Difference between revisions of "LG Enact"

Latest revision as of 17:37, 12 November 2014

The LG Enact VS890 for Verizon. This Android phone sports a slide-out text keyboard, 4G LTE, and a 5-megapixel camera. Other features include memory card slot, front camera, DLNA, and removable battery. This phone is manufactured for the Verizon Network phone carrier.

Review

No review his been submitted.

• Rated one of the Best QWERTY Keyboard Smart Phones by Android Authority.

• Does not meet all of our current Considerations When Purchasing a New Mobile Phone (as of 2014.)

Do not expect good technical support from the LG Corporation. They only offer low level support. LG does not allow any "real" technicians to speak directly to customers. LG has terrible support.

Specs

This is a 4G / LTE capable phone. The phone is 4.37" x 2.06" x 0.62" and weighs 5.99 oz or 170 g.

Slide out keyboard feature! A five row slide out keyboard for faster typing.

• Battery: 2460 mAh LiIon, Removable. Up to 11.6 hours talk and 216 hours standby time.
• Display: 4 inches, TFT/TFD 480 x 800 pixel 24-bit
• CPU: 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8930 dual-core
• Storage: 8 GB internal and MicroSD expandable
• WiFi: 802.11 b,g,n
• Camera: 2 cameras, rear 5mp and front less than 1mp

Details

This phone has a slide out QWERTY keyboard, something that is difficult to find in smart phones today. The tactile keys make it easy to hit the right button every time, ensuring each word or message says what it should.

Starter Mode for Beginners

Go the simple route with Starter Mode, or get personal with Standard Mode. Enact was created for every level of smartphone user, featuring a simplified UI for those who are new to smartphones, or the standard, customizable interface that seasoned Android users are used to.

Root

There is a working root for the LG Enact. The Android KitKat OS is available for the LG Enact, however, it is recommended you do not upgrade to KitKat at this time from OTA update until it is verified that there is a root available for the update. You could lose your root access and not be able to apply once again. Do not update to 4.4.2

4.1.2 Jelly Bean

Root: YES

Root can be applied with saferoot or stumproot. Framaroot will root the phone and install SuperSU.

4.2.2 Jelly Bean

Root: NO

No working root. saferoot using a PC, saferoot app, and framaroot all fail with this version.

4.4.2 Kit kat

Root: NO

Can't even write to SD Card removable storage without root, and no root exists as of 11/2014. Verizon ships with this version now.

Root Resources

• Android Forums / Phandroid - LG Enact, All Things Root

Support

Enable USB Debugging

USB debugging is enabled via the "Developers Option" which formerly resided in the Settings menu. This option was removed from visibility with the Android 4.2.2 update. It can be made visible again though an Easter-egg style action. Goto:

• Settings -> About Phone -> Software information -> Build number
• Tap on the "Build number" area of the screen several times (5 or more). There will be a message indicating you are X number of clicks away from being a "Developer." Clicking until developer is active you will then return to the Settings menu. The "Developer options" will now be visible somewhere between "PC connection" and "About phone."
• Under the "Developer options" scroll down to "Debugging" and check "USB debugging."

MTP Connection to PC

The legacy USB Mass Storage Mode option has been discontinued as of Android version 4.1.1. Windows Vista and higher will automatically detect the LG Enact as an MTP device to allow read/write access to areas of internal storage and the external MicroSD.

Windows XP will not automatically detect the MTP device without installation of a 3rd party device driver. The driver available from LG has the filename:

• LG_VZW_United_WHQL_v2.18.0

For the following Error:

MTP Device Error
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

A tested and working resolution for this issue has been found! No thanks to LG support! When I contacted LG support, after going through three individuals that had absolutely no tech background, and being transferred to a completely arrogant and useless call center manager named Winona, who refused to transfer me to a real technician, I did independent testing of various suggestions from Internet forums. A working resolution was posted by anythingbutipod.com forum member "denis_mc_auliffe_ie" clear back in 2009. This guy had the answer, when the support staff and Verizon and the call center people at LG were all clueless.

What was needed is contained within the file:

umdf.exe

For Windows XP SP3, the resolution involved "UMDF (User Mode Driver Framework)." If errors occur, which they often do, during the installation of UMDF, which is part of Windows Media Player 11, MTP will not function with this or any Android phone. This is not an LG Enact specific problem. In fact, the answer was on a forum thread relating to MP3 players, not Android phones.

See MTP Device Driver Installation on Windows XP for troubleshooting, including the fix for driver installation errors.

ES File Explorer, Microsoft Networking, and External MicroSD Storage

Since the release of Android Kitkit (Android OS Version 4.4.2) the operating system has very restricted access to External MicroSD storage. This is a Kitkit limitation imposed by the developers at Google Android.

As of Android 3.0 Google introduced restrictions that prevent 3rd party applications from writing to the secondary storage location such as an SD card. Until Android 4.3, most device manufacturers did not implement this restriction, but in Android 4.4, this restriction was implemented on most devices. - Google

• See: Android Kitkat External SD Card Write Restriction

ES File Explorer is unable to write to the SDCard because of this restriction. ES File Explorer is one of the few file managers that is capable of browsing a Microsoft Network (SMB) to read from network shares via WiFi. It was nice to be able to copy files over a wireless network from a Windows share to the smartphone SD card and back. Since the Kitkat update, this is no longer possible to copy from the Windows share to the SD Card, however, it is still possible to read from the SD Card and copy to the Windows share.