Some people don't need smartphones or PDAs with all the bells and whistles; they just need a simple, dependable phone for making calls. After all, isn't that why the telephone was invented? A simple voice phone needs to do three things: be easy to use, make decent phone calls, and have good battery life. Although it occasionally underreports reception and has some issues with distortion on the speakerphone at high volumes, the LG VX5400 does all of the simple tasks well. An attractive design, excellent call quality, and terrific battery life lead me to recommend this Editors' Choice handset without reservation to any Verizon user looking for a basic phone.

The VX5400 is cute enough. Light gray with rounded edges, it measures 3.5 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches and weighs 3.2 ounces. On the front there's a mirrored surface above a very bright LCD that lights up to show caller ID information and the time, or to be used as a photo viewfinder. The LCD is plenty bright enough to be seen outdoors, though you might have some issues with reflections off the mirrored surface.

Inside is a very usable keypad of clear, black-and-white keys, and a bright 1.8-inch, 128-by-160 LCD screen. There are no surprises with the user interface, either—it's the same standard UI that Verizon has been using for years. This UI, with its simple text-based menus, can be frustrating on phones with lots of features, but for basic voice phones it simplifies learning when you're moving from device to device. You can store up to 1,000 contacts in the capacious phone book.

The VX5400's reception is a bit behind that of the excellent Motorola E815, but it's very good nonetheless. The phone did seem to underreport reception a bit, frequently showing only one or two bars when it could still make perfectly clear calls. It supports not only Verizon's CDMA network, but also the dwindling analog coverage in rural areas of the U.S. and Canada.

The VX5400's earpiece quality is simply stellar. Voices sound very true, and the earpiece goes very loud without distorting at all. Transmissions through the built-in microphone sound good, and there's just enough feedback of your own voice to prevent "cell yell." I couldn't hear background noise on a call made from a busy street. The speakerphone isn't perfect—it's loud, but it distorts at top volume. It's fine for inside a car, provided you're not driving a convertible. It doesn't work with the flip closed.

Better hands-free options include a standard 2.5mm mono headset jack and mono Bluetooth, which automatically paired with both the Plantronics 520 and the original Aliph Jawbone headset. The phone features voice dialing and voice commands—which you can trigger with a Bluetooth headset—that don't require training.

Battery life is the best I've ever seen on a consumer Verizon phone, at almost 6 hours of talk time. Both the phone's ringtones and vibrate function are powerful enough to be noticed.

The VX5400 does a few other things, but—whatever. Non-voice features are pure gravy here. There's a VGA still camera that takes grainy, overexposed photos that you can remove from the phone only via picture messaging. The phone plays games as well as any midrange device does, and plenty of games are available. You can load in Verizon's Mobile Email program for POP3 e-mail accounts; use Yahoo!, AIM, and Windows Live instant messaging; send text or picture messages; or browse a stripped-down mobile Web through the WAP browser. If you really want to stretch the VX5400's powers, you can use Verizon's VZ Navigator GPS driving directions system, which works surprisingly well. About 36MB of onboard memory gives you plenty of room for games and photos.

Since voice-only users probably have geek friends (and maybe that friend is you), I'd like to mention that the VX5400—like most Verizon LG phones—can sync contacts, calendars, ringtones, and photos with a PC using a third-party cable (usually around $10) and a freeware program called BitPim. BitPim isn't for the non-tech-savvy, but it's a very useful tool if you're willing to tinker with it.

If you catch it at the right time of the week/month/year, the LG VX5400 is free with a contract from Verizon, and it holds up well in Verizon's lineup of simple voice phones. We're happy to replace the LG VX3450 as our recommended simple voice phone with this model. If all you need is talk, the VX5400 will be a faithful companion.

Benchmark Test Results
Continuous talk time: 8 hours 31 minutes

Compare the LG VX5400 with several other mobile phones side by side.

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