Review: LG Incite from AT&T

I bought the LG Incite as my upgrade with AT&T. I read many reviews about the Incite and felt that it was a quality cell phone overall. Unfortunately, I was sadly mistaken. The LG Incite is a candybar shaped phone, with a touchscreen interface. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1.

The Display

The display on the Incite is adequate, although a bit undersized with the provided Windows Mobile user interface. It is a 3 inch LCD with a 400x240 pixel resolution. The colors are vivid, but only in a dark environment. In any sort of light, the Incite's display becomes to refelective to see very much at all.

Features

THe LG Incite comes with some impressive features, inlcuding a Wi-Fi connection. The inclusion of Wi-Fi is what pushed me to get the Incite in spite of lackluster reviews. With Windows Mobile 6.1, you also get Windows Media Player. WMP supports MP3, WMA, AAC and WAV playback so you shouldn't have a problem listening to your music. The Incite also has a 3.5 mm headphone jack that will work with normal headphones. The Incite also has A 3.0 megapixel camera.

User Interface

The LG Incite has a resistive touchscreen, through which nearly all input is done. UI is where the Incite falls short. Very short. Windows Mobile 6.1 on a 3 inch screen like the Incite's demands the use of a stylus. Personally, I think using a stylus is a very big pain and refuse to do it. Without a stylus, the user has to use his fingernails to get anywhere on the Incite. It usually took me 2-3 tries to hit the button or selection I wanted. It was like this even when I did try using the stylus.

Also, when a smartphone is dependent on a stylus, there is a usually a slot to place it in when not in use. The LG Incite mysteriously lacks a stylus slot. Instead, LG expects you to hang your stylus from the Incite on a lanyard.

Windows Mobile 6.1 is not touch-friendly at all. And on a small screen (the LG Incite has display that is a 1/2 inch smaller than the iPhone's) you are pretty much dead in the water when it comes to navigating with your finger. I was forced to use the jog wheel on the side at any time it was possible. Sometimes I could navigate through a menu with it, but not always.

Performance

The LG Incite is underpowered for what it attempts to do. It seems like the processor struggles when doing everyday tasks. The Incite would freeze up on my when texting or trying to make a phone call. It even froze once when I was receiving a call. A non-working phone is not something you want to make an important call with!

The primary reason I got the LG Incite was for its Wi-Fi capabilities. With Wi-FI, I could connect to any wireless router and access the internet. However, don't expect to do much Internet surfing with the Incite. The included Internet Exlporer browser is laughable. It would fail to load many websites and crash about 50% of the time. It was also unbearably slow when it did work, much like the rest of the LG Incite.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a smartphone, stear clear of the LG Incite. It is a sluggish, buggy phone with an underpowered processor and horrible interface. The LG Incite is the absolute worst smartphone I have ever used.