Terrific HD IPS Display Hampered By Poor Software (fixable) February 7, 2012

Reviewer:  rs  (Texas) -

The Spectrum is the only Verizon choice at present for those who want a Gorilla Glass protected large (4.5") IPS (same technology as on iPhone/iPad) LCD HD display LTE smartphone with both removable/replaceable battery and MicroSD card. Below is my comparison to current Verizon alternatives, which are all terrific devices with unique strengths.

Comparative strengths of the Spectrum:
-The Samsung Galaxy Nexus lacks Gorilla Glass, has a pentile display (shared subpixels vs true full subpixels on Spectrum), and non-removable memory.
-The HTC Rezound has a smaller (4.3") non Gorilla Glass protected display.
-The Motorola Razr has a pentile display and non-removable battery. (when traveling, I like to take an extra battery for flights).
-The LG Spectrum is among the first batch of Verizon LTE World Phones, which means it can access any CDMA or GSM network worldwide.
-Not widely publicized: The Spectrum has "Dolby Mobile" included in its music and video player, providing a clearer and more spatial audio experience with most input when listening with headphones. This is very different than reverb or echo or stereo expansion found on some Android music players. Best way to describe it is by analogy: mono is to stereo as stereo is to dolby mobile. Some music with certain ambient pre-processing does sound over-processed with this activated, but unprocessed music, e.g. classic rock, generally is improved vastly. Dolby says this works with the phone speaker too, but I haven't tested that.

LG Spectrum deficiencies:
-Even though it looks like carbon fiber in photos, it has a polished, very smooth, slippery plastic back cover that collects fingerprints like crazy. The closely related ATT LG Nitro has a terrific rubberized textured back cover (very much like the HTC Rezoound), but the shape of that phone has more rounded corners, so unfortunately its cover is not compatible with the Spectrum. Why LG would want users to more easily lose grip on their phones is a mystery.
-No Android Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System (OS) at the moment, but it will be upgraded eventually as it's LG's flagship phone on Verizon.
-Android Gingerbread OS with clumsy LG 'Optimus UI 2.0' skin, especially with regards to frustrating and inefficient app drawer 'organized' by categories.
-No notification LED. This is very annoying, and is a serious omission by LG, especially for their top phone.
-Far too many locked preinstalled applications from Verizon, which can not be prevented from running in the background and occupying RAM, leaving you with less of the 1GB DDR2 memory to use for running wanted applications.
-Yikes, Verizon Visual Voicemail for $2.99 per month advertisement is displayed by the OS whenever you check your voicemail. What other advertisements are buried in the phone waiting to pop up unexpectedly?
-Browser address bar searches provide results only by Microsoft Bing, with no way to change this.
-No way to root this phone at present. UPDATED 2/19-- This is no longer an issue.

Many prior owners have stated that lack of root access is why they have returned the phone to Verizon within their first two weeks of ownership (Root access should allow users to 'fix' many of the software issues with this phone). It's a case of decent and generally appealing hardware crippled by poor carrier/OS/software implementation. When the phone boots, it loads an assortment of unnecessary applications, most of which will start again automatically if you shut them down. Some of these are Blockbuster, ESPN Sport Center, V Cast Media Manager, Music (LG?), Verizon App Store, and My Verizon Mobile. There are a host of other Verizon and Yahoo applications that also cannot be removed. One user who counted reported 24 such applications. Android phones should allow you to choose your apps and remove bloatware you know you don't want.

Minus 0.5 stars for the slippery back cover where other implementations of this phone have rubberized and textured backs.
Minus 1.0 stars for the terrible preinstalled and locked bloatware and advertisements from Verizon.
Minus 0.5 stars for the horrible application drawer of Optimus 2.0 UI.
Plus 0.5 stars for Dolby Mobile.
Plus 0.5 stars for fast processing and graphics.

4.0 stars overall

This review is written by a soon to be ex-Spectrum-owner moving to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (aka Google phone--Google doesn't hate freedom). My far less particular spouse is happily keeping the Spectrum.

