LG VX-8300 [Verizon Wireless]

The LG VX8300 is the third LG EV-DO cell phone for Verizon Wireless.

The model improves of most of the issues with the previous VX8100 model.

The LG 8300 sports a similar design to the LG 8100 and includes a comparable range of high-end features.

However, the LG VX8300 provides improved functionality and slightly better performance.

Unfortunately, typical with Verizon Wireless, Bluetooth is limited - it does support email, but will need to wait for Verizon Wireless to deliver on its promise to provide a stereo Bluetooth profile and modem capability using Verizon's 3G network. This will make the the VX8300 an even better choice.

Cost

The LG VX8300 is well priced at $149 with one-year contract or $99 with a two-year contract.

External Features

Form Factor

The LG VX8300 has escaped from the boxy design of the LG 8000. Rather, it follows on from the sleeker, rounded form factor of the LG VX8100.

The LG VX8300 does have a few differences. At 3.58 by 1.93 by 0.92 inches and 3.88 ounces, the VX8300 is slightly smaller and lighter than its predecessor, and instead of blue, it comes in gray, its livery is a more eye-catching blue.

External Display

LG VX8300 has a 1.2-inch external display , which is slightly smaller than the VX8100's, but with the same resolution [65,000 colors].

Screen real estate sports the date, time, battery life, signal strength, battery life, and photo caller ID, it also acts as a viewfinder for self-portraits.

Music Controls

External music controls are located immediately below the display, and are slightly redesined on the LG 8100.

Camera Lens

The camera lens and the smaller and relocated camera flash are above the display, along with the rather bulky external antenna and nifty side-mounted stereo speakers.

Internal Features

Display

The internal display is bright and vivid , supporting 262,000 colors and measuring 2.25 inches diagonally. This is unchanged from the VX8100. However, with eye-popping colors and graphics, it doesnt need to be any different for viewing photos, watching videos, and playing games.

Supports a Verizon's flash-based UI. The VX8300 is the first phone to feature Adobe Flash Lite, and the animated screensavers it brings to the phone.

You can change the backlighting time on both external and internal displays.

Menu

Still the same lack luster Verizon Wireless selections, even if LG do make them look pretty.

Navigation Controls

Below the display are the user-friendly navigations controls. Slightly different in design from the VX8300, they are still tactile and adequately sized. A five-way toggle doubles as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, and the OK button opens the main menu when in standby mode.

The toggle is surrounded by two soft keys for Talk and End/power, and a Clear key. The Clear key no longer doubles as a speakerphone key, which is now a separate control just below.

Keypad

The keypad buttons are large, tactile, and well spaced.

The numerals on the keys are big, and with the bright backlight make the keypad easy to read, day or night.

Dialing by feel is also easy, as the keys are raised just above the surface of the phone.

Spines

In line with the VX8100, the right spine has a dedicated camera key and a Micro SD card slot, while the left spine has a volume rocker and a voice-command control.

Performance

Using The LG 8300

The LG VX8300 gives you a 500-contact phone book with room in each entry for five phone numbers and two e-mail addresses.

You can organize callers into groups, pair them with an image for picture caller ID, and assign them on of 11 polyphonic (32-chord) ring tones and four message tones.

Messaging & Mail

Multimedia and text messaging; MSN and Yahoo instant messaging; and one up on the LG 8100, the LG VX8300 has POP3 e-mail!

Productivity

Call recording; a notepad; an alarm clock; a tip calculator; a world clock; a calendar with a scheduler; and voice memos, commands, and dialing.

Sound

Other goodies include a vibrate mode; a duplex speakerphone.

Connectivity

Bluetooth 1.1, but it won't support object exchange profiles. Verizon is promising to add stereo Bluetooth for listening to music and the ability to use the phone as a modem over Verizon's EV-DO network with a Bluetooth or USB connection.

Music

The LG VX8300 supports both Verizon's V Cast and the V Cast Music. The music player can also be access when the phone is closed using the handy and well-designed external music controls. The album art also shows up on the external display.

The interface and menu structure for the music and video players are similar to those of other Verizon EV-DO handsets, and the content offerings are about the same as well.

No native MP3 file playback support yet, just WMAs. If you don't want to pay for music downloading from Verizon, you can load your own music files on the phone with a Micro SD card and Verizon's Music Essentials Kit ($19.99).

Photo Media

The 1.3-megapixel camera is the same as the VX8100's.

A variety of editing functions, five resolutions (1,280x960, 800x600, 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120); a self-timer; a night mode; three shutter sounds, plus a silent option; and adjustments for brightness, white balance, and color effects. Not bad for a cellphone.

And then there is the VX8300's 4X zoom, compared to the VX8100's 8X.

Image quality was slightly improved over the VX8100, with bright, sharp colors and distinct object outlines.

Managing photo media is now easier - rather than saving each shot automatically, the VX8300 lets you erase, save, or send your pic after you shoot it.

Camcorder

The camcorder's editing options are scaled down, but still captures 3G2 videos with sound at 176x144 resolution. Total video length is up to an hour depending on the available memory.

Memory

The VX8300 comes with 28MB of integrated memory, while the Micro SD slot accommodates cards of any size.

Call Quality

Call quality was quite clear, with exceptionally loud audio. There was still a bit of typical Verizon Cellphone haze but the VX8300 performed well even in noisier conditions.

The speakerphone also came up trumps. Automated answering services had more trouble with understanding us, when we used the speakerphone.

No issues when connected the phone to the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset. Bluetooth cellphone headsets typically have noise cancelling properties that probably helped.

Streaming Media

Streaming video quality was the same as Verizon's other V Cast phones. There was little buffering, and clips loaded quickly.

Web browsing was also speedy--music files downloaded in less than a minute--and we had no problem finding adequate EV-DO coverage in San Francisco.

Music quality was among the best we've heard on a Verizon phone, thanks to the quality stereo speakers. Music also sounded good over a wired headset, but be advised the LG VX8300 uses a 2.5mm jack.

Talk Time / Standby

The LG VX8300 has a rated talk time of 4 hours and a rated standby time of up to 16 days. We managed to get only 3 hours, 25 minutes of talk time in our tests and 13 days of standby time.

SAR Rating

According to FCC radiation tests, the VX8300 has a digital SAR rating of 1.21 watts per kilogram.

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