LG VX6100 Camera Phone - In the Shadows It Will Stay
Written: Apr 07 '05 (Updated Apr 20 '05)
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Pros: vibrant screen, picture quality is awesome, cheap phone
Cons: can't close the phone when on speaker phone, ugly, plain
The Bottom Line: The VX6100 is an alternative to the super expensive phones on the market right now, but not the best.
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| Rock_On's Full Review: LG VX6100 Cellular Phone |
My first cell phone was a Motorola, and after 3 years, it was time for an upgrade. The Motorola wasn't a flip phone, and since both of my parents needed a new cell phone as well, my father and I went with the LG VX6100 Camera/Flip phone. My old Motorola took quite a beating, but it was bulky and fat, so I never wanted to have it on a clip, nor did I want to look like I saw breasts for the first time and discovered a massive erection.
Design - 3 out of 5
When I first took the VX6100 out of the box, the first thing I noticed was that I was going to be able to use a holster to clip on my pants or keep in my pants pockets without an excessive bulge. It's not the thinnest phone out, but it easily fits in a pocket, which is a pretty common thing with teenagers. When the phone's closed, there is the speaker for the speaker phone, the camera with a sliding cover and a built-in flash, and the external ID. The battery charger port is located on the bottom of the phone and even included a plug that helps keep any foreign material from entering the port.
My complaint about the outside design of the phone is that it's really ugly and the camera lens is humongous. I'm not going to complain about the picture quality, but when you're trying to sneak in a picture of your girlfriend, this phone sets it on a silver platter for all to see.
I'm a rugged sort when it comes to being active. I jump into activities in a split second, and so one of the things I was worried about with the VX6100 was the wear and tear caused on the hinges. So far after being dropped, tugged on (trying to get a picture of your girlfriend's face is harder than you think), beaten, and thrown, the hinges still work perfectly.
Once you open the phone up, you're met with the beautifully animated (and sized) screen, as well as the keypad of course. The keys are big enough to press each one without accidentally hitting other numbers, and the arrow keys and function keys make it easy to navigate the phone's menus. There are four shortcuts on the directional pad that make things easier too.
Features - 4 out of 5
The outside design of the VX6100 is ugly, an eyesore in its purest, but it has some very nice features. First of all, I don't like not being able to close the phone when I'm using the speaker phone. I've looked through the phone's menus hundreds of times trying to find an option to End calls only be pressing End, but to no avail. It does have an option to change the answer settings by opening the phone, pressing any button, or pressing Send to answer a call.
The VX6100 has an assortment of interesting default ring tones. Some of them include Saints Come Marching, Beethoven's 5th, Cancan, Polka, as well as various others. I chose to download one of the ring tone programs to get the ring tones. I downloaded a ring tone from each one of the programs, and found that Ringster had the best selection. What I could not find on Ringster, one of the other programs usually had it. I've downloaded Green Day's American Idiot, Bloodhound Gang's The Bad Touch, James Bond theme, and the Mario Bros. tune. One of the things that kind of angered me was that the VX6100 can only play the midi files, and not the full length songs. Maybe on my next phone.
Ring tones aren't the only thing you can get off the Get It Now! service, there are also downloadable pictures, messaging, and games. There aren't any games that come as a default on the phone, so if you get impatient a lot like me, you might want to spend the extra 12 dollars or so to buy a couple of games. Get It Now! has a huge variety of games ranging from Tetris (my personal favorite) to sports to action to Pac-Man (my girlfriend's favorite). Most games are $2.99 or more, and they're just charged onto your next invoice.
The VX6100 is online capable with email and AIM, but it costs extra to do and isn't really worth it. It's called Mobile Web 2.0 and it's $4.99 a month, which gives you access to sports news, weather, movie info, etc. It might be worth it if you are on the go a lot, otherwise it's nothing you can't do on your computer at home.
The camera has been the most used feature on my VX6100, and I still can't get a picture of my girlfriend's face. The camera has a built in flash for those moments in the dark that just can't be missed. It also has a 4x zoom that is nice to have, though it's pretty much worthless. It's not strong enough to take a picture anymore than 7 feet away, but it's not needed when you're less than 7ft. from what you are trying to take a picture of. The VX6100's camera suffers from a slow shutter disorder. In order to get a picture of something that's moving, you have to lead like you're shooting a gun, as it takes about 2-4 seconds to take the picture. That isn't good when you want to get a quick picture of something, like someone slipping on a wet floor at work. The camera is easy to use, and as big and colorful as the screen is, it's easily one of the best camera phones I've used. Other phones have really compact screens, so the picture quality is sacrificed.
The VX6100 has some other features like a Tip Calculator (that has actually been used more times than one would think), Date book (as in Calendar/Schedule), and can store up to 3 different alarms that I use to wake me up for school in the morning (because a blaring 800 watt stereo system isn't enough).
Battery - 2 out of 5
The VX6100 comes with a 3.7V Lithium Ion Battery that is suppose to give 150 minutes standby time and around 180 minutes talk time. The battery life did alright the first week I had the phone, but then after that I would let the phone charge over night, and the most I'd use it for is 1 or 2 short calls during the day. By the end of the day it's beeping at me, threatening me with a low battery. Playing games drains the battery very quickly, but the batter still drains almost completely even when I don’t play any games. So I'm definitely disappointed about this.
Overall
The LG VX6100 camera phone isn't very flash or anything, just a plain grey case, but it gets the job done and I'm satisfied until my next cell phone. I got this phone when the contract on our old phones expired, and we paid $49.95, and got up to 3 additional phones free. The service isn't bad, but there are sometimes random service spikes that has taken up to 10 minutes to get service back. When it does have service though, the clarity is clear enough, and the speakerphone is a Godsend.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 49.99
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
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Epinions.com ID:
Rock_On
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Member: Rocky
Location: Brownsburg, Indiana
Reviews written: 367
Trusted by: 478 members
About Me:
still alive.. for those who care.. =)
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