LG Cosmos™ 2 (Verizon Wireless)

Calls and speakerphone: We found calls on the LG Cosmos loud and clear for both us and callers. In fact, it was so loud we needed to occasionally use the side volume keys to lower the sound. Using the speakerphone didn’t degrade call quality, and we didn’t have a problem hearing callers over the speaker and we particularly liked how easy it was to activate, just press the button with the speaker on it. You don’t have to be too close to the cell phone when using the speakerphone to be heard clearly by callers.

Menu/phone book: Like many Verizon Wireless cell phones, the LG Cosmos has a standard menu system; if you're already accustomed to it, using this LG cell phone should be a breeze. That said, this interface is a bit more customizable. In fact, when the cell phone is first activated it will prompt you to customize the LG Cosmos (it only takes about a minute to complete). Since this is a slider cell phone, you get the same view of icons when the Cosmos is in either horizontal or vertical mode, all that changes is orientation. The LG Cosmos doesn’t have a ton features beyond Mobile IM, Mobile E-Mail, VZ Navigator, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. For example, the cell phone lacks a music player. However, it does have Bing search for searching the mobile web.

We particularly like how easy it is to use the phone book, which can store 1,000 contacts, each with six phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, an IM name, a picture, street address information, and a note. If you want to find your phone number, it’s easy to locate. Simply scroll to My Name Card in the Contacts. There’s also an option to send it to someone via text, picture message, voice message or Bluetooth.

Camera: The LG Cosmos sports a 1.3-megapixel camera but lacks a flash or tiny mirror for taking self portraits. When you activate the camera feature either by pressing the dedicated camera key on the side of the cell phone or accessing it from the Media Center menu the screen turns into horizontal mode. The shutter on this camera is fast so it snaps pictures at about the same time you press the camera button. As for image quality, we found colors to be true, but details were a bit lacking. That said, picture quality is a bit above average from what you’d expect on 1.3-megapixel-camera phone. There are also quite a few settings for taking pictures, which include resolution, self-timer, white balance (Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, and Glow), night mode, photometry for spot meters, and noise reduction. Unlike other camera phones currently available, the LG Cosmos lacks a video recorder.

Connectivity/Bluetooth: We were able to pair the LG cell phone with a Plantronics 925 Bluetooth headset . We found call quality to be clear with a headset, and users didn’t know we were using a cell phone, let alone a headset.

Look and feel: At first glance, the LG Cosmos looks a lot like a basic candy bar-style cell phone with a large display (note: the screen casing takes up a little more than half the phone). However, the two silver buttons on the side of the cell phone make you think there’s a bit more to the LG Cosmos and there is. Simply slide the top of the cell phone to the left to reveal a four-line QWERTY keyboard. When closed, the cell phone is about the length of a BlackBerry Curve but a bit narrower and a smidge thicker, so it fits comfortably in a pocket and feels good in the hand. The cell phone’s screen isn’t particularly vibrant with colors, but it’s bright and letters and numbers appear crisp. Even on the largest font setting , letters and numbers don’t look particularly large. Read: If you have trouble reading a cell phone screen this is probably not the phone for you.

We do have one pet peeve with this cell phone and that’s the automatic locking feature. Put the cell phone down for a minute and the automatic lock goes into effect. While that’s normally a good thing, it’s just too fast. You can turn off the Auto Lock feature, but you can’t change the amount of time that elapses before it activates. One the plus side, the cell phone’s spine isn’t littered with extra buttons. The only buttons you’ll find are camera (which is placed perfectly for snapping shots when in picture mode), the volume keys, a 2.5mm headset jack, and the slot for an optional MicroSD card. At the base of the cell phone is the microUSB slot.

Keypad: If you’re in the market for a cell phone that has an easy-to-read numeric keypad, look no further than the LG Cosmos. The white backlit numbers are large and easy to discern. There is also a 4-way navi-key on the outside of the cell phone and four navigational keys on the slide-out keyboard. Outside there are also two soft keys that correspond to options on the cell phone’s screen, dedicated keys for Speakerphone, Clear, Send and End, while on the slide-out QWERTY keyboard you’ll find many of the keys do double duty with the ability to launch phone features such as creating a message. We found the internal 4-line QWERTY keypad easy to use and spacious. We didn’t encounter any accidental mistypes.

In the battery life department, the LG Cosmos doesn’t disappoint. We found that the cell phone could last about four days before recharging when using the LG Cosmos regularly to make calls, occasionally surf the wireless Web, and send/receive text messages. Users who barely use the cell phone to make/receive calls and send/receive messages can probably last about a week before needing to recharge, while heavier cell phone users will likely need to charge the Cosmos every two to three days.