LG VX9800 Review
By Nick Tessler
May 14th, 2006
Summary
Introduction
At first, wacky cell phone ergonomics reflected nothing but the desire of manufacturers to differentiate their handsets from the rest of the look-alike clamshells and candybars. But as technology has progressed and counterintuitive functions such as PDAs and cameras have been added, cell phone industrial designs have started to reflect their additional non-cell phone functions. The LG-VX9800 by Verizon, for instance, flips open like a toy laptop, sort of a smaller version of the Nokia 9500 Communicator. It has a tiny QWERTY keyboard on the base and a 2.25-inch landscape LCD screen with a pair of stereo speakers on either side, which makes it ideal for video and TV watching; however, messaging, not video, is the VX9800's primary non-cell phone function. The VX9800 is not a good music phone, and it's too chubby for jeans pockets. If you need a messaging phone, choose a real Blackberry. If you need a Verizon multimedia phone, go with the LG VX8100 or Samsung SCH-A950.
Full Review
Features and Design
As noted, the VX9800 resembles a little laptop. On its face, however, with its 1.75-inch LCD screen and standard albeit tightly-packed dialpad, the VX9800 looks like any other candybar cell phone. At 5.1 ounces, the VX9800 is about a third heavier than most standard clamshells, and measuring 4.57” by 1.97” by 1.0”, about a third larger.
Even though the VX9800 is a rather bulky device, the round keypad keys are generously spaced for mistake-free typing for everyone but the fat-fingered. Another feature besides the QWERTY keyboard is the 1.3-megapixel camera on the rear. However, the camera ergonomics are a bit awkward. With your finger on the shutter release, you have to be careful that your other fingers don't block the lens. The shutter release button gets wedged against the flip top when open, which you'll actually want to do since the inside LCD screen makes a better viewfinder than the external display. The neighboring volume toggle also gets jammed against the open top, which makes it difficult to turn the sound up or down.
Inside, the VX9800 comes with the basic organizational applications, such as a 500-contact phone book, a calendar/scheduler, an alarm and world clock, a regular and tip calculator, and a notepad. Also included are a miniSD card slot to supplement the built-in 128 MB of internal memory, Bluetooth, a full duplex speakerphone, voice dialing and voice command. Oddly, also included is the T9 predictive text input, which is usually found on regular non-QWERTY cell phones to facilitate messaging creation; why this is included on a device with a QWERTY keyboard is anyone's guess.
Newer versions of the VX9800 are compatible with Verizon's music service, but older versions can be upgraded at your local Verizon dealer, which means you can add not only music to your older VX9800, but MP3 ringtones as well.
For messaging, the only reason you might consider the VX9800 is because you get mobile instant, text and picture messaging, MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! e-mail, and, last but not least, synchronization to POP3 and IMAP email accounts.
Image Courtesy of LG
Performance
As you'd expect, Verizon's EV-DO network is speed-of-sound fast for streaming and downloading. Music videos usually take less than a minute to download, depending on the length of the clip, and V CAST TV clips take less than 15 seconds on average, all about par for a V CAST phone.
The landscape-shaped screen is a real boon for video viewing, although you will see some splotches when a video is blown up to fill the screen (this is normal for larger cell phone screens, since cell phone videos have a low MPEG-4 resolution). The twin speakers generate only enough volume to be heard in a silent room, and the sound quality won't remind anyone of Bose—not that we expected much better.
For calls, we experienced more conversation dropouts than we expected from Verizon's usually reliable digital network. Voice quality from the phone's earpiece had more echo than we liked and sounded tinny. When using the speakerphone, the stereo speakers actually sounded better than the earpiece. You will be better off with a Bluetooth or the included wired earbuds for conversation.
The poor pictures produced by the digital camera were not surprising. No matter how still we held the VX9800, we could not produce an image that wasn't blurred.
What was surprising was the VX9800's relatively long battery life—four hours of talk and more than eight days in standby.
The numberpad is simple enough to use; the camera comes with a built-in flash.
Conclusion
The clunky VX9800 is an interesting failure. A Blackberry is a better messaging phone, while the LG VX8100 and the Samsung SCH-A950 are both better music phones. Our belief is that LG and Verizon will move on from this experiment to more successful QWERTY designs.
