The LG VX9600 Versa is LG’s answer to its successful Dare feature phone for Verizon. The Versa builds upon the Dare’s successes by adding the ability to attach more hardware modules that present new functionality, like the included QWERTY keyboard module and the optional game pad unit.

Physical Aspects

Living up to its name, the LG VX9600 sports a very flexible physical design. In its basic design, the phone is a simple full touchscreen slab of a device. A black face surrounds the 3-inch 480 x 240 pixel display, a brown’ish colored back is where one finds the 2 megapixel camera, and chrome edging finishes off the look. The flush mounted call keys on the front encircle the only normal looking button on the device, the back/clear key.

The left edge of the handset is home to a traditional, though thin, volume control. The micro-USB port guard and the camera’s shutter switch are uniformly narrow, but work well enough. The earphones port, at 2.5mm in diameter, is also narrow - about 1mm too narrow to be useful with stereo headphones without a 3.5mm jack adapter, which is not included. The microSD card slot and cover is located on the right edge, and the super-special rear cover release is found on the left edge.

That release is so special because it enables use of the included QWERTY keyboard back attachment, which brings to the Versa a complete new level of functionality when it comes to messaging and text input. The keyboard’s layout could be a bit improved, but its overall steadiness and feel made it very usable.

That keyboard attachment does add fairly a bit to the VX9600’s dimension, though. With the standard back, it weighs 108.7g (3.8oz) and is 106mm x 52.5mm x 14mm (4.2in x 2.1in x .6in) in size. Adding the QWERTY keyboard boosts those numbers to 156.9g (5.5oz) and 106mm x 60mm x 22mm (4.2in x 2.4in x .9in). It’s still pocketable with the keyboard, but surely is no longer thin or very compact.

Primary Functions

In terms of managing basic call duties, the LG Versa does well enough. Its reception for 3G connections might be a bit on the weaker side, but we had no troubles with voice tasks at all. Acoustic quality on calls is very high-quality for a CDMA(INFO) cellular phone, though the speakerphone was not very moving, being a bit scratchy sounding to to the Versa user. LG estimates that the LG Versa’s battery is good for 5 hours of talk time or 18 days of standby time, and we can prove that the battery seemed to perform nicely during our extended tests.

The user interface on the contacts application is quite nice, and it makes searching for contacts pretty effortless. We don’t like how the mobile phone combines first and last names into a single field, but that seems to be a Verizon thing. Profile support on the Versa is decent, and the profiles can be effortlessly switched with the volume control. Pressing the hardware back key from the home screen brings up the phone’s solid speaker independent voice dialing system, which can be used for initiating calls, e-mail, or accessing some handset functions.