It’s become a rite of passage that the autumn season brings more than pumpkins and turkey dinners, but also brings another high-end cell phone messages LG and Verizon Wireless. Two years ago, says “hello” to the LG VX9800; last year, was the LG VX99000 ENV, now and in 2007, we welcome the next model in the series, the highly anticipated LG VX10000 Voyager. More than a thorough renovation than a simple redesign, the Voyager offers everything we liked the VX9800 and the NSS, but raises the bar immensely redesigned, offering controls, V Cast Mobile TV, and a huge external touch screen at once luscious and easy to use.
While some observers have concluded cell phone Voyager as the "iPhone murderer," we prefer not to use the term because it assumes that the iPhone is the device than any other mobile phone should be measured against. In addition, in many ways the iPhone will always be in a class. But having said that, VX10000 Voyager is a handset that can match – and surpass – the iPhone in many ways. Wi-Fi is an obvious and regrettable omission, but the Voyager offers many things, the iPhone lacks, including 3G support, multimedia messaging, Bluetooth stereo, GPS and an integrated application. It is too bad that everything lavishness reaches such a high price ($ 299 with a two-year contract), but if you can afford it, Voyager will not let you down. To find accessories for this phone, see our mobile phone ring tones and accessories guide.
Design
From the outset, the Voyager LG VX10000 seems rather the iPhone than it does its predecessors VX9800 and env. Gone are the tiny external keyboard and external display, but is hosted by a vibrant touch screen that dominates the front of Voyager. As you’d expect from a phone messaging, the Voyager is quite bulky. At 4.64 by 2.12 by 0.71 inches, the Voyager is exactly as high as the NSS, but it’s also a little larger when measured across the front. Despite the change of the VX9900 is remarkable, the Voyager package achieves its keyboard and a long list of features in a profile that cut a quarter-inch trimmer than its predecessor. And at 4.69 ounces, it weighs in a half an ounce lighter. The result is a striking design and stain that is much more elegant that both the previous LG phones. It also has a solid feel in the hand and the hinge is a sturdy construction.
The touch screen measures 2.81 inches and supports 262000 colors at a resolution 400×240 pixels. With strong colors, graphics and animation, is a great improvement over the small sample and ineffective in the VX9800 and ENV. And instead of supporting only certain characteristics, you can use the touch screen to access almost all of the Voyager of the bid. In standby mode, the screen shows the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID photo. It also functions as a viewfinder for the camera when the phone is open. You can change the backlight time, the menu font style, marking and font size.
To start using the Voyager, just move your finger to the four controls on the bottom near the bottom of the screen (if the screen is frozen, there is a control screen unlock). From left to right, buttons to open the menu messages, activate the screen Dialpad to make calls, access the main menu, and open your contact list. Alternatively, you can activate a menu shortcuts touching the top of the screen. In general, were pleased with our browsing experience. Selecting an option requires a firm touch, so we have not had many problems with the press of a command accidentally. If you have problems, you can restore the calibration of the screen but it’s so bad you can not alter the tact and sensitivity. Although it lacks the functionality of iPhone multitouch, and the resolution is not as sharp, Voyager display counters with an excellent and useful offering their own means. Like the VX8550 Chocolate, Voyager features tactile feedback to touch their control. You can adjust the duration and intensity of vibration feedback, which is an interesting feature.
Beyond the mere recording, you can also manipulate the Voyager by holding your finger on the screen and move around. Using this method, you can scroll through long menus and move around a Web page, but we had to practice a couple of times before that dominates us, either task. For example, when scrolling through the main menu pages, we had to be careful not to select an option accidentally, what we have done a couple of times. We got the hang of it eventually, but still felt a bit uncomfortable. The V Cast menus, you can use the right hand side of the scroll bar as a more user-friendly alternatives, but elsewhere that the option is not available. Is it too much to ask also a little consistency?
