LG CU515

The LG CU515 offers a simple, user-friendly design, decent call quality, and a solid feature set that includes 3.5G support, Push to Talk, stereo Bluetooth, and world phone capability.It has a disappointing external display and it lacks a camera flash and voice dialing. Photo and streaming video quality were uneven.The LG CU515 is great for making calls, but it's not AT&T's best cell phone for multimedia and wireless broadband use.

Though LG's CDMA cell phones like the Rumor and theVoyager tend to get all the glory (at least in the United States), the manufacturer offers quality GSM handsets, as well. You won't find any at T-Mobile, but AT&T sells the LG CU500v, the LG CE110, and now the LG CU515. Sporting a plain yet thin design, the CU515 is media-centric model that offers a bevy of features including a 1.3-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, a music player, Push to talk (PTT) compatibility, and support for AT&T's 3G services. It's a decent phone by all accounts, and it delivers good call quality, but its media performance was variable. As such, we'd recommend the Motorola Razer2 V9as a better alternative. At $249.99, it's expensive if you pay full price, but you can get it for $89.99 with a two-year service contract. Alternatively, if you buy it online, you can get it for as low as $19.99. To find accessories for this phone, see our cell phone ringtones and accessories guide.

Design
With its minimalist design and clean lines, the CU515 looks somewhat like Sprint's LG Music.Sure, the CU515 lacks its predecessor's external music controls, but the two handsets are roughly the same size (3.78 inches by 1.95 inches by 0.72 inch vs. 3.8 inches by 1.95 inches by 0.61 inch). The CU515 is a tad heavier (3.36 ounces vs. 3.14 ounces), but it still makes for a comfortable feel in the hand and it slips easily into a pocket. As with the Muziq, the CU515's unassuming design doesn't quite reflect the high-end features inside. But for some people, that's quite all right. The CU515 is available in black (our review model) or plum.

Front and center is the CU515's externa,ll display. It's not quite what we were hoping for on a phone of this caliber; not only is it rather small (0.98 inch, 96x64 pixels) but it's also monochrome, neither of which is ideal on a megapixel camera phone. The display won't function as a viewfinder for self-portraits and it doesn't support photo caller ID. It does show the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and numeric caller ID, but only the brightness level is adjustable. Completing the exterior of the phone are a volume rocker and the PTT button on the left spine while the microSD card slot and headset/charger jack sit on the right spine. The speakerphone button on the top of the rear face is a unique feature. Though we like that it lets us easily activate the speakerphone when we're on a call, we'd instead prefer to find such a control on the phone's side.

Below the screen is the well-designed navigation array, which closely resembles the LG Muziq. The arrangement is spacious, and although the controls are flat with the surface of the phone, they're tactile and easy to use by feel. There's a four-way toggle with a central OK button, two soft keys, a camera shortcut, a Clear control, and the Talk and End/Power button. There's also a button for opening a multitask menu, and the toggle doubles as a shortcut to the Messaging menu, the instant messaging application, your Contacts list, and the My Stuff folder. The OK button in the middle of the toggle activates the Web browser when the phone is in standby mode; to open the main menu you have to use the left soft key instead.

The keypad buttons also resemble those on the Muziq. They're also flat with the surface of the phone, but their large size makes them easy to use. We avoided misdials, but even quick texters may need to look at the keys if they want to bang out a message. The numbers on the keys are larger, but the backlighting could be a tad brighter.

Manufacturer:LG Electronics U.S.A.

Part Number:CU515BLKATT

Cellular technology:WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM

Band/mode:WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900

Weight:3.4 oz

Wireless Interface:Bluetooth

Standby time:Up to 398 h

Combined with:With digital camera / digital player

Phone Book Capacity:500 names & numbers

Organiger:vibrating alert,Voice Recorder,Polyphonic Ringer,Alarm Clock,Calendar,TTY compatible, ,Push-to-talk mode

Digital camera :8x zoom

Messaging and Data services:Voice Mail Capability,Short Messaging Service (SMS),Data/Fax Capability,Internet Browser,GPRS (General Packet Radio Service),JAVA applications,Text messages, Multimedia messages (MMS), WAP Push

Messaging Services:ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger Service (AIM), MSN Messenger, MMS

Digital player and recorder:

Digital player supported digital audio standards:WMA, MP3, AAC

Digital player/recorder type:Digital player

Display:

Display Type:LCD display

Display technology:TFT

Display Resolution:176 x 220 pixels

Color Support:Color

Color Depth:16-bit (65000 colors)

Diagonal Size:2 inch

Battery type:Lithium-ion,Audible Battery Alert

Talk time:Up to 210 min

Phone style:Folder type phone,Automatic Redial,Call Divert,Call Barring,Call Hold,Call Timer,Caller ID,Call Waiting,Volume Control,Ringer Control,Computer Link,Conference Call Capability.

Physical characteristics:

width: 2 inch

depth:0.7 inch

height:3.8 inch

Antenna:Integrated

Features The CU515 has a 500-contact phone book. That's a tad small, but there's room in each entry for five phone numbers, two e-mail address, and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 250 names). You can save callers to groups or pair them with one of 10 polyphonic ringtones. You can assign your contacts a photo, as well, but keep in mind they won't show up on the external display. PTT contacts are organized in a separate list, where you can save up to 99 individual contacts and 30 groups.