LG Lotus - purple (Sprint)
Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A. Part number: LOTUSPRPSPT
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The LG Lotus has an eye-catching design, top-notch features, and great performance, making it one of the top messaging phones available from Sprint.
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Where to buy
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CNET editors' review
LG Lotus - purple (Sprint) price range: $49.99
- Reviewed by: Nicole Lee
- Reviewed on: 10/27/2008
The good: The LG Lotus is a stylish and slender clamshell phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. Features include a 2.0-megapixel camera, a music player, Sprint's 3G services, and an innovative easy-to-use shortcut interface called One Click. Call quality is good and the keyboard is tactile.
The bad: The LG Lotus lags a bit when entering text and switching applications, and is a little on the pricey side.
The bottom line: The LG Lotus has an eye-catching design, top-notch features, and great performance, making it one of the top messaging phones available from Sprint.
Thanks to the texting phenomenon sweeping the country, messaging phones are all the rage right now. From the Verizon Wireless Blitz to the Pantech Matrix, it looks like almost every national carrier has some kind of messaging-centric handset. Sprint has answered the call with a few of their own, and one of them is the unusual-looking LG Lotus. Sporting a square shape similar to the Blitz, it has a sleek and stylish design that is quite attractive. It also has high-end features like EV-DO and access to all of Sprint's 3G services. Perhaps the only niggling detail is its price-- the Lotus is $150 with a two-year service agreement. Sprint's other messaging phone, the Samsung Rant, offers the same features as the Lotus, but is $100 less. That said, the Lotus is certainly better designed, so it's your call on whether it's worth the extra money.
Design
A recipient of the Red Dot Design Award, the design of the LG Lotus is what sets it apart from most other messaging phones. Sure the Verizon Wireless Blitz also has a square and compact shape, but the LG Lotus is not only small, it's slim and sleek as well. Measuring 3.3 inches wide by 2.4 inches tall by 0.7 inch thick, the Lotus is surprisingly chic despite its squat appearance. It comes in both textured purple and satin black, and both give the Lotus a nice sheen. The Lotus weighs around 3.7 ounces and has a soft-touch finish, giving it a comfortable feel in the hand.
Underneath the display is a thin silver strip that is actually home to three dedicated music player keys. They are the previous track, play/pause, and next track keys. You can hardly see them when the music player isn't activated, but when it is, the keys glow white. We appreciate that the keys are not touch-sensitive--unlike those of the LG Chocolate--but we wish there was some kind of texture difference between each key. Instead, the keys are completely flat and you need to look at what you're doing to make sure you're hitting the right one.
Right under the external music player keys are the Sprint logo, the camera lens, and the external speakers. To the left is the volume rocker and charger jack, while the right spine is home to a headset jack, a dedicated music player key, a dedicated camera key, and a microSD-card slot.
The Lotus comes with Sprint's new One Click navigation interface. This consists of eight shortcut tiles along the bottom of the home screen, and each tile can become any of 14 shortcuts to applications. You can even have a shortcut that leads to other shortcuts. As you flip through, you will get a small pop-up menu of the application's options. The Google tile, for example, pops up shortcuts to Google search, Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube. You can also add a "bubble" to the home screen that either displays the latest headlines or your latest horoscope. We found the interface very intuitive and easy to use.
Underneath the display is the navigation array, which consists of two soft keys, a square toggle with middle Menu/OK key, a dedicated speakerphone key, a Back key, and the Talk and End/Power keys. Underneath that is a full QWERTY keyboard, complete with a dedicated Text messaging key. The QWERTY keyboard is one of the best we've ever tried on a messaging phone. The keys are well-spaced, and each key has a bubblelike texture that is raised above the surface of the phone. The navigation keys are also roomy and easy to press.
Features
The LG Lotus is not just a messaging phone-- it also comes with a host of multimedia and high-end features. But before we get to that, let's start with the basics. The Lotus has a 600-contact phone book, with room in each entry for six phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, an instant-messenger handle, a Web address, and notes. You can save contacts to groups, and pair them with a photo, any of 35 polyphonic ringtones, and any of four vibrations for caller ID. Other essentials include text and multimedia messaging, an alarm clock, a calculator, a scheduler, a voice memo recorder, a notepad, and a world clock. More advanced users will like the USB mode for PC syncing, voice command, instant messaging, e-mail, stereo Bluetooth, a mobile Web browser, and a document viewer. It also has A-GPS, which supports the Sprint Navigation and Sprint Family Locator services.
