LG VX7000 Phone (Verizon Wireless)

Rating:
Summary: The LG VX7000 is an absolutely wonderful phone
Review: Before this phone, I have owned two other insignificant cell phones that I had originally gotten with the wireless plan I had selected. This time, I wanted to purchase a really nice phone - especially since prices have really come down within the last year or so.

The LG VX7000 is an absolute dream. The dual screens are crisp, bright, and easy to view. The front screen is rather low res, but it's still rather nice - especially when using it to take pictures without even opening the cell phone! Despite not being marketed as a professional camera, the images taken with the phone are clean and clear. I've heard some complaints concerning the swivel lens, but I love it. It makes it a lot easier to take self-portraits (or to have the people in your address book take self-portraits for photo ID).

I have excellent reception with the phone, despite living in an area where I had little or no coverage with my previous phones. Essentially, I live in a veritable black hole at the bottom of a huge hill, surrounded by trees and the like. The battery life is phenominal; I had originally planned on getting an extended battery, but after using it for a while, I no longer feel that this is necessary. Furthermore, the phone is intuitive to use and requires no effort on your part to set everything up. Most of the phone features are easily accessible within three key presses or less!

The phone is a bit larger than the phones with which I am previously acquainted. Furthermore, though I love the ability to have custom ring tones, I dislike the fact that - officially - you need to download ringtones from Verizon itself. However, on a recommendation, I downloaded BitPim and purchased the USB cable and now can upload/download images directly from my computer without having to resort to any of the other roundabout methods that have been previously mentioned (for example, messaging a copy of the file to your cell phone). It's a hack - and thereby unsupported - but it works well for an indecisive person such as myself who would like the flexibility to change tones and backgrounds without having to pay so often.

Pros:
* Intuitive interface
* Long battery life
* Excellent reception
* An easy-to-use camera phone with swivel lens
* The ability to record new ring tones with surprising clarity from the mic
* MP3 and midi ring tones
* Photo ID and ring ID for the people in your address book
* Voice dialing (I'm lazy sometimes)
* Clear sound - this baby packs a punch!
* Keys are backlit and very easy to view, even in the dark

Cons:
* Lack of speakerphone
* It's only slightly larger than the phones that I am used to
* The analog clock is moderately annoying
* Inability to customize the LEDs or even remove the feature
* Not Bluetooth compliant

All in all, the phone was more than worth what I spent on it. Furthermore, I happened to purchase the phone from Amazon when they were having a slew of rebates for the phone, so - once I am able to apply for those - the phone comes out to only pocket change!

Rating:
Summary: versatile and compact
Review: I got this for a gift. This phone is really nice! It is a combination phone/organizer/digital camera (with 1 minute video & sound)/voice recorder. You can even surf online (with purchase of the service), email your friends through text messages, and talk on IM (Yahoo, MSN, and AOL). You can do a lot with this phone. I'm very pleased.

Rating:
Summary: Can't stop playing with this phone!
Review: I have a tip for the first reviewer that says this phone does not have vibrate alert. You have to change the PIX, TXT, Voice, Email alerts to "no ring" (one or all), then change your Alert Vibrate to "on." It worked when I did it. Overall, this is a great phone with good sound quality when you are taking a call in a noisy area. I never thought I'd want a camara phone, but this is a fun option. The color quality on the screen is awesome. The menus are intuitive and you don't even need to refer to the manual to use the features.

Rating:
Summary: Great Phone
Review: I have had this phone for about 6 months and im very pleased with the performance, so far. The camera is good, could be better in dark places. Very easy navigation. charges fast and battery lasts a long time. Has MSN IM, you can text msg mp3, Browse internet, record video only for 15 seconds. The speaker is kinda crummy, and distorts at high volumes. and there is no speaker phone (my biggest complaint). i still give it a 5 star rating!

Rating:
Summary: Great Phone
Review: I've had this phone for a little over a month now and I love it. I switched from a Motorola V300 and I'm glad I did. Service through Verizon is great (I no longer miss calls like I did with TMobile) and I can hear just fine.

