There's nothing fancy about the LG Revere 2, a new little flip phone for Verizon Wireless. But if you're reading this review, you probably already know that. No one is looking at the Revere 2 expecting the same sort of features and performance you'd get from a smartphone. Instead, what you get is a simple, attractive flip phone with good call quality that's free with a contract. What you don't get is much of anything else. If you're looking for more, keep looking, but if you only need to make calls, the LG Revere 2 will suit you just fine.

Design and Call Quality
The Revere 2 measures 3.78 by 1.95 by 0.72 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.42 ounces. It's made entirely of plastic, with a dark gray finish on the back panel and a faux brushed aluminum pattern on the front. There's a black plastic ring around the center of the phone that extends inside when you flip it open. The build quality is solid, and the look is sophisticated and sleek for a flip phone.

The internal 2-inch LCD has 220-by-176-pixel resolution, which is similar to what you'll find on most flip phones, but that doesn't make it look any better. Viewing angles are particularly narrow here; you won't be able to see much of anything if you tilt the phone much more than 20 degrees in any direction. There's also a black and white 0.98-inch external display with 96-by-96-pixel resolution that tells you the time, date, reception, and battery life.

The phone has a sturdy hinge, and when you flip it open you gain access to the control pad and numeric keypad. The five-way control pad is flanked by six function keys which are easy to identify by their icons. Both the controls and number pad are comfortable to use, with large, cleanly separated buttons that are easy to press. You can use the Revere 2 to text, but messages aren't threaded and typing them out using the number pad takes forever. You're better off with a keyboarded feature phone if you like to send a lot of messages.

The Revere 2 is a dual-band 1xRTT (800/1900 MHz) device with no Wi-Fi. Call quality is good. Volume can get piercingly loud in the phone's earpiece, but when brought down to a listenable level, voices come through clean and clear, though extremely flat. Calls made with the phone sound similarly clear but lacking in depth, with good noise cancellation. The speakerphone sounds fine, and is loud enough to hear outside. Calls were also solid over a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset, and voice dialing worked fine. The 1,000mAh battery lasted for a solid 7 hours and 3 minutes of talk time.

Apps, Multimedia, and Conclusions

Outside of making calls, there is very little reason to get this phone. There's no IM, but email access is included for Gmail, Hotmail, Microsoft Exchange, Verizon.net, Windows Live, and Yahoo accounts. But you probably don't want to type out long messages on a number pad, and unless you have a monthly data plan, you have to pay a $5 monthly subscription fee.

You can also browse the Web, but the Myriad 6.2 browser only opens WAP pages, Verizon's 2G data speeds are extremely slow, and text looks poor on the phone's tiny, low-resolution screen. There are also some very basic apps like an alarm clock, calculator, calendar, and stopwatch.

Multimedia support is a no-go. The nonstandard 2.5mm headphone jack means you probably won't be able to find a pair of headphones, and there's no music or video player. You get 84MB of internal memory to store contacts and photos, and there's no expandable microSD card slot.

The 1.3-megapixel camera is poor. Photos look dark and smudgy, no matter how much light is available when you take them. And without a microSD slot, you'll need to email, send a picture message, or transmit photos via Bluetooth in order to get them off of your phone.

The LG Revere 2 doesn't have many of the features we've come to expect in a modern cell phone, but that's part of the appeal. If you only need a phone to make phone calls, it's an attractive, viable option. You should also take a look at the Samsung Gusto 2, which is has a nearly identical design and features, and pick whichever look you prefer. But if you're searching for something that does more than make calls, but isn't a smartphone, the Samsung Intensity III features a slide-out keyboard for messaging, along with much better multimedia file support.