Voyager has also inconsistent methods for entering text on the touch screen. When writing a text message, which could only use the standard nine-digit keypad. Yes, we realize that there is a keyboard in their messaging needs, but the external screen supports a full QWERTY keyboard for typing in URLs while surfing the Web (inter alia). However, we liked that, in any case, the onscreen prompts the keys are large enough to avoid mistakes during fast typing. And it goes without saying that the tactile feedback mark a big improvement over the iPhone.
The only navigation buttons on the front of the Voyager is a clear key and the Talk and End / power buttons. When the display is in sleep mode, the Delete key is also voice-activated dialing function (with a brief press) and starts the voice recorder (with a long press). Although the shortcuts are useful, it’s a bit annoying to accidentally press the button and hear "Please say a command." Completing the exterior is a volume rocker, a camera shutter, and a screen lock switch in the left column, while the MicroSD card slot and a headset jack 2.5 mm sit in the right column. The charger port is located at the bottom of the phone next to an antenna that extends V Cast Mobile TV broadcasts. The camera lens is in the back of the phone, although it is disappointing that LG eliminated both the lens cover and flash. Of course, coverage is not entirely necessary, but we hope that in a flash of 2-megapixel camera phone.
Inside, the Voyager is as attractive as it is abroad. You are immediately brought to the big screen that sits between the stereo speakers. In a smart move, LG made the Voyager internal screen the same size as the external screen and gave the same charming resolution, customization options, and the menu interface. You can not touch controls offer, but it is a great leap regard to his counterpart in the AMB, and that does its job very well. And in another welcome improvement over the VX9900, Voyager rests evenly on a table, when open. Note that in this case, the left column controls are difficult to access unless Voyager is open full 180 degrees.
The range of navigation has not been moved from their place just to the left of the QWERTY keyboard, but LG slightly redesigned. While this remains alternating squares, OK now is circular and slightly recess, while the entire range is black rather than silver. Fortunately, the changes have no effect on control of the user-friendliness, and still had an easy time breezing through the menus. The switch can be programmed as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, while the rest of the navigation controls include the normal Talk and End / Power buttons, a clear key speaker and a shortcut. The familiar soft keys sit just below the screen, but we like that are a little bigger here. As with the VX9800 and the ENV, the placement of the aforementioned OK button far to the left of the screen can be disconcerting at first.
The keyboard remains alphabet is one of the best we’ve seen on a cell phone. Not only is all fairly broad agreement, but the keys are slightly larger and tactile that the ENV. You get the same Shift, symbol, and enter keys, but LG replaces ENV e-mail with a control button that opens a user programmable shortcut menu. While most of the alphanumeric keys are black, three are gray to indicate that they double as game controls. Finally, we like LG maintains that the second space bar to the left of the Z button, but we still prefer to be in the middle of the keyboard as it is in many smartphones.
Features
Although there is much to say about the design of Voyager, which does not mean that the team will jump to features. Anyway, is pretty packages within a Wallop, but let’s start with the basics first. Voyager 1000 offers a contact telephone-book with room in each entry for the entry of five phone numbers and two email addresses. You can save contacts to groups and pair them with a photo and any of 21 polyphonic ring tones. There is no field for notes in each contract of entry, which is unusual.
Other key features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messages (MMS iPhone lacks), a calendar, alarm clock, a world clock, a stopwatch, a notebook, a tip calculator, and a voice memo recorder. For demanding users, Voyager also comes with speaker-independent voice commands and dialing, USB mass storage, instant messaging and text to speech feature. Bluetooth is onboard as well as 1.2, with profiles for headsets, dial-up networking, file transfer, objects, and A2DP stereo sound (the iPhone does not offer a profile stereo). Unfortunately, PC for synchronizing contacts and calendar is not integrated, which limits the Voyager of the usability of road warriors. Moreover, while the handset supports e-mail, POP3 implementation is not as easy as in the iPhone. It is regrettable that the VX10000 does not offer Wi-Fi, especially because it is so ready to surf the Internet (see below). Although the integrated 3G is more than enough for Web surfing, we would much prefer to have a choice. But this is Verizon, obviously, but not surprising, that the company prefers that you pay for the use of its 3G network. The Voyager comes with 180MB of shared memory, which is very generous, but you’re better off saving for a memory card. The MicroSD card slot can accommodate cards as large as 8GB.
