LG VX-5500 Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)

This phone is exactly what I was looking for when I purchased it. My husband is not into all the fancy new phones. He wanted a flip phone that he could easily use and this phone fits the bill perfectly. It is neither too big nor too small. The keyboard is just the right size and is easy to use. This phone has all the options he was looking for without all the extras he didn't.

if you're not a features junkie and all you wanna do is make and receive calls and text messages, this is the phone for you. i've had no issues with the battery life, reception and voice quality are generally pretty good, and it's bluetooth capable. in short, it has all your standard phone features.on the other hand, the camera isn't so great. i had an older model of LG phones, the vx5300. this phone lacks what the vx5300 had: flash, zoom, and better quality. i guess that's not so bad if you don't use your cell phone camera, but this OUGHT to be a standard feature regardless! i guess LG must've been REALLY marketing for folks on a budget.secondly, the phone has trouble with bitpim, a third party data transfer software. bitpim supports a pretty wide range of phones, including my old VX5300, but i guess the vx5500 was a little too new. when you select a phone for bitpim to manually detect on your USB port, you MUST use a phone that shares the same USB data cable that the vx5500 does because the vx5500 is not supported. i managed to get all my pictures and memo pad notes off my phone, but i had absolutely no luck with text messages or my address book.thirdly, the phone is mediocre when it comes to ergonomics. the phone's slimmer design makes it harder to grip, and the ridges that line the halves of its clamshell design aren't deep enough for large hands like mine, making the phone tough to open with one hand (try receiving a call while driving, you'll see what i mean).and they took away the speed-lock feature! i remember on my vx3200 AND my vx5300 that they BOTH had a feature where if you held down the * or the # key (depending on which model you had), it would automatically lock your phone, a handy feature if you need to put your stuff down in a hurry and leave it unattended. well, well, lo and behold, it's magically GONE on the vx5500. i guess LG's reasoning for removing it is that people don't steal cell phones as much these days, but i would've appreciated it.if you just want to make and receive calls/text messages, don't look any further. but if you want something that's ideal, look elsewhere.edit 8/19/09:oh yeah, did i mention that the camera color quality is MEDIOCRE? if you're gonna take pictures, you'd better have a light source that is -no joke- as bright as the SUN. all of my indoor pictures that do not have a light source that causes headaches ALL have a bluish-gray tint to them.edit 8/13/10:don't know why amazon deleted my edit from 4 days ago, but i wanna just go for the record and say that this is the worst phone LG has ever made. the screen died about 2 weeks ago, making the phone next to impossible to use. i could still make and receive calls with limited success, as i couldn't access my phonebook from a dead screen. i took it to the verizon tech people to get my phonebook switched to another phone that i put into service, and it wouldn't transfer. the tech guy used 3 different cables, too. piece of junk. LG should've made cell phones the way they made the vx3200 and vx5300 - no bugs!

I own other LG products (tv, cell phones, etc) and they are wonderful. This phone is a dud. I am on the second battery. I returned the first one after two weeks since it only lasted a couple of days. Now the battery lasts around four days (I have had the phone around five months). It does not reliably receive calls when my friend's Blackberry, on the same wireless network, is receiving a crystal clear signal. Sometimes it will not synch with my car's Bluetooth unless I reset it(turn phone off and back on again). Periodically it will "BEEP" and drop my call. I am going to call my carrier and see what they can do for me to try to get rid of this mistake.

This phone is a decent cheap phone.Pros:1) No antenna to catch if phone is in your pocket.2) Calls seem clear3) battery life seems okayCons:1) Phone often stops working as a phone if you do not power it down each night. Powering down and up again will fix it. But symptom of phone not being able to send calls is quite a pain. Phone acts like it is going to call, but no audio is sent either direction. In other words, you have no idea that the call isn't going to work before you call.2) Phone will not allow you to use recorded audio as a ring tone.

I got two of these for free for my wife and I on a Verizon rebate deal. Overall, they're not bad if all you really want is a good, basic, compact phone, that also happens to have Bluetooth and a minimal camera. They're smaller than a 5300, very light weight, seem to hold a decent battery life (after returning one battery that was obviously defective), and the reception and voice quality is as good as my old LG VX8300. A Motorola Bluetooth headset works fine, and I like not having an external antenna. My only complaint is that it has a poor selection of ring tones, and some are not very loud. If you're into taking photos with your phone, this one doesn't have a flash.The 5500 comes with a 1000mAH battery; if you want, you can upgrade that with a 1500mAH battery, but you'll need to also buy a new cover for the back of the phone to accommodate it.