Sprint has halted shipping new LG LX260 Rumor units to stores. The LG Rumor has a known issue where certain sets of key presses during startup can trigger a complete erasure of the phone’s firmware.
Sprint has isolated the issue to a specific debugging menu, intended for LG engineers to work on the device during development. Unfortunately, the menu is triggered by accessing the main menu, and/or dialing phone numbers. Sprint has not disclosed the specific code, to prevent abuse.
The phone, once triggered, cannot be restored except at the factory. The debugging code even erases the portions of the firmware that would allow a Sprint Store to recover the device (requiring what is known in the industry as a JTAG restore, which can only be done at the LG factory or in a lab setting).
LG is working to fix the issue, by creating an updated firmware that removes the code from being accessible. Once that firmware is issued and approved, existing customers will be able to download the update over-the-air at no charge. Sprint intends to resume shipments of the LX260 Rumor to stores once devices can ship with the forthcoming update already installed.
Engadgetmobile.com user comments:
1. The camera doesn’t work well in low light conditions. If you’re planning on using it to take photos of your friends while at Friday’s during a night of drinking, you’ll just end up recording blackness. The lens is like a pinhole, though the opening around it makes it look on initial inspection like a normal sized cameraphone lens. This is unfortunate because it can also record videos.
2. The screen turns off after 30 seconds without any button presses, regardless of whether you’re in a call or not. This makes it impossible to tell if the other party has ended the call first, and whether you need to hang up yourself or not.
3. The included ringtones aren’t very good. You can barely hear them even in a quiet bar with three people.
4. Your voice echos over the earpeice which takes some getting used to, and it’s hard to hear people over the earpeice.
That said, having the keypad is great for entering contacts and notes. And it’s got bluetooth, though bluetooth adaptors for your PC cost like $30, and the little memory card for the phone will run you another $35. And the phone is nice and ergnomic unlike those razr phones where the buttons are all flush and stainless steel, and the phone is too wide.
The screen is also nice and bright. And it seems decent for playing simple games like tetris, but the cheap bastards don’t give you any game demos that last for more than 30 seconds.
