I'm driving to Boston. Alone. It's dark, and I have directions printed from Google Maps. My options are to turn on the dome light and try to read while navigating the notorious city conditions or to simply wing it and get terribly lost.

With the prospects grim, I turn on the LG Decoy and access the Verizon GPS. I type in the address I'm trying to find, and within an instant, the phone is talking to me - navigating me flawlessly, guiding me every time I make a wrong turn. I'm not alone anymore, and I'm not going to get lost anymore.

So I'm biased - this phone saved my life. Sort of.

Joking aside, the features Verizon and LG integrated into this slick slider phone are phenomenal. It's a great gadget for someone looking to keep things moderately simple - for the cell phone user not looking to upgrade to a full-keyboard phone like a Blackberry or a piece of touch screen wizardry like an iPhone. It's reminiscent of basic flat or flip-phone styles, with a few nifty twists.

LG's Decoy looks similar to the run-of-the-mill devices that have debuted and quickly become standard over the last few years - until you flip it over. The Decoy's big boast is it's the first phone to include a built-in wireless Bluetooth headset. It's a little bugger - under two inches vertically and about half an inch wide - that snaps in and out of the back of the phone, easy as pie.

Unfortunately the Bluetooth widget, despite high-quality sound and comfortability in the ear, sounds anywhere from annoying to awful from the opposite end of the conversation. I tried it driving on town roads, on the highway and sitting completely still in my house and was met with constant exasperation and occasional dropped calls. The headset syncs up with the phone quickly and is sinfully convenient, but it's just not refined enough for calls. The Bluetooth is viable for listening to music or having that lovely GPS lady chatter into your ear, though.

The phone itself is glossy as heck. Expect scratches and smudges aplenty with long-term use, and maybe cracks or breaks if great caution isn't taken. But the 2.2-inch display is nice, and the 2-megapixel camera takes sharper photos than the specs would suggest. While I'm not crazy about the joystick directional key, it's an acquired taste, and the rest of the buttons make for a smooth interface.

The Verizon VCast music and video offerings are a treat. Although songs are pricey at around $1.99 - the library is pop-heavy and starving for obscure artists - it's not a vast stretch to splurge on a few favorite tunes to have on the go. The video section is fantastic, with full episodes, deleted scenes and clips of shows from more than 20 television networks. I was able to take the Decoy from the home screen to streaming clips of "The Office" in under one minute.

While browsing the Web on a phone can feel superfluous and irritating, it's doable with the Decoy. I purchased a Wikipedia application and approved heartily; while it's not the same experience as an Internet browser, the convenience of being able to wiki anything on the go is like a divine power. The Decoy's battery lasts for several days when used primarily as a phone; too much Web or GPS use drains the battery in hours.

The Decoy costs $180 with a two-year service agreement with Verizon. If you're a casual cell person looking for a little more than an alarm clock and a calculator, but not ready to make the transition to a handheld faux laptop, give this gadget a try. Grade: B+

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