LG Voyager by Verizon: Like an iPhone on Steroids (with a few serious flaws)
Written: Jun 06 '08 (Updated Jun 06 '08)
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Pros: Touch screen, nicely designed display, intuitive screens, excellent media capabilities, VCast, large keyboard, great speakers.
Cons: No WiFi, interior speakerphone, touchscreen locks when phone is opened or dialed, poor PDA functions.
The Bottom Line: Outstanding phone for students or tech-savvy users who don't need to use their phone while travelling. Excellent media capabilities, but touchscreen locking will limit usefulness for professionals even with bluetooth.
WorkingMomof2's Full Review: LG VX10000 (8 GB) Cell Phone
It was that time. My contract was up with my previous carrier, and I needed to choose a new phone. The options seemed endless, but after two online chats with the Verizon customer service department and one visit to the local store (to hold the phones in my own hand), I picked the LG Voyager.
It was sleek. It was cool. It had a really great touchpad that everyone admired whenever I whipped my phone out. It was loaded with a ton of features that I didn’t need, but were really cool to have. It had a lot of the features of the iPhone… and then more! My good friend and iPhone owner was jealous, telling me the Voyager was like the iPhone on steroids! Unfortunately, in the long run, it was not the right phone for me.
Design Features
The Voyager is the latest in the LG family of phones offered by Verizon. My son has the LG EnV and loves it; I loved the larger QWERTY keyboard and candybar design. It’s almost the same size as the EnV as well, measuring 4.64 by 2.12 by 0.71 inches. That’s just a little taller than a deck of cards, but not quite as thick. It fit easily into the pocket of my jeans, as well as in the end pocket of my purse.
This is a candy-bar style phone with a full QWERTY keyboard inside with an additional screen. Unlike some other phones, the keyboard is actually large enough to hit the right keys (at least most of the time) when typing or texting. Since I’ve entered that “reading glass age” this was an important feature for me!
By far the coolest feature on the Voyager is the touch screen on the face of the phone. Like the iPhone, which one of my close friends has (and yes, we’re geeky enough to have sat down and played phone comparison together) the Voyager has a touch activated screen. In this, the Voyager has a distinct advantage. Not only do the phones commands respond to the user’s touch, but there is actually a tactile feedback in the form of a small vibration when you touch the screen. They call this VibeTouch, and it was really great to know you had “touched” the right thing when you were scrolling through commands or dialing, even in silent mode. The vibration level is adjustable as well. Using the touchscreen is fairly intuitive, although it did take me a few days to get used to scrolling with my finger.
The face of the phone is sleek, with a large touch screen, solid black face and very few distractions. The display is large and clear, measuring 2.81 inches and with a resolution of 400x200 pixels. Inside is the QWERTY keyboard and a second smaller (non-touch) screen. On the side of the phone are buttons to lock the phone, adjust the volume and a camera button. The phone does have a speakerphone that activates with only one button; unfortunately, that button is inside the phone. There are virtual buttons on the face of the phone for talk, end and clear buttons, as well as an unlock button that pops up whenever the phone locks.
User Features
The touchscreen is just one of the ways that the Voyager appeals to the tech-savvy user. In addition, the Voyager offers a host of media features that will meet the entertainment needs of most people.
An integrated 2 megapixel camera offers instant capture of favorite moments, both in still and video formats. The mp3 player capabilities let music boom through dual speakers, which performed well for me. The phone takes a microSD card up to 8 MB so there’s plenty of room for storage. There’s a Bluetooth connection which easily connected to my headset without problem.
And yet, there’s more – and we haven’t even come to the really cool stuff yet! This phone actually has the ability to receive VCast Mobile TV, music and video through an integrated antenna. So when you’re bored with text messaging, video messaging, mobile instant messaging and checking your email, you can watch VCast TV and videos. How cool is that? There is an option called Chaperone which you can enable to limit the functions for your kids, if you need to. I believe there’s even a GPS feature in this phone, although I have a separate GPS unit so I never used that.
Verizon has a feature called GET IT NOW which is really great, allowing easy selection of downloadable media both through the phone and online. If you aren’t paying for the online web service this can allow you a much less expensive way to shop for media including ringtones, games and more.
Basic features like a world clock, notepad, and calculator (including an “EZ Tip Calculator” are also included. Verizon says there’s room for up to 1000 contacts with up to 5 entries per contact; I never got anywhere close to that so I can’t verify that!
Usage time is stated at 240 minutes, standby time at 480 minutes.
My Personal Experience
Now that you know all the features of the phone, you’ll understand why we dubbed this phone the iPhone on Steroids! Even my friend with the iPhone was jealous; unfortunately she has another year on her contract with another carrier. Unfortunately, we all know that steroid use comes with a price. In the long run, the few flaws of this phone caused me to return it. Thank goodness Verizon allows you to “test drive” their phones for 30 days, as I used this for the full 30 hoping that I could make it work. Despite my disappointing outcome, I would still recommend it for users with different needs. Let me explain.
Exceeded Expectations
The Voyager’s touchscreen is easy to use, fun and – okay, let’s admit it – just cool. It’s simple to scroll though different features on the big facepad and jump from point to point, and the tactile feedback is a definite bonus in that area.
