LG EnV Touch gets our Editors' Choice

The recently released LG EnV Touch is no smartphone like the iPhone or Palm Pre, but it certainly impresses as a high-end feature phone. For starters, it has not one, but two 3-inch displays. The one on the outside has a touch-screen interface similar to those of other LG touch screen handsets like the LG Dare and the LG Versa. Both displays support 1.6 million colors, which really helps when viewing images and video. We also like its slim form factor and spacious QWERTY keyboard that makes thumb-typing a pleasurable experience.

We were similarly impressed with the features on the EnV Touch. They include a 3.2-megapixel camera (with a few special shots, like "Facial Makeover" that removes blemishes from the face, plus a name card reader that's programmed to capture the name and address information on business cards), a full HTML Web browser with the capability to tab between pages, and EV-DO Rev. A. The latter is noticeably faster than just regular EV-DO; downloading a 1.5MB song took only 20 or so seconds, while a normal EV-DO connection downloaded it in around 50 seconds.

Perhaps our only gripes had to do with the responsiveness of the touch screen interface and the Web browser. For example, we would sometimes launch an application accidentally when scrolling through a menu, and it can be difficult to tap on a link on a crowded Web page. The lack of Wi-Fi is also disappointing on such a full-featured phone. We also had problems with the monthly cost of Visual Voice Mail and corporate e-mail support, but that's more to do with the Verizon service than the phone.

Overall, we really like the LG EnV Touch. It has a great design and excellent features, making it one of the top messaging phones in Verizon's stable. It's available for $149.99 after a $70 rebate and a two-year service agreement.

Read our full review of the LG EnV Touch.