Comments on: Verizon, where's your iPhone killer?

Verizon Wireless is showing off four new handsets expected to launch before Thanksgiving for the 2007 holiday season.

[numerosiete]

navigator is the wrong name

There is not an LG phone named the Navigator. It's the Voyager. I don't think i trust a reviewer that doesn't even know the name of what he's reviewing. Pathetic reporting.

[drod01]

Battery life?

Anyone nows if the battery life on these new LG phones with 3G are
as bad as Steve Jobs has said during is reason for not offering 3G
on iPhones?

Because if battery life is comparable, then Apple are milking people
off.

[Funbub]

My voyagers does not last very long. Wouldent recomend it, if you want an LG i would get the Dare but not sure about the battery life on that.

[MaLvaDo39]

iPhone patents

You won't see a competitor for years to come.
With over 200 hundred patents applied for, companies can't
simply copy-cat the phone or leap past it.

Microsoft will try since that's all they can do these day as well as
other makers of phones and software.

Apple dominates in innovation. Remember that!

[su2lly]

preconceived review

It sounds as if you had your mind made up before you even viewed the phone. This is going to be a great phone for people who don't want to switch to AT&T because of poor service in their area.
Cnet would do better next time by not sending a Apple fanboy to do an honest review. You didn't even come back to the office with the correct name of the phone.

[deanrd7]

Hey su2lly...

What was dishonest about this report? It states there's new
phones out there that are pretty much just like every other
phone out there. Nothing new, nothing innovative, nothing
note-worthy.

You say "This is going to be a great phone for people who don't
want to switch to AT&T..." There are hundreds of other phones
that do the same thing.

Millions of people enjoy the iPhone with it's sleek design, its
simple-to-use interface, its gorgeous screen and next
generation features, yet you choose to stick us with the "Apple
fanboy" label. Which is about as tired and lame as the phone you
think is going to be great.

We like Apple's products: they're easy to use, they work without
a hassle, they're elegant and they last for years. So go ahead,
label Apple users as fanboys, that is if you can keep your tired,
crappy Edsels to work.

Unless someone comes out with something as evolutionary as
the iPhone, don't expect anyone to get too excited about
yesterday's news.

[Modamajestic]

I agree

I completely agree, it's blatantly obvious this person has a preconceived view and yet they work for cnet. I never took any of cnets reviews seriously, I just use this site to view new stuff. Phonescoop.com is a better site for phones.

[JayMonster]

Who needs an iPhone Killer?

The iPhone, besides being the single most overhyped product since... probably Windows 95, is not even that good of a phone!

Sure it has fun features, but intuitive? Uh, "pinch to expand a picture?" That is not intuitive... you "learned" that, but that does not make it "the new standard" by any stretch of the imagination.

While I can not (obvious) state whether any of these phones will have better quality call reception than the iPhone, the fact of the matter is, that most of them probably will (heck, the iPhone doesn't even have the best call quality on AT&T's network).

[deanrd7]

Let's examine your post:

"The iPhone, besides being the single most overhyped product
since... probably Windows 95, is not even that good of a phone!"

On what are you basing your arguments? Have you owned an
iPhone and compared it with others? Have you read the
overwhelmingly positive reviews?

"While I can not (obvious) state whether any of these phones will
have better quality call reception than the iPhone, the fact of the
matter is, that most of them probably will"

In once sentence you show your ignorance three different ways:

First you state that you cannot (obvious?) state whether any of
these phones will have better quality";

Second, in the next breath you state the FACT OF THE MATTER
IS;

Third, you follow your FACT with "most of them PROBABLY will";
in other words you don't know what you're talking about.

I OWN an iPhone AND have owned other cellphones over the
years and can state that my call quality and reception are
excellent and that the iPhone's feature set is far and away the
best of any cellphone I've ever used.

And here is a key point: my statement is based on actually
USING a product, not just drivel so I can see myself in print.

[SamNK]

CNET, please give me a break....

I'm so tired of Apple fan boys. The iPhone is far from a perfect device. You guys never mention any of the negatives about the iPhone when you compare it to other devices. How about saying that the iPhone doesn't have MMS something the most basic camera phones can do, it doesn't support AT&Ts 3g network and it costs $80 to replace the battery.

And the negative comment you chose to make about the Voyager was with the Voyager's screen - "You can't pinch sections to blow them up, and the picture doesn't automatically adjust depending on how the phone is held." WHOAH! That's such a hug deal! Blowing up pictures on my mobile phone screen is one of the most important pieces of functionality a phone should have. Please give me a break!

Of course you didn't bother mentioning that the Voyager has built in instant messenger clients, a full HTML browser, a microSD card slot with support for microSDHC cards up to 8gb and with Verizon subsidies will probably cost about half as much as the iPhone.

[calpundit]

Iconography

I couldn't help but note that the icons on the LG phone (at least
as displayed in the photo) had a look that was, well, familiar to
any Mac and Adobe user.

The VZ Navigator, Music and Calendar icons are direct knock-
offs of the icons for Safari, iTunes and Calendar, respectively
(the Navigator icon is especially shameless).

