LG Dare will launch with Verizon Wireless tomorrow
LG Dare
(Credit: LG)The LG Dare has just launched with Verizon Wireless and will be available via Verizon's online store starting tomorrow. We'll admit that we were prepared to dismiss the Dare as yet another iPhone clone when we first read about it a couple of weeks ago, but we recently had some hands-on time with one, and we have to say the Dare, well, dares to be different (I know, the pun is horrendous, but it needed to be said). Not only does it come with a whopping 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, it has light exposure control, auto focus, and even face detection and noise reduction. There's even a "Smartpic" technology that will compensate for face color and low light. The built-in camcorder is able to record up to 640x480 video with 120fps and play it back with 15 fps slow motion, which is a first in the U.S.
Other stand-out features include a full HTML browser, a proximity sensor that automatically turns off while in a call (similar to the one on the iPhone), a light sensor that adjusts LCD brightness automatically, plus an accelerometer that rotates the screen to landscape mode in certain applications (the browser and text message interface rotates up to 90 degrees anticlockwise, for example). You also get a unique "drawing pad" feature that lets you draw a map or picture with your finger. You can then send this image over to your friend if you want via MMS. Another nice feature is the ability to handwrite your message similar to Graffiti. Even though the Dare doesn't have a stylus, you can use your finger to draw out letters and characters, and it has a pretty smart handwriting recognition that will recognize them. As for text messaging, you can either tap em out in T9 mode, via a virtual QWERTY keyboard, or via the aforementioned handwriting method.
Last but not least, the Dare features a unique menu interface. You have the option of selecting a "scattered" layout which lets you drag and drop icons to new positions. Why you would do this instead of relying on the standard square grid is a little strange, but I did think it was rather fun. From the Dare's home screen, you can get single touch access to a shortcuts menu, plus you get to drag and drop certain shortcut icons directly to the home screen for easy access to your favorite applications. You also get haptic or tactile feedback when using the touch screen. The Dare also lets you pick up to 9 favorite contacts, which you can assign pictures to, and place instantly accessible from the home screen. Other features include haptic feedback, EV-DO Rev. A, Verizon's stable of broadband services, and more.
As you can see, there's a lot to like about the Dare, and we haven't even begun to scratch the surface. We'll give you a more complete overview once we receive a review unit. The Dare will be available for $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement, which we think is very competitive, especially in light of the iPhone pricing. The Dare will be available in Verizon Wireless retail stores in July 3rd.
Nicole Lee is an associate editor for CNET, covering cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and all things mobile. She's also pretty geeky--she likes World of Warcraft, comic books, and shiny gadgets. E-mail Nicole. 
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"**Some states require us to compute sales tax on the full retail price or inventory cost of the equipment you purchase. Your sales tax was based on $99,999.99."
Whawhawhaaat?!?! I'm pretty positive that some $99,999,99 was put in by some programmer who was testing the site, pre-launch. Now, when it went "live" and became available, they forgot to change it to the true retail value of the phone. I can't believe that they did this, and furthermore that nobody else caught this before going live. This could be a huge PR problem, as if I had casually pressed "Submit" without seeing this error, I'd have overdrawn the account I was using to pay, and have to deal with the headache of fixing things from my end.
I called Verizon before they closed at 11pm PST, twice, and told them about the problem. Their reply was to try again tomorrow. Really?
You would think for such an important product (competing with the iphone 2) that Verizon would have really taken the time to dot their "i"s and cross their "t"s. How FRUSTRATING!
P.S., I've since removed it from my cart, and tried again (after midnight here in California) and the problem still exists. So, it is available on the site, but if your state requires the collection of sales tax, look out for a possible sales tax charge based on the $99,999.99 price. Ouch! Also frustrating is that if I lived in Oregon, where there are no sales taxes, my order would be in. Uggggg! I hope they fix this ASAP!!
Thank you to Verizon for fixing this!!
In the end my opinion great phone and i know what im getting next month when im up for renewal.
Oh well...lol
Light, Small and Compact.
Good Battery Life
Good Signal with a Fast Browser
Rubberized back for good grip
Cons:
Texting is hard to get good at for some people like me
Low light produced for backlight(glare)
Sometimes people complain of not being able to hear me.
Video camera has a blue tint problem in high speed.
This is one of the best phones released for verizon network. The touchscreen is amazingly accurate especially coming from the voyager which touchscreen sucks in accuracy. So they really improved it when making this phone. Multi-tasking music player is also a plus when your on those bored days with nothing to do besides texting. Some things that need to be worked on are some of the glitches that the phone produces such as the phone restarting when doing something such as scrolling through text messages on the phone but you can fix this by resetting the phone which I found out on http://LG-Dare.com. But I believe the restarting problems can be fixed in a firmware update. But the phone has alot of tricks and features which you might not figure out until a couple of days after you get the phone. I know LG made a site( http://www.lgmobilephones.com/phone.aspx?id=8712 ) thats basically a picture manual for the LG Dare and it really helped learn the phone also.
- by scr33ner September 20, 2008 7:09 PM PDT
- I just got the Dare. I must say, this has been a great surprise. I like that I can send 'notes' instead of always relying on a qwerty keyboard. I can write my notes in the paint program & send them to ppl.
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(13 Comments)I like the rudimentary txt 2 speach with the messenger.
The still/video camera is nice 3.2mp & vga video that outputs to 3g2.
Bright LED light can illuminate a dark room & the vidCam can still pick up images.
I don't understand why LG didn't include a stylus for this phone, it needs one.
The web browser could be better.
It'd be great if LG or Verizon made a USB driver that would allow ppl to convert the camera
to a webCam- or had USB drivers that allowed the pc to access the microSD Card while it's
still in the phone.