LG Vu

Liz and I picked up new phones on the weekend after a run-in with a cup of coffee took her Razr out of commission. Initially she was just going to get herself a new phone but we noticed AT&T had cunningly decided to have a 2-for-1 sale on their LG Vu and as that was the phone Liz had her eyes on, I ended up getting one too.

It's a pretty good phone, reception is quite clear and calls are very audible, although when using Speaker-phone, if a caller raises their voice too much it becomes distorted.

Like the iPhone it's a predominantly touch screen phone (with 3 regular buttons, and a couple of side buttons) and it works very well, although the on-screen slider is sometimes a little dodgy, but maybe that's me and my big thumbs.

What I'm not too pleased with is the flimsy plastic cover over the combined headset/power socket, which has to be pried open every time you need to charge your phone. I had a similar power socket cover on my Razr, which snapped off shortly after I got it, and I can see this happening with the Vu as well. Especially given the goodies that come with it can make charging the Vu an almost nightly affair if you want to be able to use your phone when you need to.

Our upgraded contact came with AT&T Mobile TV and watching TV on your phone is surprisingly easy, especially on the Vu's 3" screen (that's just 1/2" smaller than the iPhone). After eating at Souplantation last night I took the kids home while the wife went on to run some errands, and the bunny's tears at not going with Mommy quickly dried up when Spongebob Squarepants appeared on my phone. Listening in as we drove home, even though I took the Freeway, not once did I hear the skip or stutter I occasionally get while watching on my bus ride into work (I blame the bus's suspension). Incredibly, around 5th & Grand in downtown L.A., as in right in the heart of the CBD, my phone loses the Mobile TV signal. It can make and receive calls just fine, and even surf the 'net, but it will not do Mobile TV past that point. I'm sure somewhere south of my office the signal picks back up again (probably closer to the residential area or around USC), but right now I'm unable to get a signal, even though I'm right across the road from AT&T's HQ!!!

Okay, back. Sorry about that. Just conducted a little experiment. I walked across the road to the AT&T building, and I can't get Mobile TV there, either. The Vu did start to acquire the signal but couldn't establish a connection and was forced to admit defeat. Sad. Not a fault with the Vu though, more with AT&T's Mobile TV.

The games that come preloaded with the Vu are a sad bunch, and although the Vu is a touch screen-capable phone most games throw up a virtual keypad, so instead of playing the game by touching the playing field and giving your avatar directions, selecting puzzle pieces, etc, the Vu asks you to press virtual arrow keys at the bottom of the screen. The arrows are not even in an intuitive + or T formation, but are in a straight line across the bottom of the screen so you have to look away from the action to make sure you're pressing the correct button.

At least Bejeweled asks you to touch the Jewels in the gameboard, and considering how small each jewel is I rarely selected the wrong one, but it's a Timed Demo/Trial that lasted barely a minute before telling me I needed to buy the game to keep playing. I checked out the other Demos and they were all the same. Very sad was the Timed Trial/Demo of Midnight Pool, for which I made one shot (the Break) then sat back and watched my computer(phone?)-controlled opponent make several shots in a row and that was it. Trial/Demo over. Do you want to buy the full game? I had Midnight Pool on my Razr but I think I'll pass this time around.

Then there's the cool Internet feature. Moving into the 21st Century I can check my Yahoo! email and even log into Facebook via my phone, which to those who've had it for a while is probably no big deal, but I think it's pretty cool.

The Vu also comes with a 2.0-Megapixel camera, which is pretty impressive for a phone, and it can (apparently) take photos up to 1600x1200 resolution. The video camera is not so hot, and can only manage 320x240, which is more than enough to watch short, home movies on your cellphone, but not really "burn a DVD to send home for Christmas" quality. It comes with a 2x zoom, but as it's purely digital zoom, not true optical, you really don't want to be zooming in with it. Besides, there's really something wrong if you're using your phone to capture those happy family moments. That's what cameras are for :P

When all is said and done the Vu is not an iPhone (but is that really a Con?), but it's still an excellent touch-screen phone in its own right, and is (currently) capable of doing things the iPhone cannot...such as sending photographs via Txt (aka MMS). Remember the ad where the young couple is in some Asian country? One of them is out seeing the City when the urge to use the restroom struck. The language barrier escalated the situation but their phone came to the rescue when the person in their hotel room sent a photograph of their toilet to the stricken one's phone and saved the day. Yeah. For everything it can do, the iPhone (currently) cannot do that.