Excellent February 9, 2012

Reviewer:  Nick 

I've had this phone a few months, and have been very impressed, which is why I was appalled when I came here to write a review and saw all the others ranting about it. I chose this phone at first because of its sleek looks, sturdiness, and awesome keyboard. As I said, it is a very cool looking phone (for a basic slide-keyboard phone, at least).

Sturdiness - 9/10. Mine has suffered multiple hard falls - the worst had to be when I dropped it 6 feet (no joke) onto concrete. It got a little chip in it, but the screen nor camera lens didn't crack. Then, I accidentally threw it onto concrete at high velocity (this was a different occasion!). I couldn't even find another scratch on it, and again, nothing had cracked.

Keyboard - 9/10. The keyboard took a few days to get used to compared to my old LG Banter's, but soon I was texting even faster than on the latter. It has a very smooth feel about it, the buttons are not difficult at all to pinpoint and press down on. The keyboard slides out to the left, and the function keys are on the screen - I had to adjust to both of these from the Banter, but it's really not a big deal. Another plus is the button that is used for just a period or comma.

Software - 7/10. This seems to be the main problem you see in other reviews. I saw many a review saying that the phone freezes up while texting..? "Freezing up" suggests that you must take the battery out of the phone to restart it, as it will not respond at all. No, it does not do this, although it does need to catch up if you're texting very fast. I believe that this is a common problem with basic phones like this, since my old phone and my parents' Rumor 2's did and do the same, respectively. I have found that the problem is much worsened when the inbox has a massive amount of texts saved - just delete the texts that you're done with, and the whole texting interface should be quick.

One thing that I really love about this phone is the custom shortcuts on the home screen. You can set the left, up, and down arrows to whatever destination you want (camera, notepad, calendar, etc.), and the right arrow brings up a list of 4 custom destinations that you scroll through. It makes getting around the phone easier and quicker. I think that there are other basic phones that do this, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Oh, and the music application on the phone isn't bad, either. I crammed around 200 songs onto my tiny micro SD card, and listen on my phone quite often. The headphone jack is on top, which seems to be the most convenient location, as opposed to the side. I had a Pantech Crux with the jack on the side, and let me tell you, it was annoying. Anyways, I have to complain about the shuffle feature, because it shuffles the same songs every single time. This is solved by going to a random song instead of hitting "play all."

Ok, last thing about software, I promise. There is a document viewer, which would be alright in an emergency I guess, but you have to zoom in all the way to see anything on the screen. I put some word docs and PDF's on my micro SD to test it out, and it works great. There is a to-do list application, which I think is pretty handy - it's sort of like sticky notes.

Camera - 8/10. Other reviewers are really giving the camera a hard time. I don't understand why they expect results like you'd get from a real camera. Honestly, this phone has a really great camera compared to other basic phones. It seems to automatically adjust white balance, levels, sharpness, etc. after you take a picture, which results in a picture that looks pretty sharp. And I was surprised how nice they look on a computer, too - I'd have thought they would only look good on the tiny phone screen, but I saw that the resolution is 1260x960. Nice.

Calls - 8/10. Reception is very nice, I haven't dropped many calls. My parents always complain about reception with their Rumor 2's - I don't know if they're just saying that or if it's actually bad, but whenever they complain I always have 1 or 2 bars. The speakers are just ok, I don't think you can expect much of any basic phone's speakers though. Sometimes I like to plug my headphones in during a call - this works great. Your headphones don't even need a mic, because the phone's mic works even while headphones are plugged in. It's sort of like speaker phone, only the speakers are in your ears.

Battery Life - 9/10. Really, really great in this aspect. Although lately I have not been calling and texting as much, it is still impressive that I don't have to charge it for several days in a row (5+), especially since I have had it almost a year now. When I am highly active on it, it still lasts quite a while.

Bugs - Hmm, I can't think of many things that have gone wrong, and the ones that I can think of are very minor.
1. When I had 100+ calls saved and went to delete them all, the phone shut itself down. This was solved by going to the different categories of saved calls (outgoing, incoming, missed) and deleting all calls in each separate category.
2. 2 or 3 times that I can remember in the relatively long time I've had this phone, it would not charge when I plugged the cable in. I just replugged it in, though, and it was fine.

