LG VX-8100
Phone Scoop Review
Nov 17, 2005 by Jesse Lewin
In-depth review of LG's mainstream EV-DO phone for 2005. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Kewl Phones ...
What can I say that isnt good about this new toy.I got the family plan from Verizon from a vendor,gotta do the rebates thing again,oy..Atleast i get kewl phones. Im new to Verizon and will see how it does for me in time.
Pros: My boys love this VX-8100 for the camera and video more than anything else so far.This is great for capturing on the spot moments.I get great call quality, both ends have clear sound.I had a V.60 Motorola with AT&T , this is much better.
Bright colorful screens,good feel, solid, nice size,good hinge design
good buttons, removable mini disc(amazing),speaker phone,easy back button,flash light,great lighting everywhere, 1 mega pixel camera,and a very stylish phone..
So far this is all i know.
Long term performance is yet you be known.
Cons: Hummmmm..Menu could be better, scroll function isnt so hot (doesnt motorize), limited audio and video transfer options as i was told, no built in belt clip system,tinnish external speaker sound (although stereo which is nice),limited audio recording ability, no stereo headphone jack for the MP3(weird), Bluetooth isnt stereo either unless its there and i dont know.No usable GPS system on these things,,Yet..
Time and date font size too small, battery could be stronger for camera use.
Actually im not easily finding things wrong with this fine phone,so i'll just give it a three and a half...
I think my research paid off...
Reliable fun, full-featured, good looking, sounding, feeling
Perhaps best flagship phone this season. Pleasure to use.
Most importantly, essentials done right. Solid all the
around, so no long term regrets. 2nd, it's perks are
unquestionably cool & compromises acceptable (remember
that every phone makes tradeoffs. None are "perfect" yet).
Considered E815, VX9800, SCH-A970, MM-9000, Z520. Tried 1st
3 in store. Tech savvy friend test drove VX9800 & 8100.
Found 9800 perks not worth extra $ or "busy candybar" effect
[kbd lock/unlock, cramped ext. keys, non-distinct MP3 keys).
He called me from Verizon store from old V710, also E815,
8100 & SCH-A970. VX8100 sounded *discernably* better
(followed by E710, E815, SCH-A970). 8100 was the star.
VCast too slow on E815!
PROS:
o Reception: Good in Silicon Valley
..... (good as E710, E815 in Santa Cruz mtns)
o Bluetooth: Well implemented, clean sound
o Voice quality: Very good. Ringtones: Loud if needed
o Ergonomics:
... Feels great: Weighted, rounded, tapered
... Screen: Bright, crisp, beautiful!
... Keypad: Blue backlit, comfortable, well-spaced
... Flip: Opens/shuts solidly, one handedly.
... Menus: Fast, intuitive.
o Music, Ringtones, MP3s:
... Blue backlit ext. MP3 controls.
... 3D stereo, amazingly rich for cell spkrs.
... MP3 ply w/Spectrum Analyzer preinstalled
... About 4 CDs of MP3's on 512Mb MicroSD card
o VCast: Quality TV clips on phone: Novel, cool, fun!
o EV-DO: Web, fast d/l of ringtones, wallpaper, games
o MicroSD up to 1Gb
o Contact list, cal, calc, tip calc.
CONS:
o Verizon disables:
... DUN (Dial-Up Net) [ie. phone is laptop modem]
... Wallpaper from MicroSD
... MP3 Ringtones
o Verizon red status/menu bars.
... Red not favorite color. Used to it now.
o Menus "cartoonish: Minor nit. Not an issue
o VCast: About $15/mo as of 11/17/05
o Must PAY for ringtones, wallpaper, games:
... Workarounds online (ie. roll your own)
o Camera: Decent, not fantastic.
... Good for wallpaper, basic scenes
Awesome, Awesome, Phone!
I can't tell you how impressed I am with the LG VX8100. It is a very cool phone, with very cool features. When I purchesed my 8100, I knew this phone would be a keeper. I had an LG VX6000 for a long time and was happy with that phone until the day it died. I bought this phone because of how much I love LG. When I got this phone, I thought with all the features it had, LG might of forgot to make it, well, a good phone. I was wrong to dobt LG because the call clarity is BETTER than the great quality of my VX6000. IT also less frequently dropps calls than my 6K too. THe MP3 player is awesome. Even if you dont have a sterio headset, the external speakers deleiver clear sound. I am so surprised that tthe speakers in a cell phone sound so good. I also love how you can view text messages, and play around with the MP3 player on the front screen. The camera is also of a very high quality. I am amazed that a cell phone can take such beautiful pictures. I could go on for a long time raveing about this phone, but I will sum up with a list of pros, and cons
Pro(s): Great Camera quality, speakers sound aweome, cool MP3 player, bluetooth wireless technology, V-Cast(its soo sweet), front screen is accessible for Text messages and basic MP3 functions, expandable memory with mini-sd card, great call quality, and killer service.
Con(s): battery life isn't anything special. Usually lasts 2 days(under heavy use though)
MP3 Does Work!
The LG 8100 is a great phone, but Verizon only tells there employees what they need to know. If you take the phone to the direct dealer, they can reprogram the phone so it does play MP3's. They put the phone on the market before the MP3 program was created. This is an amazing phone. It has great picture and video quality and it has a mini SD slot which is very useful if you take it to the direct dealer and have them reprogram the phone.
The only problem Iâve had with Verizon is Iâm from Montana and moved to Oklahoma City to go to college. Well they say that their service is everywhere in the US even some parts of Alaska. Well when I arrived in Oklahoma City the phone didn't work. I talked for the advanced customer care employees and they couldn't help me. I ended up fixing my phone by myself by switching a feature deep inside the programming. The amazing thing is their customer care employees have to take courses to do their job and I fixed it without their help! They say that they will get back to you if they didn't fix your problem within a week, well after "I" fixed the problem the contacted me over a month later. And this wasn't just one advanced customer support agent it was all of them that i talked to.
