Wrapped in brushed metal, the VX8700 has the style of LG's Shine family, but is all Verizon Wireless at heart. Does it leave other phones feeling like last year's prom queen?
Review summary of the LG VX8700:
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 The LG VX8700 is a very pretty phone that is generally likeable, but suffers from a few hardware and software missteps. The camera is lousy, and the stereo Bluetooth gave us problems during video playback. Though LG has gussied-up the interface with a cool, matching theme, it's still Verizon Wireless through-and-through, which means its multimedia options are aimed at selling you services, rather than using what you already have. Still, call quality was admirable, and a good GPS sensor was a nice surprise. Overall, we loved the styling, and felt this was a better choice than the LG VX8600, but we still think this phone could be a flagship model with a few tweaks in almost every department. Release: April 2007. Price: $180.
Pros: Great looking design. Very good call quality. GPS better than average.
Cons: Lousy camera. Poor Web browsing experience. Some quirky Bluetooth issues. A little heavy.
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61%
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Full review of the LG VX8700:
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Design
Like its European sibling, the LG Shine, the LG VX8700 is clad in brushed metal and polished mirror accents, giving it a nice, reflective shell. It is easily the coolest looking phone on Verizon Wireless' lineup, though all that metal comes at the cost of a heavy handset. The LG VX8600, a comparable flip phone clad in glossy black, is a half ounce lighter. Though the brushed metal finish is not completely fingerprint-proof, it does a much better job of retaining its sheen than the glossy VX8600. Under the mirrored stripe on the phone's face hides a 65,000-color LCD, and we like the effect it creates precisely because LG didn't skimp on quality on this external display, or on the 262,000-color internal screen, for that matter.
The keypad on the VX8700 is perfectly flat, etched from a brushed metal sheet. Though buttons were plenty wide, we had to keep an eye on our fingers while sending text messages. Also, the flat 5-way button was easy to miss, and we occasionally hit "CLR" instead of "left," a mistake that wasn't ever fatal. The interface is standard Verizon Wireless fare, though LG has touched it up with a luscious theme that mirrors (pun intended) the brushed metal look of the phone's shell. We still hate the menu structure ("Get It Now" to find our photo album?), but we like the way LG's theme matches the phone for an integrated look and feel. Our only other complaint about the phone is that the microSD slot is hidden beneath the battery, so there will be no hot-swapping of memory cards.
Calling - Very good
Calls made from the LG VX8700 sounded great - clean, with no static or distortion. Signal strength could have been an issue, we rarely got more than three bars of EV-DO or 1X service in our lower Manhattan office, but didn't seem to affect the call quality in the least. Conference calling was as easy as could be, you dial the second number, press send to call, and press send again to conference. We also like the phone's speaker-independent voice dialing, good-sounding speakerphone and Bluetooth calling options. The contact list could be more robust, we'd like some room for mailing addresses and some optional fields, but it does allow live, while-you-type searching. In our battery tests, we managed almost four and a half hours of talk time, which is pretty good, but much better than Verizon Wireless' promised 200 minutes.
Our favorite: Conference calling is especially intuitive on this phone
Our request: A more robust contact list
Messaging - Very good
Besides our problems with the flat keypad, the LG VX8700 handles most popular messaging options very well. It comes with pre-loaded settings for instant messaging and e-mail from AOL, MSN and Yahoo, and though these apps tend to look overly simplified from their desktop counterparts, they work well. Text messaging is even better, with plenty of text formatting options to fit a full 160-character message on screen. The phone can send messages via SMS or e-mail, and digs into your contact list for phone numbers and e-mail addresses. We prefer live, while-you-type searching from the "To:" line, and the VX8700 did seem to pile on menu screens to send a message to our contacts. Multimedia messages are handled just as well, and we liked the ability to e-mail pictures directly from the camera app.
Our favorite: We're fans of pre-loaded settings for popular services like MSN and Yahoo
Our request: A more comfortable keypad
Camera - Mediocre
Pictures from the 2-megapixel camera on the VX8700 were fuzzy and dull. Colors were generally accurate, but pictures had an overall haziness to them that made them undesirable for printing, though the phone can connect directly to a compatible printer. Photo management tools were basic, including some cropping and color effect options - nothing too fancy. Overall, pictures looked okay as phone wallpapers, and perhaps could make for passable shots on a MySpace page, but in our books, the VX8700 joins the ranks of phones with a camera tacked on as an afterthought. Don't let megapixel counts fool you, if the phone doesn't have a quality lens, the pictures will be disappointing.
Our favorite: Sending pictures via e-mail from the camera without much fuss
Our request: A lens that makes pictures worth taking
Streaming video - Good
With full access to the Verizon Wireless V Cast network, there are plenty of short video clips to watch, but no full-length shows. Unfortunately, the blocky offerings on the V Cast site are completely overshadowed these days by Verizon Wireless' V Cast TV service, for which we're still waiting here in New York City. On the LG phone, videos can be displayed full screen in a landscape mode, which should have been better, but only serves to demonstrate how pixilated the videos look. Still, videos loaded quickly, and ran smoothly, even if the picture quality was sub-par. Though the video player supports stereo Bluetooth, our Plantronics headphones had trouble keeping the audio in sync with the video, so this option was mostly useless, and occasionally quite frustrating, especially watching a stand-up clip when the audience starts to laugh before you hear the punch line.
Our favorite: Full-screen mode in landscape view
Our request: Better synchronization between audio and video over stereo Bluetooth
Music - Good
Verizon Wireless' V Cast music store has a very good selection, but navigating the store can be a chore. We found plenty of surprising, deep cuts to download, and downloads took less than a minute for a full song. Still, the music player is as basic as can be. Its only real feature is displaying the album artwork, otherwise, it lacks an equalizer, visualizers or any advanced settings. Also, though it is technically possible to synchronize your purchases with your PC, Verizon Wireless has included no physical means to do so. The retail package does not include a memory card or USB cable.
In fact, the retail package includes only a charger and a headphone adapter, and the adapter only accepts 2.5mm headphones. As the phone is branded a "V Cast Music Phone," we think this omission borders on false advertising. We can think of no dedicated music player that lacks memory, a transfer cable and a pair of headphones, but still Verizon Wireless sells these as separate "accessories." We can't say it enough, this is an unacceptable nickel-and-dime practice, and phones that are advertised as music devices will always lose points in our ratings if they lack the essentials needed to actually listen to music.
Our favorite: Deep catalog is worth a closer look
Our request: A better, prettier, more feature-rich music player
Web browsing - Poor
Surfing the internet on the LG VX8700 is a real disappointment. We tried to load our infoSync World homepage, and the phone's pathetic browser choked and needed to be restarted. Only simpler pages, optimized for mobile, like the new New York Times mobile page, were viewable on the phone. Scrolling was also a pain, requiring numerous clicks, though menu options in the browser claim to enable fast, smooth scrolling.
Our favorite: Nothing we liked about Web browsing on this phone
Our request: A full html browser that takes advantage of the crisp, QVGA screen
GPS - Very good
We're not huge fans of VZ Navigator to begin with, though it admittedly works fine in a pinch. Still, the VX8700 had a GPS sensor that was quite sensitive. It had no problem finding us even inside our office, buried in the cubicles, with only a slight view of the window. The phone had a bit of a delay tracking us through turns, but updated quickly. The interface also seemed to be refreshed since the last time we saw VZ Navigator, with cleaner looking icons and a map that had fewer jaggies.
Price and availability
The LG VX8700 is currently available for $180 with a 2-year contract agreement and a $50 online discount.
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