My first cell phone... and I love it!
Written: Aug 21 '03 (Updated Aug 21 '03)
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Pros: Small and lightweight, easy to use, very stylish, external LCD display
Cons: Ring tone and alerts could be louder
The Bottom Line: The pros outweigh the cons with this phone. I have no serious complaints and it's a pleasure to use... plus it just looks so cool!
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| sweet_caroline's Full Review: LG VXI Cell Phone |
For years now I've seen cell phones grow in popularity so much so that I was starting to feel out of place for not having one. Aside from not feeling the need to own one, there wasn't really ever an affordable one which I liked style-wise. That is until I came across this little number. When I first saw it I just loved that it was so compact and was a flip phone that had a cool external LCD display that showed the date and time, as well as incoming phone numbers. Seeing as how I had waited long enough, I decided to finally take the plunge and buy this phone. It's been over a year now, and I still love it! Sure it has its shortcomings, but nothing that really bothers me, and certainly nothing that would make me want to trade it in for a different one.
Even though this is the first cell phone I've owned, I've used quite a few others over the years and this one has been the best experience I've had so far.
I should note that this is a review of the Canadian version of the phone, the TM-250. From what I can tell, it's the same phone except for a small variation in the software.
Features
First lets talk about the keypad, which was an important feature for me, considering how you use it daily to interact with the phone. The buttons click distinctly when pressed, which I like a lot. Some other phones I've used tend to have keys that are difficult to press and without a click to tell if you've correctly pressed it or not. So no worries with that here. There is also a 4-way directional pad for quick access to your messages, the web, call history, and your phone book. To access the phone's other features, there are two 'soft keys'. The left one give you access to adjusting the phones sounds and display, as well as some system services and security features. The soft key on the right lets you access the phone book, call history, the scheduler, a wake up alarm, 2 games (black jack and Comanche (a helicopter shooting game), and a calculator. Also, the whole pad is nicely backlit for night dialing.
This phone includes the standard ring with 19 other variations which include some familiar melodies, as well as a vibrate mode. There is a thin, long light on the front of the phone which lights up for incoming calls along with the ring/vibrate.
There are some 'easy access' buttons on the side of the phone for convenience, along with a headphone jack with a rubber cover that flips open if you have a handless set you might want to use. There are two volume buttons and another that, when pressed if the phone is ringing, will send the call straight to your voice mail without having to wait for the ringing to finish first. This can be useful when you don't want to take any calls. The phone also has a rather flimsy antenna, but it does the trick and snaps nicely back into place when you're not using it. I actually find that I don't extend the antenna 95% of the time simply because the signal is strong without it.
What I liked
I love the look of this phone! It's slim, silver, and sleek, not to mention lightweight and durable. As I mentioned above, a great feature is the external LCD display. It clearly displays the date, time, battery level and signal strength, as well as an icon to indicate when it's in vibrate mode, an icon for the digital/analog signal, and another one when you have voice messages. I have the call display feature with my phone company, and incoming numbers are displayed when calls come in. If the person calling has an entry in your phonebook then their name will be displayed here instead of their number. The main screen when you open the phone is also very clear and easy to read, as well as nice and big which makes navigating the menus fairly easy. Like the external LCD, it also displays all the essential information.
Another thing that impresses me with this phone is the battery life. I don't use my phone very frequently, but with occasional use I find I only have to charge it around once every 5 days or so. Charge time is approximately 3 hours, with a light on the base that's red when charging and turns to green when the phone is ready to go.
Using this phone is also a pleasure. People can be heard loud and clear, and have told me that I come through the same way on my end. It's comfortable to hold and nice and light. Being a flip phone, it snaps open and shut on a spring. I found it easy to flip open with one hand and at the same time it stays tightly shut when you want it to. Included in the box was a belt clip which the phone snugly fits into and is easy to take out of once you get the hang of it. I use it all the time. And a neat little feature I discovered with the belt clip is that you can stand it upright on table tops with the phone in it so you can read the display of the phone easily.
I should also mention that in the time I've had this phone, I can't even remember experiencing one dropped call. It's been very reliable through and through.
It's not perfect
Unfortunately this phone is not without its shortcomings. The main issue I found was with the ring volume. Even on the loudest setting, it's not enough to hear over a lot of background noise. I personally prefer my phone set to vibrate, so this isn't a big deal for me. The vibrate itself has 3 adjustable 'volumes' with the highest one being the one that vibrates the most. I find that the middle setting is just fine for me. The funny thing is, when the phone is sitting on a table, the sound it makes from bouncing around on the hard surface when vibrating is actually louder than the ring!
To go along with the weak ring, is also a fairly quiet alert for waiting messages. I rarely get urgent messages so the alerts aren't really something I need to hear, but if you need to know that messages are waiting, this phone doesn't do the best job of letting you know.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 80
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Epinions.com ID:
sweet_caroline
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Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 6 members
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