The Lotus comes equipped with EV-DO, allowing it access to Sprint's Power Vision. This includes Sprint TV for live on-demand television shows, Sprint Movies for on-demand movies, and Sprint Radio for streaming radio from more than 150 stations. Of course, as a multimedia phone, the Lotus also has access to the Sprint Music Store for wireless music downloads.
Speaking of music, the Lotus's music player is simple, but functional. You can either purchase songs over the air like we mentioned or transfer songs via USB. The player interface is pretty generic, with options for repeat, shuffle, and creating and editing playlists. You can send the music player to the background while doing other things like texting. The Lotus comes with 80MB of built-in memory, and if that's not enough, the microSD-card slot allows for additional storage.
The Lotus has a 2.0-megapixel camera, which can take pictures in four resolutions (1,600x1200, 1,280x960, 640x480, and 320x240), and three quality settings. Other camera options include brightness, white balance, spot metering, a night mode, five color tones, a self-timer, multishot, fun frames, a 4x zoom, four shutter sounds, plus a silent option. The built-in camcorder has editing options similar to that on the still camera. We liked the photo quality; images looked clear and sharp, but we did notice the colors appeared darker than usual.
You can personalize the Lotus in a number of ways. You can select different kinds of graphics for wallpaper and screensavers, different sounds for ringtones and alerts, and full games and applications as well. The Lotus comes with three games: Guitar Hero III, a demo version of JewelQuest2, and Space Monkey. It also comes with four applications: Google Maps, Loopt, NASCAR Sprint cup Mobile, and Social Zone. You can download more of these personalization options via the Sprint browser.
Performance
We tested the LG Lotus in San Francisco on Sprint's network. We were very impressed with the call quality overall. Callers sounded crisp and clear, without a lot of static. Speakerphone calls were quite good as well, albeit on the tinnier side. On their end, callers said we sounded loud and clear as well, though the voices sounded rather robotic, and they could still tell we were on a cell phone. Automated-calling systems recognized our voices just fine in a quiet room. Bluetooth calls were successful.
Music quality was decent. Bass was a little weak, but the melody and vocals sounded alright. We would recommend using a headset for better audio quality. EV-DO speeds were great. Streaming video from Sprint's PowerVision had no buffering issues. Video quality is similar to other Sprint TV phones. While typing out text messages, we found that text sometimes lagged behind our typing. This isn't a huge issue, but when it happened, we thought it was rather annoying.
The Lotus has a rated battery life of 5.6 hours talk time. Our tests reveal a talk time of 3 hours and 36 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the Lotus has a digital SAR rating of 1.360 watts per kilogram.
User reviews
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Great Phone but could be better
by llenod on October 20, 2008
Pros: Full Qwerty Keyboard
Light-Weight
Eye CandyCons: A bit laggy
Sprint's Mobile Browser
Internal Antenna not the best
A bit pricey ($150) w/2 year renewal.Summary: So after playing with the Lotus for a few days, I think it is a great phone. I like the fact that it is a flip phone, that way I ...
Summary: So after playing with the Lotus for a few days, I think it is a great phone. I like the fact that it is a flip phone, that way I don't accidentaly call anyone. The keyboard is easy to use. The buttons are similiar to a chiclet style in texture. The screen is nice and bright. Expect to charge the battery every day with an hour or two of full usage. The internal antenna is not that great. I am constantly switching to roaming in my home when my other phones would have 2 bars. Also, I tried to load Opera Mini 4.1 and the phone would just reboot. It would only accept the earlier 3.0 version.
The little negatives I mention are not a big deal to me, and overall I really like the phone. It is a great alternative to a PDA for those who just like to have a full Qwerty keyboard in a flip phone.9 out of 9 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The Price Of Beauty...
by jab8y on October 18, 2008
Pros: -Very modern looking, and gorgeous!
-The phone feels great in hand, unlike the pictures look.
-Screen is bright and clear, very nice.
- Threaded text messages
-Nice 2 mp camera
-QWERTY Keyboard is good size and easy to pick up and textCons: -Sprint One-Click is kind of slow
-Text entry lags if you are a fast texter, like myself
-Sprint's web browser sucks...Summary: I love my Lotus, even with the issues it has- which are few, which I am sure will be fixed eventually. If you are looking for a full QWERTY phone ...
Summary: I love my Lotus, even with the issues it has- which are few, which I am sure will be fixed eventually. If you are looking for a full QWERTY phone without the bulkiness of a PDA, this is the phone for you. I wouldn't trade my phone for any other one...
