A terrific value for the price, the LG Scoop for Alltel is an able messaging phone with a solid midrange feature set. If you're into texting, it's your best bet on Alltel, and it even supports Microsoft Exchange, so you can get your work e-mail.

The Scoop is basically Alltel's version of the LG Rumor for Sprint, and in design and performance it's pretty much the same as that excellent device. A relatively thick, rounded little candy bar–style phone, the 4.3-ounce Scoop measures 4.3 by 2 by 0.7 inches (HWD) and features a slide-out QWERTY keypad, whose screen promptly rotates when you pull out the keys. The Scoop runs on Alltel's CDMA 1X network, which isn't 3G but is widely available across Alltel's coverage area.

A very good voice phone, the Scoop has middling reception, but its audio quality is solid. Calls through the earpiece and speakerphone are quite loud, though there is a bit of distortion at top volume. Transmissions through the microphone came through with only slight background noise. The Scoop paired easily with our Aliph Jawbone headset Bluetooth voice quality was okay, but there was noticeable background hiss. Battery life was impressive, delivering more than 5 hours of talk time. Ringtones are loud, but the vibrating alert was of middling strength.

With the Scoop, the real fun is in the messaging. Slide open the keypad, and you're immediately presented with the option to send text messages or log in to AIM or Yahoo! Instant Messenger. The IM client, from OZ, runs in the background but doesn't support entire AOL buddy lists, just "mobile" buddies. There's also an excellent $2.99-per-month e-mail client from Seven that supports AOL, Gmail, POP/IMAP mail, and any Microsoft Exchange Server with Outlook Web Access enabled. Messages come through as text-only, but the interface is sharp and attractive. The phone even cobbles together a quickie address book from the names on your recently received messages. The Scoop is sort of a poor man's BlackBerry.

If you want to browse the Web, you're stuck with a WAP browser, though Alltel provides a reformatting tool that turns even complicated Web pages like PCMag.com into WAP-friendly versions. It doesn't work with sites that use JavaScript or embedded media, though.

There are a few flaws in the messaging software, but you can work around them. The Scoop's key beeps are terribly loud and border on obnoxious. Turn them off. Alas, the excellent e-mail client is buried in menus, and it takes five button pushes to get to it. The e-mail program rotates into landscape mode to work just fine with the keyboard—there's just no easy way to launch it.

The Scoop also features Celltop, Alltel's version of the widgets that you see on PCs and Web sites. Celltop, which works in portrait or landscape mode, divides your screen in half and puts two widgets on the screen at once, packing in information like news, stocks, weather, sports scores, your text message inbox, and your call log. It's configurable, and you can download new "cells." Celltop can be a little gummy, as cells tend to take a second or two to refresh over the 1X network, but it's a fun way to pass a few minutes.

You get media players, but they're not the focus here. There's no stereo Bluetooth support, and the music player supports only MP3-format files. The Scoop runs Alltel's on-demand and live TV services, which are channels streamed over the Internet via MobiTV. On the slow 1X network, TV is very jerky, but it works. Alltel includes TeleNav-based GPS navigation software, but we found it painfully slow to load maps and can't recommend it.

An integrated 1.3-megapixel camera takes very bright images, tending to blow out highlights and feather edges a bit, but at least you can tell what's in the picture. The video camera takes jerky 176-by-144 videos at 9 frames per second. You can store files in the Scoop's 20MB of free memory or, preferably, on microSD cards up to 4GB.

The LG Scoop's kicker is its nice price: as low as $29.99 with rebates and a new contract. For a phone with a full keyboard and great voice quality that can even get your work e-mail, that's a terrific deal. If you're an Alltel subscriber who loves to text, you should scoop one up.

Benchmark Test Results
Continuous talk time: 5 hours 16 minutes

Compare the LG Scoop AX260 with several other mobile phones side by side.

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