Digital Trends

 

In a world of macho black or metallic silver cell phones, the clamshell Fusic dares to exude Laguna Hills aesthetics. With its circular control ring beneath its 1.1-inch external screen, Fusic is more of a wink to iPod's iconic familiarity than a thief of it. Instead of the iPod's stark Stanley Kubrick white, the contoured Fusic is a satin silver white and comes with a choice of four metallic-colored, easily swappable faceplates -- Dodger blue, magenta/pink, lime green, and basic black.

 

Inside is a 70s retro white-on-silver numeric keypad and control panel with well-spaced keys, all illuminated with a ghostly blue backlight, and topped with a bright 2-inch LCD screen. At 3.80 x 1.90 x 0.8 inches Fusic is compact enough for a tight jean pocket marred only by the stub antenna, but at 4.2 ounces, heavy enough to force a dress shirt front pocket to sag.

 

Inside you'll find an advanced series of features, aside from the music player, which we'll get to in a minute. On the phone side, Fusic is a broadband EV-DO dual-band CDMA phone for the Sprint network, equipped with text, voice and multimedia messaging, voice memo recording, and speaker-independent voice control. On the digital camera side, the 1.3 megapixel imager can snap stills at up to 1280 x 960 resolution and 15 frame-per-second 3G2-format videos, matched with a 15-step digital zoom and PictBridge for PC-less picture printing via the included USB cable. There's a microSD flash memory slot, and LG included a 64 MB card to get you started.

 

Among Fusic's more exotic features is a Music Composer that lets you compose -- even hum -- your own ringtones. Included are 25 ringtones, but the phone allows you to playback MP3 ringtones you can buy from Sprint's Music Store. You can dial up the Web, there's email, Java 2.0 support to run mini-apps and 3D games, and you get the usual scheduler, alarm clock, notepad, calculator, world clock, and Ez Tip Calculator.

 

The phone supports both Bluetooth 1.1 and Bluetooth stereo with a spate of profiles covering all current wireless functions including hands-free, dial-up networking, object push, basic printing, advanced audio distribution, audio/video remote control, and file transfer profiles.

 

As a Sprint Power Vision phone, Fusic is compatible with Sprint Power Vision TV and music services, which leads us to the phone's paradoxical music capabilities.

 

Fusic adds two major advancements to the cause of cell phone/MP3 convergence. First and foremost is the "why didn't someone think of this before" headset adapter. Instead of the god-awful stereo headphones usually included with music cell phones, LG has included half a cable -- the 2.5mm stereo jack to connect to the phone and a 32-inch cable terminated with a clip-on in-line mic with a 3.5mm female jack to which you can connect any standard stereo set of headphones. It's kind of cool to listen to callers through your own headphones, and you'll never again have to hold one ear while trying to hear your caller above the din of a noisy environment.

 

Fusic's second contribution of cell phone/MP3 player convergence is the integrated FM transmitter, which allows you to broadcast Fusic's music through any FM radio (such as your car radio), an unprecedented feature no standalone MP3 player maker has deemed necessary.

Image Courtesy of LG Electronics