LG CU500
Average Ratings
Well.....
I've had many phones through Cingular. This one is OK but has some flaws...
PROS:
Thin & Lightweight
3G Connection
Nice Keypad for texting
Nice External Display
External Music Controls
CONS:
Top is thicker than bottom--resulting in top heavy-ness
Quiet and advancing ringer
Small Cingular Video Output
Cheap Feel
Weird Reception at times
The LG CU500 is an alright phone for somone who wants a flip phone with fast 3G...however, you might want to check out the Samsung SYNC first! RF is OK. In some areas though, the signal will jump between 1 and full. After silence in calls, the next word is not picked up by the phone...or it lags?
Web is fast, even in non-3G areas. However, if in a non-3G area...this phone is overrated.
Camera is 1.3MP. Must be overstated. The 1.3MP cameraon the Nokia 6682 I had blew this phone out of the water. Compared to the 6682, CU500 images look like garbage VGA pics. Horrible in low-light situations.
Build quality is low. Top section of the flip wobbles side-to-side. All plastic feels cheap...like something you would find in a toy store. Also, by looking around the seams you can see light bleeding through if the keypad is lit.
Seriously thinking about dumping this for the bar-style SE w810i. I lose the flip, but gain a better phone and a lot better camera.
Still Unsure
I just got this phone yesterday, but I can already see how these seemingly "little" things can get annoying really fast.
Pros:
-Good looking phone, stylish
-Seperated keypad buttons
-Good menu
-Nice colors
-Big internal display
-Love the camera
-Only paid $50 for the phone because of a rebate promotion
Cons:
-Poor sound quality for calls
-Annoying confirmation tone every time you do any little thing
-Cannot figure out how to download anything
-Terrible ringtones
-Short battery life (i charged it to full last night, talked on it for 10 minutes today and lost a bar)
All in all, the phone is okay. I think I could live with it. My husband's phone is already wobbling up top. I think it has a loose screw somewhere so I am definitely taking that one back.
How to make a silent ringtone...
Review to come in a few weeks when I've had it longer, but I wanted to help you guys who helped me make a sound purchase:
Go to the quietest room in your house or office.
Go to "My Stuff" and select "3. Audio and Ringtones".
Select "Record Voice".
Record 10-15 seconds of silence. Save and rename "Silent" (for your own sanity).
Text/e-mail the file to your home PC (phone will not accept it as a ringtone in the AMR format it creates it in)
On your computer open the file and convert it to either an MP3 or WAV file.
Hook up your USB cable and tranfer the new WAV/MP3 as if you were transfering music (click and drag).
Voila! You can now use it as a select ringtone. A bit of a pain, but worst case scenario, when the undesirable calls, it will sound like a little tiny static...much preferable to the loud ringtones!
Not impressed, it's going back
Pro's
+Decent call quality, people may not realize you are on a cell.
+Great signal strength
+Nice keypad
+Fairly intuitive menu system, but not great
+one can use short MP3s as ringtones
Con's
-Cingular firmware is aweful. Menu option number one is Cingular Mall. 75% of the options on the phone cost you more money.
-No way to sync contacts or phone numbers
-No way to email pictures you can only send them to a phone number (no email client)
-Lot of RF interference with other devices I have to keep my cell at least 6 feet away from my land line.
-No way to video conference via AIM or ICQ (despite the ads)
-2Gb MicroSD not supported, not all 1Gb's work, check the forums
-Proprietary charger cable
-Battery life is poor. I used the phone tethered via BT for a 30 minutes and talked for 90 minutes, and a fully charged battery was down to one bar.
-There is no way to cover the camera lense. With the rotating design they should have allowed it to rotate away.
-There is no flash
-There is no voice dial
-No ear buds or data cable included with phone
-Speakerphone crackles when it's turned up all the way. One needs it turned up all the way to hear it. I was driving in my van and was holding the phone up to my ear in speakerphone mode to hear it.
-Receiving calls the volume is not right. The ring of the person you are calling is so loud it hurts your ear, but the voice level of the other person is soft, so you need to leave the volume up all the way.
I purchased this phone to tether to my laptop and I was able to tether it with bluetooth. I was not pleased Cingular said it's unsupported, but they charge me 60 a month for a data package (+$40 for voice). I was not pleased Cingular Media net and Cingular Video do NOT work with the data package. Cingular wants more money for video and Media net.
Not your every day LG
Overall im very impressed with this device. With LG's previous reputation of being no better than sony ericsson, this phone gave me a new opinion of lg.