The speaker can be activated one of two ways: by opening the Voyager when you’re on a call or dial a number with the handset open. In any case, can disable the speaker by closing the Voyager or pressing the button next to the dedicated alternate inland. Opening and closing the phone will also alternate between the indoor and outdoor shows automatically. In most cases, their current task will not be interrupted.
As EV-DO phone, Voyager supports the full range of Verizon’s 3G services, including V Cast streaming video service and V CAST Music Store. The music player interface has been adjusted compared with other Verizon music phones, but is still quite minimalist. Player options include the usual limited shuffle and repeat modes, but V CAST Music also recommend other songs and based on their playlist. Besides entertainment applications, Voyager also comes preloaded with Verizon VZ Navigator GPS service.
With so many multimedia functions included in the Voyager, it is difficult to give a name as the best of the bunch, but if one approaches should be the stellar Verizon V Cast Mobile TV service. With the $ 15 per month basic package, you get eight channels: CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go and Nickelodeon. Not all deals are "live" as in simulcast; some of the content is timeshifted, others delivered specifically for mobile viewers. The mobile TV is currently available in 25 U.S. markets, with more to come. For more details see our full review of mobile TV or the LG VX9400 review.
Voyager’s has a solid 2-megapixel camera, but is short on some options. And frankly, we were hoping that LG will bump up the resolution of the NSS. You can take pictures in four resolutions (1600×1, 200; 1280×960, 640×480, 320×240) and choose from four color effects and four white balance settings. There is also a 2.5x digital zoom (unusable at the highest resolution), spot metering, control brightness, a night mode, a self-timer, and three shutter sounds (plus a silent option). The autofocus is excellent carried over from ENV, it is very useful because it helped us to maintain constant telephone and eliminates blurriness when taking our shots. The controls are easy to use, provided they can access the buttons on the left column – remember, you must have the Voyager completely open – and is careful not to be confused with soft keys. And as we said earlier, we were waiting for a flash.
The Voyager of the camera lacks a flash, which is disappointing.
We like it when taking photos you can use the full screen as a viewfinder, but it is so bad that not true when you are looking at pictures form an album. In that case, the images take on only a portion of the screen. Moreover, while it may be very good if you can change the external display for vanity shots, it takes a few too many steps to get there. Unlike the ENV, can access the camera menu on the external display, but the touch interface is a bit annoying. For the most part, image quality is very good, but it is something incoherent. Most of our features images of bright color with sharp definition resolution. On some other occasions, however, our photos were washed and slightly blurred. The camera seems to work best when it is held completely still, so that the autofocus aid. Dim conditions are difficult without a flash.
Voyager took photos admirably.
The camcorder takes clips with sound in two resolutions (320×240 and 176×144) with sound, and has a set of editing options similar to the still camera. Clips meant for multimedia messages are limited to 30 seconds, otherwise you can shoot for as long as the available memory permits. You can use the external display to record video and even film yourself when the phone is open. Although a message on the external display command to be held by the Voyager horizontally with the end of the film, it is not absolutely necessary to do so. It’s just that filming in landscape mode is better represent the true size of the framework. As with the photos on your album, recorded clips will have only a portion of the screen. Videos were comparable with the NSS, which is to say they’re decent if you have the camera stable. On the other hand, the camera can not handle quick movements.
With a full browser HMTL, the Voyager offers a wealth of experience that surfing almost rivals that of the iPhone. The external display renders full Web pages in its full glory, no annoying WAP pages to be seen. It will not support flash, but you can click through multiple pages, view photos, links and choose at will. As mentioned above, one can maneuver through the pages of sweeping your finger across the screen to get tactile feedback. Although the proposal is not as fluid as in the iPhone, and can be a little difficult to select their preferred link on a page of overcrowding, LG deserves much credit for having introduced mobile Internet in this form. Like many others who’s new, it may not be perfect, but it is a big step forward. And even without Wi-Fi, the first planes to supply iPhone over the Web in 3G. You can use the internal display to view Web pages complete, but using the switch is tedious to navigate.
