LG AX-390

LG Electronics is quickly becoming well known in the US for quality, innovation, and definite usability. A great example of this is the LG AX-390, a phone that is offered under quite a few of the Alltel Wireless plans. The following article will explore some of the features, the available accessories, as well as the overall performance of the LG AX-390.

In contrast to many of the cellular phones being offered on the market today, the LG AX-390 offers the harried business professional a respite from the different bells and whistles seen in so many of the other phones. It only includes the essentials that every professional needs, leaving out the luxury items such as a camera, or an MP3 player. However, what it gives up in high ticket items, it clearly makes up in its overall functional design and user friendly features. The phone measures a compact 1.8" x 3.3" x 0.9", and has a sleek clamshell design. The CDMA enabled handset can store up to 500 contacts in the phone book, complete with name, phone number, address and email address with a few pushes of the buttons. It is also TTD/TTY compatible, and offers voice recognition dialing. In addition, the LG AX-390 also offers push to talk capabilities, something that is a great asset when trying to reach your colleague for that important information. The phone is also Axcess web capable, and easily works on Alltel's Axcess MobileLink network, allowing speeds of between 40 and 70 kbps with burst of up to 144 kbps. In addition, other multimedia functions like messaging, ringtones, wallpaper, email, and broadband can be accessed provided that the network service provider offers such services.

A standard battery that comes with the phone can offer just about three hours of continuous talk time, and standby is a little over 4 days between recharging. The onscreen LCD display offers over 65k in color, and is a respectable 128 x 128 pixels in size. Although the screen doesn't really lend itself to use as a video game screen, it can easily support many of the basic images and texts that are seen in the business world everyday. It has an external backlit display with a color filter that displays information such as battery and signal strength, time, and caller ID, and has the capability of displaying a running timer of the current call if desired. Additional features that are also available include digital TTY/TTD, GPS locating service, and hands free car mounts.

Although this phone doesn't have many of the bells and whistles desired by many in the younger generation, it definitely has what a business person wants. Another great feature is the ability to record voice memos, up to 30 of them, lasting about 4 seconds each. It doesn't sound like a lot, but its enough to 'jot' down that little reminder about the client meeting at noon or the late dinner meeting. As every business person realizes, having a way to keep on top of your appointments while on the go is a great thing.

It should be remembered that even though the LG AX-390 is geared towards the average business professional, it isn't all business. Like many phones in the LG family, it can be customized with different graphics, unique ring tones, and various download including games and screensavers. It also has a standard flight mode, which is perfect for those long airplane rides to meet the important client on the west coast.

The performance of the LG AX-390 was pretty good overall. The clamshell design and user friendly controls made it fairly easy to use. In addition, sound quality was found to be fairly good in a number of cities that the phone was used in. It should be remembered though, that the ability to make and receive calls is largely dependant on the network carrier service; if the network isn't in the area, it doesn't matter how good the phone is.

The phone itself was fairly easy to use, and the larger buttons were a welcomed change from many of the sleeker phones out there. The flip open clamshell design did lend itself to awkward one handed use, but unless you're constantly using your hand for other things that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Overall, if you're looking for a phone that can offer a savvy business professional a great, low cost, low maintenance phone, take a quick look at the LG AX-390.