Cell phone upgrades

My old LG VX8300

I've been a Verizon customer for about 4 years now and recently started shopping for my bi-yearly upgrade. I was eligible to upgrade on September 13, but hadn't been able to pick out a phone until just yesterday. The last time I upgraded, I ended up giving my upgrade to my cousin who was starting a new line on our family plan. This way, he wouldn't have to buy a phone. So until yesterday, I have had the same LG VX8300 for 4 years. It has been a very reliable flip phone that didn't start acting funny until about a month ago. I have been very satisfied with this phone but every phone must be replaced eventually.





The decision was difficult for a couple reasons. For one, there aren't many phones available in the corporate Verizon store that don't require a data plan. I liked the LG enV3 but this required a $10/month data plan. I didn't really want a phone with a touch screen, and also wanted to have a number pad as this is what I typically use to text. The enV3 had the number pad which I liked. Still, I wasn't sure I wanted to tack on $10/month, plus I did some research and didn't like what I found. After visiting an authorized Verizon resale store, I learned that the enV3 commonly shuts down at random. I figured I'd do some research on my own to see if this really was the case. Sure enough, while typing "enV3" into Google, the second highest recommended search was "enV3 shuts off." Come to find out, it's most likely a design flaw that is very common with these phones. There are YouTube videos claiming to have found a fix for the problem by placing a piece of cardstock in the battery compartment. Needless to say, I didn't want to have to worry about reliability with my phone.

In the end, I bought the LG enV2 from the authorized resale store. The enV2 has no known issues, has been on the market for quite a while, didn't require a data plan, and was also less expensive than the enV3. Really, the only differences between the 2 models is the camera quality and slight design differences.

enV2 (left) vs. enV3 (right)

The enV3 has a 3MP camera vs the 2MP camera on the enV2. Also, I liked the keypad more on the enV3. It was more fluid, and also allowed the front screen to be larger than the one on the enV2. The internal screen on the enV3 is also larger than the one on the enV2. Feature-wise, the enV3 is a better phone, but when you factor in the extreme unreliability, it becomes more of a frustration. This makes me wonder why Verizon would carry such an unreliable phone.