UPDATE 02/15/12:
Received the Galaxy Nexus and after one day of comparing am surprised to say the Spectrum wins. While the idea of having a true Google phone is great in terms of openness and modernness of the OS; the pentile display is just not very good. Had Samsung chosen to go with Super AMOLED Plus technology (true complete RGB Pixels), the Nexus would have been terrific with a true 720p AMOLED HD Display. As it is, the less costly "HD Super AMOLED" Pentile display, wherein each 'full' pixel is composed of a dedicated green subpixel and a shared blue subpixel and a shared red subpixel, suffers from large pixels, which are easily seen by my eyes and which cause eye strain and headache. Instead of seeing a white background in the browser, my eyes see tiny red and blue and green dots. Even holding the phone a foot away from my eyes doesn't fix the problem. This issue was described by Leo Laporte (longtime tech personality) in his "Before You Buy" review of the Galaxy Nexus. It may be a minority of people who are troubled by the Pentile display, the Spectrum has ~2.76 million subpixels, while the Nexus has ~1.84 million subpixels. Side by side, there is no comparison between the IPS LCD Spectrum and the Pentile AMOLED Nexus display.

As far as the OS, with a lot of tweaking (Go Launcher, Go Locker, ICS theme, many other apps/widgets), the Spectrum can at least function like an ICS phone in many characteristics, and hide all the bloatware from view in the app drawer. Also, the Spectrum is significantly faster and has a stronger dedicated graphics chip than the Nexus. The Spectrum is lighter than the Nexus (5.05 ounces vs. 5.23 ounces on the same micro scale). And surprise: The 4.5" Spectrum display is larger than the 4.65" Nexus display *most of the time*. This is because the soft keys of the Nexus take up a lot of screen space, and browsing in particular suffers on the Nexus. Due to the screen issues described above, the Nexus requires more zooming of text to reach legibility, exacerbating the issue.

The Spectrum is the better choice for those who value display quality over coolness. The Nexus wins for leading edge software and playfulness. Comparing either to my Droid 1 is like comparing a sleek sports car to a minivan. What will our phones be like in two years? At this rate, 4oz with 5+ inch 1080p displays.

For those who care, some benchmarks:
Linpack Single Thread (3 consecutive runs): 50.3; 51.2; 50.2 MFLOPS
Linpack Multi-Thread (3 consecutive runs): 79.8; 78.3; 81.6 MFLOPS
AnTuTu Benchmark: 6486
Quadrant 1 Benchmark: 2646 (3D graphics quite smooth and good)
Quadrant 2.0 Benchmark: 2712 (CPU 4652; Mem 2668; I/O 4305; 2D 342; 3D 1592)

Friend's Galaxy Nexus Quadrant 2.0 Benchmark: 2041 (CPU 5711; Mem 1986; I/O 1118; 2D 192; 3D 1200)

UPDATE 2/19/12:
It is now possible to root this phone, thanks to the efforts of the developer community. Bye bye bloatware (it's recommended to 'freeze' rather than remove bloatware). My phone remains stock, but root access is tempting. The bloatware is completely hidden with Go Launcher, but it would be nice to prevent unnecessary use of system resources.

With free 'ES File Explorer', the included video player of this phone easily streams video over LAN (Like the iOS app 'Air Video', without having to run a server program as Air Video requires).
-so far works with avi, xvid, divx, mov, mkv, wmv, and probably others too.
-source material at 1080p is fine and looks terrific on the 720p display.
-hd playback is not taxing to the cpu due to the discrete Qualcomm Adreno 220 graphics chip.

New score: 5/5 stars. It's as good a phone as you can get on Verizon now. After a bit of ownership, both my spouse and I are very happy with this phone.

Great phone. Like all other 4g phones though, the battery life blows! March 21, 2012

Reviewer:  keledog 

I returned my Droid Razr to get this phone. Went to order from Verizon online but they were out of stock, so found it at Amazon instead. Boy am I glad I did. Better price, better service and NO SALES TAX!