You can customize the Voyager with a variety of color themes, wallpaper, screen savers, clock and formats, and can write a customized banner. We were surprised that Voyager offers a complete game with Pac-Man. In general, Verizon does not give us any game.
Performance
We tested the dual-banda (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) in San Francisco and Los Angeles, using the Verizon Wireless service. Call quality is quite impressive. The signal remains strong and was free of static or interference. Moreover, the voices sounded natural, and we’ve enjoyed a lot of volume – even when talking about a noisy street. Our only complaint was a slight hiss at our end. However, it did not happen all the time, so it was not a nuisance.
That call reported that satisfy the conditions to an end. They could hear us clearly, and the audio was clear. In fact, some of our friends can not tell we were using a cell phone. I can not find the hissing noise, but a few phone calls said that sounded slightly tinny. Systems can automatically distinguish call our commands as well, even when we were talking about a noisy street.
Speaker calls were also acceptable. The volume was stronger than expected, and clarity of sound was some of the best that we found in a loudspeaker. Callers reported the same conditions, but above all we had the best experience to speak in a quiet room. As for the so-called Bluetooth headset paired with a successful and experienced decent call quality. As with most touch-screen phones, automatically blocks the external screen during calls to prevent an accidental fall-up. You can unlock this by pressing unlock icon in the lower left corner. That is not a problem for most cases, except when you need to use the Dialpad, while in a call.
The EV-DO connection is relatively strong, as measured by the number of bars on the screen and receipt, however, our actual experience was somewhat uneven. V Cast videos loaded in about 15 seconds, more or less average, and navigating through menus V Cast was swift. Downloading a game took only a few seconds, as well, and surfing the Web is relatively zippy. Websites such as Yahoo and CNET charged at about 10 to 15 seconds, which is not bad. We were waiting to see that move a little faster, and of course, offer Wi-Fi as an alternative, but the browser is perfectly satisfactory for what it offers. And in any case, is better than AT & T EDGE network. Moreover, the V CAST Music service is Poki. Songs took over one and a half minutes to download, which is slower than we have seen in other Verizon EV-DO phones like the LG VX8350.
Contrary to previous impressions, the response time for the touch screen is pretty fast. However, we noticed several times that the touch screen seemed to freeze for a couple of seconds. On those occasions, we had to wait some time before the screen responds to our touch. It happened very infrequently, and no pattern, but it is still noteworthy.
Voyager streaming video quality was also mixed. I really wanted to watch videos on the external display, but experience has left us disappointed. Although the menu is a little slick than normal V Cast interface, and videos covering almost the entire width of the screen landscape, the quality was quite poor. There was frequent pixilation, and small images could be almost blurred. Similarly, while the sound coincides with the speakers mouth, the volume is muffled. Since all V Cast sound comes from two speakers inside the phone, the level is quite low when it is closed.
The V Cast experience has less pixilation when using the internal display, but the image size is much smaller. Clips not unwatch by any means, but we were hoping for better. In the mouth, however, never froze videos, and we did not have to pause for rebuffering. Although the Bay Area of San Francisco not get V CAST Mobile TV until early 2009, we were able to test the main feature in Los Angeles. In general experience has been satisfactory with clean and video without distortion. This compares with other V Cast Mobile TV phones we’ve reviewed.
Music quality are met as a whole. The two speakers gave sufficient volume, and the audio was clear. As is typical of the music on a phone is not good enough to replace your MP3 player independent, but is fine for most uses. Try headphones for the best experience.
LG VX10000 Voyager has a rated battery life of 4 hours of talk time and 20 days time. It fell a bit short in our battery of tests, reaching 3 hours, 45 minutes of talk time. That’s still a good result for a team CDMA, but is 4 hours less than what the iPhone delivered. According to FCC radiation tests, the Voyager has a digital SAR rating of 0765 watts per kilogram.