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
8100 battery life sucks!!!
I got the 8100 on monday and the battery life has been horrible. I have had to charge it more than once in a single day and thats using the phone for no more than 15 min. I turned off bluetooth, made sure all the settings were set for best power conservation and still really crappy battery life. My lg 6000 has been off the charger is monday and it still has almost a full battery. The lg 8100 is a battery eater. Nevermind the pictures and memory.
Oh and the disco lights when it rings is really annoying. I was embarrassed when it went off in a store and there was a disco party happening in my pants. This feature can't be turned off! The reception is terrible, and the phone has to be right on your ear or else it gets muffled. No way can you hold it half ass like the lg 6000 and still be able to hear. You have to hold it perfect. Lack of ring tones is sooooo lame. This phone goes back tomorrow and I am either gonna get a moto e815 or a samsung. So much for LG 8100. Not as good as its hyped to be. And I honestly don't think this phone is going to get much better with software updates.
This phone is a huge let down. I don't recommend. My old LG 6000 might have taken crappy pictures, but its a better phone then the 8100 has been since I got it 5 days ago.
Basic Cell Phone Concepts Forgotten
Break this down simply for everyone.
Cons:
- Fluctuating/RANDOM Ear piece Volume. THIS RUINS THE PHONE! The purpose of a cell phone is for phone calls! Call clarity is crap! The volume is at times so quiet you cannot hear the other person! This ruins the whole phone by itself!! I trusted LG to have good ear piece volume!!
- Reception is bull crap. For such an advanced phone, it has minimal reception. And a stub for an antenna. Wtf LG?
- Camera's zoom is practically worthless. Camera is okay. Not the greatest out there.
- Annoying RED BAR at top and bottom that cannot be changed by personalization. Damn LG phones are cursed this way.
- V-CAST is crap. Buffers every 20 seconds in a video, so it's not realtime. It's "play 20 seconds of this video, then wait 15 seconds for the next 20 seconds of the video."
Pros:
- Resolution
- Vibrate. LG has always had Godly vibrate.
If you can stand random ear piece volume, go ahead and get the phone. I like my calls clear, crisp, and loud. So I took back my LG VX-8100 and Got the Moto E815. Calls are much clearer. Reception is better. So far, I like it better. Especially customization-wise. No annoying red banners.
Go cheaper and get the better phone -- the Moto E815. I had hoped by waiting awhile to get this new phone (LG VX-8100) that the Ear piece volume bug everyone talked about would be fixed. It's NOT. And I contacted LG. They claim it is an isolated problem with my phone. Which explains why every single review here rants about it. Yup.
Don't get the LG VX-8100. It's not worth the money. Trust me on this. Reception and Ear piece Volume are key. And it's totally lacking in the 8100.
Spent the Day with the 8100 and it's worse than imagined
Okay boys - I was not going to write this , but I feel it my responsibilty to tell the world what's happening..
1st - You guys have to know that I am a huge Samsung guy.. A530 and A670 are my favorite phones ever. These phones are small and the voice quality is great and they never drop calls, but enough with that , we are onto Bluetooth, Speakerphones and Vcast and yes we all want this..
Well, having the 815 for 2 weeks , I have learned quite a bit of the phone and what it's downfalls are.. It's Positives outweigh the downs and make it quite a great phone and it's good for Moto to be back in the game..
8100 for the day -
I picked it up Wednesday and returned it Wed. night by 9PM.. No Sh%$T !
Why you ask ?
Earpiece Problem -
First thing I noticed was the impossible to hear earpiece. Driving at 60 MPH I had to struggle to hear the person I was talking to. You can not make the earpice loud enough to be comfortable.
Vcast Test -
Vcast on this phone is useless. It takes minutes to start the stream and because of the LG's signal strength issues, the restreaming is constant and it makes using Vcast horrible.
Speakerphone -
I was hoping for great speakerphone especially with the 2 side firing speakers. The speaker phone was really bad. People were getting loud feedback and lots of road noise and overall it's unusable.
Reception (Signal Strength) Dropped Calls -
This is the straw that broke LG's back. a 30 Mile trip to Priceton NJ on all of very traveled roads. Most of which are traveled by Verizon Execs who all live here. The phone Dropped calls 7 times over 30 miles including while i was on with one of my Verizon Exec Freinds. This is very sad. LG has continued to use the dangerous and pathetic Stub antenna system which is not only bad for RF to your brain but very bad for reception.
My partner was with me with his 8100 as well and had the same results.