I was comparing this phone to the Samsung Galaxy Nexxus and the HTC Rezound. as far as the Nexxus goes. To be honest, display and speed wise there is NO COMPARISON. the ONLY advantage I can see the Nexxus having over the LG is the Android 4.0 ICS. Once this phone and others have ICS. The Nexxus doesn't stand a chance. Especially with that crappy display. The Rezound was nice. A bit chunky, but the display was comparable. Still, the LG is faster, with a bigger screen and zero ghosting issues that the Rezound, Razr and Nexxus all displayed. Lg's UI takes some getting used to, but once Android ICE comes out for it that won't be a problem anymore. I love everything about the phone, except two things.

1. bing! Verizon had made this the default search browser with no way to change this on trhe LG Spectrum. Bing sucks. It is completely inferior to google search. I really hope someone comes up with a
way to remove bing. There is already a root out there for the Spectrum, but I'm waiting to see someone post how to remove the bing and replace it with google.

2. The battery. OMG. It's bad. As bad as the Razr. I bought the extended battery from Verizon and it makes a HUGE difference. So now all I have to do is find a case for the phone with the extended battery. It's fat, but defintitely needed. With the exception of the Droid Razr MAXX, ALL these 4G batteries suck down faster than a fat kid at the dessert line at a Home Town Buffet. I'm trying to find a case to protect the phone with it's extended battery. So far no luck.

Overall the phone is pretty great. Display is the best of ANY phone built, including the iphone 4s. It's bigger too. I compared everything on it to the Droid Razr and Galaxy Nexxus and this phone blows them both away in almost all categories. The display is unrivaled (got a headache staring at the razr's screen for any longer than 20 minutes)and so is it's speed. I walked into a Verizon store and ran speedtest.net on my phone and the Nexxus and Razr. It hit 47mbps, while the Razr was 17 and the Nexxus was clocking in just under 20mbps. Still not too shabby, but it shows how much better the processor and antenna is on the Spectrum. Call quality is excellent and the music app with the dolby surround sounds better than the HTC Rezound's sound. In my opinion, the lg spectrum is Verizon's best phone.

Discounting the fact that the battery sucks, just like any other 4G phone on the market, I wanted to give this phone 5 stars but just can't. the reason? because of what Verizon did by disgracefully locking in bing as it's default search engine. you can still go to google and search, and/or use google search on one of your home pages. you can even hold down the left button on the bottom of the screen and the phone brings up google to search, but why can't Verizon just give it's customers the option instead of locking down their phones with crap bloatware? because all the OEM's pay a pretty penny to get VZW to do that!

It's ok. Worth the $$. February 4, 2012

Reviewer:  geodawg 

The phone is ok. I agree with the other review that the UI could have been a little better as I think the HTC Sense UI (so is Motorola's) is alot better than this. The buttons on the bottom will eventually become useless if LG decides to go the Android ICS platform route. The HD graphics are very good, personally better than the iPhones. I would definatley grab an extended battery if you want to use the 4G (my comparison is that the 4G will last 3-4x longer with extended battery than the Thunderbolt with an extended battery) which the 3000mAH battery gave me 24 hours of service over 4G and about 60-70 minutes of talk time during that period. The phone does not charge well at all with any other charger than the LG provided chargers. If you want to use another charger, it will take you a long time to charge the phone.

LG Spectrum - the underdog in Verizon (really, a hidden gem) May 21, 2012

Reviewer:  juny20 

I ordered the LG Spectrum after having used the Droid X for almost two years. I was waiting for the Razr Maxx to drop in price, but it never did. I paid $89 through Amazon Wireless (which, by the way, my experience with them was outstanding!!!). After reading so many negative things regarding the Nexus radios, after having a HTC Rezound for a week and not likeing it (too heavy, bulky, screen scratches easily), I finaly opted for the underdog in Verizon's line up: the LG Spectrum.

