UPDATE: I never felt 100% about keeping this phone and I gave it try for a week and decided to take it back within the 30 day limit. I remade this review to give it its proper rating which is definitely a 1. An important feature of any phone is to effectively receive input from the user (i.e. texting, phone dialing.) This phone clearly cannot deliver that to its owner without possible 3rd party mod or an accessory which is simply unacceptable. I was enamored with the bold features (that came cheaper than the Fuze) at first, but now not being able to see what I type is getting old quickly. What I was looking for was between this phone and the HTC Fuze and I decided to put out a little more cash and grab the Fuze, a phone I know I’ll be happier with in the long term– BUYER BEWARE! It’s cheap because it sucks, simply put.
Rating: 1 / 5

I am an early adopter…I’ve owned every major smartphone OS: Treo 270, Hitachi G1000 (Windows Mobile), multiple Blackberrys (8100, Curve), Treo 650s – and I’ve upgraded, tinkered with all of them to watch feature length movies, do remote server access behind firewalls, etc…in other words a PDA geek. I was a millimeter away from buying an iPhone in 2008 – when I was talked out of it and into my BB Curve. I have every SW synchronization running on my laptop – Palm OS, BMS, Win Mo 6.1 — the LG CT810 is by far the smoothest, slickest device I have come across. I migrated my contacts from BB through Outlook, my iTunes converts into Win Mo Mediaplayer, I’ll upgrade the data management S/W to utilize the OS/processor interface so it will be even smoother…I don’t understand others complaints about this phone. It does have idiosyncrisies…no embedded stylus…landscape typing leaves a small view of text…color vibrancy is not equal to iPhone; however, this device has more connectivity options than an iPhone [HSPDA, UMTS tri-band, Edge, 3G, GPRS, GSM quad-band, satellite connectivity, WiFi + FM radio receiver] …all of which I tested and am impressed by. Watching CNN, Superbowl commercials and music videos, viewing Facebook in full – For $0.01 – I think I just found true smartphone love.
Rating: 4 / 5

Cons:

1. Touch screen keyboard size occupies almost all the screen in landscape mode (only way to get full keyboard). The text field into which you are typing does not even scroll into view in the remaining space. Result is you cannot see what you type.

2. No arrow keys on the keyboard. Once you make a mistake typing (see 1 above), then you need to retype the whole thing again.

3. Not so good touch-screen. I use my fingers only, not the supplied stylus. Most of the time it works great, but sometimes need to press really hard for it to recognize. Finger-nail works right.

4. Slow response – If I disable screen-tap sounds, it appears that the phone has not recognized your touch (takes so long for it to respond). This is clearly a software issue since some applications respond great!

5. When scrolling contacts, I use gestures (impossibly hard to use thin GUI scroll bar with a thumb). Now it scrolls multiple pages in one shot. Not possible to scroll at just the right speed to see everything – always miss many contacts since it scrolls so many pages.

6. No space to put stylus within the phone. Stylus hangs to the phone like a key-chain. Who gives these people such ideas?

I am trying to find a replacement AT&T phone that has such features (pros only ), yet does not mandate a data plan.

Minor cons:

1. Screen has mirror polish. Who gives these people such ideas. I see screen plus my reflected face on the screen all the time.
Rating: 3 / 5

This is a perfectly good phone/organizer with which you will be perfectly happy if you don’t set your standards irrationally high. It’s got a load of features and they all work as advertised.

The major complaints seem to be about it being slow and unresponsive. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1. Slow and unresponsive are hallmarks of the Windows brand, what did you expect? But it is fast enough to make your calls and organize your contacts and play your music, which is what you want this phone for. If you want this phone for too much else, you don’t want this phone: you want an iPhone, and you’re going to have to pay for an iPhone.

This is not an iPhone, but it also doesn’t cost nearly as much as an iPhone.

I think a major culprit to the “slow and unresponsive” complaint is the “haptic response.” This is a cool idea that has fallen a little behind in the implementation. The idea is that it runs the vibrator a little when you hit a key. Unfortunately, what it does is it hits the vibrator a little *after* you hit the key. This immediate feedback really makes any little lag hit home. If you turn this feature off, you probably won’t notice the delay at all: it’ll run just like any other of your Windows CE or Windows Mobile devices.

Also, for a speed boost, try deleting some of the Java game demos and parasite-ware that come on it. If you’re not going to pay for the full version of Ms. Pacman or Finance Mobile, wipe them and get that memory back.

The complaint about the full qwerty keyboard being too big is entirely valid. It is really useless. However, it still has the default Windows Mobile full qwerty keyboard available—which is much smaller—and one of the best handwriting recognition tools in the hand-held device market. (If you’re really feeling hackish, try out the Dasher input method!)

There’s a complaint that the interface, beyond the “Today” screen, is standard Windows Mobile fare and requires the silly little stylus fob. True, the stylus fob is really… well… it’s gay. (It’s gay in that way that homosexual people almost never are, if you must know.) On the other hand, the touch screen (slow as it is) is pretty good at working out where the center of your finger is. I’ve got big flat sausage fingers, but I can navigate the Windows menus fine and even play the tiny little game of solitaire without the silly little stylus. So the stylus is a non-issue. (And get yourself one of those pen/pencil/stylus combos from any Wallgreen’s if it is an issue for you.)

