LG Venus Review - Usability & Performance
Editor Rating:   44 4 4 3 5 4 I tested Venus on Verizon’s CDMA network in the San Francisco Bay Area with less than pleasing results. Signal strength was generally good but voice quality was pretty shaky. Calls often exhibited digital distortion making the person on the other end sound a bit “robotic” or garbled. In a handful of cases calls came through with enough static that I hung up and tried again. I checked around the Web and noticed that a third or so of the reviews (professional and user-written) I found mentioned similar calling issues, while the majority didn’t. So this may be a case of “your mileage may vary.” In any event, I wasn’t so keen on my review sample’s performance.
The integrated speakerphone was okay in a pinch but not great, and the phone worked well with mono and stereo 2.5mm headsets (not included). I was able to easily pair Venus with a variety of mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets, and music playback sounded pretty good via the internal speaker and very good via stereo Bluetooth headphones.
Now back to that dual display layout. Think of the lower display as a navigational array from the future; it doesn’t display any calling/messaging information or media, but rather acts as a combination five-way D-pad and softkey layout. This area changes depending on what you’re doing with the phone. For instance, from the home screen the nav screen shows a round “Menu” button in the center with Message, Contacts, Shortcut, and All Calls buttons at the four corners. Delve into any of those areas, say Message, and the layout will change to show context-sensitive options. It’s a handy system, and the text and icon “buttons” look great on the little screen - both the main and secondary displays on Venus are top-notch. But what at first seemed like enhanced functionality soon descended into border-line gimmick territory for me. Venus’ morphing menus are super cool to look at, and they do make it easier to learn the phone. And I liked the haptic feedback confirming my virtual button presses. After awhile, however, I really started wondering why LG and Verizon didn’t just make a full-touchscreen device like the Alltel Glimmer - also by LG. Between the physical dialing keypad, virtual navigation area, and main display, I was left wanting for a bit more of a seamless experience. That’s not at all to say that Venus was hard to use - the morphing menus definitely added a level of user-friendliness not found on most feature phones. Rather, I wanted Venus to go a step further with a fully-touchable display bolstered by a physical dialing keypad, like Glimmer and HTC’s Touch Dual offer. With Venus I kept finding myself trying to poke the main display to navigate menus or make selections, and then felt a bit let-down to realize that I had to move my finger off of the main display and back down to the nav. area.
All about Reviews by manufacturerVerizon Wireless, Sprint PCS, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG, Sanyo, HTC, Palm, BlackBerry, Sharp, Pantech, BenQ, Apple, Eten, o2Our fancy algorithm says this stuff is related...Sunday, October 05, 2008i'll trade an lg dare for a lg voyager or htc touch! e mail me if you want to make a trade!! the lg dare is in perfect condition but it just has bas esn! Monday, August 25, 2008hey those of you that have the voyager and want to trade it for the venus... DONT!!! you wont like it at all! i thought it would be awsome to and well it wasnt! i would so rather have the voyager so if you have one and want the venus i'll be more than happy to trade you
Thursday, August 21, 2008awsome phone overall....the feed back can be some what frustrating especially when you are trying to do something in a hurry....it tends to lag just a little too but not that bad. also texting is kinda difficult....i am a T9 user and well the T9 text i have seen better, i put it that way....I feel as if i have to push to many buttons just to make a new text message...otherwise if you are in a convo already in progress its really easy all u do is just go to your inbox wich u should set as a SHORTCUT......I have no problem w/ this phone what so ever. its just that the LG DARE came out only a few weeks after i bought my VENUS
overall....great phone and not many people have it....I LIKE Tuesday, July 29, 2008Wow, I have the voyager but i want this phone. Hopefully its worth it. Wednesday, June 11, 2008OMG! this looks like a great phone i have a voyager but i brke the outside screen they say this phone is better i hope soooo. Wednesday, April 30, 2008Just got mine and really starting to love it. Easy to use, fun to look at and great quality sound and photos. Half touch screen not a problem at all once you get accustomed to using. All features great so far. Tuesday, April 29, 2008is this a phone that is worth the price ? Monday, April 28, 2008I love Nokia phones and I hope this one will be offerred by Claro, formerly knows as Verizon in Puerto Rico.
 LG Voyager and VenusCheck out Noah's sneak peak at Verizon's Voyager and Venus smartphones scheduled for release this November Bikini: New Photos of LG's Phone ... and SwimsuitsLG's KF600 "Bikini" is basically a non-Verizon version of the LG Venus with a different, and perhaps slightly sexier, name. Bikini is also a bone thrown by LG's Naming Dept. (is there such a thing) in the direction of LG's Sexy Marketing Dept., as evidenced by this recent flood of ads featuring a fine young thing in a two-piece swimsuit posing with the new handset. Many thanks to JustAMP for archiving this bit of mobile marketing... Mailbag: YouTube viewer questions answered - May '08, Part 2Here's Part 2 ... And yes, KravvyKrav is my YouTube alias. porky247 Asks:samsung instinctnow ive been looking for videos showing if texting is good, internet, radio, tv, video recording, pics, stuff like that if theres any way sometime in june before it comes out you can get it and show that i heard from engadget its supposed to release june 20 or something thanksKravvyKrav Answers:Hey Porky ... Just... LG Venus in-depth review - At a GlanceWhat’s Good: Beautiful display; Context-sensitive menus; Extensive feature set; VZ Navigation works very well What’s Not Good: Half a touchscreen sometimes feels gimmicky and frustrating; Touch controls sometimes unresponsive; Poor voice quality with unacceptable hiss on some calls; Somewhat bulky overall Bottom Line: Venus’ half-touch/half-not display is an interesting idea that ultimately frustrated me more than it charmed me. The...LG Venus in-depth review - IntroductionLG is not the world’s leading manufacturer of mobile phones but they may just be the leader in consistently bringing super hip, gotta have it cell phones to market. In the past six months or so they’ve unleashed an armada of eye catching handsets, including the Voyager, Prada, Viewty, Shine, Glimmer, and Vu. Not to be left out is the Venus, a Verizon Wireless slider phone with a unique split-screen display. At first glance...LG Venus in-depth review - Design & FeaturesVenus looks like the hi-tech luxury item it is. Slightly wider and larger than today’s average slider phone, Venus has an eye-catching chrome rim around its display and a grippy faux-leather backside that feels nice in the hand. My review sample was finished in classic black, and a pink version is also now available through Verizon. The back panel houses handset’s 2MP camera lens, and also snaps off to reveal the battery...LG Venus in-depth review - ConclusionVenus is quite the eye-catcher, as any product with its name should be. I might be a bit jaded since I get to test and write about almost all of the latest handsets, but I wound up thinking Venus suffers a bit from style over substance syndrome. At first glance the handset’s sleek slider design and beautiful front panel displays promise a world of interactive menus and enhanced ease of use. And they do deliver on that promise -...Re: Flip, Candybar, or Slider? What Phone Style Fits My Style?see with me it doesnt matter, i always have to charge my phone up ... everyday. i have had the original EnV, the Venus, and now i have the Glyde and every single time i have had to charge it up during the day .. and most definitely through the night. i dont think it really matters what type of phone you have, if you are an avid texter, like playing on your phone, and make calls.. its going to die. i text a l o t and all of my phones hv died by... |
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