LG 200

LG 200

The LG 200 is an inexpensive slab phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. It's not as bare bones as it looks, as it comes with a Web browser, Google Maps, and Bluetooth. Those features make it a decent, if unremarkable, candidate for a budget texting phone. But Virgin Mobile's comprehensive array of inexpensive prepaid options is the real story here. The LG 200 measures 4.5 by 2.3 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.6 ounces. It is made of a mixture of matte and glossy black plastics. The tight-cut lines and finished edges keep the phone from feeling excessively cheap, which is good. The vertically-oriented, 2.2-inch screen is unusual in this form factor; it works okay, but there's wasted black space on the left and right side as a result. The display itself offers a relatively low 176-by-220-pixel resolution, as well as poor viewing angles and contrast; colors nearly reversed themselves whenever I titled the handset a few degrees in any direction. Beneath the screen, six function keys bracket a raised, five-way control pad. The four-row QWERTY keyboard was exceptionally comfortable, with raised, well-sized keys that offer a medium amount of click and balanced resistance.