LG Attune Review

Attune works well as an affordable messaging phone for U.S. Cellular.

It's not uncommon for U.S. Cellular to rebrand an existing phone from a different carrier to make it its own. For example, the LG Apex is essentially the same as the LG Ally except for a few differences. The same goes for the LG Attune, which is U.S. Cellular's version of the LG Cosmos Touch. It has a similar basic messaging phone design, and the overall features are largely unchanged. Yet, it's not a complete clone; there are a few minor differences. In this review, we'll mostly focus on what sets the Attune apart.

Design
Like the Cosmos Touch, the Attune measures 4.05 inches long by 2.08 inches wide by 0.65 inch thick. As such, the Attune has a very small footprint and cradles comfortably in smaller hands. The surrounding plastic shell is smooth and matte, with curved corners and soft sides. At only 4.37 ounces, the Attune can be easily slipped in a pocket or bag without it weighing you down. One noticeable difference between the Attune and the Cosmos Touch is that the Attune has an attractive red band around the display.

The Attune has a rather small 2.8-inch resistive display. Since it is not a capacitive touch screen, it requires a bit more pressure and patience when navigating the phone. Scrolling through the home screens can often take a few tries, for example. Still, the display is colorful enough for a basic handset, with 262,000 color support and a 240x400-pixel resolution. You can adjust the backlight timer, the wallpaper, the charging screen image, and more.

It comes with three home screens, two of which are customizable. You can populate the main home screen with a variety of different applications and widgets, and the other is focused more on favorite contacts or groups. The third home screen is dedicated to messaging, and will display all messages sent to or received from your contacts in chronological order.

Beneath the display are three physical keys; the Send, Clear/Speakerphone key, and the End/Power key. The keys are a little smaller than the ones on the Cosmos Touch, and the Clear/Speakerphone key is a small circle instead of a larger geometric shape. The middle key on the Cosmos Touch was also a Clear/Voice command key instead. The rest of the phone's exterior mirrors that of the Cosmos Touch.

The Attune's sliding keyboard looks the same as the one on the Cosmos Touch at first glance, but there are a few differences if you look closer. For example, the locations of all the symbols are completely different. You also won't get shortcuts to the favorites list, and there are no shortcuts to social network applications, either. The navigation keys on the right are also missing the center OK key. Despite these changes, though, the keyboard is still quite roomy for such a small phone. Each key has a nice domed surface that makes it easier to text by feel.