This phone is a GREAT phone. The screen is probably the best out there. Once you watch videos on it you will understand. The dual core 1.5 processor provides plenty of muscle to move everything seamlessly and fast. The camera is great! Ok, let me break most of the components down:

Built:
It is solid. Plasticky, but solid. The back cover will get full of fingerprints, but a gel cover will eliminate this.

Design:
To me, it looks very classy and shart, very attractive.

Screen:
Right now, second to none on Verizon's line up. The Rezound competes head-to-head, but the size of the LG wins (4.5in vs. 4.3in).

User Interface:
I liked some elements from LG's skin, but not all of them. There are many options to this: you can download a launcher (search the market, there are plenty) and custom this to your taste.

Camera:
Fast, great pics, great video. You can also download a different camera from the market. I use Camera ICS and LG Camera from the market and both perform extremely well.

Calls:
So far, no issues at all. Calls are very clear, no drop calls, always have a strong signal.

Battery:
It is ok. Like all 4G devices (expect the Maxx), battery is OK. You can tweak a few things to make it last longer. I get about 16 hours per charge (less if watching lots of videos).

Customization:
There is plenty. Like all Android devices, you can customize a lot with market apps. But, if you have some knowledge of computers and phones, you can root it and apply different ROMS and Kernels. There are two ROMS for the Spectrum at the moment. You can have root access to it. There are many advantages and it is not that difficult to do.

Charging port:
So far, OK. I do not liek the cover too much as I am always afraid it is going to break, but just handle with care.

For the price, it is the best 4G LTE phone in Verizon's line-up. LG promised Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) for the Spectrum sometime this year. If anything, the phone will get better with that update. Also, the three buttons on the phone are better than the four as it is ready for the Android 4.0 upgrade.

I give the Spectrum 4 out of 5, mainly because of the plactic back cover and the skin on the phone. In terms of performance, it is a 5 based on my usage and experience.

Great Smartphone but problems with voice calls April 17, 2012

Reviewer:  Richard Shirley 

Love the features of the phone (screen, speed, camera, 4G, etc.) but voice quality is driving me crazy. I hear people OK but they say my voice sounds terrible. This occurs no matter where I am, so it is not a matter of a weak signal.

Surprised no one else has commented on voice quality. I have tried two different phones and am waiting to receive a third. Any other comments on voice quality or suggestions as to how to improve it?

Quite an Excellent Phone on Verizon April 3, 2012

Reviewer:  STEF "Sam"  (ATL GA) -

Do not worry about the Optimus "skin" / layer that LG installed on top of Gingerbread for the phone... If you install ADW Launcher EX, you won't even see it anymore and you don't need to root it to make that happen. To be honest, it wasn't all that bad to begin with but you can really customize the device with ADW EX and set it up to operate the way you want.

The display is fantastic.

The phone is really fast on Verizon. I've downloaded items from the Market and was astounded at the speed they downloaded and installed.

See the previous poster's comments about rooting and being able to freeze bloatware.

I am not worried about the exterior and finger prints. I'm planning on putting a rubberized/gel case on it anyway.

This phone is excellent in my opinion.

Update: 4/15/2012 - Phone still delights me. I would recommend downloading JuiceDefender to increase battery run time. Also, download a Task Manager like Advance Task Manager to make it easier to move downloaded apps from the Market from internal memory to the SD card. Not all apps automatically move themselves.

Great phone February 8, 2012

Reviewer:  Jeff Pruett "Jeff Pruett"  (Denver, CO) -

This phone is comparable to the HTC Rezound in almost every way. The Rezound does have a better camera (the Spectrum's camera is also quite good, but the Rezound's is better) and a lot more internal storage (16gigs on the Rezound vs 4 on the Spectrum), but the IPS display on the Spectrum does look better (it is brighter than the Rezound, and looks better from extreme angles). The Rezound does give you expensive earbuds for free as well though.

