LG LX-370 Review
Design
Form and Size
The LG LX-370 is a new small vertical slider now being offered by Sprint. It came to the Sprint line-up to replace the Samsung M520 which is scheduled to be at the end of life stage in its Sprint career. The LX-370 measures in at 4.06”x1.9”x0.63” making it slightly longer and thicker and less wide than the M520 that measures at 4.01”x2.04”x0.5’. The LX-370 weighs approximately 3.7 ounces, which is a little more than the M520 that weighs 2.8 ounces.
Color
Compared to what LG has done color-wise in the past with the Rumor and Lotus, they have taken a pretty neutral stance here. Around the screen, LG chose a very nice chrome-black finish which looks great, but is a fingerprint magnet. The bezel on the edge of the phone is a very attractive chrome, which accents the front of the phone very well. At the bottom, they chose more of a matte finish silver. Put together like LG did, it looks very well done. When you slide the phone up, the keypad is black with white numbering and lettering, with a silver border around it. On the sides you have the same silver that you do on the bottom of the phone, and on the back you have a silver battery cover that has an interesting texture to it.
Build
The build quality of this phone seems much better than the M520 that it is replacing, and although it is plastic it feels like a higher quality. The slide on the phone feels better than the M520, something that LG has gotten better at after they failed with the original Rumor. The charging, microSD, and headphone ports all have a very solid cover and are flushed with the rest of the phone for a very nice feel around the outside.
Screen
The screen on this phone might very well be the most impressive part of it. LG uses the same LCD panel that they used for the Rumor2 which is a 2” LCD that has QVGA resolution (240x320) as well as very clear and vibrant colors. The only thing to possibly complain about on this screen would be the size, but with the phone being very small itself, LG couldn’t really fit in too much more.
Buttons/Keypad
The buttons on the LX-370 are the only thing that may cause people some concern at first look. When you slide the phone open, it reveals the standard phone keypad, but no dedicated speaker button on the front of the phone. The buttons appear small, but are very easy to hit and have good feedback and travel. The navigation cluster on the top half of the phone is very well done with the two soft keys on top, the talk and end buttons, a 4-way directional pad with a center menu/ok button, and a back key on the bottom. On the left side of the phone, there is a standard volume slider, as well as a Micro-USB charging port. The right side of the phone looks grossly over-crowded with a 2.5mm headphone jack which is very disappointing for a phone like this, a microSD slot, a dedicated speaker button, as well as a dedicated camera button. The only thing that feels out of place here is the speakerphone button that probably should have placed in the navigation cluster, but still works nonetheless.
Features
Camera
Just like most of Sprint’s phones, the LX-370 features a 2.0 megapixel camera and camcorder, but unlike some of the other models in the Sprint lineup, the camera on the LX-370 seemed a bit lacking. Compared to the Motorola VE20 for example, the photos taken with the lx-370 seemed to be lacking proper lighting no matter how much you had, and also always seemed to be a little blurry and much less saturated than the VE20. As for most camera phones, this one won’t be replacing the standard point and shoot any time soon.
Music & Entertainment
The obvious disappointment with the LX-370 is the lack of standard 3.5mm headphone jack, but after that it does very well in the music department, as do most Sprint phones. With support for up to 16gb of external memory via a microSD card, there is plenty of room for all your songs, and then some. Songs play through the Sprint Music store which also allows you to download songs for a fee. Sprint also includes its Radio program which is excellent as always featuring Sirius Satellite radio stations as well as local stations throughout the country.
The Sprint TV application is found on this phone as well, and unlike many of the other phones in the lineup, this phone actually produces very good video quality while watching TV. This could be just because the screen is somewhat small, but when compared to some of the other phones in the lineup it is much easier to watch and follow what is going on.
Performance
Usually when Sprint and LG get together to put a phone out on the “Now Network,” it under-performs and disappoints everyone just like the original Rumor did. However, LG seems to be stepping up its game recently with the new releases like the LX-370, but still has some work to do as far as performance.
The main thing lacking from this phone is the voice quality. This is something that LG has never really been good at as far as Sprint phones go, and this is no exception. While listening, calls do not sound crisp at all, and listeners on the other side also said it sounded somewhat groggy at times. While both were defiantly audible and not too painful to hear, it would be nice to have a phone that looks this good sound good as well.
Battery Life is the one thing performance-wise that the LX-370 does well. Sprint rates the phone at 6.0 hours of talk time, but with extensive, constant use it seemed more like 5 to 5.5 hours of talk time which is still very good. Standby was not tested, but with such good battery life it should be good for over a week of standby.
Overall, this phone is a very good offering from LG. Many people won’t even realize the cons of the phone because they are used to phones that are below par, but the more “tech-savvy” crowd may want to try it out before they buy it. After the Rumor 2 and the LX-370, LG seems to be heading in the right direction for Sprint. Now if they could only get their android offering out…
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