HUGE Disappointmet - Maybe I Just Got a Bad One...
Got 8100 Friday when released. It took less than 24 hours to realize that it was not a keeper. Perhaps I just got a lemon, but I'm not trying a second one to find out. Got an 815 instead - totally pleased.
Pros:
nice looking
crisp high res screens
Cons:
- Voice recognition/dialing absolutely terrible - tried to train dozens of times. Near worthless.
- Not compatible with National Access at this point - no matter what they say on Verizon's website. Spent hours with Verizon tech support (incluidng tech supervisors) trying to resolve. Only to learn it can't be done at this point. I'm not going to fiddle with hacking (thanks anyway).
- Menu system not very intuitive (815's much easier for me, at least)
- TINY font - I'm not a kid - need to be able to read my contact list (especially since the voice dialing was so poor). I'd say the screens are optimized for younger folks with perfect vision - cause you do get lots more on the screen this way.
- TINY clock - again, probably great for younger folks - not for me
All in all, a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. I'd been waiting and looking forward to the 8100, and am a huge LG fan. But this horror story was a total deal-breaker.
Hope mine unit was just a case of a lemon, and that everyone else is liking LG's newest baby. I'm personally much much happier with the 815.
Sorry to say, it's gotta go
Sorry lg fans (I was one too), I have to give them back. I waited for what seemed like forever for this phone and right out of the box was dissapointed. I had a 4400 before so I thought this was going to be just as good. I now have 2 defective ones that are going back tomorrow. I need a phone that works like a phone, not a pretty accessory. I am not sure what will replace it, but I can't wait for the fixes which could take months.
Pros:
looks
quick web response
picture id
seperate pictures on main & front screen
vibrate good
build feels solid
Cons:
major speakerphone issues
fluxuating voice volume
no speakerphone when in closed mode
bluetooth aweful
voice dial doesn't recognize most names
even after training several times
not sure about disco lights
no vibrate then ringer mode
battery gets hot after about 20 min. of use
making phone hot to touch
Very Good Phone In Its Early Stages
As soon as Verizon/LG get their act together and clean up this phone I have no doubt that it will eventually be a very good phone. I, unfortunately, don't have the time (and money) to waste waiting for this to happen. Since my wife is still a current Cingular month-to-month customer and I can do without a phone for a few months - we can wait. Perhaps I'll go back to the 8100 or even take a look at the new 9700 (Samsung). By the way, the 815 was not an option - I went over to the Verizon store and played around with it - it's made cheaply and I have no doubt it will not be very durable over the long-haul.
Hate to do it!
I would like to start off by saying that I live in the Seattle area and have been a verizon customer for 4 years. In the Seattle area Verizon has fantastic coverage, and never once have I ever had any problem with coverage or call clarity.
Pros:
Bluetooth
Nice screen
Pretty good camera
nice design
Con:
Extremely poor call clarity
I tried four different phones all with the same results.
lol
i find it funny that this became a battle ground 4 the moto e815 and the lg 8100 i baught both fones and i have to say the moto is blowing the 8100 away in every way so its a lil bigger but 100% better i figuared i will sell the lg on ebay start it at 1 cent and cell to the higest bidder so if u want the pathetic fone 4 a cheap price find mi auction
not so impressed
To tell you the truth, I'm not really that impressed with the phone I was hoping for a good phone for the money that I paid but it's obviously not.
Many times the person can't hear me from the other line from the speaker phone, the wallpapers and ringtones are not good, and I absolutely hate the menu style.
I know your thinking I'm an LG hater or something but I was really hoping for a good phone. I didn't want to do thing but I think I'm going to have to switch to Moto E815.
Extraordinary Phone!!
I have this phone for over a month now,and believe when i say this,its a great phone.Im a freak cell phone enthusiast,im chequing out in this site ,all the news and all the reviews.This is my first LG,and coming from nokias and samsungs,i really wasnt sure to buy this phone,but until now this phone its proving me wrong about the LG.Its have all things a cell phone should have and then more.
Pros:
1)Great reception even better if its from Verizon!.
2)Great call quality
3)Decent battery life
4)Superb design,its a beautiful phone
5)Loud ringtones and with MP3 much,much better
6)Good memory size
7)Superb screens,vibrant colors
8)Good quality of pictures and videos
9)Good voice command feature
10)Great sound quality and lous enough of the speakerphone
cons:
1)The call volume coul be higher
2)I really wish that I can use the speakerphone with the cell phone open.Other than that nothing,its a great phone!!!