The only real downside is that, well, it's LG. They dont have the best reputation for quality or support in the smartphone world. But if you dont care about that, then this is an awesome phone. It has an ugly LG UI, but installing a free custom launcher (I use GoLauncher) takes care of that easily enough. The price is also pretty good for what you're getting.

This really is a great phone, it just inst the "best" phone.

a good start for LG January 31, 2012

Reviewer:  M. Ali  (Southern-USA) -

I like the phone and it provides what I need. However LG still has a way to go when it comes to building a better user interface. The HD graphics are totally AWESOME! Hands down there is no other phone on the market that comes close to displying content. It's bigger and better than the iphone-Display-wise

Great Phone! May 23, 2012

Reviewer:  katzmama 

Great phone! I was looking for a new phone and I didn't want to be another iPhone/Droid fanboi. I think they are cool but I do not want to be tied down by Apple. Also you cannot swing a Kat by the tail without hitting someone with a Droid either-BORING! So off I go looking for some better(?) at least different and I found both!

While lots of folks have slammed this phone and while it does have some faults I do not seem them as condemning as most may think.

The biggest issue is the battery. The screen is very bright in the stock settings so one will need to lower the brightness settings. Install a battery tender such as Juice Defender it will save your battery! I know it sucks to have to recommend but an extended use battery will keep you from losing power if you are a heavy user. Verizon sells one with a case. If you cannot stop losing your battery due to heavy use I suggest getting one. Turning off Wi-Fi and lowering screen brightness will help extend the battery as well. LG also recommends the use of branded USB cords and chargers as many off brands do not pass current at the advertised level.

The other big problem is built in and is LG's fault. LG for some reason has limited the charging voltage to 450mV. What they may have been trying to do is to stem the flood of complaints due to the phone getting overheated during charging. Instead they have people complaining due to charging issues. The Ice Cream Sandwich OS may have eliminated this. Rooting the phone will certainly give one an extended amp ceiling while charging (800mV-650mV), plus speeding the phone up greatly by way of freezing or deleting bloatware. Although a ROM is not available for ICS yet it is rumored to be released soon.

I love the size of the screen. It is fantastically vibrant and wonderful to view. Can you say FAST? The 4G LTE is blazing and my coverage is unending. Moving from another Yellow brand where coverage was hit-or-miss at best and slow d/l speeds, the 4g LTE moves like lightening. Apps are great, and using a launcher speeds things up a bit too.

I directly compared to the Droid Razr Maxx in the store & the screen difference is instantly noticeable with the Spectrum winning. The Spectrum also has a removable battery. Accessory wise the Droid has the upper hand with everyone producing something for it. The Spectrum is limited on cases and holsters sadly.

With everyone carrying a iPhone or Droid I am very happy being a standout with my LG Spectrum. It is very new so things can only get better, and currently they are pretty great!

Fantastic May 11, 2012

Reviewer:  Pat 

I decided to use this phone for month before I gave a review on it. This is my first Smartphone and wanted one that my husband could actually answer without instructions. While shopping for one, I was so frustrated with the other phones that I'd seen because the virtual keyboard keys were so small that I kept hitting all the wrong letters plus I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the screen on my friend's phones. This phone's size is bigger than any that I've seen but I absolutely love it since it's big enough to actually see what's on it. It's extremely easy to navigate through the menus even without reading the instructions extensively.

The way I decided to get this one was to go to the Verizon store and see if I could work with the phone easily without instructions. It does have extra apps that one may not generally use but that does not bother me. I did download an energysaver app and that does help with the battery usage. If I'm on it for long periods, it does run down more quickly than my other regular phones but they did not do all that this one does. I generally charge it every evening which is no big deal. If I need more battery time, I can always purchase the extended battery and keep it on hand for emergencies.

The screen glides up and down very easily and is very easy to control. My other ones were either difficult to move or they went extremely fast and I couldn't control them.

The only downside may be the size since it's bigger than my other LG (which was not a Smartphone), but it's so easy to see photos and reading on it is great. I watched a movie trailer on it, and it's like a mini television with the screen clarity and size.

