The LG Decoy, a new slider from Verizon Wireless, is one of those gadgets that make us say, “Why didn’t we think of that?” Stowed discreetly on the back side of the phone is a Bluetooth headset, which automatically pairs with the Decoy when turned on. Moreover, it offers lots of other goodies, including Verizon’s VZ Navigator, V CAST Music and Video, and Mobile Web. The headset itself has some problems with noisy environments but overall this combination should be satisfying to those who like the idea of never having to hunt for their Bluetooth device in a pocket or purse and those who would rather carry one charger for their phone and headset.
Innovative Design
The Decoy makes a strong first impression. At 4 inches long, it’s considerably shorter than some other sliders, such as the 4.5-inch Motorola Z9, and its 4.1 ounces feels light in the hand. Even with the headset stored in the back, the device is 0.7 inches thin. The glossy gun-metal front has a sparse selection of buttons—speaker and clear buttons, two soft keys, and a five-way joystick—with a brilliant 2.2-inch display (albeit, one that smudges easily).
Depending on which way you push it, the joystick can activate four functions from the main screen: texting, calendar, shortcuts, and the Bluetooth activation wizard (simply hold down the headset’s main button and the Decoy automatically pairs the two). Unfortunately, the slightly recessed joystick could be easier to use.
Sliding the phone open reveals a keypad with large, tactile buttons in black, which glow lavender when in use. The bottom edge of the phone rises above the keys, forming a cradle for the number pad. On the sides of the phone are large volume controls, a camera launch button, and covered mini-USB and microSD slots.
Good Headset Integration
The back of the phone has a completely different personality: a cobalt blue satin finish with, of course, the matching headset built neatly into the top center. Conveniently, the headset snaps into place and charges along with the phone when connected to an A/C adapter. The headset itself, which is easy to pop out of the phone, is kind of wide, but also short and quite thin (1.6 x 0.9 x 0.3 inches). It has just a single Answer/End/Power button and volume controls on the upper edge. The hard earpiece felt surprisingly comfortable and sturdy in our ear. While not the prettiest headset out there, it’s on a par, style and comfort-wise, with many budget $50 models.
The 2-megapixel camera is housed in the upper right corner (upper left if you’re holding the lens away from you). It can be easy to block the lens with your finger when the slider is open.
Sunny UI
Verizon’s famously bland interface doesn’t get a full makeover with the Decoy, but it sure looks sleeker than before. The blue-themed welcome screen is uncluttered—we think the large, colorful area is perfect for displaying your own photos. The menu, accessible by pressing the joystick, has a cobalt blue background (matching the headset) with large colorful icons that fit on one screen. From this menu, users can access Contacts, Messaging, Recent Calls, Calculator, Media Center, E-mail, Mobile IM, VZ Navigator, and Settings. Intuitively, the soft keys allow you to enter menus, and the Clear button allows you to return to a previous screen. Our only gripe: we wish the power button were on the outside—not inside—of the slider. We also wish that Mobile Web had its own icon and wasn’t buried in the Media Center folder.
Call Quality
Across the board, we preferred the Decoy’s voice quality without the Bluetooth headset; our callers said we sounded loud and clear indoors, and slightly less so when calling from a bustling street corner. On our end, when we made calls without the headset, our friends sounded loud and clear, but distant and echoey.
When we wore the Decoy headset, the call continually cut out for brief intervals, even when calling from a relatively quiet environment. To be fair, when we tested the Decoy headset against the Jabra BT3010 ($49.37), a good budget headset, the two fared similarly in both our volume and clarity tests (that is, both were sufficiently loud but clipped a few words here and there).
All in all, the Decoy’s headset is nice to have, but we don’t prefer it to either the phone itself or higher-end, noise-canceling headsets. When walking outside on a sunny day with just a mild breeze, one caller said they couldn’t hear us over the wind.
