LG enV
Verizon's "envy": a phone that opened up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and a bright main screen, built for people who texted more than they talked. On a two-year contract in late 2006 it cost $150.
The LG enV, pronounced "envy" and sold as the VX9900, went on sale at Verizon Wireless on November 27, 2006. It followed LG's The V from 2005, and it did the same trick more neatly: closed, it showed a small 1.25-inch outer screen, and opened, it revealed a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2.25-inch, 240-by-320 main display. It also carried a 2-megapixel camera with flash, Bluetooth, a microSD slot, stereo speakers and Verizon's V CAST music and video service. The rumored retail price was $320; on a two-year contract it was $150, and existing customers eligible for an upgrade could get it for as little as $50. One reviewer recommended it for "heavy email users" and called it "an extremely good deal."
The enV became a line. LG followed it in November 2007 with the Voyager, which added a touch-sensitive front, and then with the enV2, 40 percent slimmer and 30 percent lighter than the original, the enV3 in 2009 and the enV Touch. The enVs ran on Verizon's older networks, and by 2019 the enV2 could no longer be activated there at all.
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