Joel Spolsky Reviews the LG Fusic From Sprint
Joel Spolsky of joelonsoftware fame reviews the LG Fusic from Sprint, and frankly, this is one strong and very straightforward review. Now Joel is know for his knack for design and usability, particularly when it comes to user interfaces. He should–he’s into software design and development. So you can expect him to feel strongly about the shortcomings of a device and the network’s mobile service when it comes to usability.
Joel was actually reluctant at first to review the phone. After all the marketing people were having a field day sending off (free) review units to bloggers, hoping to start some buzz about their music- and video-download service. It turns out that they were in for some negative publicity.
The phone they sent me, an LG Fusic, is really quite awful, and the service, Power Vision, is tremendously misconceived and full of dumb features that don’t work right and cost way too much. So I’m going to review the dang phone anyway, even though if anybody from Sprint is paying attention they’re going to lose their lunch and some executive bonehead over there is going to go nuts and I sincerely hope that this doesn’t put an end to the entire free-phones-for-bloggers boondoggle, because I’d hate to get beaten up at Etech next year by all the other bloggers who would hate me for spoiling all the fun.
So what’s wrong with the phone and service, anyway? Joel thought the phone’s built was too cheap, and the interface unintuitive. The Fusic is supposed to be an MP3-capable phone, but it does not offer the usual functionalities one would expect from an MP3 player such as bookmarking and even basic capabilities like playing music with the clamshell closed.
Joel found the video aspect lacking, too, with no decent movie titles and a screen too small for viewing. The pricing for both music and movies was prohibitive, too, especially in light with the de facto standard that Apple had set, at $0.99 a pop (for songs).
I consider Joel to be quite fortunate. For one, he’s a blog A-lister. Secondly, companies are sending him freebies for review (hey people, if you’d like me to review some of your gadgets, I’d be glad to send you my postal address). But Sprint was probably wrong to send him a Fusic for review. The phone might have been considered decent and even cool by a younger, less tech-savy user, but it wasn’t meant for a tech- and design-savvy individual.
Here’s a lesson to companies who are starting to turn to blogging and bloggers for word-of-mouth marketing. Do your research first. And make sure the product you plan to market thru blogs are aptly targeted.
LG Chocolate VX8600
It looks like an “accidental” slip has let smoe details and images for the LG Chocolate VX8600 out into the web.
This is the clamshell counterpart to the existing VX8500 Chocolate that recently launched.
Features include:
- EV-DO high-speed data
- Stereo Bluetooth
- 176×220 main screen with 262k colors
- 128×128 external screen with 65k colors
- Music player with external music controls (WMA/MP3)
- microSD card slot
- 1.3 megapixel camera
You can probably expect to see Verizon Wireless carrying these before the holiday shopping season, but no official word on that yet.
LG Fusic Review
Digital Trends has a review up on the Fusic from LG, a very stylish little cell phone.
Inside you’ll find an advanced series of features, aside from the music player, which we’ll get to in a minute. On the phone side, Fusic is a broadband EV-DO dual-band CDMA phone for the Sprint network, equipped with text, voice and multimedia messaging, voice memo recording, and speaker-independent voice control. On the digital camera side, the 1.3 megapixel imager can snap stills at up to 1280 x 960 resolution and 15 frame-per-second 3G2-format videos, matched with a 15-step digital zoom and PictBridge for PC-less picture printing via the included USB cable. There’s a microSD flash memory slot, and LG included a 64 MB card to get you started.
In the end they gave it a 7.5 out of 10. In the con’s list, the Fusic is nocked down a notch because of frustrating music management, and seperate Bluetooth 1.1/stereo connectivity. I would love to have one of these small phones, and I think the con’s for me would be of little consequence.
LG Chocolate Phone LG-KG800 Review
Pocket-lint reviews the LG-KG800, better known as the LG Chocolate phone, and they seem to love its style and ease of use.
The front as we’ve said hides a mirage of buttons that all you to navigate around the phone, make calls and influence people. In use and the interface is incredibly light to touch, but once you’ve got the hang of it easy to master (think iPod click wheel). Slide the slider back and luckily LG has opted to keep things simple and straightforward and it was surprising and pleasing to see that the number keypad hasn’t been messed with, that feeling soon ends however when you see the numbers appear on the screen is a plethora of colours as if someone has been let loose with a tube of Smarties.
In the end they give the LG-KG800 a seven out of ten, though users so far have given it a five and a half out of ten. While it is not the LG Chocolate phone, I’d say that the Motorola L7 is just as nice, though maybe not as fasionable or trendy, its features are pretty slick.
First Cingular HSPDA Phone Out!
Cingular has announced the launch of its first HSPDA-enabled handsets, which can run on the network’s High Speed Downlink Packet Access.
HSDPA was launched by Cingular late last year, but so far Cingular customers have been able to use it only on notebook PCs with PC Card or built-in modems. The network offers typical downstream speeds of 400 kilobits per second to 700 kbps, with burst speeds as high as 1 megabit per second, according to the carrier.
The mobile is the LG CU500, a thin and lightweight clamshell that is capable of playing/streaming and 15 frames per second of video, a well as record on the same framerate through its 1.3-megapixel camera. The phone’s memory can be expanded via microSD. The CU500 also supports MP3, WMA, AAC and AAC+ formats for music playback. Users would find external music controls and support for Bluetooth stereo headsets convenient.
The phone is priced at $99.99 (after $50 rebate) with a 2-year Cingular contact.
