LG Rumor
The successor of the popular LG F9200 finally arrives in the form of the "Rumor". As a general description, you may think of the Rumor as a QWERTY keyboard mobile phone without the smart phone intricacy. With that in mind though, the Rumor is not without its own set of advanced and attractive features. Like said, it has a QWERTY keyboard that the user can slide out from under the phone, making it very viable as a text messaging little device. It has a camera for your picture taking needs (more on this later), a music player and Bluetooth support among others.
With all that functionality in a mobile phone, it surprising to note that the LG Rumor is easy to use and navigating through its menus is a breeze. And quite obviously, the QWERTY keyboard makes typing in text messages quicker and more intuitive.
The music player for the LG Rumor is pretty much standard fare with a very generic looking interface. Audio quality was average and could use a bit more bite as it sounded tinny with not a lot of low frequencies. The user may be well advised to use better sounding headphones as well as the one supplied didn't do the Rumor any favors. Like your standard standalone media devices, the user can organize his / her music and create user playlists for seamless music playback. You can also make the Rumor your own personal jukebox with the shuffle and repeat functions. Music files are stored from the computer to the microSD card with a music manager. And as average as the sound is on the Rumors music player, it does have a wealthy coded support and is able to recognize different audio file formats such as the popular MP3, AAC, AAC+, M4A and MP4 and also not so used formats such as MID, AMR, 3G2, 3GPP, M4V, QCP and 
PMD files.
And the Rumor can become your favorite game gadget and comes with its own set of game demos like classics such as Tetris, PacMan, Tornado Mania and Poker. For full version games though, the user would have to download them from the Web.
Of course, the LG Rumor is still a mobile phone first and foremost, and as such does a very fine job. Call quality was generally very good and users on the other end of the line reported very clear receptions as well. Volume was more than sufficient except when using the speakerphone which occasionally emitted muffled noises.
A nice feature is the Bluetooth v2.0 chipset with supports different profiles such as the HFP 1.5, HSP, DUN, PBA, BPP and OPP but lacks support for A2DP. Users may also have quick Web access to read on the latest news, weather forecasts, various downloads and many more.
The phonebook can store up to 500 contacts with room for five phone numbers and three email ads for each phonebook entry.
LG RUMOR Camera and Display
Although quite a leap over the predecesor's VGA camera, the LG Rumor's 1.3 mega pixel integrated camera still leaves a lot to be desired and could definitely use some improvements. Even in comparison to other camera phones with the same 1.3 mega pixel rating, image quality was a bit disappointing. That being said though the Rumor has the 
standard user settings such as white balance, brightness settings, four color tones, a self timer, and a choice of four shutter sounds with a silent option. The Rumor offers photographs in three resolutions namely: the minimum 320 x 240, 640 x 480, and the maximum setting of 1280 x 960. But even with that entire image editing capabilities, it simply could not save the Rumor's lackluster camera performance.
As a sort of bonus though, the camera on the LG Rumor does double duty as a camcorder, although as expected to below average results. It could only render video clips in two resolutions (128 x 96 and 176 x 144). The still camera's user tweak able settings are extended in camcorder mode but still manage to fare no better. All in all, the camera functions of the LG Rumor may be enough for your average needs like office party drunken snapshots and your funny buddy video clips but other camera phones offer the same with better results.
The LG rumor also has only one screen display at only 176 x 220 pixels, displaying up to 262 thousand colors. It may be ok for your standard sized handset, but for a device of this size and the fully functional QWERTY keyboard in mind, the two inch display does seem a bit miniscule. But as a form of salvation, the display does seem crisp. Although again, the dark scheme of the default menu renders it hard to read under bright conditions.
LG Rumor Design and Accessories
Right out of the box, the LG Rumor does a pretty good job of disguising itself as your standard candy bar phone, albeit a pretty hefty one. That is until you slide the full QWERTY keyboard into view and the screen's display automatically changes in orientation. And doing so is quick and easy and would definitely arouse a lot of people's curiosity. On the downside though is that because of its bulky size, it feels rather uncomfortable placing it inside your pockets. And it is also quite heavy for a phone of this class. Accessories that come with the Rumor is pretty much your standard with nothing really worth mentioning as they are what one would expect anyway.
Summary of LG RUMOR Features
- Weight: 117 g
- Width: 51 mm
- Height: 109 mm
- Thickness: 18 mm
- Network: CDMA2000 1X 1900 / 800 MHz
- Screen Resolution: Color, 176x220 pixels, TFT LCD
- Data: CDMA2000 1xRTT
- Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.0, USB
- Web Browser: WAP
- Music: MP3
- Camera: 1.3 mega pixels
- Messaging: MMS, SMS
- Expansion Slot: microSD (up to 4 GB)
- Tones: Polyphonic, Vibrating Alert
- Software Features: Java
- Other Features: Caller Group, Picture ID, Ring ID, QWERTY Keyboard
- Battery: Li-Polymer 950 mAh, 4.5 hours talk time
PROS: The design is quite nice and does a good job of "pretending" to be a candy bar type phone. Call quality is also exceptional for both parties. Multiple audio file formats support is also outstanding making it a very versatile music player.
CONS: Photo and video quality is very poor and leaves a lot to be desired. The Rumor also does not have support for EV-DO.
Overall: If you are the type of user with form rather than function in mind, then you wouldn't mind having the LG Rumor. But for those looking for a great multi-faceted handset, you would have to look further.