News & Events

Reviews

User Reviews

Phone Specs

Review: LG VX9800 (Verizon Wireless)

Available since early October 2005 th VX9800 has become a very popular phone at Verizon Wireless. The VX9800 has a long list of very compelling features, including a color outer display, a 320 x 256 pixel landscape oriented inner display, Text to speech, EVDO, excellent speakerphone, Bluetooth, stereo speakers, 1.3 megapixel camera with flash, 56 megs of available memory, miniSD card slot, MP3 player, voice recorder, Verizon Wireless Sync compatibility, a QWERTY keyboard with dedicated number row inside.


Verizon targets this $199 (with new plan activation / additional discounts are available as of the time of this writing) phone at those customers who need HTML browsing and easy messaging but don't want the price tag of a normal PDA phone

The VX9800 is one of Verizon's most expandable feature phones. Taking pictures or video and saving it onto a miniSD card by default is one of those features. No more emailing these files - just take the card, put it into your card reader of your laptop or PC and the files are available immediately. 

Design and Ergonomics

The VX9800 is a clamshell phone that opens on the long side rather than top to bottom and offers a full QWERTY thumb keyboard inside.

The LG weighs 5.19 ounces and measures 4.57 x 1.97 x 1.0 inches. That's big for a cell phone but lightweight compared to PDA phones. However - the phones feels very strong and good in your hand. This can be an advantage when working a lot with the phone. You do not have to be worried by breaking it like you have to be with other phones that do not offer durability.
 
When the unit is closed you can still send and receive calls, initiate voice dialing, or dial a number using the roomy external number pad with raised, lighted keys. You can read text messages on both the inner and outer displays, too. The phone features a camera quick launch button on the left side along with a volume rocker. In certain applications the volume rocker changes functionality. Example: in the web browser it acts as the page up / down control and it changes photo orientation in the camera application.

Keyboard

The VX9800 has a full QWERTY thumb keyboard that's a pleasure to use. It's one of the best keyboards we've ever used on phone or PDA. The location of the spacebar to the right rather than dead center is the keyboard's only oddity. But you get used to it fairly quickly unless you hop back and forth between different type of phones.

Reception, Voice and Phone Features

The VX9800 offers strong reception compared to other recent Verizon offerings despite the internal antenna. Voice quality through the full duplex speakerphone is excellent and call recipients had no idea we were using speakerphone during a test. Great Feature: The phone can be set to auto-answer when the flip is opened. With the flip opened, the LG VX9800 will automatically switch to speakerphone mode and the phone will not hang up when you close the flip. That is a cool feature. You can use speakerphone in the car, then close it and talk normally with the phone in your hand once you leave the car.

The VX9800 has voice command software and text to speech functionality. Text to speech can state an incoming caller's name or phone number if desired and can read text messages to you. The phone uses a female voice with sometimes funny pronunciation but overall it does the job well.

The phone's address book holds up to 1000 contacts. In addition, the LG has 99 speed dial slots, with the last three assigned to commonly used Verizon functions (#BAL, #MIN and #PMT) and 1 assigned to voicemail. There's also a basic calendar with day, week, and month views. 

Data: EVDO, VCast, Browsing and Messaging

This Verizon phone has separate voice/1xRTT and EVDO signal strength meters. We got excellent throughput for VCast video and web browsing. The large, vivid display and stereo speakers are perfect for VCast video and you'll have no trouble hearing sound except in very noisy locations.

The LG VX9800 OpenWave 6.2.3.2 web browser is fast and renders pages in an attractive manner. The browser uses Verizon's Mobile Web 2.0 service ($5/month or included in the $15/month VCast plan) and their VZW Today start page with links to news, weather, email, sports, entertainment and more. The browser supports standard HTML web sites as well as WAP sites and offers SSL encryption, but doesn't support Javascript.

The included IM client (Instant Messaging) allows you to talk to friends on AIM, MSN and Yahoo instant messaging. As with most phone IM clients, it uses text messages to send and receive IMs.

Display, Sound and Multimedia

The inner display is phenomenal: very bright, good contrast and colors stick out appropriately. It's an excellent choice for viewing photos and videos.

The outer display is very good, too. The 65,000 color TFT LCD offers a resolution of 160 x 128 pixels and displays up to 9 lines of text. It delivers clear view even when being outside (except for very bright, sunny days).

The LG VX9800 sound system is superb. The large stereo speakers are well suited for video and MP3 playback. Video playback is excellent and the screen resolution and quality make this a good experience. The included video player can play videos taken with the camera, videos downloaded through Verizon's VCast service (mostly .wmv format) and streaming VCast video.

Camera

What a pleasant surprise the VX9800's 1.3 megapixel camera has to offer. The LG VX9800 takes very sharp photos with good color. The camera takes photos that even look good on a computer monitor (many other phone cams lack this kind of quality).



Specs:

Display: Outer display: TFT color LCD, 160 x 128 pixels (9 lines). Inner display: TFT 262K colors, 320 x 256 pixels.

Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1300 mA. 2100 mA extended battery available for purchase. Claimed talk time: 4.16 hours. Claimed standby: 8.3 days.

Performance: Undisclosed processor. 128 megs flash ROM, 64 megs RAM with 56 available.

Size: 4.57 x 1.97 x 1.0 inches. Weight: 5.19 ounces.

Audio: Built in stereo speakers, mic and 2.5 mm headphone jack. Voice Recognition software included. Full duplex speakerphone (works only when clamshell is open). 72-Chord Polyphonic Sound Support, Voice Memo Recorder (1 Minute Each; Up to 200 memos total). Has vibrate feature and comes with 16 ringtones.

Phone: Digital dual band: 800 MHz CDMA and 1900 MHz PCS bands (no analog). Supports both EVDO and 1xRTT for data. Has Get It Now and VCast and can run BREW apps.

Camera: 1.3 MP camera with LED flash. 4x digital zoom. Camera Resolutions: 1280 x 960, 640 x 480, 320 x 240, 176 x 144, 160 x 120 pixels. Video resolutions: 320 x 240 and 176 x 144 pixels, 3G2 format. Close-up switch on lens for macro shots.

Bluetooth: Supports headset, handsfree, VCard transfer over OBEX and DUN profiles. Bluetooth 1.1, class 2 radio.

Software: Contacts, Calendar, text and MMS client, instant messaging (AIM, MSN and Yahoo), photo and video viewer, camera, Get it Now (download Pix and Flix, ringtones, BREW games and other apps) and Open Wave HTML/WAP web browser for use with Verizon's Mobile Web service 2.0. In addition, T9, Notes, World Clock, Alarm Clock, EZ Tip Calc, Calculator, Name Card Reader (take macro photo of business cards) and Voice Command.

Expansion: 1 miniSD (Secure Digital) slot.