LG Venus VX8800 - pink (Verizon Wireless)
Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A. Part number: VX8800PNKVZW
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The LG Venus is a beautiful slider phone with a great feature set, but we would recommend taking the time to get used to the unusual touch-screen controls.
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CNET editors' review
LG Venus VX8800 - pink (Verizon Wireless) price range: $24.00
- Reviewed by: Nicole Lee
- Reviewed on: 11/20/2007
The good: The LG Venus has a unique dual-screen design with onscreen navigation controls that change layout depending on the application, plus it has vibrating feedback when touched. It also comes with a wealth of multimedia features, EV-DO support, plus great performance.
The bad: The LG Venus' touch screen is a bit gimmicky and takes some getting used to, and there aren't any touch-sensitivity settings for it. The camera has no flash and no self-portrait mirror.
The bottom line: The LG Venus is a beautiful slider phone with a great feature set, but we would recommend taking the time to get used to the unusual touch-screen controls.
LG has really impressed us this year with a number of innovative handsets that offer rich feature sets and beautiful designs--the LG VX8550 Chocolate and the LG Voyager VX10000 are just two that have especially garnered our affections. Now LG has come out with the LG Venus, a stunningly beautiful phone with a unique dual-screen design that features onscreen touch-sensitive controls. Its features aren't too shabby either, with a 2-megapixel camera, a music player, 3G support, V Cast support, and more. It's also not terribly expensive at $199.99 after a $50 discount and a two-year contract with
Design
At first glance, the LG Venus looks a little like the LG Prada with what appears to be a full 3-inch display. A closer look, however, reveals that there are actually two screens--the one on top is a regular QVGA display, while the one underneath is a touch screen that shows onscreen navigation controls. Measuring 4 inches by 2 inches by 0.62 inch, the Venus has quite a sleek, slender figure with curved corners and faux-leather covering on the back. This gives it a nice and luxurious feel in the hand and a comfortable grip.
As we mentioned above, there are two displays on the front; the upper screen is the primary display, while the lower acts as a touch navigation array. The upper screen measures 2 inches diagonally and is simply beautiful to behold. It supports a luscious 262,000 colors, and graphics and animation look fantastic. We are also fans of the Venus' menu interface theme with its simple and minimalist design--quite the improvement over the classic Verizon theme. You can adjust the display's backlight, the font size, and the clock format, but not the brightness or contrast.
The really special thing about the Venus, however, is its unique navigation interface. Measuring about 1.5 inches diagonally, the lower screen displays touch-sensitive navigation controls with different layouts depending on the application. For example, on the default standby page, the touch-screen layout has the Menu button in the middle with shortcuts to messaging, contacts, a shortcuts folder, and recent calls arranged around it. The shortcuts folder contains up to four user-defined shortcuts to different applications. On the menu interface page however, the onscreen layout changes to an OK button in the middle and up and down arrows positioned above and below it. Similarly, when the music player is activated, you will see music player controls on the display, and when the camera is activated, you will see camera controls instead.
We were very skeptical with the usability of the onscreen controls. For one thing, we had to constantly hit the unlock button when the phone went to sleep. Also, the lack of tactile buttons does mean that you have to pay more attention so you can avoid accidental presses. We were also disappointed that you couldn't alter the touch-sensitivity of the controls. That said, the controls require a light yet firm touch, so accidental presses didn't happen that often. Also, the touch-screen interface does feature haptic controls, and you can adjust the vibration levels depending on how much feedback you want. So on the whole, we think the touch-screen navigation works really well, though it's still a little too gimmicky.
Slide open the phone and you'll find a very spacious and tactile number keypad with the Send, Clear, and End/Power keys on the top row. The slider mechanism felt quite sturdy when opening and closing the phone as well. All keys are very well-spaced apart with a lovely raised curved texture that makes it quite easy to dial by feel. The keypad also has alternating colors, which we think is a nice touch. The volume rocker, voice recorder button, and headset and charger jacks sit on the left spine, while the right is home to a microSD card slot, a dedicated Music player key, and a dedicated camera key. On the back is the camera lens.