Hottest Mobile Phones this Summer
Laptop Magazine previews and reviews five mobile phones they consider to be should-buys this summer, and they are as follows.
The Motorola Q. It’s a smartphone, and it says Windows Mobile 5.0 (up to you if that’s good or bad). Personally, I think this is cool, as you can do all sorts of wonderful stuff on a Windows Mobile powered smartphone, and I’m a fan of being able to seamlessly sync with Outlook. It’s like having a full-fledged Windows-based PDA in a mobile phone form factor. The phone even supports EV-DO connectivity, and has a 1.3 megapixel camera. Memory is also expandable via Mini-SD. Only disadvantage, though, is that the Moto Q doesn’t have touchscreen.
Retail price: $199 with 2-year contract.
Palm Treo 700P. It’s PalmOS-based so whether it’s good or bad depends on your OS preference. But Palm still lives by the KISS principle–that is, keep it simple, stupid! You get blazing power in your hands but with a simple and no-nonsense UI. You can connect broadband via Sprint’s EV-DO service or Verizon’s Wireless broadband service. The Treo 700P also sports a 1.3-megapixel camera for those days you forget to bring your real digital camera with you.
Retail price: $399 with 2-year contract and after rebate.
Sony Ericsson W810i. It’s a SonyEricsson, so the interface and operating system are proprietary. If you can live with that, consider that this, being a W-series phone, is a Walkman, and actually has strong portable music player features. You can even use your own earphones or high-fidelity noise-cancelling headphones as the phone uses a standard 3.5-mm stereo jack! It even has a 2-megapixel camera. Again, I’m not a fan of these itty-bitty things that take poor pictures, but it’s a convenient feature to have.
Retail price: $399.
Samsung SCH-a930. The a930 clamshell looks more like an MP3 player than a phone. But you might be able to forgive the design shortcomings considering the low price. For this price, you get dedicated music controls and a dedicated external screen for displaying track information. Memory is also expandable up to 1GB via MicroSD. You also get access to Verizon’s V CAST music service. Hey, you also have a 1.3-megapixel camera. IT rotates, this time, whatever you’d need that for (perfect for voyeur photography, I guess).
Retail price: $99.99 (after $50 rebate).
LG Fusic. Fus-what? Strange name aside, the Fusic looks interesting, but lacks appeal in design. It has that control wheel reminiscent of the iPod’s, but sports a protruding antenna, which I find un-cool. The Fusic works with the Sprint music store, or you can transfer MP3s and AACs via USB (sounds familiar). It also has Bluetooth stereo support and–yes–a 1.3-megapixel camera. What’s great is you can plug in the phone into your laptop for use as an EV-DO modem. I’m foreseeing a visit from Apple’s patent lawyers, though, with the way the Fusic mimics the iPod’s control wheel.
Retail price: $179 with 2-year contract.
Looks like it’s smartphones and MP3-playing phones for Laptop Magazine this summer.
LG U880 Review
Pocket-lint has a review of the LG U880, a clamshell phone with some nice features.
Its latest handset, the U880 breaks away from this mould and ops for a super thin, super long clamshell design that will suit both men and women alike.
That thin claim is well justified. It might not be as thin as the GSM version of the Motorola Razr, but it’s almost a millimetre and a half thinner than the company’s 3G version the V3x. The 1.4mm doesn’t sound like much and it reality it isn’t, still it allows LG to crown the phone with the moniker “the world’s slimmest 3G phone”.
In the end they give it a seven out of ten. They liked the screen but did not like the fact that there was only one camera, and no flash. Getting a little picky are we? It still seems like an interesting, and small phone to try out, though at seven out of ten, you know there are others that probably will top it in features, and maybe even price.
LG’s LG550 Musicphone
Engadget has some details on a new phone from LG, and while LG would not let them have any hands-on photographs of it, they managed to snag what they consider a bad photo of the phone, and some specs.
Yeah, that touchpad on the front definitely reminds us of you-know-what, but the rest of the phone is sleek and thin, and along with the Chocoloate Phone, the LG550 represents an evolution of LG’s handset design sensibility Specs are decent, but not extraordinary: EV-DO, Bluetooth, a MicroSD memory card slot, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, swappable faceplates, and software for creating your own ringtones by humming the melody of what you want it to be (or something along those lines).
We should see the LG550 in the U.S. in the second quarter of this year, but from who? Not sure yet.
LG CU320 Review
Mobiledia has a review up of the LG CU320, a nice slider that takes function over form.
Contrary to the edgy razor-thin clamshells sweeping the market, the CU320 has unusually rounded shape. In fact everything from the casing to the camera lens and even the navigational keypad and shortcut keys are curved, giving a relaxed feel some consumers may not find appealing.
In the end they say that those that can get over the lackluster visual design of the phone will be pleasantly surprised as they enjoyed the multimedia features of the phone.
LG C2000 Review
NBC reviews the C2000 from LG, and they are not impressed.
Looking for a cool, new cutting-edge mobile phone? This isn’t the review series for you. Like many users, I wanted a phone that does a good job acting like a phone. Me, I can no longer afford “cool” — I accidentally destroyed my last phone, didn’t have insurance, and don’t feel like shelling out big bucks for a hip, high-end model.
No, I need an entry-level handset that doesn’t cost too much but does a great job with the basics. Read: simple voice calls. This time, I’m giving the LG C2000 on the Cingular plan a spin. It has a retail price of $170, but you can score one for $30 through Cingular’s Web site if you sign up for a two-year agreement.
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