The sound is good and it takes fantastic photos with 8 megapixel camera. I haven't used all the functions yet as I'm still finding more things it can do. Each day I figure out something else that I can use it for.

I would definitely recommend this phone to anyone who doesn't mind the size. For me it's perfect. If you check around, you can get it for a decent price as well.

verizon lied to me, lg sucks. October 10, 2012

Reviewer:  korean garbage 

So i go to verizon, tell them i want a phone for texting, and playing music. This phone basically freezes up all the time when i try to do anything, and the keyboard force closes at least 5 times a day, to where i cant see what I'm typing. i have never had a so called piece of technology be so buggy and futile to attempt to use. Even after almost a year, no updates to fix it. Ill be sticking with motorola, second piece of crap lg ive owned, shame on me this time.

Pretty, but appearances can be deceiving June 29, 2012

Reviewer:  ecidnac 

Pros: "pretty", 5 screens for app shortcuts, 8mpx camera
Cons: abysmal battery life, no auto-correct, constant service alerts, low volume

The insurance company sent this as a replacement when my LG Vortex stopped working. I'd rather have another (3G) Vortex. The (4G) Spectrum is no upgrade!

My first one (not even 60 days old) overheated and powered down as I was using it (despite 48% battery power.) No one can get it to work again. I got the replacement today; I'm wondering how long it will last.

The battery life is the worst of any phone I've owned. You MIGHT get 8 hours if you use it sparingly. (Task killers don't help.) I had to charge the first one twice per day (I can't imagine what I've spent on electricity.)

It does NOT auto-correct. It will make suggestions but if you don't choose an option your word stays as-is. It also doesn't include some contractions (like "I'd"), acronyms (ASAP) or other commonly-used words. The Spectrum has the worst internal dictionary I've ever seen.

At top volume it's difficult to hear anyone who contacts me, and I get regular complaints that I cannot be heard or that I'm "going in and out." Thanks to the Spectrum I hate using my PHONE for PHONE CALLS.

Don't bother trying to customize your ring tone.

The screen won't stay lit when you need the dial pad to navigate automated systems. Similarly, the screen does not light up when you receive notifications.

Service is intermittent and the resulting service alerts are irritating. A robotic female voice continuously announces "Loss of service" followed by "Verizon Wireless" to let you know service has returned.

I'm due for an "upgrade" in September. You can bet I'll be exchanging this phone as soon as I possibly can.

The hidden gem of all android phones April 13, 2012

Reviewer:  Matthew Beehler "Prime Fanatic"  (St. Helena, CA USA) -

This phone is fantastic*
*The stock LG bloatware is terrible. If you know someone who can help you root this phone and install a ROM that gets rid of it like I did, then all of the sudden this phone becomes one of the top three or four android handsets on the market. The screen is glorious and with the bloatware off this thing is seriously fast. I have spent quite a bit of time with a Galaxy Nexus and this keeps pace no problem. The battery life seems adequate for a 4g phone with a big 4.5" screen. As long as you keep the bluetooth and wifi off when not using them you can easily get a whole day out of it. Give the phone a few days for the battery to settle as well. Mine took at least 3 days before my battery really settled in. There are plenty of forums that will teach you step by step how to root and flash a new ROM on this bad boy. If you spend the few hours up front you will be rewarded with the best deal on the market today.

Amazing Phone! bad battery... September 27, 2012

Reviewer:  g.grouundstaber 

I got this smartphone 2 months ago. Im reviewing with experience. First off I was really glad when I found out that this phone is only $90! So I decided that this would be the phone for me. So I took the phone home and the first thing I did was buy a case and charge the phone... Im really happy to say that at 7:00 a.m this morning I put it on the charger dead... and now at 8:48 a.m the phone is fully charged! I love the fact that it charges in 2 hours but the bad part is the battery life... the battery life on here isn't the best! But how I use the phone the battery lasts the whole day and then I put it on the charger... Its to be expected that the battery isn't the best because it has 4G LTE data power, a 4.5 inch IPS display, and 3 touch screen buttons... The middle button is the home button and its silver, to the left is the black colored menu button and to the right is the black colored back button. For only being $90 this phone is well worth it! I highly suggest that you purchase this phone and get insurance on this phone for only about $10.00!