Features
The LG Venus is more than just a pretty face; in fact, it has a very impressive feature set that complements its design nicely. But before we get to that, we'll start with the basics. The Venus has a 1,000-entry contacts list with room in each entry for five phone numbers and two e-mail addresses. You can organize them by caller groups, and pair them with a photo or any of 16 ringtones and five alert tones for caller ID. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, a speakerphone, text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, an alarm clock, a world clock, a stopwatch, a notepad, a tip calculator, and a voice memo recorder, plus voice command support. On the higher end, there's also e-mail, PC syncing, USB mass storage, instant messaging, a wireless Web browser, and stereo Bluetooth. A nice departure from Verizon, the Bluetooth supports file transfer, object push, and dial-up networking protocols. In addition, the Venus has built-in GPS so you can use it with Verizon's own location-based service called VZ
Navigator for turn-by-turn directions.
The Venus comes with 3G support in the form of built-in EV-DO. This gives the VX8800 access to the full stable of Verizon's broadband services like streaming video from V Cast Videos and the ability to download songs over the air from V Cast Music. The music player interface is nice and clean thanks to the onscreen music player controls, and you can view the album art when a song is playing. The songs are automatically organized by artist, genre, and album, and you can create and manage your own playlists if you wish. Other music player options include a shuffle and repeat mode, 11 different preset equalizer settings (or "sound effects"), plus a Music Only mode (also known as Airplane mode) which turns the cell phone RF off so you can use the phone to play music while in flight (It does not turn off Bluetooth, though, so you can still use your Bluetooth headset to listen to music). Another nice touch is that you can multitask while the music is playing--you can hide the player and continue browsing the Web or typing out text messages. The music player supports MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+ file formats, and 64MB of internal memory is dedicated to music storage. If you wish to add more storage, the Venus also has a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 8GB.
The Venus has a lovely 2-megapixel camera that can take pictures in four resolutions (1,600x1,200; 1,280x960; 640x480; 320x240), five white-balance settings, and five color effects. Other settings include spot metering, up to 2x zoom (not usable at the highest resolution), a brightness setting, a night mode, a self-timer, plus three different shutter sounds (with a silent option). As we mentioned above, the camera application has its own special onscreen navigation controls, which are positioned landscape-wise so you are prompted to take a photo with the phone held sideways, much like a regular camera. Do note that there is no self-portrait mirror on the back, so it's a little tricky to take self-portrait shots. Photo quality was quite good, with sharp edges and accurate colors, though a tiny bit overcast. There's also a built-in camcorder with two different video resolutions (320x240 and 176x144), and many of the editing options are similar to the still camera. Video recording time is limited to 30 seconds for multimedia messages and up to 1 hour for saving. Video quality was fairly mediocre, and it couldn't handle fast movements, resulting in jerky and blurry video clips.
Personalization options with the Venus are plentiful--it comes with a variety of color themes, wallpaper, screen savers, alert tones, and more. Of course, you have the option to purchase more via the Venus's built-in Web browser. The Venus comes with one game called VZW Board Games, but you can always download more as well.
Performance
We tested the dual-band LG Venus (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) in San Francisco using the
As far as music goes, songs sounded loud and clear with good bass, but it did sound a tiny bit hollow when played via the phone's built-in speakers. We paired the LG Venus with the Cardo S-2 Bluetooth headset successfully, and both call and audio quality were substantially better when compared to the speakers.
The EV-DO data speeds made a noticeable difference when we were streaming video and browsing the Web. V Cast videos loaded very quickly, and there was little to no rebuffering. That said, video quality was still pretty bad, with quite a bit of pixelation especially with action sequences. Loading a typical Web page took a few seconds, while downloading a song took about a minute for a 5.16MB file.
The LG Venus has a rated battery life of 4 hours talk time and 20 days in standby time. In our tests, we received only 3 hours, 16 minutes of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Venus has a digital SAR rating of 1.26 watts per kilogram.
User reviews
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Stylish Phone, With A Few Quirks
by cagedpopmachine on August 13, 2008
Pros: Sleek and Slim Phone, Good Features, Great Network
Cons: Call Volume could be better, Software Glitch in older software versions
Summary: I upgraded to this phone from my LG Chocolate (VX8500). It's a great phone to look at and the default wallpaper (of planets, namely venus) and color scheme is ...
