LG VX-8600 user review

Cons: Only average sound quality.

Summary: I bought this phone because I wanted something Razor-like with a large display. I've had good luck with LG and don't care for the feel of Motorolas.

The phone's sound quality is okay, but not great. I immediately bought a Jabra bluetooth headset. The Jabra was horrible, so I returned it. I tried some other units until I finally bought a Plantronics Voyager 510 headset based on its excellent reviews. The Plantronics sounds WAY better than the handset on BOTH ends. I can hear and be heard much, much better on the headset than on the handset. It's a great unit, which demonstrates how mediocre the phone's sound quality is.

The problem: The bluetooth failed on my first VX-8600 phone. Verizon replaced the phone for free and it's been working great for months until just this week. Now the headset randomly disconnects, and refuses to reconnect unless the phone is rebooted. A half-dozen times every day is too often to contend with this problem.

I *think* both phones experienced bluetooth issues after being dropped (on a carpeted floor), but that may be unrelated. When working correctly, the phone is very quick to enable or disable the bluetooth. Once the problem arises, it will take a couple of minutes to perform these functions. (And no, restarting just the bluetooth does not work to reestablish the connection, nor does rebooting the headset.)

Also, I think LG dropped the ball when they designed the charging/data jack. It's hard to use and will fail if you're not gentle with it. It's livable, but it's hard to imagine that's the best design they could come up with. What's wrong with a round jack?

I'm happy with everything else on the phone. Ultimately, the bluetooth may require frequent warranty replacements. I like the phone enough that I'll simply keep getting a replacement when the bluetooth quits.