Features
The Aloha has a small phone book with room for 199 contacts. Each entry holds five phone numbers, three e-mail addresses, a Web address, and notes. You can save callers to groups and pair them with any of 10 polyphonic ringtones. You can add a personalized animation as well, though without an external display we don't quite see the point of such an option. Other features include a scheduler, an alarm clock, a tip calculator, a world lock, a voice memo recorder, a notepad, text messaging, a speakerphone, and a vibrate mode. Surprisingly, the Aloha also offers voice dialing.
You can customize the Aloha with a selection of wallpaper, screen savers, clock styles, and alert sounds, and you can write a personalized greeting as well. Two games are included--ZooZooClub and Battle Reverse--and you can use the phone's wireless Web browser to download more content from Virgin's VXL Internet service. The Aloha offers 3.5MB of storage for your content.
Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) LG Aloha in San Francisco. (Sorry, we couldn't get to Hawaii.) As an MVNO, Virgin doesn't operate its own network, so it piggybacks on Sprint's service instead. Call quality was decent but not too spectacular. There was little static or interference, but voices sounded rather harsh. Also, callers had trouble hearing us unless we were in a quiet environment. The volume was fine, but without any side-mounted volume controls we, had to go through a few clicks on the toggle to adjust the sound level. That's rather inconvenient when you're on a call, since you have to remove the phone from your ear. The speakerphone works sufficiently well, though the volume is rather low. Also, you can't turn on the speakerphone until after you place a call.
The Aloha has a rated battery life of three hours talk time and 6.25 days standby time. In our tests, we met the rated time. According to FCC radiation charts, the Aloha has a digital SAR rating of 1.3 watts per kilogram.
What You'll Pay
- Set Price Alert