Also, the My Pictures icon is a knock-off of the last-gen version
of Photoshop Elements.

Way to think out of the box, guys.

[bgould]

Verizon may not have damanged them yet

Sometimes, reviewers are shown the manufacturers phones prior to when Verizon starts removing features to lock it into BREW. Those changes sometimes make the phone unstable as well as remove features that have nothing to do with BREW.

[Red Ghost]

Steve Jobs must be c|net's sugardaddy

First:

"Maybe I am being a bit too harsh, but I wasn't really blown away by any of the phones that Verizon showed off."

WOW, are you an Apple employee? I would like to see a wee bit use of objectivity. OK, so the LG models won't kill the iPhone, I'll grant you that. For the Verizon Wireless executive to even say so is rubbish. However, you fail to compare the EVO vs. the EDGE networks. In fact you mention the 3G only in passing like it isn't that big of a deal. I know many power users who are bummed that Apple and AT&T missed that mark myself included. Usually an Apple enthusiast myself, I am waiting for the 3G version iPhone 2.0 release but the LG Voyager certainly does entice due to data transfer speed alone.

Then there's this:

"Honestly, I had a hard time figuring out how to open it and someone had to show me."

Marguerite Reardon, I think I would refrain from disqualifying statements like this if you want us (the readers) to lend you respect as an authority on technology. Otherwise you just come off sounding like another Verizon hater.

[jesses5]

Verizon IS the iPhone killer

Or rather, AT&T is the iPhone killer. Verizon doesn't need a phone to compete apples-to-apples with the iPhone because AT&T is such a horrendously bad service.

Why do you think people are risking turning their phone into an iBrick just to be able to use their phone on another network?

Verizon is a corporation and as such, they're going to take the path of least effort to dominate the market. There's no need to invest in a Verizon version of the iPhone so long as their network is so much better than AT&T.

[mastercko]

Clearly very biased

This smacks of having your mind made up to bash it for not being an iPhone before you walked in the door. Read all the previous posters to get an idea of why.

If I were in the market for a faux-smartphone (and I didn't hate VZW), I would definitely get the Voyager over the iPhone. It seems to do (and have) more of stuff that matters and none of the stuff that doesn't (For instance: pinch-to-zoom is pretty retarded IMO; Give me a button that zooms, please).

[georgiarat]

Apple is its own Iphone killer

No need for Verizon to do anything if Apple doesn't wake up to
the damage they are doing to the iphone itself.

[chishmishdeez]

Apple hammering on their own foot

I agree with the georgiarat, i think apple is embracing more furious crowd who loved them.... is iphone really worth?

[hightechadrian]

verizon iphone killer

You must be jocking right?All those phones look like dinosaurs next to the iphone and keep in mind this is the first iphone.Just wait for no2 iPhone.Verizon definitely a looser in this.They lost me allright to apple and the iphone forever.I even switched my landline to att>What a joke the phones they make not even close...you could offer me 10 billion dollars and I WOULD NOT GIVE UP EVER MY iPhone.

[briankeith513]

Overly Negative and Highly Opinionated Review

This seemed to be an extremely biased, negative review of the Voyager. This phone may not be an Iphone killer, but it sure is an obvious worthy competitor. Yes, the Iphone wins hands down withe the UI and better touch screen, however, this phone has it's obvious advantages that would make someone who likes the Iphone choose it over the Iphone. I'll name all of the advantages that I know off hand. It has GPS, it can send/recv mms, it is 3G, removable battery and memory, has a qwerty keyboard for use when the touchscreen is harder to use.(This is a big gripe for many people), it has much better bluetooth profiles, and has stereo speakers, and last but certainly not least, it has MediaFLo Tv service. All of these functions sure seem better than what the Iphone's offering to me, coupled with the fact that it has not one, but two very high resolution screens, one , that while not as advanced as the Iphone's, is still touchscreen capable and works great, plus it has vibratocuh, which the Iphone doesn't.

[bronx69]

Apple, where's your smart phone killer?

Apple where?s your smart phone killer? You copied Palms desktop, left out the ability
To load third party applications, locked everybody on one network, don't have a cam corder, stuck them on edge and are trying to punish them for running away (Something that?s clearly illegal.). The i-phone is i-Crap. Flipping thru album art with your finger is hardly worth the extra hassle especially when Treos have been flipping thru album art for years thanks to easy to use buttons and 3rd party applications.

Sure some of the i-phones features are innovative or ?cool? like its ability to follow user orientation & two finger recognition. But when you really take the time to analyze the phones other short comings it?s just not worth the hassle.

The I-phone is not a smart phone it?s a dumb phone. On features alone Verison is on the money. ?It?s just a phone? If I wanted a low tech phone I would definitely buy Verison?s it over the I phone. Hell even the Chinese i-phone knock off that?s floating around on the market & running windows mobile is more capable than both these phones .(Go figure )

To sun this up. the Treo is a full blown convergence device That does GPS navigation, photos, Video, dictation, surf the web with 3G (cable speed), Play Mp3?s/ videos or streaming Music/ videos, receives push email, lets you view & edit Microsoft word, PowerPoint, Excel. Documents. Can be used as an external card reader & of course it?s a phone.