A terrible phone. Stay away. April 11, 2013

Reviewer:  R. Connor  (San Antonio, TX) -

I got this phone because it was cheap and I am pretty broke.

Here's what is good about it:

1) screen size.
2) 8mp camera.

Here's what is bad about it.

1) BATTERY LIFE. after less than 6 months it no longer makes it a full day without charging. it's terrible.
2) Swype. awful. has no sense for predicting words, and the beta that has sensible word prediction crashed my phone.
3) unremovable crapware stuck on it that constantly updates
4) no notification lights as noted in other reviews. miss the ring, miss the buzz, you have to unlock the phone to check and see if you missed something.
5) drops calls
6) doesn't register calls or texts sometimes when on, and has never registered missed calls when unit is off.
7) no notification for received voicemails (who still uses voicemail anyway?)
8) screwed up wireless adapter that always loses signal and has to manually reconnect
9) does not upload properly, hangs on facebook photo upload and leaves frozen notification upload for days without failure notice or progress. routinely hangs at 60%.
10) becomes totally unresponsive when trying to hang up a call - requires manual removal of battery to end calls on occasion. will not dial, will not hang up, will not turn off screen.

some of these are problems with apps, but in general this phone is crap and should be avoided. i got taken by verizon as well. i've gotten so used to how much this sucks that i'm sure there are pertinent bugs that i can't even name because i am so used to them now. i don't know who would think this phone is now awful but i would not trust their opinion.

don't buy the spectrum March 21, 2013

Reviewer:  lazimechanic 

My wife and i both have the lg spectrum, and are very disappointed with its operation.it its extremely buggy, every update makes it worse not better. Making calls can make the phone hang for up to 5 minutes and not respond and then finally it will start the call, it is extremely frustrating.

So far, so good--but the battery does run down October 24, 2012

Reviewer:  Steven A. Peterson  (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) -

I must admit it. I am hard on things. And of the things that I am hard on is cell phones. I've dropped them in the wash basin, dropped them, and so on. My last cell phone? A Blackberry. I dropped it and broke the glass cover. It also started not to work so well. So I bought the Spectrum by LG. And I think I had good luck making the change.

The Blackberry was never great for me, although it was better than what had gone before it. It didn't work well in thick walled buildings (I could not hear the callers and calls often got dropped). I could not use my electronic calendar with the Blackberry (I needed an app that cost a bunch, so it never happened). The voice quality was not great. I sometimes didn't hear people so well using the Blackberry.

The Spectrum? One down side. . . . The battery seems to drain more than the Blackberry's did. But, once you know that, you can arrange to recharge. There appear to be more apps available with the Spectrum. The quality of photos taken by the camera appear to be better with the Spectrum.

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with this cell phone. Of course, I have only had it for a couple weeks, so I may become less positive. For now, though, I have a sense that I have experienced an upgrade in my cell phone quality.

Whats with all the negativity?? September 30, 2012

Reviewer:  pfox6586 

I got this phone to replace my samsung galaxy s2 epic 4g (which I love) but the sprint service was so horrible, I had to do something about that so I switched to verizon.
Enter the Lg Spectrum 4g. This phone takes some getting used to if you are used to the samsung platform, but so far I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it. Pictures and video are great, Phone quality is great (in fact, too loud sometimes. You have to turn the volume down for most of the calls) and the 4g lte speeds are amazing. It does get hot if you are playing a game for a long period of time or using an app for a while. And the apps scroll up and down as opposed to the galaxy's that are left to right. But if you simply long press the apps and games you use most, you can add them to the home screens. Then you have left to right scrolling. I am a bit tech savvy so I am able to adjust certain things to preserve battery life. I bought a second battery and dock from verizon for 19.99 so i dont really have to worry about battery life anyway.
All in all, I love this phone and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an inexpensive, fast and sleek phone. Does everything all the expensive phones do without any lag or disappointment. Oh and by the way, I-phones suck!!!

