A Review of the LG Flare Cell Phone

My cell phone got stepped on a couple of weeks ago. I know, I know, I shouldn't have left it in my coat pocket. I should have put it up somewhere where it wouldn't fall on the floor and get walked over. I'll remember that in the future.

For now, though, my phone was made useless and it was time to get a new one. Although I am a technophile, I have never really gotten into phones. I don't text, use a phone to take pictures, surf the internet on my phone, or even talk on it all that much. For these reasons, I use a pay-as-you-go phone with very basic features.

I went to Best Buy to get another phone and decided on the LG Flare. The phone that got stepped on was a TNT that used the Virgin Mobile network, and I was very happy with their service, so I simply chose what looked like another good Virgin Mobile phone.

I don't purchase minute packs, which give you a discounted rate on minutes but expire in a month. Instead, I basically put $20 on my phone every three months, which you are required to do if you want to keep your phone active.

The Flare is a flip phone with similar features to the TNT, but with a few small differences. First of all, it has a bigger exterior screen. All that it does is display the date, time, signal strength, battery life, and phone number of incoming calls, but it is very bright and big enough to be easy to read. It has a red background, which is why the phone is dubbed "The Flare".

The buttons are backlit, firm and of a good size. This makes dialing easy even in dark places. For those who go online with their phone, there is even a "web" button that makes getting on the internet a snap. The internal screen is bright but otherwise fairly average. The sound quality is excellent for a budget phone, but the ringer is not as loud as I would like. If you are sitting in your car with the radio on, you might not be able to hear your phone ring even if you have it set at the highest volume level.

The phone has excellent battery life, allowing for over 3 hours of talking or 170 hours of standby time(source). Since I often go through a week without using my phone or talking very infrequently, I usually only have to charge it once a week. Speaking of charging, the phone charges quickly, going from no charge to full in only a couple of hours.

The Flare also has Bluetooth, for those that interested in hands-free conversations, but I doubt I will be making use of that feature. The phone is very small in size, meaning I will probably have to find a new cell phone holder, but I actually like the size and appearance of the phone.

For $20(the price I paid at Best Buy) this phone seems like a pretty reasonable deal. It is not recommended for those who want to do a lot of texting, web surfing, or anything other than voice calls. If you are like me and just use your phone occasionally for talking, the Flare is a great choice.