The i- Phone can play Mp3s, view video & surf the web on 2G & wi-fi (btw so can a Treo. Got to love 3rd party developers) but it can?t load 3rd party applications so GPS is out, as well as thousands of other cool software.

No cool software.. i-Phone = not cool.

Now some of you are saying well subscription services are the future so the i- phone is the future. NOT! You believe this because it?s what apple is telling you. However the truth is this technology was tried in the past and it failed miserably. Hell just last night my cable went down for about 2 hours. Do you really want a service you must pay for that?s not secure & you cannot depend on 24-7 or in rural areas? The past has shown us most people don?t so many annalists are expecting this to be a big flop.

But then apples users are used to flops which explain its small Pc market share. Something that Apple tries to brain wash us into believing is some form of impressive exclusivity. Here is a reality check for all of you. Most of Apples computers are made out of the same crappie components found in some of the cheapest PCs on the market today And OSX. is honestly stuck in the stone ages In terms of functionality & choices. BTW Jobs -- people hate having to use command lines to uninstall applications or do finger acrobatics to delete files. ?Hell? just closing applications is a big hassle. But they sure are Purdy.. Morons!

[cgpublic]

It's called the iPhone!

First, I'm not sure which Treo that you are speaking of however
the Treo 680 that I purchased in January of this year for over
$300 (including accessories) was the worst phone I have ever
owned. Not only was the call quality terrible, but the phone
suffers from a poor user interface (every app behaves
differently), hangs up on every attempt at a conference call and
is constantly crashes when attempting to launch third party
apps, which are worthless to begin with. That's OK, because I
replaced it with the iPhone, which is unquestionably the best
tech product I have ever purchased in my life. I paid $299,
however it's worth $1,000 - it is indeed that great.

[jburkega]

To the Angry Apple Hater

It's obvious by your comments about Apple that you hate them.
It is also obvious that someone who is so obsessively geeked
into their PDA that you probably don't have a life outside of your
aggressive compulsive mutterings. It is also obvious that you
have never really used to any extent OSX or the Iphone. I am a
duel user of MS and Apple and have been for 22 years. The
elegance of the Apple products is in their user interface,
something that you obviously can't comprehend. Oh, by the way
MACS are #1 in reliability and have been for years and only an
idiot would use the terminal to remove a MAC application!

[~=~]

don't like iphone much either

i believe in you all the way, iphone is a waste of money. my sister bought an iphone ($500)and a protective case ($30). she dropped it and the case broke, after that the iphone didn't want to function properly. she tried returning it, and they told her "sorry, your 11 days are up". iphone is junk, they break too easily. i hear people at school, "your phone isn't as good as my phone". well my phone isn't g@-t+y like yours.

[fortheclueless]

as much as iphone as Boy George is a man

If anybody has taken the time to see a review of this junk on google
video don't be fooled by the marketing. What makes the iphone
isn't the features of the device so much as it is the interface...the
usability. Take one look at the LG Voyager preview (7Min) on
google video, and then watch the Apple videos on the iphone.
Then ask yourself just how much the one is like the other. The
simple answer is the LG Voyager is an okay wannabe...but not even
close to a killer.

[smrtashll]

Is this a joke???

This reviewer needed help opening a phone? You've got to be kidding me. How can anyone put stock into what she says? I hope Cnet is not paying people like this for their "expert" knowledge. LOL.

[TBolt]

and...

not to mention the author originally didn't even know the name of the most intriguing product that he was writing about.

[orangeplow]

Disappointed again

The Voyager is no iPhone killer--just as the Chocolate was no iPod killer. They look great in photos, but when you compare their functionality and "feel" against Apple products, there is no comparison. Apple products have a very desirable "liquid-like" flow to the execution of functions...LG maintains those arcane, clunky,hingey, buttony interfaces that really feel cheap and unsophisticated. I have Verizon service because it has the best coverage and sucks the least (I've had em all)...I'll just be patient and wait 4 more years for for ATTs contract to expire with Apple...who knows what yummy, gadget ya-ya will be available then.

[microsoft slayer]

Forget it, I still like the iPhone

Other companies just don't get it...I want an iPhone, not just another wannabe smart phone. Same thing with the iPod...I don't want a wannabe mp3 player (zune).

[TBolt]

you think?

you think the iPhone is true smartphone? you must work at a taco stand if you think the iPhone is enough of a smartphone to conduct business with. LOL.

considering your nickname is "microsoft slayer," i'd have to say you're an Apple fan boy at best.

[lavern]

So Annoying

Why does everything have to be an apple-Killer? Why can't there be different phones or products for folks who like different features. Now certainly the Iphone is a very nice phone, I am not saying otherwise. BUT why cant I choose the obvious feature set this phone has? Lets be real there are advantages to having the LG over the Iphone, just a matter of whether or not those appeal to you? It would be nice to see articles addressing such topics, not just useless crap written in like 5 minutes.