Great phone August 20, 2012

Reviewer:  Jaime Huppert "Jaime"  (San Fransico Bay Area) -

This is a really nice phone. $20 now for dual core, huge colorful screen and 4G? Wow you really cant go wrong. I have had mine for 5 months. I rooted and flashed a custom ROM. Works nice and smooth.
A battery extender is a must! I got a battery that has twice the power as the stock one and I go almost 2 days on a single charge.
Really is a nice phone. Take great pics and videos too! Just get a bigger battery and you would be all set!

1 year later UPDATE: Still working good! Just get a battery extender like I said!

Decent 4G phone with voice quality issues and sensitive glass! August 6, 2012

Reviewer:  O. Semprit Jr. 

I must say I was initially surprised that this phone was actually decent. I've owned a few previous generation LG phones and they were average to be fair. Anyhow I won't cover most of the technical details nor the plus and cons as they have pretty much been covered by other reviewers. What I will cover as well as mimic are 2 painful flaws this phone has that make it worthless to the average customer. First issue is voice quality! The microphone for the Spectrum is located at the bottom of the phone and no I don't mean the bottom front I mean bottom as in facing the floor. This awkward placement makes it difficult for the phone to pick up your voice clearly and causes utter frustration for anyone on the other end of the call. If you search around for LG Spectrum and "muffled" you will see many complaints and even the other reviewers here at Amazon have multiple people on their second or third phone with no improvement. I personally believe due to the size of the phone and the horrible placement of the microphone that you would have to have a long face where your mouth ends up below the phone when placed to your ear in order for the mic to pick up your voice clearly. I unfortunately don't have that long face and the mic ends up around my chin. This can be defeated by using a bluetooth earpiece or speakerphone but if you like to use the phone the "normal" way you will probably run into this issue. Now on to the second issue . . . Gorilla glass! Now don't get me wrong, the glass feels decent and looks great and I am sure it is tough against normal scratches. Problem is the maker of Gorilla glass (Corning) claims and I quote "Visually stunning, incredibly tough Corning® Gorilla® Glass enables today's sleekest smartphone, tablet, and PC designs, while providing exceptional damage resistance to the drops, bumps and scrapes of everyday use. Gorilla Glass is sensitive enough for today's most sophisticated touch applications, and is available with an easy-to-clean coating." Notice the part about "incredibly tough and providing exceptional damage resistance to drops" ?? Well my phone fell about 2 feet maybe 2 1/2 and landed on it's back, bounced and landed on it's face. To me this is a casual fall at best compared to falls that many of my previous phones have endured. This was the phones first fall in the 4 months I owned it and guess what?? The entire glass shattered! Now I might have understood a small scratch or even a small crack as it's possible it bounced onto a small pebble, but completely shattered? My wife's old Droid X fell about 12 feet face first onto a bed of rocks, pebbles and rubble and the glass cracked up in a few spots which was understandable, but even the Droid X glass didn't completely shatter and honestly we expected it to. There is no excuse for this "tough" glass completely shattering after such a light fall. Anyhow, now I have a 4 month old phone with a shattered glass and neither Verizon, LG, or Corning will own up to the possible defect in this glass. All I am told is that physical damage is not covered by warranty and I will either have to pay more than the phone cost me to send it out and have it fixed or buy another phone. So buyer BEWARE, if you choose to take the risk with this phone you will more than likely experience voice clarity issues so my advice would be to pick up a quality bluetooth headset while you're at it and make sure to buy a case with glass protection or pick up an extra warranty that covers physical damage. Hope this review helps anyone considering the purchase of this phone.