LG VX8300 -- Cell Phone, Music Player, Digital Camera, Speaker Phone and Video/Voice Recorder!
Written: Oct 22 '06
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Pros: excellent speaker phone, 1.3 megapixel digital camera, plays music files, long battery life, MicroSD slot
Cons: video camera is so-so, learning curve to mastering all the buttons/options, expensive extras
The Bottom Line: An excellent phone with fantastic features. Sure it's not perfect, but it has so much going for it!
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| dlstewart's Full Review: LG VX8300 V Cast Music Phone |
Time for a new cell phone. My contract was up with all kinds of free phone dollars to spend. But which phone to pick! Several months ago I chose the LG VX8300 Cell Phone, which is so much more than a simple phone!
Description
This phone easily fits in the palm of my hand and is a nice silver and gray color combination. It is a flip-phone with a small LCD display on the outside front and a larger LCD screen on the inside. A stubby antenna is fixed to the top of the phone (it does not extend or retract). Also on the top edge of the phone is a small hard-to-remove rubberized circle that reveals a port for a headset jack. On the bottom edge of the phone is rectangular rubberized piece that removes for the recharging cable to connect. The back of the phone slides open to reveal the battery compartment where the Lithium Ion Battery (3.7v 1100mAh) is installed.
Phone Front
Starting from the top front, there is a camera lens for the digital camera. Below that is a screen almost 1" x 1". This screen displays pertinent cell phone data including signal strength, battery life, the time and date. One can customize the wallpaper for this screen, too. Note that if the phone is programmed to show the time and date (like mine is) then there isn’t much of the wallpaper image visible. Underneath the screen are the controls for the MP3 player. There are three buttons to control the music: 1) Reverse, 2) Play or Pause, 3) Forward. The music speakers are built into the top sides of each side of the phone.
Sides of the Phone
The left side of the phone has two buttons. One is a longer rectangular button that controls the volume control for the MP3 player or the brightness of the camera. The other button, which is much smaller, controls the voice commands. Hold the button to activate the voice recorder to record a voice memo. Quickly press the button to activate the voice command feature (say a name to dial a telephone number).
The right side of the phone features the camera button to activate the camera and video recorder feature. Quickly press the button to turn on the camera. Hold the button down a moment to activate the video recorder. There is also a small plastic latch that opens an area where the MicroSD card slides into place.
Phone Interior – Flip it Open
The top half of the inside phone contains an LCD screen measuring 1 1/4" wide x 1 5/8" high. The screen is brightly lit and includes narrow information bars along the top and bottom. The center of the screen can be customized with the wallpaper of your choice. The color themes of the menus can also be changed.
The bottom half of the phone contains the controls that make it work. The top section of the controls include the usual navigation buttons. Beneath these is a small speaker button to activate the speaker phone feature. Under the speaker button is the numeric keypad. The keys are large enough to easily tap with the tip of a finger or fingernail. I don’t have a problem hitting the correct numbers.
I’ll include the specifications of the phone at the end of this review.
Buying the Phone
I went to my local Verizon store to purchase this phone. The woman behind the counter must have been having a bad start to her day. She greeted me with a growl. (Honest!) I knew the phone I wanted to buy but still had a few questions. She answered them curtly, volunteering no additional information. No one in the store smiled or made me feel this was a pleasant purchasing experience. But I persevered and bought the phone.
The Verizon online store retail price for this phone is $129.00. The brick-and-mortar store was running a special price on the phone with an additional $50.00 rebate (which I received in the mail a few days ago). I was delighted to find that my $100 phone credit and the rebate made this phone a free purchase.
My First Week with the Phone
I was instructed not to mail the rebate until I had tested the telephone to make sure it worked to my satisfaction. Once the rebate was mailed in (with the proof of purchase from the box), I could not return the telephone. I’m glad they told me that bit of information.
The battery life of this phone in the first week averaged 1 1/2 hours of talk-time before needing a recharge. The phone is supposed to yield close to 4 hours of talk time. So back to the store I traveled. The unsmiling store personnel directed me to the technical customer service desk. The tech smiled at me! He was incredibly courteous and helpful. He suggested I leave the phone with him so that he could run some diagnostics on it. If the battery proved to be the problem, he would replace the battery free of charge. If there was something technically wrong with the phone, he would give me a new phone. I left the phone with him for an hour and went shopping.
