LG Venus VX8800

At first glance, the LG Venus looks a little like the LG Prada with what appears to be a full 3 inch display. A closer look, however, reveals that there are actually two screens the one on top is a regular QVGA display, while the one underneath is a touch screen that shows on screen navigation controls. Measuring 4 inches by 2 inches by 0.62 inch, the Venus has quite a sleek, slender figure with curved corners and faux leather covering on the back.

This gives it a nice and luxurious feel in the hand and a comfortable grip. As we mentioned above, there are two displays on the front the upper screen is the primary display, while the lower acts as a touch navigation array. The upper screen measures 2 inches diagonally and is simply beautiful to behold. It supports a luscious 262,000 colors, and graphics and animation look fantastic.

We are also fans of the Venus' menu interface theme with its simple and minimalist design quite the improvement over the classic Verizon theme. You can adjust the display's backlight, the font size, and the clock format, but not the brightness or contrast.

The really special thing about the Venus, however, is its unique navigation interface. Measuring about 1.5 inches diagonally, the lower screen displays touch sensitive navigation controls with different layouts depending on the application.

For example, on the default standby page, the touch screen layout has the Menu button in the middle with shortcuts to messaging, contacts, a shortcuts folder, and recent calls arranged around it.

The shortcuts folder contains up to four user defined shortcuts to different applications. On the menu interface page however, the on screen layout changes to an OK button in the middle and up and down arrows positioned above and below it.

Similarly, when the music player is activated, you will see music player controls on the display, and when the camera is activated, you will see camera controls instead. We were very skeptical with the usability of the on screen controls. For one thing, we had to constantly hit the unlock button when the phone went to sleep. Also, the lack of tactile buttons does mean that you have to pay more attention so you can avoid accidental presses.

We were also disappointed that you couldn't alter the touch sensitivity of the controls. That said, the controls require a light yet firm touch, so accidental presses didn't happen that often. Also, the touch screen interface does feature haptic controls, and you can adjust the vibration levels depending on how much feedback you want. So on the whole, we think the touch screen navigation works really well, though it's still a little too gimmicky.

Slide open the phone and you'll find a very spacious and tactile number keypad with the Send, Clear, and End/Power keys on the top row. The slider mechanism felt quite sturdy when opening and closing the phone as well. All keys are very well spaced apart with a lovely raised curved texture that makes it quite easy to dial by feel.

The keypad also has alternating colors, which we think is a nice touch. The volume rocker, voice recorder button, and headset and charger jacks sit on the left spine, while the right is home to a microSD card slot, a dedicated Music player key, and a dedicated camera key. On the back is the camera lens.