LG Beacon

Feature phones nowadays are as advanced as they have ever been. In the past, even a high-end feature phone would never be confused with a real smartphone. But now, feature phones are actually sophisticated and pretty powerful. One example of such a phone is the LG Beacon, a touchscreen-equipped handset with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It’s available through MetroPCS in the US as one of the few options worth considering if you do a lot of mobile messaging.

The Beacon is a tri-band CDMA handset that supports 1xRTT data. It lacks Wi-Fi but otherwise, it’s a pretty well-connected mobile phone, with Bluetooth wireless, USB, and support for microSD cards. Its hardware features include a 2.8-inch 240×400 touchscreen display, 1-megapixel camera, speakers, and a standard headphone jack. But by far its biggest hardware feature is its slide-out 4-row QWERTY keyboard, which is a boon for mobile messaging buffs.

The software on the Beacon is not the most feature-rich, but it gets the job done. It may take some getting used to, but once you are familiar with the set up of the icons and such, you will find that the software is not that hard to handle.

The Beacon comes with a 1,000 mAh battery as standard. This gives it nearly 7 hours of talk time per charge, although battery life will be determined ultimately by actual usage.

It may not offer much in terms of advanced features, but the Beacon is certainly a good pick for those who are simply looking for a reliable device for calling and texting at an affordable price.

Need to Know: LG Beacon

1. Long battery life. (The Good)

2. Built-in 4-row QWERTY keyboard. (The Good)

3. Small and low-resolution touchscreen display. (The Bad)

4. Lacks built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. (The Bad)