When I returned to the store, the tech told me it was definitely a faulty battery. He popped a new battery into the phone and away I went ... happy. Now I have no trouble with the battery life.
What Came In the Box
* LG VX8300 Cell Phone
* Lithium Ion Battery
* Travel Charger
* User Guide (118 pages in English & Spanish)
* Quick Reference Guide (44 pages in English & Spanish)
* Welcome CD Rom
Documentation & Learning Curves
My previous cell phone was also an LG model (VX6000). I loved that phone, but toward the end of my two-year contract, the phone was becoming a bit temperamental. The sound was not as sharp and clear as it had once been. I figured that going from one LG phone to another LG phone would be an easy transition. It wasn’t ... at least not for me. I’m still learning the features of this phone after three months of use.
But don’t get me wrong. I love this phone! It has so many wonderful features that it is worth hitting the wrong buttons.
The Quick Reference Guide is very basic. It focuses more on the V-Cast features that cost extra money to use. This guide describes the phone controls with a labeled photo. Other than that, it basically covers how to charge the battery, turning the phone on and off, placing and receiving calls and how to use the speed dial and choose ring tones. The majority of the guide focuses on text and email messaging, getting games, extra ring tones and wallpaper, accessing the web, V-Cast video, games and music. Buried in this section are brief descriptions of how to use the built-in digital camera and video recorder. It also describes using Bluetooth. The CD in the book includes only what the book does. I didn’t find the CD helpful.
The User Guide includes more detailed instructions. I didn’t even recognize it as the user’s guide since the front of the booklet is labeled V-Cast. I thought it dealt with features I didn’t want to use and didn’t even open the cover for months. One feature neither manual describes is the voice recorder mode. I can record messages easily enough, but I haven’t figured out how to retrieve them! The index at the back of the guide could use improving. Under “C”, it does not list Camera (though it points to a page that has a picture of where the camera lens is. Under “D”, it does not list Digital Camera. Under “P”, it doesn’t list Photos or Photograph. However, I did find reference to PIX Place, which leads to information about how to use the phone to take digital photographs.
Phone Quality
I am very pleased with the sound quality of this phone. I hear well on it, and others can hear me fine, too. I usually travel through suburban or industrial areas and have no problem with phone reception. The few times I have had troubles is 1) when the battery is very low, 2) when calling from inside a Shaw’s supermarket. When the battery is low (close to dying), I can’t get a signal to dial out. One time I was in a dilemma regarding the type of roast to purchase for someone else in the grocery store, so I tried to phone the person for clarification. I phoned from three different locations in Shaw’s supermarket, but I could not obtain a signal. Yet when I was done shopping and sitting in my car, I had no problem dialing out.
While I don’t use Bluetooth, I speak with others who are using it on their end. For the most part it is easy to understand the other person. However, there are times when reception on my end sounds a bit fuzzy, but I can still understand the person speaking. There is also the fact that the Bluetooth headsets are so sensitive at picking up sound, that I can often hear background noise that tries to drown out the person speaking. If the person ditches the Bluetooth, then there is no interference.
I love the speaker phone. I am not one to talk while driving. However, there are certain instances where I need to contact someone while in the car. For instance, the other day I was stuck in an unexpected delaying traffic snarl, so I phoned to let the family know I was on the way but would be delayed. I hit the speaker button, and the large LCD screen showed the speaker phone was on. Then I pressed the speed dial number and set the phone on the center console in the car. Both my hands were now on the car’s steering wheel. I could talk (just as if that person were in the seat beside me). The speaker phone works wonderfully. I can easily hear the person I am speaking with, and they have no problem hearing me. Just make sure the phone is not next to your mouth while using the speaker function. I made that mistake once, and I think my brother is still recovering from the blast of noise.
