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(More customer reviews)I did manage to configure the GW525 with full Internet and MMS functions on the AT&T network. You'll find those at the end of this review. Amazon won't show the username for the AT&T network or the URL for MMS, but those are really easy to find on Google.
The LG GW525 is an interesting little phone in that it doesn't look like it should have the capabilities it has. There's a lot of stuff packed into such a small, cheap and ultimately kiddy looking phone, which gives it a quirky appeal. Unfortunately its features are bogged down by a sluggish interface and functionalites and lackluster UI design.
To compare the GW525 with similar phones like the Samsung Impression for instance, the Impression is a superior phone by far, mainly because of its functionality, intuitiveness and speed. But the GW525 has some things to offer if you're willing to put up with a few nuances.
Pros:
Flexible texting and multimedia features:
The GW525 has feature rich photo and video editors. You can even insert photos into your video and you can export video scenes as photos. And when I say rich I mean you can select videos and photos, drop them into the movie editor with a title, credits, color grading and transitions with a soundtrack. The photo editor is equally good. With enough light the camera takes awesome vivid photos. In low light photos are soft, flat and grainy. Although you can adjust the exposure setting.
Threaded text messages:
This feature is great for keeping track of text conversations. Layout and design is nice and this is one of the phone's best features.
POP3 and IMAP support out the box:
You're able to configure unlimited pop3 and imap accounts including native support for Microsoft Exchange.
Full Address Support:
This is one my biggest peeves for cell phones. My friends have physical homes not just cells and email. So I always look for address books that support home addresses, businesses and websites and fortunately the GW525 supports this and more with business info, web info and birthdays and anniversary settings that automatically ask you if you want these events transferred to your calendar.
Support for Google, gmail, Youtube and Blogger. I use blogger so it's a nice plus.
Document Support: you can view PDFs, Word files, Excel files and Power Point presentations though on the small screen it's a bit of a chore.
So what's the bad?
The touch interface is slow and sluggish with plenty of lag. It can take up to 5 seconds to access your photos, videos and music and it can take as long as 1-3 seconds for the touchscreen to respond to a swipe if you're browsing photos for example. Most of the time though the touch screen response is adequate.
Screen real estate at 2.8 inches is way too small for what the phone can do. Many icons are simply too small to manipulate to the point of needing a stylus to get any consistent accuracy. If you want to add a photo to a contact for example, it's very easy to select the wrong photo while scrolling through your library. Then you have to just start the process all over again. Trying to select the scroll bar on the side is also hit and miss without a stylus.
The browser is a complete disaster. It does not have a dedicated button to call up the hidden browser like on the Impression for example. Touching the screen calls up the browser. So if you want to click a link, you'll call up the browser instead. It took a dozen tries to select the profile link on Facebook. Also the browser will confuse you wanting to scroll around the screen with resizing the page. A simple drag to scroll around the page will instead render your text so tiny it's unreadable. It does allow for tabbed browsing so I guess it's not a complete disaster.
No G3. When you try to view HD videos on youtube this limitation will be very apparent as it chokes on the higher bandwidth. SD video works fine.
This is an unlocked (though not unbranded) cell phone so it's pretty stripped down in terms of software. I never thought I'd miss the stuff AT&T forces you to take, but some things like IM integration (AIM, Yahoo!, Windows Live) I did actually miss.
LiveSquare features Avatars for people who call and text you. They hang out on one of two backgrounds (you can add your own though) and you can interact with these avatars (human or animal) to call or text your friends back, access their contact listing, etc. There is a wide variety of avatar choices though they don't really change all that much. Honestly this is a very gimmicky feature that mainly kids would like, but it is kinda cool.
I like the feel of the keys. Where the keys on the Impression feel sorta soft and mushy the keys on the GW525 are firm and snappy.
Sound quality is ok for calls but the audio for music sounds awesome. No audio jack though that's always a bummer.
I like the feel of the back of the phone. It feels almost like wetsuit material. So if you manage to drop the GW525 in water I believe there's a really good chance it'll survive.
Overall it's a decent phone. If LG increases the screen size to 3.2, optimize the OS so you lose the lag and get G3 working and this would be an awesome phone.
Phone calls and text will work as soon as you put your sim in. But we've got some work to do to get all the other functions up and running. You'll need to manually configure the GW525 for Internet Access, Streaming Access, Java Apps, MMS, and email. Unfortunately these are scattered all over the place but not to worry this will guide you through and get the phone up and running in a few minutes on the AT&T Network.
Touch the main menu button (4 dots in the square) touch settings and connectivity.
First you need to configure your access, so click Access Points and input the following data:
Add Access Point
Name it whatever you want
Bearer: GPRS
Authentication: PAP
Username: [...] (all caps)
Password: CINGULAR1
APN: wap.cingular
That's all done. Now go to Internet Profiles
Title: Whatever you want.
Use Proxy: ON
Proxy server address: 66.209.11.32 (you probably won't be able to enter letters)
(type in 66.209.011.32 and go back to delete the zero in front of the 11.32)
Proxy server port: 80
Access Point: Select the Access Point you just configured and save.
Now let's get the MMS working.
Click Messaging
Scroll to the bottom and click Settings
Click Multimedia message
Scroll to the bottom and click Multi msg centre
Click Add centre
Name it whatever you want
MMSC URL: [...]
Internet profile: Select the Internet profile you configured
Now let's get streaming working or sites like youtube won't work.
Click Connectvity
Go to: Streaming settings
Change the UDP ports to their minimum and maximum.
Internet profile: Select the Internet profile you created
Save
One more to go for when you download an alternative browser and other java apps otherwise they won't work
Connectivity:
Java settings
Profiles
Add Profile
Name it
Select the Internet profile you created
Activate
Configuring your email is straight forward. Regular POP3 and IMAP settings.
Now you're good to go.
Click Here to see more reviews about: LG GW525 Calisto Quad-Band GSM Cell Phone with QWERTY Slider Keypad, Full Touch Display, 3 MP Camera --International Version with Warranty (Orange)