Opera Mini is AMAZING on this phone! It is truly perfect now!
Updated on Oct 19, 20085 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Totally Happy !!
Pros: Nice big bright screens, easy to use kybd, great reception, great texting, large 12gb MicroSD card easy WEB access and use.
Cons: Well we havent found any yet.
Summary: I purchased this phone as an upgrade for my wife. She LOVES it ! She Texts a lot and i mean a lot. did not notice any lag in the text. ...
Summary: I purchased this phone as an upgrade for my wife. She LOVES it ! She Texts a lot and i mean a lot. did not notice any lag in the text. The screen is big and bright. takes excellent pictures (remember it's a phone, not a camera) I dont really understand why people have a problem with the browser, like I said it's a phone not a camera or a laptop or even a pda and if you realize this you'l realize just how great it is. Call quality is top notch. Internal antena works great. No complaints Oh, one more thing, it beats the pants off the Rumour for pure texting and no clunky slide out
Great PHIONE. Beautiful big screens. Easy to use. Internet access is great. If you want a Great phone for some good pics , WEB acess and texting I don't see how you could go wrong with this phone. If you want a Camera, buy Camera (se how many of those have Phones on them..LOL) If you want your favorite browsers or apps then maybe you should buy a Laptop or PDA. BUT GO TO A STORE AND PUT ONE IN YOUR HAND IF YOU AREN'T SURE or get a 15 or 30 day return policy like we did. If you don't like it send it back.5 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
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LOVE MY LOTUS
by colora2ra on March 10, 2009
Pros: I admit it....I love the design...but not JUSTfor its asthetics. I love the fact that it is a flip phone. The qwerty keyboard is the best I've ever used. It is very intuitive to set up and use. I haven't needed to consult the owner's manual.
Cons: No indicator light on the outside screen to alert you to a missed call, text or email. Also on the call log screen, if you push OK on the highlighted call, it actually dials the number instead of giving you a menu of information about the last call.
Summary: I recently purchased my Lotus to replace my Blackberry World Edition. The Blackberry was given to me by a friend when his office switched carriers, but since I have no ...
Summary: I recently purchased my Lotus to replace my Blackberry World Edition. The Blackberry was given to me by a friend when his office switched carriers, but since I have no need to be connected with my office email there were many features of the Blackberry that I didn't need. I have always preferred a flip phone for the security of knowing I don't have to remember to lock my keyboard (love that butt dialing commercial!) and I feel there is a little less chance of breakage if I ever drop it. When I saw the Lotus I loved the attention getting design, but when I read about the features and read several reviews, I knew it was the device for me.
The Lotus has all the features that I actually used on my Blackberry, in a much less complicated format....plus it has a camera, which my Blackberry didn't have. Having always had a camera phone, I never realized how much I would actually miss the camera feature until I didn't have one. The Lotus camera is actually pretty decent. It doesn't have a flash, but for some reason my indoor photos turn out great without one. I like the zoom feature, but it isn't available on the highest resolution mode... though the photos do turn out to be very good even at the lower resolution.
I love the compact design of the Lotus...compact being a very appropriate word since the phone actually resembles a woman's powder compact. It fits neatly in both clothing pockets and purse pockets.
The one touch buttons are great and I especially love the ease of Google searches, (I always had to hunt to find the way to google on my Blackberry). You can arrange the one touch buttons in the order you want and even switch applications that appear on them to suit your own needs.
Call clarity is great on the Lotus and it works well with my bluetooth headset. One thing I had to get used to was the fact that when I'm wearing my headset and receive an incoming call, instead of the phone ringing, it vibrates and a voice says in my ear "Incoming call from ______". I guess this is preferable to hearing the loud ringtone right in my ear. Which brings me to another plus of the Lotus...the volume is loud. Of course it can be adjusted, but it is nice to be able to actutally hear my downloaded ringtones well even if my phone is in my purse or from anywhere in my apartment...which is important since it is my only phone.
I haven't experienced the lag in typing time while texting that some reviewers have mentioned...probably because I'm not fast enough at texting for it to be a problem. :)
While I did wait for the price to come down and for a rebate that brought the price down to $99, I definitely feel the Lotus was well worth waiting for. All in all, it's the perfect phone for me.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Should be 4 1/2 stars...
by charlie.brent on January 8, 2009
Pros: Display is large, bright and crisp. External color display is also good. The external audio controls are very convenient. The querty keyboard makes text messaging a breeze. The external speaker is one of the best I have heard.
