LG Rumor White Review - Design & Features
Design & FeaturesRumor is, on first glance, a somewhat chubby candy bar phone with a standard dialing pad, D-Pad, display layout on the front and a camera on the back. My review sample is finished in all-black with chromed silver plastic trim, and the soft touch paint used throughout made the handset really easy to hold onto. Sprint also offers Rumor in white and green color schemes. 
What sets Rumor apart from your basic bar phone - and justifies its somewhat chunky profile - is the slide-out QWERTY thumbboard. Turn the handset on its side the long way and push the top panel up and Rumor reveals a full 32-key layout done up in a blue-on-blue finish with easy to read white labels on the buttons. With the keyboard extended I found Rumor pretty comfortable to hold horizontally— the handset fit nicely between my hands with my index fingers bent around the back of the phone and my thumbs poisted in typing position. Rumors rounded edges were comfortable against the skin of my hands, and while the QWERTY keys are a bit on the small side, I found them more than good enough for accurate thumb-typing.
Extending the QWERTY board auto-rotates the phone’s display and fires up the messaging application by default. Unlike the experience on most smartphones, Rumor’s auto-rotation kicks in immediately, and by the time I had the device physically rotated in my hands I’d been met with a choice of messaging options including integrated IM, Email, and Facebook clients as well as the standard SMS, MMS, and Voicemail software. One minor note about using Rumor in messaging mode - the positioning of the D-Pad on the phone’s front panel makes it easy for left- or right-handed use in vertical orientation, but basically demands that you use your left thumb when holding the phone horizontally. Though I’m not sure how designers could have positioned the D-Pad differently without making the device much larger overall, it would have been nice to be able to use my right thumb to navigate menus in messaging mode.
Beyond its focus on messaging, Rumor offers entry-level feature phone applications such as WAP-only Web browsing, a media player with microSD memory card slot and 2.5mm stereo headphone jack, and basic personal information management and gaming. Rumor also offers some higher-end features including Stereo Bluetooth support, A-GPS with voice-enhanced navigation services, and an optional $2.99/mo feature called “Social Zone,” which provides mobile access to a bunch of online communities.
Some customers will be disappointed to learn that Rumor is a Sprint Vision device, which means it’s only capable of 1x RTT data access and won’t work on the faster EV-DO network like the carrier’s “Power Vision” devices. As such there’s no access to Sprint’s Music Store or TV offerings, and no browsing of the “real Web,” to be found here. Rumor’s more than speedy enough for Email, Instant Messaging, and browsing of “mobile” (WAP) Websites, but it pales in comparison to Sprint’s more advanced phones or the Samsung Alias, Verizon’s messaging-focused VCast handset.
Next: Usability & Performance »Fetch me more...Quickly jump to more information about related topics, cell phones, carriers or phone manufacturers mentioned in this In-Depth Review by using the links below. About our in-depth cell phone reviewsWe take great pride to ensure that the our reviews are thorough and accurate. In no way are our editors directed or influenced by any manufacturers, advertisers, or partners; we believe that honest, opinionated reviews -positive or negative - are the only way to maintain credibility and serve our users. Reviews by companyApple, BenQ, BlackBerry, Eten, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, o2, Palm, Pantech, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony EricssonOn the eve of Noah, Courtney, and camera man Doug heading for CTIA in Las Vegas, Noah filmed episode 3 of his new unlocked review series. This video highlights the happenings at Motorola this wee, the new Billshrink.com website, and what did the FedEx man just deliver for Noah to review next! Looking for a great messaging phone to use on the Sprint network? Well, Noah has found one in the LG Rumor. The bar style device come equipped with a slide out QWERTY keyboard that when opened, automatically switches the phone to messaging mode. Other key features include a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x zoom, media player, and expandable memory card slot. What’s Good: Compact, rugged design with full QWERTY keyboard; Easy to use; Auto-rotating display; Good SMS, IM, and Email integration
What’s Not Good: Limited functionality beyond voice calling and messaging; No Power Vision access makes for slow Web browsing; Reports of laggy software and keyboard issues (I encountered none); Weak camera
Bottom Line: Rumor is a basic candy bar phone with a focus on messaging, and in this regard it really... A growing number of consumers use their “cell phones” more for messaging than for actual voice calls. Texting, IMing, and Emailing from handsets has become more and more popular amongst privacy-minded teenagers, business folk, and people like me who sometimes just don’t like talking on the phone. As such, when shopping for a new handset many people now try out the keypad before holding it up to their ear - messaging-related... I tested Rumor on Sprint’s CDMA network in the San Francisco Bay Area with generally quite good results. Signal strength and voice quality were very good in most cases, and callers were able to hear me loud and clear with only very occasional minor static. The integrated speakerphone was okay in a pinch but not great, and the handset worked well with mono and stereo 2.5mm headsets (not included). I also wired some higher... All in all I really like Rumor. It’s designed to do two things well — make phone calls and send messages — and it succeeds on both counts. While power users want their handsets to do everything including high-speed Web browsing and advanced multimedia playback, Rumor isn’t for power users. Like it’s cousin, the Alltel Scoop, Rumor is meant for budget-minded folks who text as much as they talk, if not more. As such it... On the eve of Noah, Courtney, and camera man Doug heading for CTIA in Las Vegas, Noah filmed episode 3 of his new unlocked review series. This video highlights the happenings at Motorola this wee, the new Billshrink.com website, and what did the FedEx man just deliver for Noah to review next!
On Thursday Noah reported on Motorola's intentions for splitting their mobile phone division away from the rest of the company into a... Looking for a great messaging phone to use on the Sprint network? Well, Noah has found one in the LG Rumor. The bar style device come equipped with a slide out QWERTY keyboard that when opened, automatically switches the phone to messaging mode. Other key features include a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x zoom, media player, and expandable memory card slot.
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4.5
