2012 LG Xpression Phone (AT&T) Review

Product Description

Quick and Convenient

Slim, stylish and well connected! Browse the Mobile Web on the large 3-inch WQVGA display, or message your friends with a full QWERTY keyboard. If you write a bunch of text messages each day, this LG phone will make life easy with the one-touch LG Instant Note feature. Instant Note is one of the big highlights for this device because users can quickly compose messages and share with friends on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Words are nice, but sometimes words can never capture the full story. With the LG Xpression you won’t have to worry since there is a 2 megapixel camera and camcorder to ensure you don’t miss a perfect picture opportunity. The Xpression also supports the full line of 3G media, location, and downloadable music services. Device features include the following:

3.0 inch display: The large 3.0 inch touchscreen responds accurately to your finger tapping and allows you to access info quickly. Share media: Add pictures, video clips, or voice messages to your texts to let your family and friends really see and hear what you have been up to lately (AT&T Wireless service required. Additional charges may apply). Display shortcuts: The slide-out QWERTY keyboard has dedicated keys to some of your favorite shortcuts like text, email, and the world wide web. Efficient messaging: Quickly compose notes, text messages, and updates for Facebook and Twitter using Instant Note. Music player: With the Music Player, you can play a variety of digital formats, and organize your tunes by artist, album, all songs genre, playlist, and favorites. 2.0 Megapixel camera: Capture your friends in their funniest moments with the 2 MP camera and camcorder. Download apps: Go ahead and add some fun. Browse and download apps, games, ringtones, videos, wallpapers, and more. Multiple language capability: English, Spanish, French, and Korean AT&T Services The full-featured, premium AT&T Navigator GPS navigation application includes audible turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates and re-routing options, and 3D moving maps (additional charges applicable). AT&T Navigator offers several other features to make your commute more enjoyable and reliable, including mobile access to Yellowpages.com. Additional AT&T services available for this device include: AT&T Address Book, AT&T Music, AT&T Maps, AT&T Code Scanner, myAT&T, and AT&T Radio. Vital Statistics The Xpression weighs 4.59 ounces and measures 4.24 (H) x 2.13 (W) x 0.66(D) inches. The 1,000 mAh battery allows up to 3.3 hours of talk time (certain features may use more power and cause actual time to vary) and up to 10 days in standby mode. The phone runs on AT&T’s 3G network and can operate on the following frequencies: UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900,GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 Class 10. Customer Review The LG Xpression is about halfway between a smartphone and a dumbphone, and is made for people who want to send text messages but not to use a data plan. It runs a few apps and looks android-ish (but is not android), has a sliding keyboard, a touchscreen, and is pretty good. I got this for my daughter, who is a serious texter but doesn't need a data plan, and so far she seems pretty happy. (Update: After several weeks, my daughter asked me to drop this to three stars because of some design flaws -- see below). What I like: - For the price (currently free with plan), it's pretty good. It plays music, takes pictures, sends SMS and MMS messages, and can run a few apps. - Texting is pretty good. It has a slider keyboard, and arranges text exchanges into conversations by sender. - Connecting to a computer is well designed. When you connect to a PC through the micro-USB charging port, you get options to mount the phone as an external storage device (requires memory card), to sync music, or to use the PC for an internet connection. I haven't finished testing that last option, but really appreciate it --assuming it works, it means that we can get to the AT&T app store without buying a data plan. - For a free phone, the operating system isn't bad. You can customize the home screen with "widgets" like android, so you have little windows on the home screen from different apps. - It does have a basic web browser and some social media apps for things like facebook, and is eligible for AT&T's discount data plan, so if you want to buy data, it's functional. (At that point, though, I might look at the basic android phones -- their data plan is a little more expensive, but they're a lot more functional).