Cons: The keys are slick and it makes it a tiny bit harder to type than with phones that have textured surfaces on the keys. It will not sync with our company's exchange server. Sprint says this is a software bug and the vendor is working on a fix.
Summary: The interface is intuitive and pretty easy to become familiar with. The shape is and color (of the purple one) are conversation starters. A sales person told my wife her ...
Summary: The interface is intuitive and pretty easy to become familiar with. The shape is and color (of the purple one) are conversation starters. A sales person told my wife her phone is "so Zen." Not sure what that means but he did like the look of the phone. The fact that the flip phone covers the keys solves two problems that I have with my Motorola Q. First, you can't accidentally call someone if you forget to lock the key pad. I think the default for the Lotus is to lock when you flip it closed as well. in addition with the phone closed and locked it does not continually turn on the back light, which kills the battery, the way my Q does.
The battery life seems pretty good. My wife plugs it in nightly, mostly from habit, but she has had no trouble getting through the day even with heavy call and text usage. We have not experimented to find out how long the battery lasts, but it is way better than my Q, I I just got a new (standard) battery for mine.
It ha been easy to purchase music from the Sprint store, but I have not tried to transfer music from her computer yet. It came with a 512 MB micro SD card and the Lotus defaults to the card for music, email and photos. I hate having to deal with an idiot box asking if I want to store data that obviously should be on the card, so that is a winner for me. the only reason I have not upgraded to the Lotus is the buggy software for connecting to the exchange server. Our company uses a secure (https) site and the Lotus is redirecting to an unsecured (http) address. Sprint has been very helpful in trying to resolve this and I have spoken with engineers twice. We are waiting for the vendor to come up with a fix and I will amend or reply to this post if the issue is resolved. If they get it fixed I will be upgrading to the Lotus in May when my $150 credit become available. I have a higher need to access our company mail than she does, so this problem will be a deal breaker for me. It sounds like others have been able to connect to their company exchange servers, however. I would recommend testing your settings in store before making the purchase if accessing company mail is a must for you.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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A deceptive phones...better than I thought.
by casualsuede on December 21, 2008
Pros: The keyboard looks difficult to use, but it is actually better than any keyboard I've used. The screen is bright and fat for a mid-tier phone. The coolness factor.
Cons: A little wide for my hands. Purple may look cool, but doesn't suite me. Luckily there's a black. Sprint 1-click is slow, but there is a fix for that.
Summary: The Lotus is a unique and daring phone and it should be $100 cheaper. It has worked very well and the call quality is outstanding.
Getting rid of the sprint ...Summary: The Lotus is a unique and daring phone and it should be $100 cheaper. It has worked very well and the call quality is outstanding.
Getting rid of the sprint 1-click UI will improve speed, performance and battery life. Go to Sprintusers.com for more detail.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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i have had this phone since the day it came out.
by violentdawg on February 18, 2009
Pros: its a smalll laptop. good camera (when it works). can get on aim, windows live mes., n yahoo mes.
Cons: i have had nothing but problems with this phone. my wife n i both have one. nothing works on her phone right. it restarts everytime she trys to do n-e thing. n ofcourse sprint talked us out of switchin within the 30days n that makes it even better
Summary: they will not replace her phone with a new one. we have been back n forth with these phones. took hers to a tech store they said unfixable. so now ...
Summary: they will not replace her phone with a new one. we have been back n forth with these phones. took hers to a tech store they said unfixable. so now they r getting her a "repaired" phone. oh and that 330 min talk time is just crazy. my phone doesnt last 4 or 5 hrs. so spriint gave me a "free" battery to try n keep me from doing what i am now. oh yea dont let me forget they had to do a "hard" reset on my phone 2 times now. it goes into "safe mode" n nothing works when it does that. bottom line: if your going to waste your time with this phone GET INSURANCE! your going to need it.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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LOVE This Phone! ClearView,EasyKeyboard, Many Features!
by germanytilecompany on December 9, 2008
Pros: Use up to 16GB microSD Capacity, Large Screen, Schedule Calender, Music, TV, Speaker Phone, Easy sending Text I Love the Keyboard, Use phone as modem.
Cons: I haven't found any cons yet!
Summary: LOVE ALL FEATURES OF THIS PHONE!
I bought the Satin Black Phone instead of the Purple.
Better than touchscreen I think!
Updated on Dec 9, 2008Summary: LOVE ALL FEATURES OF THIS PHONE!
I bought the Satin Black Phone instead of the Purple.
Better than touchscreen I think!