They say that they have service in every state but truthfully they have service in every state accept for Oklahoma, Arkansas, and one more in that area. The phone is supposed to work, but if it doesn't in those areas its nearly impossible to get Verizon to work on the problem.
But I do like Verizon; they are 10X better than the other providers out there. They just need to tune their customer support team to be better than what they are.
Great Phone!
I have owned many cell phones starting with a 4 watt bag phone in the 1991.
I owned a few nokias,ericsons,motorolas.
I was a motorola fan and insisted on the Startac when it came out. Cute phone, but battery would runout by lunch time.
A couple of years ago I went back to Verizon, and pickup an LG4400. It was the first phone I owned that aI was hating a week after owning it. I quickly became a fan. It was also the first phone I have with txt msging and stuff.
I am hard on phones. I rub against brick walls, drop them in the dirt. Drop them into ditches that I am digging with a backhoe. So when my wife go the LG600, I thought, oh no, they are going cheap. She broke the hinge and got a 6200, a little better. So when Verizon gave my $150 towards a enw phone, which I had been wanting, I went to look for a new one. I was wishing LG had a rubberized verson for outdoor use. But I soon as I opened the 8100, I know that was it. They have made the hinge very sturdy, and the screen is so bright. The only complaint I had with my old 4400 was then volume of the ringers being low. Not the case with the 8100. It'll wake the dead :) I also use the bluetooth a lot.
I love this phone. I have it loaded with ringtones, MP3 files, and videos. My 14yo daughter is drooling all over it. She wants it bad. While I used to be a loyal Moto fan. I believe I'll be with LG for a very long time, unless they really get goofy.
The LG8100 is a great phone in form, fit, and function.
Volume Issue
I have had this phone for just about a week now and I have found for the money it includes a lot of nice features except for two.
One the fading volume when talking and the inability to use your mp3 songs as a ring tone.
great phone but...
have had this phone for couple weeks now.Its lg's best thus far,works well however i find the battery life to be short.I have ordered extended battery.
The voice recognition is horrendous,archaic what ever you want to call it .It has a hard time understanding anything i say even after training the phone many different times .Simple names like bob it can not understand no matter how slow or careful you say it.It needs help big time on this .But the phone works very well has a good screen inside outside one is ok.
Since i have always been a motorola guy one thing I do miss is the blinking light that motorola has telling you its on and functioning.the lg's screen goes blank (outside screen)If you miss a call or a voice mail once screen blanks out you have no idea that someone has called or left a message unless you push a button to activate screen again.
Motorola would beep alerting you that you missed a call or have a voice mail.
Miss this feature on the lg.
But aside from this voice quality is good ,reception is ok ,seems pretty solid and has loud ringers.
accepts more get it now features than motorola or the new samsung a950
All in all I like the phone and will live with its few short falls.
The most manly phone out there!
This phone is awesome! The Motorola E-815 doesn't even compare to the LG 8100. The LG simply has more and better features. While females might also like this phone, I believe it is geared towards male consumers because of its manly looks and style.
I have but two complaints about this phone: First, I wish you could customize the blinking lights on the front so you could get rid of the fuchsia colored light. (very annoying), and second, I would like to be able to use the preloaded sounds for ringtones or alert tones, otherwise what is the point in having them on there?
Awesome Phone, One Flaw in Phone Book
I really liked my LG VX-6000 but I wanted a speaker phone so I moved up to the LG VX-6100. I absolutely loved my 6100 but I wanted a phone where I could take some video so I moved up to the LG VX-8100. The 8100 is a great phone but has a major flaw or two. Read the other stellar pros as I agree with them all but they all miss an important flaw that had me sending my phone back to my carrier. There is no way to put a home 2 or office 2 or fax 2 in the phone book like I could with the 6000 or 6100. My 6000 & 6100 used the LG interface but the 8100 uses the Verizon interface and is less forgiving when entering certain types of phone #'s (there's also no way to enter & label someones pager like you could on my 2 previous phones. There isn't a method to properly transfer (or ever input) all my home 2, office 2, fax 2 or pager #'s from my old phone to the new 8100 and I had a a fairly good # of them.
The 8100 has Bluetooth (and a miniSD card slot). Unfortunately an certain carrier has imposed their infamous "crippling" on these features. Their Bluetooth feature only supports the Headset, Handsfree, & Dial Up Networking profiles - not OBEX and the miniSD card slot was strictly limited to playing MP3s loaded onto the card from a PC or other source. The card could not be used to store or transfer photos or videos, nor transfer ringtones, wallpapers, etc. It can hold a whopping 512 MB of internal memory to play MP3's however and see all the other cool stuff it can do. I like the 6000 & 6100 intuitive LG user interface MUCH better than the 8100 Verizon user interface.
Best Phone on the market
I LOVE this phone. I spent most of last Saturday reading the reviews, both good and bad. I bought it anyway, as I liked the features and looks of it. This is my first camera phone. My old phone, an audiovox was very hard to use, and I could not wait to upgrade. This phone is EXTREMELY user friendly, which my old phone was not.
This phone has clear reception,( maybe depends on you area, since that seemed a problem to some). It has a very loud ring,(I could NEVER hear my old phone),strong vibration, and I love the MP# player. The V cast is not yet available in my area, but hopefully will be soon.
I have yet to try the blue-tooth head set, but plan to soon. Everyone I have showed this phone to is in awe, and wants one.
The ONLY problem I had was trying to initialize the phone, I ended up having to call customer service the next morning, and they did it for me no problem. If you are looking for a new phone, look no further, THIS IS IT!!