Sorry for being long winded - this is an excellent phone and I doubt you'll find a better basic. Other reviewers are being very critical, it seems to me.
*edited this whole post to make it more informative and concise, hopefully it helps!
**edited again to add battery life and 2 bugs

UPDATE
I am noticing more often that the phone will need to catch up to me when I'm texting, as other reviewers have stated. It's a little annoying, but I'm pretty sure this is a common problem with any basic phone. They aren't very powerful machines. I'm not trying to really promote this phone; it really isn't that big of a deal in the big picture, is what I'm saying.

Also, the battery is not lasting nearly as long as it used to. Oh well, the replacements are what, $5?

Perfect tween phone - no data plan needed October 13, 2011

Reviewer:  Sl Judge "gatormomz"  (Pennsylvania) -

I was looking for something for my 12 year old son. He had always gotten the "hand me downs" as far as phones go and now I was ready for him to pick out a new one. He wanted something that was somewhat cool, querty keyboard and stylish. He got just that. All the new phones seem to need a data plan or had poor ratings. So far, so good. He has had it a month and loves it. No problems at all. I'd give it a 5 star rating for being a good solid practical (but plain) phone - no bells or whistles (like a touch screen).

Good choice for a texting phone - no data plan needed January 4, 2012

Reviewer:  EMTP EJ "EJ"  (Washington, DC USA) -

We got these so that it would be easier to text, but we did not want to buy a data plan. If you want a smart phone with all the fancy apps, you might want to consider a different phone. I also wanted to be able to use my phone for a music player, so I got a 16GB micro SD [[ASIN:B001F7AJKI Sandisk 16GB MicroSDHC Memory Card, Class 4]] to go with it and I am not sure if I will ever fill up the card. You can use a Bluetooth headset like [[ASIN:B005OW4AZK Jabra STREET2 Bluetooth Stereo Headset - Bluetooth Headset - Retail Packaging - Black]] to take phone calls and play music while your phone stays on your belt, purse, or gym bag. You can also use Bluetooth to connect to a computer (your results may vary).
The camera is pretty low resolution compared to what is out there. It also will receive any SMS text, like Twitter. The only kind of tricky thing is that if you want to get to the calendar function, you have to press "down" on the control ring around the "OK" button, instead of just pressing "OK" for the menu. I think they want you to use one of the other apps that you have to download instead. I figured this out because we previously had the LG 5400 phones that you can't event get anymore and they had calendar built-in.

This can be a phone worth considering if you are upgrading / refreshing your phones and don't want to pay extra for a data plan.

Known Softoware Problems According to VZW Tech Support October 6, 2012

Reviewer:  G. Smith  (Auburn) -

Two HUGE software problems:

(1) There is an advertising program installed that sends you marketing texts. You have to take some time to manually change settings. The program cannot be removed!

(2) This phone will not work with Verizon's backup assistant! It hangs when it runs and drains the battery within a few hours. After several hours with tech support they admitted it was a known issue and switched me to a different phone.

I'm amazed they continue to sell a phone here with known issues that they are willing to change phones because of it.

Everything I've been wanting since my flip phone August 26, 2012

Reviewer:  Alicia 

I'm a teenager and even though I got a Pantech phone two years ago, long story short I have a tendency to lose things, so I was given my mother's old flip phone to deal with. It was extremely annoying since it was fat, bulky, didn't have a lot of memory space, and I had to relearn how to text with the number keypad.
This phone has DEFINITELY been worth the wait (I had a 2 year contract plan) since it not only has a keypad, but it can load music like my 1st phone, can actually load pics online (flip phone couldn't), and there's still the numbers in front if you just need to dial a number quickly. Not to mention, my old habit using a number keypad still kinda exists.
Just some things: Texts from social networks can appear warped. There's no distinguishing between sent and received texts. The charm thingy is kinda hard to get on, you have to remove the back.
Overall, though, I love it a lot and hope I don't lose it soon XD

Unimpressed November 23, 2011

Reviewer:  Desirae 

This is the first phone that I have felt compelled to review. It is also the fist cell phone I have been unhappy with in the past 15 years. The buttons on the QWERTY keyboard are very difficult to use, the phone freezes when texting and you need to give it a minute to catch up, also, if you hit the speaker phone button prior to answering a call, the call will not connect. As in they can hear you, but all you can hear is a grating beeping sound. The camera is somewhat poor resolution and you cannot zoom. However, if you're looking for a phone to make calls only then it's serviceable, for texting it is horrible.