Digital Camera & Movies
The 1.3 megapixel digital camera in this phone has five different resolution settings. I set my camera on the highest resolution so that I can take the best picture quality. The images look great. The camera has a flash that can be turned on or off. There are also white balance and brightness controls. Need a timer? Choose between 3, 5, or 10 seconds. If that isn’t enough, this phone camera also offers color effects (normal, sepia, black & white, negative, solari and wind). And there is an on/off for night mode. You can even customize the shutter sound.
This digital camera comes in handy. I was at an Epinions Meet & Greet and realized that I never thought to bring a camera! Here were my fellow writers on Epinions and I had no way of recording our meeting. Then I remembered the phone camera. The photos I snapped came out great. I took one of the person sitting beside me at the table, and the image is just a smidge blurred from taking the photo so close ... but I’m still impressed with the picture.
Another time I brought a quilted wall hanging to work. I hung it on the wall and then thought it was the perfect way to take a photo of it. Out came my camera phone. I snapped several images and emailed one to a quilting friend. Granted, the photo doesn’t show as much detail as one produced by a dedicated digital camera, but it’s still an excellent photo. The colors are terrific.
One thing I’m not impressed with is the video recorder. Make sure to change the default setting from 15 second videos to the setting that allows longer videos (length up to one hour, depending upon available memory space). This will never replace a “real” video recorder. I find the video comes out very dark unless a strong light source (such as natural sunlight) is behind you when filming. And the audio is terrible unless people speak loudly and clearly, and even then it’s not great. My voice is the strongest on the video, because it is loud and right next to the phone when I’m talking while recording.
Music
Let there be music! Lots of music! I already own an MP3 player and couldn’t imagine why I would want a music player built into my phone. It comes in handy, though. At my last job, I was in a location where I had a longer lunch where I took the time to walk and could outfit myself with my dedicated MP3 player while exercising. My new job doesn’t offer as long a lunch break, so it’s convenient that my phone can serve as an MP3 player. I just press the play button on the front of the phone, jack the volume and place the phone in my pocket. I can hear the music fine as I get my short exercise break. There is a headset jack, which I have used on occasion, but it’s easier for me not to bother with earphones. I don’t blast my music anyway. In case you are wondering, the headset jack fits a standard headset (my headset is a Radio Shack model HS-1957).
If you are a sound connoisseur when it comes to music, then this cell phone will disappoint. It’s not a fancy stereo system. The music sounds a bit tinny, reminding me of music that comes from an inexpensive radio.
This phone can play either mp3 or wma files. I am playing wma files that I ripped from CDs I own since I don’t download music files. I initially chose to use wma files because I found they took up less room on my dedicated MP3 player, allowing me to fit more music on it at a time. These days players offer more drive space, so file size isn’t as much of an issue. I store my music on a MicroSD Card that fits in the phone.
MicroSD Memory Card
A terrific addition to this phone is the ability to hold a MicroSD Card (also known as a MicroSD TransFlash Card). I am currently using a SanDisk 512mb MicroSD Card. In case you are unfamiliar with the MicroSD Card, it is tiny ... about the size of my thumbnail. When you purchase the card, it comes with an adapter that any SD card reader will accept. Just slide the thumbnail-size card into the adapter. The adapter neatly fits into a card reader that accepts regular SD media. This SanDisk 512mb card cost me less than $40.00.
Having one of these cards is like having a portable hard drive on a computer. The tiny size of the card allows it to slide into the side of the phone. It requires some dexterity to slide open the compartment hatch, angle the card just right, and then to click it into place and close the door. The phone added file folders to the card: My Flix (holds video), My Music (stores music files), My Pix (holds photos), My Sounds (stores ringtones).
I keep all my music clips and photos on the MicroSD Card (not in phone memory). Currently I have used 72mb out of the 512mb on the card. On the card are 38 music files, 2 short videos, and 17 high-quality photos. When I take a video or photo, the cell phone saves it to the phone’s memory. Then I have the option of moving the image to the MicroSD card, which I always do. When I want to, I remove the MicroSD card from the phone, place it in my computer’s card reader and transfer the files to the computer hard drive.
I add music to the MicroSD Card just as I would transfer any file. The music files are on my computer’s hard drive. I copy them from the hard drive onto the MicroSD Card. The actual name of the file folder on the card is “my_music”. The music files are kept in the one folder and play in the order they appear in the file folder. Using the Reverse and Forward button, I can scroll through the music on the phone’s front display.
