VX6000 and VX4400 dual review
Written: Mar 10 '04
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Pros: See main review
Cons: See main review
The Bottom Line: VX4400 - great phone, VX6000 - more features but overall less well-executed.
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| lousygolfer's Full Review: LG VX4400 |
This will be a dual review of both the VX4400 and the newer VX6000 camera phone, since epinions.com does not yet have the VX6000 listed.
VX4400 - 5 Stars
This is based mostly on the raves from one of my buddies who has a VX4400, but I've handled it a few times also and from what I've seen, I concur (we also both recently replaced the same phone, the Nokia 5165, which we both had been using for several years with the same carrier, U.S. Cellular).
Pros: clear screen, sufficiently loud ringtone, PDA functions, excellent reception (my friend's phone receives calls clearly from areas where he previously had only one bar of strength and had choppy reception), excellent battery life, keys are raised and organized well - he thinks they are easier to use than those on the old Nokia 5165. Also, phone in flipped-open position is comfortable to hold.
Cons: None, per my friend. I personally am not a huge fan of the small, fairly recessed buttons on the VX4400, but they are significantly better than those on my VX6000.
VX6000 3.00 Stars
I've had one of these now for about a month, and although I like it, it is far from perfect.
Pros: Nice color screen, compact folded size, good fit in hand and on face when flipped open and in use - much better and more comfortable than any of the non-flip phones. Nice aesthetics. PDA functions are very useful. Speaker has surprisingly good volume and sound quality, same for the microphone. Having a digicam that I'll take everywhere is very convenient. Pretty good battery life - I used up only one out of four bars on the power meter yesterday with over 70 minutes of use throughout the day. Quite durable - on at least three occasions its small size and rounded edges have caused it to slip out of my pocket and hit a hard floor from about three feet up with no visible or performance effect at all.
Cons: Buttons WAY too small, too close-set and too recessed. I often stumble when trying to dial. Raising them up and increasing them in size by about 2mm would not do too much to the overall size of the phone, but would make them tremendously easier for me to use. The buttons are also positioned a bit too far down on the case, making it hard to hold by the tip of the phone while dialing. I could dial by feel with old Nokia 5165, but I can't with this new LG. I've also had a number of incidents of the buttons dialing the wrong number on speeddial and not registering on the first push. Camera image quality seems to be quite poor, especially in low light where it is pretty much useless, but this is based on my opinions of the photos on the phone's screen - I've not downloaded any of the photos onto my computer yet. Reception is a bit disappointing, I would guess that it's perhaps only 5% better than my old Nokia, often just the same. I expected better reception from the latest in technology, but there's not much improvement over my three year old Nokia's design. Lack of speakerphone; I understand from reading on www.howardforums.com that the older model VX6000 could be hacked somehow to turn on a speakerphone capability, but appearently this won't work on my newer version (maybe cured with a firmware upgrade in the future, though). Included belt clip is very poorly designed, as it often accidentally releases the phone when you twist sideways or sit down.
In summary, if you don't need or want the digital camera capabilities, the VX4400 seems to be the better phone and from an ergonomics standpoint, the keys on the VX4400 are definitely easier to use.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 0
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
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Epinions.com ID:
lousygolfer
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Reviews written: 48
Trusted by: 3 members
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