Good PDA phone alternative
Written: Nov 12 '06 (Updated Nov 12 '06)
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Pros: Lots of features, hours of fun
Cons: Camera layout is bad
The Bottom Line: Consider what you will use a "mobile device" for. This product will fill the needs of a good size niche. Personally, I love this thing.
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| Boscorocks's Full Review: LG VX9800 Cellular Phone |
I have owned a Pocket PC since they first came out. My current one is over 4 years old but still serviceable. I thought it would be cool to have a smartphone/PDA type device as a replacement. After countless hours of research and reading hundreds of user reviews, I decided that it would NOT be a good decision at this time for me. The models had various issues that I know would annoy me. Some being battery life, and ease of one handed dialing and my fear of scratching and/or breaking the screen since I tend to toss my phone about a bit but handle my PDA very carefully. I also could not justify the higher cost of the devices. I currently have a wifi card on my PDA and know that surfing the internet on it is not a pleasant experience and nothing I would do too often. I did not care about synching my email on it, but did want a device that could feasibly send email in a pinch.
I went back to the drawing board and started researching the LG "V" or VX9800 from Verizon. I don't ever see myself downloading music or videos through the Verizon VCast service as I could put plenty from my computer onto an miniSD card myself. I did however sign up for the VCast service for $15 a month to use its other features.
My impressions so far..not absolute perfection, but awesome nonetheless.
It is a bit large, but not as large and heavy as an old Nokia I had some years ago. I would like to see this device made slimmer which I am sure is in the future. I am not a fan of tiny phones and plan to use bluetooth with this anyways so it is not a huge issue. I can use it with one hand fairly easily as I could with my other phones that I have had. I love how it magically transforms from a chubby candy bar style phone to a great looking mobile device. Flip open the phone and it is a whole other world. I have never like speakerphones much but this has great incoming sound and clarity of my speaking to the other party. The screen is quite nice looking and I like the screen ratio on it. It is flanked by two mini speakers which makes it look like a mini entertainment center. The Qwerty keyboard is fairly easy to use. Much more so than thumb boards which are on other devices. My only gripe is the placing of the space key, but it will probably get easier with time.
Menu navigation is the one thing that takes a bit to get used to. I have to remind myself that it does not have an operating system nor uses a stylus so the directional pad and soft keys are used to get to things. I spent quite a few hours getting used to the menus and it has gotten easier. Some highlights of features that I have liked so far:
You can get email from Yahoo online and get other information from a Yahoo mobile site. You can get news, weather etc. in text form or use VCast to get video version.
Note that going to the sites will use airtime minutes. Not an issue for me since I don't come close to using my plan minutes but could be for others with smaller minutes on their plans. You can download games, but those small amounts could start adding up if you get a lot. I purchased my favorite phone game and may add more sparingly. I live in an area that is just a few miles out of the VCast service area. Today I was on a road trip and my friend was able to watch various videos in the service area to pass the time. I cannot comment on the quality as I was driving but it seems to be something to do while waiting around etc.
I also tried out the V Navigator which is a GPS/Navigation tool. It was very accurate in finding my location. There is a free trial on it right now. I haven't actually put in a place to get directions to yet, but seems like a very useful tool. It costs $2.99 per day or $9.99 a month. I will just use it on a per day basis for a trip in an unfamiliar area if needed.
The Mobile Web 2 browser is quite crippled as far as browsers go, but you can put in little mobile websites in your favorites to look at. I put in the mobile site address for a local news station and it is OK for the text-only information.
I wanted a camera on the phone, and wasn't too picky about that part, but the one on this phone really is a pain to use. You have to flip open the phone to use the viewfinder but when you do the hinge blocks the button to use the camera! Then you have to hit the OK button which is on the same side as the lens and it is almost impossible to do without getting your finger over the lens. Definitely something that needs to be redesigned.
The battery life on this thing blew me away. I had it on for 5 and a half hours with a lot of downloading and using the browser, gps part, playing games etc. Grant it I was not talking on the phone except for a few minutes. It still had one bar left on the battery meter and I fell asleep before I could get it to low battery warning. I can only imagine how an extended battery would be!
I think I am an atypical user for this device which seems to be targeted to those who Text Message and download music. I do not plan to do either. It satisfies my technophile side and doesn't break the bank.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100.00
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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Epinions.com ID:
Boscorocks
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Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 1 member
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