Pros
- QWERTY keyboard
- EV-DO compatible
- V CAST video and music service compatible
- Stereo headphones included
- External memory card slot
Cons
- Bulky and heavy
- Poor camera ergonomics
- Poor call quality
Specs
Highlights
- Next Generation (EV-DO) Technology Gives You Downloads At Near-Broadband Speeds
- Watch On-demand TV or Listen to Music Via Verizon VCAST
- Amazing business card reader! Take pictures of cards and store the details
- Bluetooth Wireless Technology
- Hidden QWERTY keyboard lets you send text or email messages
- Built-in MP3 Player With Stereo Sound
- 1.3 Megapixel Digital Camera Takes Print-quality Stills, or Extra-long Video Clips
- Outstanding Voice-activated Dialing Lets You Just Speak A Phonebook Name With No Pre-training
- Additional Items Included - Battery, Wall Charger, User Guide
- Digital Camera - 1.3 MegaPixel Resolution (1240 x 1024 Pixels Max), 4x Digital Zoom, LED Flash, Business Card Reader!
- Streaming Multimedia Support - Yes, Supports Verizon VCAST Service (Requires Optional Plan Add-on Feature)
- MP3 Player - Yes, With Customizable Equalizer And Surround Sound
- Bluetooth Wireless Technology - Yes, Version 1.1
- Two-handed Gaming Experience - Yes
- Video Capture / Camcorder - QVGA Resolution (320 x 240 Pixels Max), Up To 15 Seconds In Length
- QWERTY Keyboard - Yes, Protected In Middle of Phone
- Voice-driven Menus - Yes, Advanced Voice Commands With No Pre-training Needed
- Data Capable / Use This Phone As A Modem - Yes, With Software Sold Separately
- PC Synchronization - Yes, With Software Sold Separately
- Verizon Wireless Mobile Web 2.0 - Yes
- Multimedia Messaging - Yes, Via MMS
- Text Messaging (SMS) - Yes, 2-Way
- Email Client - Yes, Full Integration With AOL, MSN and Yahoo! Web Mail, Wirelessly Synchronize
- Instant Messenger Built-in - Yes, Built-in
- Polyphonic Ringtones - Yes, 72 Chords
- Custom Ringtones - Yes
- Pre-loaded Ringtones - Yes, 15 Pre-loaded
- MP3 Ringtones - Yes
- Ringer Profiles - Yes
- Picture Caller ID - Yes
- Multiple Languages - Yes
- Languages Supported - English, Spanish
- Games - Yes, Downloadable Brew Titles Via Verizon Wireless Get It Now Service
- Customizable Graphics - Yes, Downloadable Via Verizon Wireless Get It Now Service
- Color Main Display - 320 x 256 Pixels, Over 262,000 Colors, Up to 15 Lines
- External Display - 160 x 128 Pixels, Over 65,000 Colors, Up to 9 Lines
- Speakerphone - Yes
- Voice-activated Dialing - Yes, With Advanced Text-to-Speech Technology, Voice Commands and No Pre-training Needed
- TTY Compatible - Yes
- To-Do List - Yes
- Voice Memo - Yes, Up To 100 Entries, 1 Minute Each
- Standard 2.5mm Headset Jack - Yes
- Alarm - Yes
- Calculator - Yes
- Calendar - Yes
- Mini-USB Port - Yes
- Vibrate - Yes
- Phonebook Capacity - 1,000 Entries
- Multiple Numbers Per Name - 5 Number Entries and 2 Email Address Per Contact
- Battery Type - LiIon
- Talk Time - Up to 4.16 Hours
- Standby Time - Up to 8.3 Days
- VCAST Enabled - Yes
- Application Platform - BREW 2.1
- High-Speed Data - EV-DO, Download At Near-Broadband Speeds
- Network Compatibility - CDMA 850, 1500, 1900, AMPS 850
- Built-In Memory - 128MB Built-in
- Expandable Memory Capacity - Yes, miniSD Card Format Compatible
- Dimensions - 4.57 in x 1.97 in x 1.00 in
- Weight - 5.19 oz
- Device Supports Voice Plans - Yes
- Available For Purchase Without Service Plan - Yes
- Device Supports IN Messaging (TXT-PIX-FLIX) - Yes