Someone had a complaint that the registration was off: when you hit the screen with the stylus, the hit registered off on a diagonal. You need to configure your screen. There’s a little test they give you where you have to chase a cross around the screen with the stylus. They used to do this on first boot and whenever the OS was reset. Now you have to dig a little to find the program that does this, but it’s still there. Under the Start Menu (upper left) hit settings, then hit the “System” tab and hit “Screen.” This is a pain, I know, when your screen is badly misaligned (as it will be out of the box), but the thumb-wheel will help you. You need to run through it three times: once for portrait mode and once for each of the landscape modes.

Here is the absolute coolest part of this phone: Google.

AT&T has a turn-by-turn GPS map app that they charge you extra to use. But the GPS is built into the phone. If you download Google Maps, it is able to use the GPS data from your phone and track you in real time… for free! (Well, you’re still paying for the data package, but you’re not paying additional for the map service.) Google Sync also works: for this device, Google pretends to be an Exchange Server and you point Active Sync at m.google.com. This syncs your Google Calendar and GMail Contacts to your phone. (These can by synced to your desktop or laptop with other software.) The mail app has IMAP support, so you can use that to sync to your GMail messages or use the mobile version of GMail in either of the two built-in browsers (IE or Access Whoozit, the AT&T browser.)

Google Docs all have mobile versions. There’s a mobile YouTube app if you don’t like the Cingular Video service. Post to your Orkut profile with ease (you have an Orkut profile, right? No? Well, anyway…)

This phone + Google’s mobile apps is really pretty fly!

Here’s the bottom line: if you’ve played with an iPhone and are looking for an iPhone: get an iPhone. This is not an iPhone.

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for an inexpensive organizer/phone with a fair amount of style (stupid little dangly stylus aside), or if you’re upgrading from an older Windows CE device, this is really a solid choice. There’s a lot of value here for the money.

***UPDATE***

The too-large full qwerty keyboard that everybody hates? It has a little arrow in the lower right that makes the control bar at the bottom of the screen go away, giving you another line of input. This doesn’t always make the difference you hope it would, but it makes the full qwerty usable for text messages in particular and for entering searches in the Google Mobile app (not included).
Rating: 4 / 5

If you don’t plan to use a phone outside the US, there is NO POINT in getting the Renown. It has a basic feature set and there are much more capable phones available from VZ for use in the US.

As another reviewer points out, data functions don’t work in GSM mode, so if you need internet etc access abroad, this is not the phone for you! (You will need one of the quad-band PDAs or blackberries for that, and for international 3G, the VZ choice is even more limited).

The Renown is good for basic (voice and text messaging only!) in GSM regions. If you keep the Verizon SIM, people can call you on your US number, but you will pay large roaming fees. If you get it unlocked, you can use cheap third-party SIMS to keep costs down, but you will have a different phone number. The savings can be significant, UK to US can cost about 6 cents per min with a local UK SIM, whereas VZ charges $1.29 per minute, or 99cents per minute with an additional cost plan.

If you don’t mind having two phones, the alternative to the renown is to by a cheap prepaid GSM phone in the country you are visiting (some cost about $8 in the UK), and spend your money on a nice US phone for here!

Rating: 3 / 5

Also, battery life is very short, and the media player interface is ugly and awkward enough to render it unusable.

If you’re thinking of unlocking it and using it around the world (with different SIM cards) as I did, you’ll be disappointed.

Not so happy with this thing!
Rating: 1 / 5

One reason my wife and I purchased these phones for use abroad is because Verizon indicated that I would be able to switch out the SIM card for another – after 60 days of continuous use. The third party agreement makes that a 181 day waiting period or else big $$$ charge. Gotcha! The third party website shows the same phone with the Verizon contract having the capability to connect to Microsoft Outlook – “software provided.” No such capability exists according to Verizon technical support. In fact I was directed to Verizon technical support by the third party phone rep because “We don’t provide technical support.” Huh!?

The phone itself is designed with a major technical flaw. The antenna is located in the back of the hand grip – in fact, there’s a warning message printed on the phone not to hold the phone there while using it. Huh?!

And that final rebate promised – you guessed it – you have to wait 181 days before you can submit it. You only find that out when you go out to the rebate website.

And make sure you get the phones back to the third party distributer within 7 days if you want your money back. And be prepared for half-hour wait times if you call the third party distributor. And be prepared to wrestle with Verizon after you terminate the contract if you get the phones back on time, because Verizon whips out an early termination fee bill much faster than you can imagine. One wonders what their 30-day customer satisfaction policy really means?

This story has a happy ending – believe it or not. After many phone calls and hours of wait time, we got a promise of getting all our money back from everyone – not easily – but nevertheless. My wife eventually bought an unlocked Motorola V197 from Amazon for overseas use with a SIM from Cellular Abroad – a much simpler solution and much more cost effective. I’m sticking with my Samsung ip830W which after two years of use has finally been unlocked by Sprint. Dealing with Telecom Italia will seem easy after this. Buon viaggio!

Rating: 1 / 5