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The Blitz from Verizon sits in the palm of your hand and is a functional little multimedia device. The phone itself is designed with younger crowd in mind, as it centers on text messaging, games, music and video, and imaging with the built-in camera. The Tech Herald sat down with one and put it through its paces over the last few weeks.
The Tech Herald takes a look at the new LG Blitz. (Photo:Steve Ragan)
Along with the geek aspect of testing, poking and prodding the device and seeing just how well it can handle adult use, the Blitz was entrusted with a 12-year-old (as he will tell you, soon to be 13) for testing. The “tween” is actually my oldest son, who like his old-man, is a fanatic when it comes to gadgets.
[Disclosure: The testing performed by the minor was under direct supervision of the reviewer. At no point was the review based solely on the judgment or opinions of said minor for the aspect of rating the device.]
The Blitz is a smallish square shaped phone. It looks awkward until you use the sliding mechanism to access the device. The sliding is sensitive, but not over reactive, so you can open and close the phone with your thumb.
Once you open the Blitz, the first thing you notice, if you are used to such things, is that the keypad is exactly like the BlackBerry. In all honesty, the keypad looks like the one used on the BlackBerry 8830, which gives you fast easy access to text and numbers. For the review, the largest compliment from the “tween” was that sending text messages or using the added IM clients was easy, thanks to the QWERTY keypad.
The navigational controls are decent. A joystick allows you to use your thumb to move about the various menus. While not the best form of control, because it is sensitive, it adds a nice touch and fits with the compact design.
Using the Blitz
Starting with the “tween” features that will get the most use, the first thing tested was Mobile IM. The Mobile IM feature supports Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, so all the major ones are covered.
Now, while the QWERTY keypad is exactly like the BlackBerry 8830, there is a slight difference. The keys are slightly smaller, and you can tell they are much thinner. So if you are used to a BlackBerry keypad, this will take some getting used to. In testing, the adaption to the new feel of the keys took about three IM’s on Yahoo.
Next was text messaging and email. Both functions were easy to use, and thanks to the QWERTY keypad, it takes no time at all to whip off a quick message to anyone on your contact list. Speaking of contact lists, the Blitz will hold about a thousand names and numbers in your address book.
Another function, albeit an expensive one depending on the selections, is the games feature. For this test, The Sims 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed were downloaded to the Blitz and played.
The 2-inch screen offers an impressive gaming view, but the controls on Star Wars were a hassle. The Sims 2 however, quickly became a favorite pastime.
When it comes to the 2.2-inch display, as you can see below, the images are clean. Testing in direct sunlight offered no visual problems, as seen in the past on other reviews. (Up to 262,000 colors supported, 220x176 pixels)
The camera is another nifty little feature. Simple access to it is offered by the button on the right side when looking down on the phone. Once pressed, you are ready to point and shoot. However, mind your finger placement, or you will have strange features in your images you did not expect.
The camera supports 320 x 240, 1280 x 960, 640 x 480, 160 x 120, and portrait and landscape modes. There is a limited ability to alter light settings, and options for B&W photos and other modified views.
The image below of the car shows the glare given off after adjusting the light display on an overcast afternoon. The features of the Mustang are present, as is the rich black, but the shake given off by taking the image with the phone is clear as well.
The image of the sign below shows another example of the camera shake; however, notice the color detail in the cartoon.
The camera, 1.3-megapixel, is still a decent camera for the phone. It will take some practice to get the images looking just right. While on par with other Verizon offerings, this camera lacks some of the other features offered in the other multimedia phones like the LG Dare.
Calling
The Blitz was used in the Indianapolis area on the Verizon network. During testing there were no dropped calls.
Calls were clear, but there were some issues with sound quality. When using the speaker phone, the person who was called sounded distorted, however they reported that the caller sounded just fine.
This can be attributed to the speaker size, which was small.
Music
Because of the speaker size, music playback was decent, but not the best. However, that is the least of the drawbacks for the Blitz when it comes to music.
The largest issue is VCast. The Blitz can access VCast, but there is no streaming video, nor can you order and download songs to the phone. This was a sorely missed option for an otherwise awesome multimedia phone.
The reason is that the Blitz does not have EVDO, without that there is no way to download songs over the air.
Battery Life
The battery on the Blitz is important. Using things like the camera, Mobile IM, and music will drain it. Talk time was just at 4-hours, and it took almost two weeks to run out of battery power in standby.
However, the battery life will plummet if you play games continuously or use it as a music player. So keep it fully charged as often as possible.
Durability
Stress testing was minimal, but seeing as how this phone will end up in the hands of younger teens, the toughness of it was a great addition.
The phone, while light, is built with a solid rock hard plastic. It was rather impressive to see how well it can withstand being shoved into a backpack for a week. (Equally impressive was how well it took to being dumped out of the backpack, with large books landing on top of it.) The Blitz also fits into the back pants pocket without issue, but try to remember it is there, because it won’t take to being sat on too well.
The keypad is thin, but held up to constant use. During testing, it was gripped rather hard and creaked and groaned, but didn’t crack. The display screen too is tough as nails, and was resistant to scratching even when dropped face first into rocks.
Conclusion
Overall, the Blitz is a killer phone for the younger set. The power texting offered by the QWERTY pad is something that makes this phone a must have for homes with kids who can burn up a keypad. (Get the unlimited text and data plan first however.)
Sadly, the loss of EVDO on this phone, and with it the ability to download music, is a deal breaker for some.
Still, the effort is worth it, and if you upload your own music then you still have a solid device.
The Tech Herald ranks this phone at 3.5 out of 5.0. The Blitz could have easily been a 4.0 or better, but the lack of access to download music was the largest factor in scoring.
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