Updated on Dec 9, 20082 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Best phone I've ever had
by jim92319 on October 28, 2008
Pros: Great design
Sharp, colorful screen
Exelent keyboardCons: The game Zuma locks up on some levels
Summary: Had this phone for 4 days and loved it from day 1. My wife got the Instinct and is still struggling with it.
The Lotus is like having a mini ...Summary: Had this phone for 4 days and loved it from day 1. My wife got the Instinct and is still struggling with it.
The Lotus is like having a mini laptop in your pocket!2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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worse phone ever, continually defective
by ljruiz1949 on September 1, 2009
Pros: style, color, design
Cons: in 4 months, am on my 3rd phone (original plus 2 replacements). display freezes; programs don't work and/or freeze; Internet useless with small square screen; GPS freezes. Sprint techs don't know how to fix, just replace with same thing.
Summary: This phone should be recalled. Instead Sprint wants you to spend more money on insurance to replace the defective product or to buy an upgrade to another phone. I would ...
Summary: This phone should be recalled. Instead Sprint wants you to spend more money on insurance to replace the defective product or to buy an upgrade to another phone. I would think when a product is as bad as this phone it should be replaced without the customer having to shell out more money. The idea and design of the LG Lotus attracted me to it, but unfortunately it is never going to make it with its technical flaws. However, Sprint says I have to pay my monthly service regardless of whether or not I have a working cell phone (which I purchased from Sprint). After about 18 years as a Sprint customer, I will leave their fold when my 2-yr contract ends (what an ordeal I have to go through waiting it out).
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A.
- Part number: LOTUSPRPSPT
- Description: Sleek chic meets daring originality in a rule-breaking pocket square design. QWERTY keyboard and text key makes the LG Lotus an instant fashion statement. More than a pretty face, this elegant device is stacked with smart technology.
General
- Product Type Cellular phone With digital camera / digital player
- Service Provider Sprint Nextel
- Width 3.3 in
- Depth 0.7 in
- Height 2.4 in
- Weight 3.7 oz
- Body Color Purple
Cellular
- Technology CDMA2000 1X
- Phone Design Folder type phone
- Antenna Internal
- Vibrating Alert Yes
- Polyphonic Ringer Yes
- Call Timer Yes
- Conference Call Capability Yes
- Voice Recorder Yes
- Caller ID Yes
- Speakerphone Yes
- Wireless Interface Bluetooth
- Additional Features GPS, Speakerphone, USB 2.0, 80 MB internal memory, microSD card slot
Messaging & Data Services
- Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
- Mobile Email Yes
- Internet Browser Yes
- Included Services Sprint TV
- JAVA applications Yes
- EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) Yes
- Messaging / Data Features Text messages, E-Mail
Digital Camera
- Camera highlights With a resolution of 2 megapixels, this camera phone will give you better pictures than other phones.
- Sensor Resolution 2 megapixels
- Self Timer Delay Yes
Organizer
- Alarm Clock Yes
- Calendar Yes
- Reminder Yes
- Calculator Basic
Display
- Type LCD display
- Technology TFT
- Diagonal Size 2.4 in
- Color Support Color
- Color Depth 18-bit (262000 Colors)
Display (2nd)
- Type LCD display - Color
Memory
- Internal Shared Memory Yes
Power
- Type Power adapter
Battery
- Talk Time Up to 330 min
Product series
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Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A.
Specs: Up to 330 min, With digital camera / digital player, 3.7 oz
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Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A.
Specs: Up to 330 min, With digital camera / digital player, 0.2 lbs
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Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A.
Specs: CDMA 800, Up to 330 min, With digital camera / digital player, 3.7 oz
Accessories
- LG Bluetooth Stereo Headset HBS-200 (32559289)20.00 - 24.99
- LG HBM-520 Bluetooth headset (33499497)20.29 - 29.99
- LG HBM-730 Headset (32687814)22.99
- Jabra BT8010 Stereo/Mono Bluetooth Headset (32327768)13.97
- Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones (red) (32363768)37.99 - 130.42
- A-Data Speedy Series flash memory card - 2 GB - microSD (33795596)8.99
- ATP SD Trio Professional PLUS card adapter - flash: microSD - Hi-Speed USB (32128464)17.00
- Centon 2GBRSD3-1 - flash memory card - 2 GB - microSD (33503634)8.99 - 11.84
- Centon flash memory card - 4 GB - microSD (33362243)11.48 - 70.99
Manufacturer info
- LG Electronics U.S.A.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse LG Electronics U.S.A. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://us.lge.com/
- Address:
1000 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
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