Phone Won;t Send Picture Texts July 8, 2012

Reviewer:  Ohaha111 

Up until the 3rd of July,2012, I'd have given this phone 4 stars. On July 3, the phone stopped sending picture texts. Verizon had me doing all sorts of mumbo-jumbo and then gave up and sent me a new phone. New phone sent exactly one picture text and now it doesn't send them any more. Both phones received pictures just fine. My wife's Samsung sends pictures from all the same places that I can't with this one, so it's nothing to do with location, holiday call volume, etc. Anyhow, getting ANOTHER replacement phone. No complaints in 10 months;plenty since July 3.

No troubles prior to this. I didn't expect an iPhone equivalent for $0 and no required data plan. I expected what I got. If I want to do flash photography, I have a real camera for that, but for a quick snap in natural light, the phone cam is fine. I like the zoom and crop features. The pics aren't my Canon, but the best basic cellphone pics you can get. The voice quality is good. Except in high-noise situations, there is no need to use speaker. Used speaker all the time on my old Pantech. Very good graphics, too.

UPDATE: Got phone #2 to send pictures after offloading from phone memory all the files that could be transferred to SD card, restoring factory defaults, and re-doing Verizon's "*228, option 1". Worked for my sister's texting problems with her LG Cosmos Touch.

Still, I accepted phone 3 yesterday because #2 had a general looseness in the keypad buttons. Both 2 and 3 are/were "Certified Reconditioned" 3 feels as tight as a new one and pix msg worked without a 2nd *228-ing.Raise my rating back to 4 stars. This is a very good basic phone

Not a Good Phone January 25, 2012

Reviewer:  David Thomas  (Kissimmee, FL United States) -

Bought this phone about 4 months ago. Phone freezes when entering text. Nothing I have done to prevent this has worked ....very frustrating. I expected better from LG as I have always liked their basic phones in the past.

TERRIBLE worst phone ever September 29, 2012

Reviewer:  IRKdaErk ":);D>:("  (Usa) -

The phone broke 1 month after warranty. The screen broke i didnt even get it wet. none of the cases fit rite. sont buy. slow. automatically goes into the app store. i thought it would work better because its a simple fone and would last wrong but i was mistaken. dont get this ever

Slow texting, bad quality, pitiful manufacture. June 14, 2012

Reviewer:  E. Sainio  (Colorado, USA) -

Some people really like this phone.

Those people have never had a decent phone.

When referring to text freezing, as other people have commented, the screen goes abominably slowly. I'm not fast, but having to wait 15-20 seconds to see it catch up is ridiculous. Likewise, you know the software could handle it (if they released a simple patch), since getting into a text screen where you only see the one incoming/outgoing text remains fast and easy. Apparently, it's hard for LG to apply that processing power or simplicity to its messaging menu as a whole. If it takes half a minute just to get to the sender to see what they wrote through the messaging screen, you've released a bad product.

Unfortunately, LG shows no signs of patching the software or working to alleviate the problem. Likewise, some people will use this for a music phone, which tends to have the exact same speed problem. Hey, congrats, you're stuck on the song you want to skip for another 10-15 seconds!

If you're like me, you chose this phone for the QWERTY keyboard. Its appeal stops there, however, since one of the major glitches with my phone is that it will randomly start spamming "1739 Volume Up" repeatedly AS I'M ON THE PHONE. It happens when I'm not on the phone as well, and seems to have no correlation with anything in the exterior environment, including the operator or the other person on the line. I'll tell you, it's annoying as heck when you're in the middle of an important conversation and it starts beeping like R2-D2's hacked your phone line.

All of this points to one thing: LG quickly rushed out a cheap phone to hook people on an annual plan with easy texting. Too bad that the cheapness ruins the texting.