The size and clarity of the front screen is a definite bonus, as it’s easy to see the displays. I uploaded my own screensaver to the front and that was fun until I realized that it obscured some of the information, so make sure your screensaver gives you adequate contrast versus the basic fonts and images of the phone. Even the virtual buttons on the front are large enough to easily see and use.
The display is also well-lit, a definite bonus over other phones we’ve owned. I didn’t have any issues with seeing the screen even in bright light conditions. You can adjust the brightness and the time-out settings to your needs.
The full-sized keyboard inside is a definite bonus. It’s large enough to easily hit the right keys when typing, and the buttons are spaced out enough that I didn’t usually even need my little reading glasses to see them. The inside screen is smaller (and not a touch screen) but is honestly about the same size as a traditional phone screen. And since everything inside is oriented horizontally, when you flip open the phone it’s all oriented the same way and easy to use.
The music and speaker quality is great. I was happy with the ease of uploading music through the Verizon VCAST software, and with the sound quality of the phone overall.
The Get it Now feature is really handy for selecting media online, especially if you aren’t paying for the unlimited online access.
Online access was fairly easy the few times I used it. The menus were easy enough to follow and the large screen made it very easy to see. Web pages loaded quickly and without problems.
Disappointments
The touchscreen, while really cool to use, is hard to keep clean. Makeup rubs off on the screen (as with any phone) but in this case obscures the area you need to touch to control the phone.
The speakerphone button is inside, making it completely unavailable for activation during the closed phone position.
Despite the assurances of the Verizon reps both online and in the store, there is no easy way to transfer data to/from the phone from Outlook. Yes, it’s “technically possible” – if you want to go through the cumbersome process of transferring each item one-at-a-time through Bluetooth, but that doesn’t allow quick updating (or any updating, other than manually). You can also download and use a third-party software called BitPim which does transfer the data, but not everything comes through and again, it does not stay in the Outlook format. So my contacts would transfer, but not my schedules. Since I rely on my phone as a full address book as well as for reminding me of key appointments, this was a huge disappointment.
No integrated Wi-Fi is a disappointing omission on this phone. I assume that’s an attempt to boost up sales of the Verizon online plan, but for users like myself who only need occasional online access the lack of Wi-Fi is a disappointment.
One thing I found very frustrating was that when I flipped open the phone (to send a text message, or activate the speakerphone) it locked the front display. Useful, I guess, if you are going to be texting and don’t want to accidentally hit the touchscreen keys you’re your fingers… but really inconvenient if you simply wanted to enter a code with the pad inside, or need to get back to the front of the phone. You can then use the unlock key to activate the front screen again, but in several cases the system I was dialing (e.g., a pager line) had disconnected me due to the delay by then.
Another frustration I had with this phone was that you cannot enter more numbers (even if you’re just using the front panel) once you had dialed without –again – unlocking the keypad. Since Verizon (for whatever reason) does not recognize my pre-programmed voicemail entry (with an automated pause and password entry, all preprogrammed) this means I had to unlock the phone every single time I dialed just to reenter the password. This was not only inconvenient, but also unsafe as I was often using Bluetooth and didn’t want to have to look at the phone or try to both unlock the phone AND hit the right keys while driving.
Finally, the front “keys” on the phone are easy to hit accidentally. Several times I hit the clear key and got either a voice-dialing response, or a voice recorder response (depending on how long you hold down the clear key). Not a huge deal, just inconvenient as long as I wasn’t driving and trying to manage the phone.
Overall Recommendations
As far as use, this is a great phone if your basic needs are for music and other entertainment, with texting and multimedia/email use. The touchscreen is really cool, intuitive to use and just fun. The interior with the QWERTY keyboard is well laid out and flips open to function like a Sidekick or similar phone.
The music and video functions on this phone are wonderful, and easy to use. Email and web surfing were easy with clear menus and fast loading.
For a user who wants a high-tech phone, and will not require a lot of use while driving, the Voyager is an incredible phone. It’s fun to use and a little cool to show off. The touchscreen feature and the keyboard offer a wonderful mix of the best of both worlds. The camera, video function and dual speakers are great. Music is easy to upload and easy to play, and the internet access is easy to use. Bluetooth syncs easily and works consistently with significant play/talk time.
That said, if you are going to use the phone regularly while driving (and I do advise safe driving, including a hands-free headset) this phone is not going to work for you. The lock features and touchscreen require that you look at the phone in order to unlock it (yes, there is a button on the side to do that but honestly, you still have to look at the phone to find it easily). Furthermore, you cannot use the phone as an organizer, or easily transfer your contacts or schedules into the phone despite the reassurances of the Verizon team. It’s technically possible, but cumbersome and incomplete and requires manual updating.
I wish that this phone met my needs, as it really was fun to own and use. I would definitely recommend this phone for someone who really needs a music player/entertainment system with internet access and east texting capabilities, with the phone really just being a side-benefit. If you need a phone that you can easily answer on the run, or that will function as a PDA, this is definitely not the phone for you.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 249 Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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