The Affordable LG VX6100
Written: Apr 10 '05
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Pros: Many features, VGA camera with sliding lens cover, speakerphone, voice commands
Cons: B&W external display, poorly placed volume rocker
The Bottom Line: The LG VX6100 is a solid camera flip phone with tons of extra built-in features.
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| gorocco's Full Review: LG VX6100 Cellular Phone |
It has taken me an incredibly long time, but I finally gave up my Nokia 6160 (dubbed the “football” by my friends due to its girth) and signed up with a new wireless carrier. I was not looking for much with a new cell phone, besides having something smaller than my old phone. The only feature that I wanted was a speakerphone option; cameras, web access, etc. were nifty extras. With my new Verizon account, I scored a deal with LG’s VX6100, the update to Verizon’s first camera phone, the VX6000. It has more than met my minimal expectations.
Design
The VX6100 is a 3.7 by 1.9 by 0.9 inch flip phone, weighing in a 3.9 ounces. It is not the slimmest cell phone out there, but it fits well into a pants pocket. The overall design is quite basic and similar to other flip phones, especially its predecessor, the VX6000, and other Samsung phones. This is no Motorola V3 Razr; it’s pretty much your standard camera flip phone.
The front of the phone reveals the digital camera with a sliding cover and a flash located just left of the lens. It has a black and white external display that shows the time, date, signal strength and battery life, though only the time is easily readable. It is a bit of a letdown given the colorful screen that adorns the VX6000.
On the left side of the unit, there is a jack for a hands free device, a volume toggle button, and a voice command button. The volume button is quite long and is too easily accessible. I found myself fumbling with the volume button may too often, especially while talking as my thumb commonly rested on top of it. The right side of the unit has a dedicated camera button. A data port/charger port is located on the bottom of the phone.
The phone opens up to reveal a vivid, 2 inch screen that can display 256,000 colors. Indoors, the screen was easy to read. Outdoors, it was considerably more difficult to read information on the screen. The VX6100 features several buttons for navigating through the colorful menus. Two soft keys are available to call up the Main Menu and the Contacts menu. They flank a five way toggle which is preset for one touch access to the speakerphone and web access. The standard Talk and End keys, a Clear key, and another dedicated camera button are positioned below, followed by the numeric keypad. The buttons have a soft, blue backlight to help you navigate in the dark.
The phone is packaged with a plastic belt harness and a travel charger. Accessories such as a hands free set and car charger are not included.
The VX6100 in Action
The VX6100 is loaded with features. It has a 499 contact phone book that can hold five numbers, three e-mail addresses, and photo caller ID per name. Contacts can be organized into caller groups and linked to a picture and a ring tone. The phone comes with 41 polyphonic (including Piano Sonata, Latin, and “When the Saints Come”) and 5 monophonic ring tones. It also has a vibrate mode, four minute voice memo, notepad, [a much used] tip calculator, text messenging, WAP 2.0 wireless web browser, scheduler, alarm clock, calculator, and a world clock. The VX6100 also features sophisticated voice command options. You can call people from your phone book, check your voice mail, or just check the time.
The VGA camera is the highlight of the phone. It can take pictures at three resolutions (640x480, 320x240, and 160x120), and it allows you to adjust several quality settings such as white balance, brightness, and color. You can also take pictures with the phone closed. Other bonuses include a 4x digital zoom, multishot function, and a self-timer. Overall, the image quality is on par with other camera phones. Pictures are not great and tend to be quite grainy. The built-in flash is nice touch, but it is not very strong and does not help the picture quality much. The VX6100 can store up to 60 photos; unfortunately, it lacks any means of transmitting the picture except via Verizon site or as a multimedia message.
Web service is available from Verizon for $4.99 a month. Extra ring tones and games are available through Verizon’s Get It Now service. Being a cheapskate, I did not purchase these features.
The VX6100 was used primarily in Long Island, NY, and in New Jersey. Call quality was very good. The signal was clear. Conversations were incredibly clear on both ends. The speaker was adequately loud. The one feature I clamored for, the speakerphone, also worked quite well; again, conversations had adequate clarity. The speakerphone can be toggled on and off during a call. The phone was easy to carry around when talking, but I found myself hitting the volume rocker often, making for some strange conversations.
The battery life is reported to average 3 hours of talk time and 6.25 days of standby time. I found the talk time to be accurate. I could not estimate the standby time as a I have a habit of charging the phone when it is not in use.
Despite being so light, the phone seems to be quite sturdy. Within 72 hours of owning the phone, I managed to drop it twice as I fumbled to get it out of the belt harness. The phone fell onto a carpeted floor from waist height and got away unscathed both times.
Final Verdict
Given the price (I got the phone for free after signing a two year agreement for the America’s Choice $39.99 plan at a 6th Avenue Electronics store), I cannot complain much about the phone. Even at the normal retail of $149.99 with a two year cellular plan, the VX6100 is a worthy buy. The VX6100 is a very serviceable camera phone that is loaded with features that I will probably never take advantage of and a worthy replacement of my old “football.”
Recommended:
Yes
Recommended for: Professionals On-the-Go - Internet and Email is a Must!
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Epinions.com ID:
gorocco
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Location: Stony Brook, NY
Reviews written: 91
Trusted by: 58 members
About Me:
Closing in on review 100
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