Pros
UMTS/HSDPA
1.3 mp camera
A2DP - Stereo bluetooth headset
Voice volume handset and speaker
Batter last average 2-3 days with heavy use
fast OS
Front screen looks great and front buttons
good reception
stereo handset (sounds amazing)
Cons
OS is very bland
***flip is shakey i opened 5 and they were all the same
Other than the flip i have no complaints i have been working for cingular for 3 years and this is the first LG i ever actually liked. And for that one guy would said in silent mode it still goes off i have no idea what hes talkin about it works fine for me. This phone is your V3 killer and its about time. The quality of the phone is great it feels really strong however the flip is weird its got a lil play but its strong . Best phone out for cingular in the eastern markets bottom line.
Just can't get over them
I read the reviews and thought I could live with the quirk, but I canât. The first week, they were fine, but now they are annoying. There is a confirmation tone after everything and you can not turn it off. I contacted LG and they confirmed that. I was sitting in a quiet meeting and had to get a note off to someone. A quick text message, hit send and the quick âdo, do, doâ goes the beeps to send and again âdo, do, doâ confirming it sent. Everyone looks at me. In fact everywhere it goes off when doing something everyone looks at you. These are LOUD and there is not shut off and no volume control.
Next is the speaker. I donât know if it is to save energy, but when there is a silent pause, the speaker shuts off. If you have ever talked on âVOXâ itâs like that. You miss the first part of the next word as the speaker fades back in after the pause is over. I makes it sound like the speaker volume is going up and down all the time while you have a conversation.
Fix this and this is a great phone, but donât assume you can live with this. I love the phone, but it is going back. These are not little problems with the design, they are every day, every call or every text message
Pros
Great reception
Great add-ons
Cons
Speaker (see above)
Confirmation tones (see above-incredibly irritating and LOUD, no volume control or shut off)
Speaker phone- just not loud enough
great phone. a few cons.
i just got my phone about 3 days ago and heres what i have noticed so far.
pros
-AWSOME design
-smooth vid
-clear pics
-i like the key pad
-i love the speakers when playing music (sooo loud!)
-rather easy to navigate
-solid feel
cons
-the battery life is not good at all. its half dead by the end of the day!
-you cant close the phone when speaker phone is on
-i have a mess load of songs and its not that organized. there should be some kind of file manager on the comp
-ohh did i say how poor the battery life is? i hope theres a battery i can buy that last longer.
other than that its an amazing phone. and i recommend this bad boy
What A Let Down
Wow...what a let down. This phone was so hyped I thought I was getting something wonderful. I got it as a replacement for my Razr which gave me problem after problem. 3G, 1.3 megapixel camera, I was psyched. Untl I got it that is. Just one day, from no fault of my own, the camera just stopped working. It switches between E and G type signal (not exactly sure what that is) but everytime it switches it drops the call if I happen to be on it at the time. The buttons are horendous. You have to push em HARD to make em work...coming from the Razr I HATE that...the only pros of this phone is the GREAT sound quality.THe MP3 player is nice and once again the sound quality is great. The voice recorder was nice to but all in all i was NOT impressed.
HELP..............I own this phone
I returned the first phone because the battery would not stay charged and the reception was terrible in my home. The 2nd phone charged fine. Still very bad reception in my home. However...when I was in an underwater tunnel near Norfolk Va. ....the reception was PERFECT. Cingular has told me the phone is not exactly compatible with the older service they have in my area...the new service may be available in 6-8 months. HELP...if you have a solution for this problem. I really want to enjoy this phone. I had read review after review about this phone...Perhaps there is some setting I am unaware of to help with this reception problem. I am about to exchange this phone for something else...HELP !!!
I Heart the CU500
There are very few things I dislike about this phone. My previous phone was a razr, and I absolutely loved it, and was reluctant to change, but am very happy about the switch now.
PROS:
. Color displays are amazing, very vibrant.
. The camera is wonderful, very clear.
. The phone itself is put together very well. Sturdy, not awkward to hold. Good fell while on a call also.
. Wonderful sound quality, ringtones and calls
. The menu is set up very well. Working in the wireless industry I was apprehensive to move to LG, because of their lack in setting options, but this isn't like other LGs and gives you many options.
CONS:
. Biggest con: there is a confirmation noise when you send a text AND when the text has ACTUALLY sent. This same noise plays any time you change a setting or delete something. There is no way to disable this noise or change it to a different tone... you will live to learn with it, but still find it bothersome.
. I've found that you can't use locked ringtones (ones you buy directly from Cingular that have the picture of the lock next to them) as ringer IDs. It will just play the default ring.
. It is permanently on increasing ring. Another thing I've gotten used to, but am a little disappointed there is not a setting to change it.
. You can't download new text message tones, and the ones it defaults with get old. Quick
. Doesn't come with the data cable or software, OR memory card, but for the price wasn't really expecting it to.
Overall: I am very comfortable with the phone, and I've gotten used to any cons. I wouldn't say they are any reason to not get the phone. I was in love with Motorola's menus, but now like this one 10 times better.
Reception is just as good as my razr.
