The LG enV for Verizon was pretty large. Thankfully, LG slimmed it up and released it as the enV 2. Much more aesthetically pleasing than its older brother, the enV 2 basically took everything the original had, and packed it into a smaller, slimmer case.

When closed, the phone displays the normal numeric buttons, OK, up and down, send, end, and clear, as well as a music button. The outer screen is not the best quality, but it works. The enV 2 allows one to read texts, as well as reply, all without even opening the phone. This is a feature that I find very useful. Holding the phone, I can’t bring myself to say that it feels good in my hand. It’s a bit blocky, but it is thin.

A sideways clamshell phone, the enV 2 opens on the right side to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard, two speakers, and a larger screen. For reasons unknown, I find myself wishing that the phone would open on the left side, even though, or perhaps because, I’m right handed. The buttons on the QWERTY keypad are somewhat small, but I’ve yet to find a phone with large QWERTY buttons anyway. The 320×240 pixel QVGA screen is a decent size and looks moderately sharp.

The speakers are loud. That’s not to say that they’re good, however. At any volume, the speakers produce too much treble. At the loudest volume, music becomes a crackly, tinny mess, unless the song is particularly empty. But if you’re listening to a song where something is actually going on, the speakers are not up to par. The only thing these speakers actually excel at is speakerphone, which is abnormally and awesomely loud.

The camera is a standard 2.0 megapixel camera, taking decent quality pictures and video. There’s a useful option in the video menu to record 30 second videos to send to people, instead of trial and error testing how long a video can be to be able to be sent. Nothing particularly new here.

As far as features go, this phone comes with VZ Navigator. However, it has to be purchased. They were still nice enough to give you the icon in your menu, though. The enV 2 also comes with Mobile IM, which also costs money. Another nifty menu icon, though! I’ve heard that call quality on this phone is especially good, but seriously, the phone doesn’t sound any different than any other phone I’ve used. Yeah, it’s louder than most, but that doesn’t make it more decipherable. The built-in display themes are essentially all the same, with minor texture/color changes for each one.

If it came down to it, I think I could live with this phone. That’s not exactly a compliment, but I’ve gotta admit, there is a certain sexiness in a closed black enV 2 with the backlight keyboard. The QWERTY keypad does nothing for me. The speakers are lacking not in volume, but quality. Overall, I don’t think this phone offers anything unique to the market except its form-factor.