Summary: I upgraded to this phone from my LG Chocolate (VX8500). It's a great phone to look at and the default wallpaper (of planets, namely venus) and color scheme is nice looking. I like the touch pad menu system, it works a bit like the old Chocolate, I find it very easy to change settings and find stuff. the camera on this phone is pretty good (for a camera phone). it seems a little odd to turn the camera horizontal to take pictures, but it works out quite well, since the phone flips images automatically and allows you to rotate the picture afterwards. it's nice to be able to set pictures ids for callers. I've found texting to be quite easy since the keypad buttons are pretty big. I like how the keypad alternates between shiny and matte keys. I have the pink version, so it is all the same magenta pink, but I did notice the "blue" color some people have complained about--I think it's more of a black-blue and an illusion because of the varying textures in the different surfaces of the phone. the backing on the phone (the faux leather) is actually pretty nice, and makes the phone feel quite solid in your hand. I was a bit impressed that the phone came with the verizon music cd-rom and USB cord, with older phones it was necessary to buy the whole VCAST music kit. I haven't tried that out yet since I have a mac and it's PC only.
And the software glitch: in versions 03 and older, there's a glitch in the shortcut menu. I think it's been mention in some reviews, if you choose "Email" the button reads "Mobile IM" yet goes to the mobile web email page. same thing happens if you choose "Mobile IM"; it shows up as "Wireless Email" and yet goes to the Mobile Im application. it's annoying, but not a total deal breaker as version 04 (of the software) should correct it, and any Verizon store should be able to download the new version of the software to the phone (and really, most phones should be shipping with the new version and not having this problem).
I really like slider phones and don't need loads of features, so the Venus has been a good choice for me.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Potentially great phone
by cryout2jesus on July 28, 2008
Pros: Very easy to use and compact.
Cons: Super sensitive
Summary: I would not recommend this phone. Dont get me wrong it is a great phone. But due to the sensitvity issue, I would recommend another phone. The phone is great ...
Summary: I would not recommend this phone. Dont get me wrong it is a great phone. But due to the sensitvity issue, I would recommend another phone. The phone is great when its new. However after you break the phone in, the touchpad becomes SUPER sensitive. Having your face near it will terminate your calls. Even having another item close to it will terminate your call. At least this has been my experience. Verizon will not do anything. They will insist that you can change the sensitivity as will LG. You can only change the vibration, not the sensitivity. I love LG, but this phone is not the one.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Disappointed
by kalynne21 on July 28, 2008
Pros: Nice look, easy to use
Cons: Slow, hate lock feature
Summary: I just got the Pink Venus just 4 days ago and I have to send it back already! I love the phone and I am so disappointed! I read the ...
Summary: I just got the Pink Venus just 4 days ago and I have to send it back already! I love the phone and I am so disappointed! I read the reviews and it doesn't sound as if anyone has had this problem, but I have no sound when I make or receive a call. The phone rings and I can hear my ringtones and stuff but when I answer or try to place a call, there is nothing. And here is the most bizarre thing, when you are on a call and unlock the phone, on the face of the phone, the middle circle is the "Speaker", the oddest thing is that this button has completely disappeared! When I tried to call and thought it was my headset, I tried to hit speaker and it was gone! Now the phone did drop, however, it slid off of my bed onto the carpeted floor, it wasn't like it fell hard on the pavement. I have no idea, Verizon said I may have gotten a bad phone but I am too scared to get another and go through this again. I may get the new Chocolate 3 as it is a clamshell and I feel will be better protected. Very disappointed, it is a sharp phone!
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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a mix between the original chocolate and the voyager
by glenn_t_w on April 26, 2008
Pros: it's a nice, pretty, sleek, and cool phone
Cons: it doesn't take a full load very well.
Summary: I originally had a green chocolate. and when i got this i loved it. but after almost maxing my memory card with music and filling the in and out boxes ...
Summary: I originally had a green chocolate. and when i got this i loved it. but after almost maxing my memory card with music and filling the in and out boxes with messages, it started to get a little bogged and quirky. it has all the same setups as the original chocolate and the cool touch screen like the voyager. and takes awesome pictures. good reception. haven't really been terribly disappointed yet.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Very sleek and compact, vivid colors and graphics.
by rebeccafletcher on January 20, 2008
Pros: It is just a good looking phone, the slide out keys are large and have a great design, the phone its self has a nice weight to it. Checking your yahoo, hotmail,or msn e-mail is a breeze.
Cons: The phone has two screens, the bottom being the touch controls, the top you viewing screen, Makes both screens small.
Summary: I really love my pink venus. I enjoy the touch controls to the phone and you don't have to open it to check messages or make a call. You ...