Great Phone June 11, 2012

Reviewer:  Future Green Beret 

This Phone is great for texting and messaging. its keyboard is perfect for texting. I would reccomend this phone to people who text alot.

not the same as the earlier model January 20, 2012

Reviewer:  Amy Amy  (NM) -

I am so disappointed! I have been happy with LGs until now. I really like the previous generation of this phone. But NOT this one. The buttons are so sensitive that I constantly am calling the last phoned number from my purse or pocket without knowing it. And yes I do have the key lock on! I tried using the passcode key lock and it kept me from being able to answer my ringing phone in time to take the calls. I needed to punch in my 4 digit passcode from a particular screen before I could answer my phone. So now I have the "click ok" lock on but it unlocks so easily that the phone is busy all the time. I find that it has accessed wifi and called friends without me knowing it! The battery is often dead when I need it since it has been busy in my purse for hours! I wouldn't take this phone even if it was free!! I don't know how I am going to last the year and a half before I can get a new one!

A decent choice, but this phone is unimpressive January 17, 2013

Reviewer:  jbhalper  (Sycamore, IL, USA) -

I bought this phone because I don't especially care about having a smartphone or a data plan. I just want to make occasional calls, texts, and possibly take a picture once in a while.

This phone does all of that respectably.

Call quality is good. Not as nice as many Nokia phones I've owned over the years, but definitely not bad.

Texting is easy enough on either keyboard, but not great on either as well.

I've had my phone for about a year and a half now. I drop it relatively frequently, and while I have some scuffs, mine has been operating dependably the entire time. I think it's durable enough for most people, but it is not the most rugged phone you could purchase either.

After a year and a half, my battery life is still good, too. I am a light user, but I generally only have to charge every 2-4 days depending on what i've been doing. More use means every other day generally, less means I can get to 4 days or so sometimes. Battery life is still good after this long.

It is small enough to pocket comfortable, and large enough to hold comfortably as well.

The camera is pretty unimpressive. It will take a picture, but you're really best to not try unless you've got a lot of good daylight. Even with the best conditions, you'll still get an okay picture at best.

The real reason I would only give this phone low marks is the combination of questionable software design on LG's part, and the really annoying additions that Verizon made to make things even worse. What could be a decent feature phone is mostly marred by bad software design and intrusion by Verizon. Nothing so bad that the phone is unusable, but it can be quite frustrating.

IF YOU TEXT A LOT, Read This Review! January 5, 2013

Reviewer:  CamD 

I bought this phone in August of 2011 and have had to replace it 2 times, about to replace it a 3rd time.
It's incredibly slow and there's no reason especially since I never download or use the internet for anything.
The calls seem to be okay, but the messaging is horrible on both the number pad and qwerty keyboard.On the number pad, the "end" button is the same feel and so close to the "three" button that your constantly hitting "end" where it asks you if you want to save it in the drafts..it sometimes does this when I think the text is sending and I'll come to find the message in the draft box later...Which wouldn't be so bad, except that in order to see that you have a draft in the box you didn't know was there, you have to go through about 4 menus to get there. The draft box is not clearly visible when you open the messaging menu so you don't think about it. This also becomes a problem if you receive a phone call during a text, it automatically saves it as a draft and since you don't see the drafts, you forget it and it never gets sent!

The Qwerty keyboard layout is weird and difficult to use compared to all other keyboards I've tried. IT IS VERY VERY SLOW. Also, the "symbol & "shift" keys aren't very responsive.. it'll say it's on lowercase, but it comes out uppercase I wont be looking and soon I have to delete a whole sentence.. which, is SO SLOW to do!!! It is such a pain I can't even describe.. Same with the "sym" key.. it says it's back to normal and it's not. I've done updates, had the phone completely rebooted by verizon and everything.. but the problems remain.. If you text, don't buy this phone.

Worst phone I could have picked November 6, 2012

Reviewer:  Orioles Bird 

I was all excited about this phone, seeing that I hated my cruddy flip phone. When I got it, It worked fine for about a month, but one day I pulled it out of my pocket and BAM! the screen was so distorted that I couldn't read it. I turned the phone off and then back on, but the screen decided not to light up. The lights on the keypad still worked.

