LG Vu Plus – Full featured messaging phone

For:

Capacitive touch screen, full size QWERTY keyboard, GPS, 3.0 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, AT&T Mobile TV.

Against:

Doesn’t have a 3.5 mm headphones jack, the buttons on the keyboard are very much close to each other, photo quality is really disappointing.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

LG Vu Plus is based on GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 850/1900 modes. The phone has a slide form factor with an internal antenna. Rated talk time from the 950 mAh batttery is three hours maximum and standby time is 12 days. The handset has 50 MB internal memory and the external card slot can take up to 16 GB of cards. The phone book has a limit of 1000 entries.

Razzle Dazzle:

LG Vu Plus is 0.6 inch thick, 2.1 inches wide, 4.31 inches thick and though it looks similar to original Vu, there are some differences. The thickness is now increased due to the presence of QWERTY keyboard. This handset is also a bit more bulky. The edges are rounded and this makes it comfortable to hold in the hand.

Inside Dope:

LG Vu was launched some time ago and it was one of the first phone to come with AT&T’s live mobile TV service. The gorgeous three inch screen made watching videos fun but we didn’t like the antenna sticking out for the TV signal. The design issues have been taken care of now, the antenna has disappeared on the predecessor – LG Vu Plus. The mobile TV service is still there and this phone now has a slide out QWERTY keyboard. The camera too is upgraded along with HSDPA/3G speeds. This device will cost you $149.99 and you have to sign a two year contract with the service provider. The display is 3 inches big and it is capacitive one so you will have an iPhone like experience on it. You get a 240×400 pixels resolution along with 262k color support. Our only gripe is that the display has a plastic surface instead of sturdier glass material which is seen in quite a lot of phones. The phone gives haptic feedback to your touches. You can change the intensity and length of these vibrations.

Navigation array and keyboard

LG Vu Plus’s has four buttons below the screen, they are shortcuts to phone book, phone dialer, main menu and messaging in-box. The QWERTY keyboard’s buttons are raised enough above the surface but the keys are quite close to each other and hence typing is not that comfortable.

Mobile TV

AT&T Mobile TV is the highlight of the LG Vu Plus. It is powered by Qualcomm’s MediaFLO network and it lets you receive TV signals through MediaFLO’s network. Thus there are no buffering issues while viewing. The subscription is seperate so the data costs won’t make a hole in your pocket. The programs are time shifted and you can get more than 150 simulcast content from popular networks. Some of them include NBC, MTV, Fox, Comedy Central, ESPN, CNN Mobile Live, and CBS Mobile. The basic package costs $15 for just the television and there is another $30 a month package which gives you Mobile Video and unlimited Web browsing.

Music player

LG Vu Plus has a simple and still slick media player. You can edit and create playlists on the go. Standard shuffle and repeat modes are also supported. You can also put the player in background while working on something else. For storing music, there is 50 MB of internal memory but you can put up to 16 GB of memory cards through the external card slot.

Camera

LG Vu Plus has 3.0 megapixel camera but the photos are not that good. There are five options for resolution – the highest being 2,048×1,536 pixels and the lowest being 320×240 pixels. There are three settings for quality, five presets for white balance, five shot modes along with night mode, four effects for color, self timer, and autofocus. The photo quality is OK but we expect more from a 3 megapixel camera. The autofocus does a good job in reducing the blur but the colors could have been a bit brighter. The camcorder mode gives you two resolution options.

Games and personalization

LG Vu Plus has few games and applications like Rolling with Katamari, Uno, I-play Bowling, Bejeweled, Pocket Express, Mobile Banking and The Weather Channel. You can get more from the AppCenter. The handset can be personalized by alert tones and wallpapers. You can download more from the same store.

Call quality

We tested the LG Vu Plus for call quality and it was OK. On our side, our friends sounded clear and loud but there was a bit of harshness to the voice. There was background noise and static too. On their side, callers said that our voice sounded gritty and tinny. When we were sitting in a quiet office, they heard background hiss which is again surprising. We could still talk clearly though. There were similar issues with speakerphone calls too and here, we saw a bit of echo.

Battery life

LG Vu Plus has rated battery life of three hours for talk time. The standby time is 12 days.

Verdict:

This is a great phone, we really liked its messaging features and of course, the live mobile television.