I also just ordered from LG's parts line the software and cable to synch Outlook with my phone. Now my contacts, calendar, ringtones and wallpaper can all be transferred back and forth. I like having my calender available - I don't always carry my PDA, but I always have my phone.

The battery life is great - I can get hours of talk time out of it and it will go the whole week (without calls - or a bunch of short ones) without needing to be charged.

The camera is OK (I bought a digital camera to take pictures with - this was just icing on the cake) and it takes videos which is a neat party pleaser or at least something to take the humdrum out of the work day. :)


Rating:
Summary: Where's my speakerphone and Bluetooth???
Review: This phone is almost perfect. Just add speakerphone and Bluetooth. Then I wouldn't need cords, or to buy a pda.



Rating:
Summary: excellent...except...
Review: this phone is really awesome!! my first camera/color screen phone...but did LOTS of research before buying this phone...here's what i got so far...

Pros:
- good signal
- good battery life
- decent camera (except in low lite)
- decent movie clips
- LCD screen is just awesome!
- voice dialing learns very fast!
- intuitive menus
- cool lights when someone calls u
- good txt msg font + features
- stylish layout

Cons:
- no speakerphone
- no bluetooth
- no option to keep front LCD on all the time (u won't know if u missed a call unless u press one of the outside buttons)
- provided ringtones are not good

overall, i really like this phone....if only it had a speakerphone & bluetooth...it would be perfect!!

Rating:
Summary: good phone with few bells and whistles (pun intended)
Review: This phone is really not a phone for gizmo lovers. It doesnot have an infrared port let alone bluetooth. It does not come with any games either. The front LCD is a color one which is good but it doesnot stay on. I hate this because I usually dont wear a watch and look at my phone to know the time. I have to press a button on the side of the phone for it to turn on.

But I am not disappointed. I really like the large buttons. Earlier I really didnot care for the size of buttons but after using this for a day I really am beginning to realise the ease of use when one has a phone with large buttons.

It recieves decent reception in all parts of my house. Because with my previous provider, at times, I wouldn't get reception in my living room. But the first call I made from this phone the person on the other end could not hear a thing. But when I called back again, without moving, she could hear everything clearly. So the jury is still out on the reception in my house. However, the earphone is loud and I could hear everything clearly on both occassions.

All the menus are pretty much straightforward and anything extra you need for the phone has to be downloaded. The ringtones which come with the phone leaves a lot to be desired. But there are a couple of decent ones which do not embarass you. I think there is a way you can get mp3 ringtones to your phone without paying verizon. You have to email the "mp3" ring tone to your phone but you will have to rename the file as a "mid" file beofre you send it. After you have recieved it on your phone you can rename it to an "mp3" file and use it as a ringtone. But I guess to get email access you will have to pay verizon for the interent charges. I am not sure on this though.

It has a camera on it which can swivel. That is the only cool thing about this phone. The camera can also be used to take 15 secs of video with voice. I really like that. Dont expect too much from the camera but it is the only fun thng to do when you are bored.

It took me a while to get this phone activated I had to take it to a store but I realised it was my fault. It took me all but 30 mins to port my old number to this phone which is the best part. Last time it took me 24 days.

Rating:
Summary: Beware of Verizon!
Review: Verizon has a policy that extends your contract everytime you change your calling plan! Check reviews online, many people have been extended another year without even being told this! Do not sign with this company, they have ignorant and condesending customer service and they don't do anything for their customers because they know they are the biggest and dont care about one customer! This phone is junk and Verizon charges for phones that you can actually get free from other carriers!

Rating:
Summary: Funky reception with LG VX7000
Review: Verizon reception is great & keeps getting better. However--with the the LG VX7000 phone I get lousy reception (static, intermittent conversation breaks, dropped calls due to weak connection, etc.) whereas my sturdy Motorola cell phone gets stronger signals in the same areas.

The photo feature is fun, however my digital camera does a much better job (LG photos are pretty grainy). A real plus for this phone is the light weight and its fairly long charged time.

I guess if the fun factor (it does have a larger screen than some), weight, & charged time are important to you, this may be a good phone to consider. And I also would encourage you to check out the Motorola 700 series before you commit yourself to the LG. Many of the same "pro's" would apply, plus you get the better reception.