Summary: DO NOT GET THIS PHONE BECAUSE IT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright......I guess....... October 28, 2012

Reviewer:  James R Chick 

It's ok i guess, but it could be a lot better. My calls fail, texts go to the wrong people, and not to mention that it turns off randomly. The picture quality is pretty good, but not the best. The screen is amazing i think, i have dropped this phone so many times but it hasnt even cracked the screen. The slide keypad is amazing i think. it is so easy to type i can text in class without looking:) it has a lot of cool setting that you can set too. I hate a lot of things about this phone and have been begging my parents for a smart phone......but i still freak out when i drop it:D You can download some games onto the phone, like uno, but they are really crappy apps. You can also search the wweb but it takes about an hour before the web page loads. This phone is mean to me....haha.....i try to break it so i can get a smartphone, but it never breaks, it's indestructable, great for clutzs i guess. My phone never keeps its battery, I find myself charging it 24/7. I don't use it all day and when i finally use it it dies. This phone is no smart phone, but..... it's ok i guess.

cosmos 2 stinks! September 22, 2012

Reviewer:  N. Crain 

This phone stunk! Stupid ads kept comming up on it and it took forever to exit out of it. The screws that hold the front on kept falling off. You had to let the phone ketch up with you when you were texting. You cant use the music because it drains your battery and the screen is smaller than the cosmos 1 yet the actual phone is bigger. DONT GET THIS PHONE!!!!

There's a reason this is one of the only free phones you can upgrade too that isn't a smartphone. August 29, 2012

Reviewer:  awkwardalex 

When my chocolate broke, my enV kept shutting off, my blackberry storm froze every two seconds I was done with expensive phones! I had a pantech jest that lasted for a year, then I got this, because it was the only thing that did not require an upgrade to a smartphone (to much money for the monthly bill.)

Long story short it SUCKS. At first it was great but soon all my texts got replies like: "I can't read your text, it's all in symbols" "You text cut off" from my friends.

Then the ADs! When ever your phone is not being used for ten minutes or more, some ad comes up, YOUR PHONE IS NOW A BILLBOARD, and freezes your phone, making miniscule tasks like checking the time, impossible.

Loved it June 8, 2012

Reviewer:  motherelder 

I recently had my Cosmos 2 phone listed as lost/stolen at work. I am still hoping it turns up because I love that phone. The slide out keep board made easy texting. I could put appointments on it, check the weather, play my music. I really want my phone back. I had the regular Cosmos before and that was a crappy phone. Had lots of problems with it. The Cosmos 2 was the best phone I have had so far.

Crappy phone February 20, 2012

Reviewer:  Randi 

First, I did NOT order this through Amazon so this review does not reflect them or their services.

I usually love LG. I've had three other phones made by them over the last ten years. Their phones have proven durable and actually the first two are still perfectly usable I just wanted to upgrade to something with better data capability. The last one was an ENVY touch which I loved except it had a flip Qwerty keyboard which wore out quickly because the nature of my job caused me to jostle it...I'm sure it would have lasted longer if I had a better case.

Then I got the Cosmos. My old phone started going out. There was another LG touch phone with a slide keyboard that I had seen in the local Verizon store. Unfortunately they were out so I picked this one instead because I needed a phone now and with the Mail in rebate I would have gotten it basically for free....if I had known I would hate it this much I would have just waited.

First it plays apps on it's own. I don't use any apps, I don't want any apps, but since I have purchased it the phone will switch on and run these apps more and more often...a great drain on my battery. Also, it freezes the phone when it does this, which is just GREAT when I'm trying to switch to camera mode. I've missed so many pictures because the stupid phone freezes.

The camera sucks. The LG cameras seem to have gone down. My earlier phone had 1.3 mega pixels but it took better pictures than my old digital camera. This one has 3.2 mega pixels and all of my pics come out looking pixilated. There is no flash which is kind of nice because the other flashes always washed everything out, but crappy because none of the pictures come out unless they are taken in a well lit area.

If you just need a quick buy with text capability this is good option...otherwise, steer clear.