LG Venus Cell Phone Review - Intro
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Mark Brezinski Published on December 05, 2007 Comment on this |
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The LG Venus from Verizon has the looks of a sleek business device and the functionality of a mid-range music handset. It's basically a Chocolate Vx8550 with a nicer-looking case and a small touchscreen where the D-pad array should be. In fact, the software is so similar we're not sure why it wasn't just marketed as an evolution in that line. Other than a sleeker interface, the only real improvement the Venus has over the Chocolate is its touchscreen. Typically phones either go for a full touch screen or none at all; the Venus is unique since its touchscreen is below and separate from the main screen, and only replaces D-pad functionality. The touchscreen allows for up to four soft key options, and can display context-specific buttons, such as displaying media controls during music playback. This feature isn't strictly better than its physical counterpart however: it was sporadically unresponsive and didn't allow for rapid pressing. The touchscreen did leave us interested in seeing how this technology will be implemented in future phones. It's a significant step forward from the touch controls on the original chocolate that were almost unusable.
The Venus disappoints with poor battery life during calls and browsing the web. Its music playback time was good, which further emphasizes this phone's focus. Along those lines, the music software was also good. Unfortunately, the rest of the phone's multimedia features weren't as good: the camera only offered average still and video capture.
Verizon currently offers the Venus for $199 after a $50 online discount and with a two-year contract.
Tour & Design - The Venus is certainly a well-designed phone. It fits well in hand, and we like it's soft-touch backing.
Audio Quality - Audio quality is pretty good on the Venus. It tends to overemphasize its users voice a bit, but is otherwise fine.
Imaging - The camera on the Venus is either average or below average across the board.
Making/Receiving Calls - The Venus generally handles calling well, just don't try to use call waiting or you'll get frustrated and confused.
Messaging - Without an email client, the Venus isn't really a messaging powerhouse.
Organizer - The organizer features are surprisingly thin for such a professional-looking handset.
Multimedia - The Venus has pretty good music software, though we ran into issues with synchronization.
Software - Overall, the software on the Venus is basic. It isn't any more extensible than a typical, mid-range Verizon phone.
Battery Life - The Venus had low battery life scores in all categories but music playback. Music playback lasted an appropriate amount of time.
Connectivity - With Bluetooth 1.2 and little else, the Venus isn't the most connected phone out there.
Hardware - The Venus's secluded touchscreen was a bit confusing to get used to: we kept tapping the main display, forgetting it wasn't touch sensitive as well.
Other Features - The Venus can be used as a tethered modem and also offers basic GPS-like capabilities (but doesn't actually have GPS).
Value & Comparisons - We didn't think the Venus was a very good deal. The Venus should be considered a fashion phone where you're paying more for looks than functionality.
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