The LG Voyager is positioned to be Verizon's iPhone killer, combining the touch screen interface we've seen in phones like the
LG Prada with the clamshell QWERTY design that has been popular in the LG EnV and other similar phones. The Voyager's touch screen interface isn't as smooth as the iPhone's, but it does a solid job and we like the haptic feedback that makes the phone vibrate when you touch the screen. We also like the large and comfortable QWERTY keyboard that you reveal when you open the clamshell.
Under the hood the LG Voyager is a pretty typical Verizon handset, this is not a smart phone so you won't be able to add native applications or multi-task. The menu structure is very similar to what we saw on the LG Prada, and the icons are nice and large so you can easily touch them. We did have a little trouble scrolling through the interface, you have to touch and grab the screen them move it up/down, but it isn't nearly as smooth as touch scrolling with the iPhone and you have to get used to it to scroll without accidentally pressing a button.
The Voyager isn't a small phone, measuring 4.64 x 2.12 x .71 inches. It's not as wide as an iPhone, but it is significantly thicker and just as tall. It also weighs a good bit at 4.69 ounces, you'll definitely notice this phone in your pocket. We found the QWERTY keyboard fairly easy to use, with the keys well differentiated from each other, but we didn't like that the space bar is found at the lower left end of the keyboard rather than in the middle. We also didn't like the interior controls, the D-pad is uncomfortable and prone to mistaken presses while the soft keys are located too far away from it.
The Voyager sports two screen, both measure 2.81 inches diagonal and have a resolution of 400 x 240 pixels. This is larger and higher resolution than most phones. One interesting thing about the Voyager is that instead of the typical Verizon web browser, which is pretty bad, you get one that allows you to view full web pages. When visiting our site on the Voyager everything was rendered appropriately. Unfortunately the Voyager's web browser lacks a way to easily zoom out to view the whole page and then quickly zoom back in to the part you want like Safari on the iPhone or Series 60 WEB. What this means is that if you view full web pages you'll be doing a lot of scrolling.
 |
 |
| LG Voyager |
Apple iPhone |
The Voyager sports a two megapixel auto-focus camera, Micro SD slot for expansive memory and supports Verizon services like the VCast Music Store. It is currently available for $299.99 with a two-year contract, which is $100 less than the iPhone. Our biggest concern about the Voyager is that like the Helio Ocean it looks a lot like a smart phone and is priced like one but doesn't give you the same power and flexibility you would get on a more advanced phone. How big a deal is this? Find out when we publish our full review in about a week.
