own MP3′s and videos, this is good enough for me.

The phone opens up to reveal a keyboard similar to the LG EnV 1, 2 and 3.  Easy to use and for those who like to text…this is a very good phone to use.  Otherwise, if you have no need for the touch screen on the front, go for the EnV 3.

So, the first thing I noticed is that the screen is quite slick and it took a little while to get used to calling via using the touch screen.  Verizon offers the screens $13.00 but I opted to wait and see what I can get from eBay and also check on prices for a microSD card and the protective casing.

Many people recommend the Body Glove casing for the EnV Touch and it costs around $17-20 and for screen protectors, people have praised the InvisibleSHIELD.

The LG EnV Touch is quite slick and I noticed their was a calendar, calculator, stop watch, alarm clock and EZ tip calculator.  Not sure if there are other applications but for extreme basics, at least these were easy to find.  Also, there are three demos that are included.  Need For Speed, Resident Evil and Tetris.  Need for Speed lets you play one full game as opposed to Tetris which is timed.  Resident Evil, as much as I enjoy playing the games on the console, I haven’t really explored the game on my phone.

The MicroSD Card

As for MicroSD cards, you can find them on eBay for cheap.  I ordered a Sansdisk MicroSD for like $2.50 and you can use any MicroSD card, don’t be fooled by claims such as “this MicroSD card is specifically for the EnV Touch” and so they charge $12 for the same type of 2GB card.  Any MicroSD card will work.  Put it in your EnV Touch and go to “Settings & Tools”, go to memory, card and you can format your card.   After formatting, the phone will create folders titles music, pix, flix, documentts.  Use your USB cord and connect to your phone and then click on “Settings”, Click on Tools and USB Mass Storage and your LG Env Touch will sync to your PC and MAC (I tested this on a Windows XP Laptop and MAC OS 10.5 operating system) and both worked fine.

On your MAC, you should see an icon come up for your Memory Card as “NO LABEL” (which you can rename) and on PC, via MyComputer or Explorer, you should see another drive.  Folders you will on your memory card after reformatting are:

media (not sure what this folder is for)

my_document (word documents, excel documents, PDF’s and text files go here)

my_flix (all movie .wmv or .mp4 files)

my_music (all MP3 files)

my_pix (all your .jpg images)

my_sounds (ringtones)

Now why do I want the MicroSD card, this is only useful for those who want to store many images, MP3′s, .WMV (Windows Media Video files) and other video files like .mp4 or .PDF, Microsoft Word or Excel Documents but most importantly their ringtones.

Although I have an iPod, I don’t bring my iPod everywhere and thus it’s great to store audio and video podcasts and music with you.  I tried a variety of video formats and so far I have been able to get .wmv  and .mp4 files to work.

As for MP3′s, they worked perfectly and you can make your MP3′s to a ringtone if you wish. The only thing is that some of my files with album covers didn’t show up.  Some say they got it work perfectly via their Rhapsody or Windows Media software but I use iTunes, so not sure.

As for photos, I wish there was a way to separate photos into folders for organizing them but for now, it’s just one big folder full of photos (I tested multiple folders but they do not show up on my phone).

My primary reason for the MicroSD card was for PDF’s, document files and excel files.  Need to make a note for yourself, are at a store and not sure if you own a video game, book or DVD already but you have a database on a excel document or a map from mapquest that you converted to PDF, no problem…transfer it over and you can view it over the phone.

It’s important to note that I have dropped my enV Touch once (fortunately not far from my desk) and it stopped reading the MicroSD card and defaulted with another image.  I shut off my phone, ejected the SD card, reinserted it and restarted the phone and everything came up.

BITPIM

One can download through Verizon’s service and if you have a MicroSD card, you can use the MP3′s on your card as a ringtone.  The other way is through BITPIM.  BITPIM (as of right now the latest version is 1.07) is a software which allows people to sync their contact folders to their computers and also their ringtones [NOTE: BITPIM is something that you try at your own risk]. For now, one must need to set their LG Env Touch as a Modem (go to settings and tools, USB auto detection and select modem mode).

On Bitpim, it will not detect your Touch, so manually you need to set it as LG-VX10000 (Voyager) as the LG EnV Touch is not available yet on the software (try this at your own risk).  Personally, I would not sync your contact folders at this point in time as I’ve read some people messed up their EnV Touch and had to do a manual restart.  But people have used BITPIM to edit and create their own ringtones.  You can find more information here. Again, try this at your own risk.  Otherwise, it’s best to just purchase a MicroSD card.  Also, I have been unable to get BITPIM to work on my MAC but was able to get it to work on a PC.  Fortunately, for a MAC, you can easily sync and transfer files via the MicroSD card and via Bluetooth.

TAKING PICTURES AND VIDEO:

For the most part, I enjoy the 3.2 Mega Pixel Camera and video is captured quite well.  And its easy to use BITPIM or transfering it your MicroSD card and transfer it to your computer.

DURABILITY

I have yet to still buy any type of protective gear for my phone.  I’ve dropped it once and so far, it works fine (although I have dropped my original EnV on cement and it worked fine.  Although, with a touch screen…a bit scared of dropping it) but had an issue with the MicroSD Card (read above under MicroSD Card).

But I more than likely will purchase a screen protector because having it on my pocket, definitely may cause some problems for the near future.  Although, I have extra protective screens from my old PDA that I may modify and put it on this phone.

NEGATIVES

Well, the primary negative is that compared to my LG EnV (the first one), the sound of the ringtones is quite low.  Not sure if this can be fixed via the next firmware upgrade.  The other is that I wish Verizon allowed other video formats to be included with the video player and finally a way to organize your photos and documents into a folder (yes, I know it’s not a smartphone but it would be nice to have this capability).   But that’s about it.

Overall, The LG Env Touch is a very good phone.  Again, it’s a not a smart phone and by no means is this going to compete with an Apple iPhone or Blackberry.  But for those who want a touch phone but also other extra capabilities that your previous phone wasn’t able to do (or do quite well), upgrading to an LG EnV Touch is well worth it.