Thanks for the month off. I'm back with comments on how the latest cell phones grab people.
I'm starting with a winner: the LG Venus (Verizon). Even though I'm smitten with my BlackBerry Curve's keyboard, the Venus has a dual touch-screen design I came to like and found this phone feels a bit less chunky than the LG Voyager.
The lower of the two touch screens on the face is where you'll do your navigation. As someone who normally prefers a more tactile feel, I've become real comfortable with a quick finger press. But this touch screen has the advantage of changing modes to suit the task at hand. The upper screen where the results of your actions appear is clean and clear, although I'd have preferred a larger screen.
The Venus is a 3G EV-DO device and a capable media player, plus a 2-megapixel camera (though lacking a flash) so there is a cornucopia of usable modes you'll be accessing with that novel touch interface.
This phone is also a slider and when you do slide the touch-screen face upward, it reveals a very good T9 keypad with nice, large buttons.
Negatives are minor, but I just wish there was a raised bar between the screens to make opening and closing it smoother, such as the Motorola Z6 RIZR. Also, I would have negated the sleek, solid feel, but that's just personal preference. I could also do without the cheap plastic-leather upholstery on the back. It helps with comfort, but cheapens the look.
All in all, for about $200 with activation you could do a lot worse that the Venus if you're looking for a solid, fun, feature-packed, easy to use cell phone.
So I'm back from vacation where I tested the Voyager for twelve days. You know I love to take phones into the wild and really live with them. It was very revealing in this case.
Being on vacation I used the camera a lot. The pictures were acceptable, not great. I expected better phone quality. Isn't that quaint? But it's very important to me and the Voyager didn't have the greatest. Along those lines, I found you can't use the speakerphone unless the Voyager is in its rather ungainly open clamshell mode. Overall the Voyager is a hefty handful. And I really hated not being able to sync to my Mac; for me, that's a deal breaker. (See Tom Krazit's piece on Mac user passion!)
Now the good: I'm not a huge touch-screen fan, but this one works really well. I may be in the minority, but I like the haptic feedback feature that makes screen buttons feel a little bit like real ones. Cool and helpful.
You always have the option of opening the Voyager and essentially having a mini-desktop. Its physical keyboard is far better than the iPhone's touch version, reason enough to choose this cell if you plan on doing a lot of input. The GPS technology is fast and reliable. Music sounds great. And if you find the well-hidden antenna, it's a very usable TV under Verizon's VCast service.
Bottom line: Do I like it? Yes. Would I buy it? No, not even under the current promotional price that brings it in $100 less than an iPhone. Outstanding voice quality matters to me, and if you cross my Mac we're off to a bad start, regardless!
These are a stream of consciousness, but given the high expectation level of the LG Voyager, immediate impressions are important: Beautiful front screen, clean icons...comfortable keyboard under the flip lid, yet takes getting used to, especially for those of us who love the BlackBerry Curve...hmm, a bit heavier than I expected...wow, excellent call quality...EV-DO better than EDGE, but Sprint EV-DO on Palm Centro seems noticeably faster accessing Web sites...
Tell me that outside touch screen doesn't taste iPhone-ish!
(Credit: LG)...perfect, quick text messaging--I could become a teenager with this thing...hmph, no Wi-Fi...easy voice dialing...no flash, yet solid camera...I like the haptic feedback, a little like a game controller...I'm concerned it might be too easy to accidentally hit unlock icon--we'll see if I butt dial in the next few days...finally, before fully testing, I'd say if the iPhone had EV-DO, I'd take that over the Voyager. But it doesn't, so this LG VX 10000 is in the lead right now.
No need to rely on a touch screen with this guy.
(Credit: LG)Now to use it for a few days to see if my first impressions last!
The VX8700 is stylish and usable. Nice.
(Credit: Verizon Wirless)If you're looking to make a style statement, this one is up there with the Prada.
Where the VX8700 exceeds, though, is in usability and price. The RAZR-like pad makes dialing easy; the VCast videos (including snippets of each night's Letterman, Stewart and Leno) are crisp, clear - and with a tap on one button can be viewed horizontally.
The feel is perfect: solid, heavy enough but not overly so. It comes off class. Yeah, it's not THE most comfortable fit with your ear and it heats up a bit. But at $180 with a Verizon contract, I'll live with it. Happily.
If it's time for you to upgrade, make time to check this one out. You'll be down with it.
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