Summary: I really love my pink venus. I enjoy the touch controls to the phone and you don't have to open it to check messages or make a call. You do have to push a side botton or slide it open to get the screen to come on, no touch option there. It is cute and has a great set up, easy to use and figure out. This is my first lg phone and I am not dissapionted. I may up grade to to voyager just for the whole touch screen but that will be the only reason.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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A pleasant surprise contained in a compact, elegant (without being fussy), clear & vibrant screen.
by atr20001 on December 9, 2007
Pros: Light weight, small, stylish, vibrant colors, semi-touch screen
Cons: Unlocking the sleep mode is clumsy and not cleverly designed, it also goes into sleep mode too quickly without specific timer/mode controls
Summary: I really like the iphone, but because I've always had great customer service and roaming capabilities with Verizon, I decided not to switch over (but I must confess, I ...
Summary: I really like the iphone, but because I've always had great customer service and roaming capabilities with Verizon, I decided not to switch over (but I must confess, I was tempted - very tempted). With that said, I was pleasantly suprised to come across both the LG Venus and Voyager; but I settled on the Venus. Mostly because I didn't want to spend the additional money which is kind of expensive. I just want a phone that's comfortable in my hand, light weight, easy to manuever, sounds great with a few practical bells 'n whistles. I found that with the Venus.
I was really impressed all away around. I never thought I'd like a phone that was so small (I'm use to the comfort of a larger flip phone that fits from ear to close to my lips), but I got use to it. The camera pictures are really nice and I like how the menu keys are on the right and easy to get to in landscape mode. Another nice feature is the large viewing screen which you can also enlarge the text for better viewing.
I would have liked to see the phone provide more controls over the lock in sleeping phone mode, but I couldn't find an access to do so. After just a few seconds you have to unlock it by tapping the music key on the side (it can be pretty annoying actually). I also wish it had more photo finish wallpaper annimations. One of the best features is the touch screen in the lower half of the screen. It takes some time getting comfortable in learning how to use the menu keys when answering the phone and text messages at first, but you get use to it.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Battery life is aweful after a few months of use!
by Apeck86 on October 31, 2008
Pros: The keys are easy to use, micro SD, The big wide screen made it easy for playing videos.
Cons: The touch screen needs some work, battery life stinks, very slow responsive time moving from one item on the phone to the next, the chrome paint around the screen chips off.
Summary: I absolutly loved this phone whenever I first got it. I loved the fact that it had the touch screen and that it had a lot of bells and whistles ...
Summary: I absolutly loved this phone whenever I first got it. I loved the fact that it had the touch screen and that it had a lot of bells and whistles that I wasn't used it. I've had my phone for four months now and I hate it. The chrome around the screen has managed to peel itself off, so now my phone just looks aweful. I've noticed that the response time from whenever you hit a key till the phone actually does something is extremely slow. It takes about 3-5 seconds now. The keys are nice and easy to use but I usually end up hitting the wrong key when I'm typing. Also, I'm not sure if it's because I need an update on my phone or what but everytime I use my phone in the afternoon I hear beeps whenever I'm talking to someone. My phone will randomly give me a hearing test in one ear. Also, after having my phone for four months I've noticed that my battery will die on me within taking to my phone at most about an hour of the day and sending random text messages. My phone usually dies on me after having it fully charged overnight within 8-10 hours. I feel as if I'm consistenly putting my phone on the charger and having to charge it all the time. Whenever I want to go out and do things this is not convienent. This phone was great when I first got it but I wouldn't recommend this phone for someone who talks and texts on their phone a lot.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great phone
by dawnhere123 on August 5, 2008
Pros: takes nice pics, slim design, lightweight
Cons: using music button to open, fingerprints on screen, camera works slow?
Summary: I just got this phone yesterday and I'm really liking it! It seems easy to use and figure out, although I'm still getting used to using the music ...
Summary: I just got this phone yesterday and I'm really liking it! It seems easy to use and figure out, although I'm still getting used to using the music button to unlock. I like the overall design, but wish the top screen was a little larger. When using the internet on the phone, it's hard to read the itty bitty text. (I think that's adjustable, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet
Coming from a Motorola Razor phone, I wish the venus said the names of the contacts when you scrolled through them. Just an added little thing I always liked. I also noticed that when I recieve a call, my phone says "Verizon Wireless" and then starts to ring, and I have to look at the screen to see who's calling and their number. I thought someone else said that the phone said the name of the person calling. Maybe I just haven't figured out how to set the phone for that yet. Hearing "VW" is driving me crazy when I get a call though! LOL
The camera takes really good pictures, although after you hit "take", it takes a couple seconds before the picture snaps. So you have to be sure the thing you're taking a picture of doesn't move until after you hear the shutter sound.
