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review: lg vx6000

last month, verizon claimed their subscribers sent one million picture messages in the first month of service. as part of that launch, they introduced their flagship camera phone, the LG vx6000 -
made by korean manufacturer lg.

In this launch, verizon is selling much more than the device, but rather a packaging of data services that are supported by the phone, under the moniker get it NOW, there are services such as getPIX (picture messaging), getGames and getGOING (BREW apps), getBROWSING (WAP browser), and getALERTS (text message msn alerts). the vx6000 supports all these services and more, including verizon's CDMA 1XRTT 2.5G "express network". to some extent, i'll be commenting on the total package, and not just the device, because they are pretty intertwined.

the vx6000 is a clamshell phone, very similar to earlier models vx4400, as well as fellow korean manufacturer samsung models like the V205. it has a built in camera on the "top of the clam" as well as a color status screen, which with the tap of a button will give you the time, battery level, signal strength, 1x reception, and message status. included next to the camera lens is a mirror, used for taking those "here i am look at me" shots - when your face shows up in the mirror - you are in the frame. strike a pose and snap. the screen on roof of the clam's mouth is about as bright as you are going to find, although the resolution is nothing to write home about. it has a dedicated camera button, two softkeys, and a joypad with a center selection button. it uses the clear ( CLR) key as the back button, a feature i'll never get used to.

the LG VX6000 compared to Samsung V205, and SE T610

the phone itself is pretty average, it's a phone. verizon's voice network is great and the coverage so far is about the best i've seen. the contact list allows for multiple email and phone numbers, which is key when it comes to emailing pictures. i find i tend to fully utilize a contact list such as this on CDMA phones, and not so much on GSM phones (since the SIM holds the lowest common denominator info) so i'm glad to see that here. absent is a speakerphone, which seems like an easy addition these days given the sensititivy of microphones, and the loudness of the earpiece anyway.

the camera itself is probably one of the best on the market today (that can be found on a phone, in north america). although it only shoots at 330K pixels (VGA), it comes with a zoom in and out, contrast, lighting, and some fun frames, where you can put a picture of your head on the body of a hulking body, for example. after snapping the picture, you can send immediately to another verizon subscriber at their number, email it to any email address, or save to the supplied photo album at vzwpix.com. although not a full blown moblog, you can send and receive pics from the website and share them via albums. you can add text and voice to your pictures - but beware, this is not true MMS. the audio format is the qualcomm "qcelp" (can you at least create an acronym we can pronounce?) and the pictures aren't framed in SMIL documents when send from the phone. i was able to send cross-carrier to MMS capable phones on GSM networks by setting up the Now SMS MMS gateway, but because of the lack of standards conformance, pictures came in as attachments, and the audio files could not be converted to WAV or AMR as is the MMS standard.

to test the quality, i took some pictures using some other best of breed cameras on phones, the sony ericsson p800, and the nokia 3650 so i could see the comparison. all 3 pics were taken with my feet in the same place, with same center of focus attempted. i think my eyes saw the colors of the p800 photo, and the details of the VX6000. i think some of the indoor photos showed up even better than this one. note that no camera phone on the market today is a replacement for a standalone digital camera - they are good for taking pictures about the size you see here, but not good enough for printing 5x7s at shutterfly or ofoto.

LG VX6000	Sony Ericsson P800	Nokia 3650

nevertheless, this service makes picture messaging E-Z, which is what has to happen to make this launch a success. eventually, they'll need to figure out how to make it as easy to send to non-verizon subs - a topic of another entry.

the vx6000's thin-client platform of choice is BREW which promises and in my opinion delivers here a compelling model for data interaction over using the wap browser. with one touch you can go to the "get it NOW" screen which allows you to run or browse the catalog of brew applications, which can be downloaded (for both purchase or trial) over the air to the phone, and then run. most of the apps are between $3-5 and some are subscription based. most of the productivity apps are excellent, such as soda-pop email client, vindigo, and accuweather - enough so that you'll never want to use a WAP browser again. all 3 of these apps get right to the task, communicating with the network as needed, with totally acceptable speed. enter a zip code into the accuweather app and 2 seconds later you can browse forecasts, sattelite and radar maps. the same task on a WAP browser would probably take a couple minutes, if you succeeded at all. interestingly - BREW apps use the 1X data connection, the WAP browser does not, it just uses circuit switched data. the 1X data for BREW is snappy - definitely a little more so than GPRS, mostly because of the reduced connection time. picture messaging also uses the 1X connection.

BREW also doubles as the gaming platform for the vx6000 - and here i wasn't especially impressed. the FIFA soccer game ended up being nothing more than penalty kicks, which is lame compared to marcel desailly soccer that is a full field match on the likes of the nokia 3650. a few of the games are good time passers, but i just wasn't blown away by anything. perhaps the content is just not there yet.

the obvious value that becomes apparent with BREW is that it's a total solution for operators to deploy - the vending machine is built into the infrastructure so operators don't have to roll their own solution, and you don't have to navigate through WAP to get to the what might be better content, a la mMode. it's super simple to try and purchase apps, which is an important part of the equation. it's also good that there is a "check for upgrade" feature built in. of course, the control brings a lack of openness, and it's unclear how you could get your ownn apps into this environment.

back to the phone. the lack of out of the box accessories is a bit of a bother. the only provided charger is a desktop cradle and a wall brick charger, niether of which you could comfortably take on a business trip. i'd love to see more out of the box USB chargers. there's also no provided headset, so you'd have to go purchase one of those as well. it does come with a belt clip however, if you are so inclined. i didn't test the 1X data connection to my laptop, as these cables are not included, and there is no infrared or bluetooth.

the battery life seems a little better than the similar samsung phone. after the inital charge, with investigative use, i only had to charge it after 3 days, which is above average for the features the phone has. this probably has something to do with verizon's strong signal - as the phone can operate at much lower power.

all in all, if you like the clamshell and a great voice and data network while on the north american continent - this is a great camera phone - perfect for moblogging, talking, and accessing remote data via 1X. the get it NOW BREW apps are great examples of how to get at mobile data from a phone profile, provided there is an app that does what you need. in addition, verizon's web services packaged around the phone provide a good direction for other operators on how to sell the total solution, not just a phone.

ratings
phone: 7
texting: 5
mms: 3
email: 6 (with optional brew client $2.99)
browser: 5
pda features: 5
camera: 9
battery: 8
usability: 7
durability: 8
stability: 9
gameplay potential: 7
third party apps: 8
fashion: 8
out-of-box accessories: 4

Posted by Steve at September 5, 2003 09:31 AM | TrackBack