Created: 07/31/2008
Video description: Looking for a phone that truly dares to be different? Brian Tong tells you everything you need to know about the LG Dare from Verizon.
Product Spotlight: LG Dare Video Transcript
>> It's a full touch screen that's daring others to take notice. I'm Brian Tong from CNET.com, and today we've got the Spotlight turned up on the LG Dare from Verizon. The LG Dare's design is dominated by its display, and its silver and metallic accents make this a classy looking phone. Now you'll see three buttons on the bottom that don't get in the way of the design for calling, voice commands, and ending calls. The three inch touch screen has [inaudible] vibrating feedback, and it's a touch screen phone that works with your fingertip, a silas, or your fingernail. So let's get to the meat of this phone first. There's a whole lot, so you got to stick with me. Now this phone runs on EBGO rev A, which currently is one of the fastest 3G speeds around, and this phone is snappy. It features a 3.2 megapixel camera that we'll revisit, a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, and stereo Bluetooth. Now you have a mini SD card slot that supports up to eight gigs, and a full HTML browser, even though it's cramped on the smaller screen. Now there's email access to all major accounts, a landscape keyboard throughout all functions, plus GPS with the Visi navigator, and access to [inaudible] music and video. So you got all that, right? Okay. Now let's talk about how this phone dares to be different. You can completely customize the home screen by dragging and dropping your own shortcuts, and arranging them the way you like it. So I'll click on this arrow here to reveal the shortcuts, and if I want the web browser on my home screen I'll drag it out, and put it where I want it. You can also move around your icons in the main menu as well. It also has one of the most advanced cameras we've seen on any touch screen phone. It's a 3.2 megapixel camera, with settings galore, like face detection, noise reduction, and panorama photo stitching. Yes, all this on a cell phone. Now what about video capture. This guy can record at one hundred and twenty frames per second, at three different video resolutions, and allow you to play it back slo-mo Matrix style, which is a first for any US phone. There's also a fun drawing application that you can use, and then send the drawing as a multimedia message to a friend. So there are a whole ton of unique features in this phone, but what does this phone still need to work on? Now I've got a little gripe with its touch screen, because compared to the iPhone and the inSync I had to make really solid contact with the Dare's touch screen for the phone to detect my touches. Now if I touch it with normal pressure, it doesn't detect it, and the result is more miss this than I like. They also offer a handwriting feature, where you can draw characters, and it will interpret them as letters. But the combination of a small writing area, and making sure you press the touch screen firmly, it makes it problematic. Now there's no Wi-Fi on this phone, and yes, the faster flavor of EBGO does a great job, but I'd still like to have Wi-Fi as an option on the Dare. Now LG can't change the size of this phone, but because its screen is smaller, it also makes web browsing and viewing content a more cramped experience overall. Now on the performance side, call quality on this phone is excellent, like most Verizon phones, and battery life is rated at 4.6 hours of talk time. Our lab squeezed out just under five hours. I'm Brian Tong for CNET.com, and the LG Dare may take a little time getting used to its touch screen, but it's an innovative and feature rich handset that makes it one of the top touch screen phones on the market.
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Product Spotlight: LG Dare

Looking for a phone that truly dares to be different? Brian Tong tells you everything you need to know about the LG Dare from Verizon.
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