Overall I think this is a really great, fun phone. I dont have any music on it yet, but of course plan on downloading some soon.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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We've have this phone replaced 11 times, still sucks!
by ddejong80 on November 23, 2009
Pros: ..........
Cons: We replaced the phone 11 times before just buying a new one out of pocket. The touch screen sucks, the battery, if used aggressively at all, will last maybe 8 hours. We had glitches with the software and they couldn't ifx it, even with new phones.
Summary: Horrible, don't go near it with a 10-foot pole. the phone is horrible. No 2 ways about it.
Summary: Horrible, don't go near it with a 10-foot pole. the phone is horrible. No 2 ways about it.
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Can't wait to get a new phone...
by kmsweb on July 31, 2009
Pros: sturdy, takes decent pictures, the mp3 player
Cons: chrome flaked off, touch screen delay, loud ringer even when on low
Summary: I wouldn't buy another. In fact I can't wait till I can use my next new every 2 deal to get a new phone. I purchased this phone ...
Summary: I wouldn't buy another. In fact I can't wait till I can use my next new every 2 deal to get a new phone. I purchased this phone because I liked the touch screen and sliding mechanism. About 2 months after I got it the chrome started flaking off. Its been about a year and the last of the chrome finally flaked off so now its just a grey piece of plastic surrounding the screen. The thing that most irritated me is how loud the ringer is and that I was unable to turn the ringer volume down low enough for my needs. So instead of using any music ringtones I found the simple beep ringtone was the most tolerable. The menu and touch screen would be much better if there wasn't such a delay when selecting. I also do not like the way the top contact in the contacts menu has to be "in case of emergency". I don't know if all of the new phones are set up this way. On my old phone I was used to being able to quickly open it and easily select my #1 contact without needing to scroll down or look at the phone. The only thing I have enjoyed is the mp3 and camera. The camera has taken decent pictures, and with a micro sd card I have been able to load all of my songs on it.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A.
- Part number: VX8800PNKVZW
- Description: Fashion-forward users will love The Venus by LG, exclusively available from Verizon Wireless. This fashion statement has dual front screens - the lower screen features touch-sensitive navigation. The slim, stylish slider features a dedicated music key for easy access to music. The player supports .mp3, .wma and unprotected .aac file playback, plus Bluetooth stereo so users won't need to clutter their cutting-edge look with headset or stereo wires. In addition to the sharp dual screens, The Venus by LG also features expandable memory with microSD cards, currently up to 8 GB, and 2.0-megapixel camera with landscape rendering and zoom/review adjustments.
General
- Product Type Cellular phone With digital camera / digital player
- Service Provider Verizon Wireless
- Body Color Pink
Cellular
- Technology CDMA2000 1X
- Band CDMA 800/1900
- Phone Design Slider
- Antenna Internal
- Vibrating Alert Yes
- Polyphonic Ringer Yes
- Call Timer Yes
- Conference Call Capability Yes
- Voice Recorder Yes
- Caller ID Yes
- Speakerphone Yes
- Wireless Interface Bluetooth
- Additional Features Built-in stereo speakers
Messaging & Data Services
- Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
- Internet Browser Yes
- Included Services VCAST, VZ Navigator
- EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) Yes
- Messaging / Data Features Text messages, Multimedia messages (MMS)
Multimedia Features
- Downloadable Content Ring tones, Audio files, Video files
Digital Camera
- Camera highlights With a resolution of 2 megapixels, this model will give you better pictures than other phones.
- Sensor Resolution 2 megapixels
Display
- Type LCD display
- Color Support Color
Display (2nd)
- Type LCD display - Color
Product series
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LG Venus VX8800 - black (Verizon Wireless)
Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A.
Specs: CDMA 800/1900, Up to 240 min, With digital camera / digital player, 3.79 oz
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LG Venus VX8800 - pink (Verizon Wireless)
Manufacturer: LG Electronics U.S.A.
Specs: CDMA 800/1900, With digital camera / digital player
Accessories
- A-Data Speedy Series flash memory card - 2 GB - microSD (33795596)8.99
- ATP SD Trio Professional PLUS card adapter - flash: microSD - Hi-Speed USB (32128464)17.00
- Centon 2GBRSD3-1 - flash memory card - 2 GB - microSD (33503634)11.84 - 13.29
- Centon flash memory card - 4 GB - microSD (33362243)16.74 - 70.99
Manufacturer info
- LG Electronics U.S.A.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse LG Electronics U.S.A. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://us.lge.com/
- Address:
1000 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
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