Note: If you have your wallpaper images stored on the MicroSD Card, when the card is removed from the phone, your wallpaper images will vanish. However, when the card is reinserted, the wallpaper reappears.
Phone Features
This phone also has other features that I like. My favorite is the EZ Tip Calculator. Using this I can type in the restaurant food total, add how many people are sharing the bill and what percentage tip I want to include. The calculator returns the total tip amount, and how much I owe including my portion of the tip.
There is also a calendar that you can add events to, an alarm clock that accepts three different alarm entries, a world clock, notepad and regular calculator.
I also like that you can snap a photo and assign it to a person’s contact information. There are also voice commands that you can use to automatically dial a telephone number. I usually use the speed dial numbers, but I have used the voice activation. The voice commands on this phone are more accurate than on my last LG cell phone. The contact list section also has a search function so that you can type in one or several letters to pinpoint names in the list.
Battery Life
The Lithium battery in this phone lasts for three to four hours of talk time. I experimented once with a fully recharged battery and used the music player to play music for a full two hours before losing the first bar on the battery life indicator. There was plenty of battery power remaining for phone calls, taking photos or listening to more music.
The battery drains at different rates depending upon what features are being used. I find that listening to music doesn’t drain the battery as much as using the camera. The cell phone also has a long standby mode when the phone is not in use.
It is simple to recharge the battery. There is no charging cradle with this phone. Instead, a rubber piece is removed from the bottom of the phone, which reveals a rectangular port. The phone comes with a charging cable that plugs into a two-prong outlet, and the other end is inserted into the bottom of the phone. This type of cord is lightweight and easy to carry in a bag if you need to recharge your phone on the go.
Summary
Even though I still have a few learning curve issues with the LG VX8300 Cell Phone, I love it. This is an excellent cell phone. It’s packed with features, too. If you are in the market for a new phone, check it out to see if this is the one for you.
I hope you have found this review useful.
Enjoy your day,
Dawn
http://dlstewart.com
Additional Information
Phone Specifications:
Dimensions: 3.58" high x 1.93" wide x .92" deep
Weight: 3.88 ounces
Usage Time: Up to 230 minutes (3.83 hours)
Standby Time: Up to 380 hours (6.33 hours)
1.9 Ghz CDMAPCS, 800 MHz CDMA
Data Transmission: High-Speed EvDO
SAR: Head-1.21; Body-.98
Bluetooth capable
Camera:
1.3 Megapixel Camera/Camcorder with Flash
Digital Zoom: Up to 4x
Pixel Resolution: 1280x960, 640x480, 320x240, 176x144, 160x120
FLIX Message Mode: 15 seconds of video
General Mode: Up to 1 hour of video
Audio:
Dual Speakers for Stereo Sound
Voice Memo recording
Independent Voice Recognition
15 Ringtones
Vibrate & Silent Modes
Hearing Aid Compatibility (M4/T4-Rating)
Mobile Media:
Text Messaging
Email & Chat
PIX-FLIX Messaging
Mobile Web 2.0
“Get It Now” Compatible
VZNavigator via “Get It Now”
Data:
MicroSD Memory Port
Broadband Access Connect
Address Book Holds 500 Contacts
Speed Dial Allows 98 Entries
Please read my other reviews:
Toshiba Satellite Notebook Computer with 15.4" diagonal widescreen
Antec Notebook Cooler – to prolong computer life
Acer LCD Widescreen 19" Monitor
Logitech V200 Cordless Notebook Mouse
Logitech MouseMan Dual Optical Mouse
Logitech S510 Cordless Keyboard and Mouse
Belkin UPS Emergency Battery Backup – F6C-750AVR
Logitech Harmony Universal Remote Control
Canon PowerShot A400 Digital Camera
Concord Eye-Q Digital Camera
Circuit City Online Store
BestBuy.com Online Store
Buy.com Online Store
Copyright 2006 Dawn L. Stewart
This review is part of Bryan Carey’s 2,000 Years – The New Millennium Write Off.
Recommended:
Yes
Recommended for: Professionals On-the-Go - Internet and Email is a Must!
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