LG Remarq LN240 Review

Introduction:

Looking to capitalize on Sprint’s recent green accolades, LG is preparing the Remarq LN240 for the carrier.  The LG Remarq LN240 follows on the heels of the successful Samsung Reclaim, but does it follow too closely?  The Remarq uses the same portrait-sliding form-factor as the Reclaim, but the similarities end there.  Whereas the Reclaim is a 3G device, the Remarq is an entry level model that will sell for free and take the spot of the LG Rumor 2.  It has a basic 1.3 megapixel camera, microSD expansion and stereo Bluetooth but little else.  It is, however, 87% recyclable.  Included with the LG Remarq LN240 you’ll simply find an energy efficient microUSB charger.

Design:

To say that the Remarq’s design was inspired by Samsung’s Reclaim is putting it mildly.  The dimensions of the two devices are similar, as is the overall layout.  Both feature 262K color QVGA displays, though we measured the Remarq at a slightly smaller 2.4” compared to the Reclaim’s 2.6”. It’s sufficiently crisp though, and for an entry-level model is very good.   We were surprised to learn that the Reclaim is actually the lighter of the two devices; in-hand it does not feel that way.  We attribute this to the solid build and quality materials of the Samsung versus the cheap plastics used by LG.




You can compare the LG Remarq LN240 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The black and turquoise color combination is nearly identical to the Rumor2, but as of now LG has not said that they plan different color schemes as they did with the second Rumor.

The outside button layout mirrors that of the Samsung Reclaim: the 5-way directional pad is circled by a pair of soft keys, Send, End, Back and a dedicated speaker button.  The keys have plenty of tactile feel to them, as does the volume rocker and camera button on the sides of the LG Remarq LN240.  Also along the sides are a 2.5mm headset jack, microSD slot and microUSB charging port.  The back simply houses the camera and speaker, which is cleverly patterned as a leaf.




Sliding the LG Remarq LN240 up reveals a full QWERTY keyboard with surprisingly large keys.  The peach backlighting is a curious decision, blue would have been a much better color, but they are very usable.  The keyboard is the one area where the LG Remarq bests the Samsung Reclaim.  It does have some give to it like we recently saw on the Samsung Strive, but the spacing is better than on the Reclaim and the space bar is larger and slightly offset to the right, making it more natural to use.  With the Reclaim we would often hi the keys adjacent to the space bar, but we had no such issues on the Remarq.

Interface:

There is nothing new to report here.  The LG Remarq LN240 runs the standard 12 item interface found on nearly all Sprint feature phones at this point.  Without 3G it does not utilize their One Click UI, and the only change is that the Maps menu item has been dropped for Family Locator alone.  This was done because the Remarq does not support Sprint Navigation, an odd move.  The only other phone in their lineup that doesn’t have navigation is the super low-end Samsung M240, even the similarly-spec’ed Sanyo 2700 offers it.

The LG Remarq LN240 does give the user a more robust phonebook than your average dumbphone.  In addition to the standard slew of numbers and email addresses, the user can store an address, birthday, company information and a memo on the contact.




Multimedia:

The LG Remarq LN240 features a 1.3 megapixel camera with no camcorder option.  As you might expect from an entry-level device pictures turned out sub-par, though outdoor pictures with strong natural lighting were quite passable.  Settings were bare-boned and indoor images were very grainy, even in strong light.


The Remarq features a music player, but much like the Rumors before it the player is very poor.  It was only able to read track information for three of the six albums we loaded; one simply showed as unknown and the other two were not recognized at all.  The LG Remarq LN240 has a file manager, where we were able to confirm that all six albums were present on the memory card.  From there we could play the missing tracks with a different media player not accessible otherwise, but only one at a time.  The LG Remarq is certainly not a suitable media player.



Performance and Conclusion:

Callers were generally pleased with audio quality on the LG Remarq LN240, but on our end it could have been better.  On their end they said we were a bit hollow but otherwise good and rated us an 8/10.  To us they cut out more than we’d like, though voice reproduction was natural and volume good.  The battery is rated at a 5.5 hours of talk time, right about average for a CDMA dumbphone these days.

All in all, the LG Remarq LN240 is fine for a free phone, but could be better in many areas.  The build quality is as subpar as the specs and the color scheme won’t appeal to a mass market.  The eco-friendless is really the best thing the Remarq has going for it.  Lack of GPS and 3G further sets it apart from the Samsung Reclaim, a phone which it attempts to mimic but falls short in nearly every way.