LG Vu: the good, the bad, and the ugly
So I’ve been using the LG CU920 (Vu) for almost a week now and – sorry for the cliché – it’s no iPhone killer!
Despite 3G support and a much nicer camera, the user experience is far from polished…
The good:
– It’s small, thin, and light
– 3G support with DUN
– Nice 2 megapixel camera with auto-focus and macro (see pictures)
– Impressive sound quality over Bluetooth (A2DP stereo support)
– Streams 3GPP (for Internet radio)
– Video recording
– Haptic feedback
– Removable battery
– Good battery life
The bad:
– Resistive touch screen (not sensitive enough, no multitouch)
– No flash or lens cover on camera
– No gapless music playback
– No iSync support (not even via hacked plugins)
– No accelerometer, WiFi, or GPS
– No USB data cable or Micro-SD card supplied with device
– Micro-SD slot behind battery
– Proprietary audio/USB/power connector
– User interface problems (scrolling is difficult and counter intuitive, landscape setting is not saved for browser or virtual keyboard)
The ugly:
– Screen is unreadable in direct sunlight
– Crashes randomly (and hangs temporarily)
– Bad Java support (not full-screen, no virtual keypad for menu shortcuts makes it impossible to zoom in Google maps)
– No file browsing over Bluetooth (incomplete ObEx support, transfer works)
– No multitasking other than music (and this disables the camera)
– No configurable POP3/IMAP/IM client
– Inoperable without SIM inserted
BTW, I’m not evaluating the TV service (mediaFlo) since I’m not signed up for it.
That’s it for now :)
tnkgrl Mobile: Tech that Matters 
I haven’t had a chance to play with the Vu yet but I was wondering if the device will stream videos from our site: http://www.zoovision.com In theory it should work but with out testing it we can’t know for sure. Can someone with a Vu test out the site and let me. Thanks in advance!
Sean
I’ve had no ‘gaps’ in my music playback. The touch screen isn’t as resistive as everyone is leading to believe. I believe the user interface is the way it is because apple put a patent on theirs.
By “no gapless playback” I mean that if you rip a CD of live music (for example) where there’s no silence (gaps) between songs, the LG Vu will play brief silence between tracks! The iPhone plays the same tracks without gaps – this is a feature supported by some MP3 players, but so far the iPhone is the only phone to support “gapless playback”…
“Resistive” is a type of touch screen. Most smartphones worth anything have Capacitive touchscreens, which uses electric conductivity to (basically) make sure that only purposeful things can be picked up, like your finger or a special stylus. A resistive touchscreen just picks up everything that touches it.
Thanks @hippo9 :)
I’d be interested to know whatever happened to your i-Mobile 902. Did it survive (how long?) and how did you like it as the months went by? I’m thinking about buying one.
@Zack I sold my i-mobile 902 – it survived just fine.
Also, did you not like the i-mobile 902? Or did the Vu just look better to you? Thanks.
@Zack I liked the i-mobile 902 camera a lot – you can read my thoughts here: https://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/category/902/
I don’t generally keep phones more than 3-6 months. The LG Vu is a review unit – the camera is nice, but not as good as the i-mobile 902.
Interesting. So are you a journalist?
BTW, the only problem I’ve read about so far with the 902 is that someone said that sometimes photos don’t get saved properly to the flash card. Did you ever experience that?
Thanks.
@Zack, I’m not a journalist… This blog is a hobby! I just happen to have enough readership and connections that I’m able to get review units from time-to-time.
I never experienced this problem with my i-mobile 902.
It looks like a great phone… although there is something bigger and better coming out every week it seems. I have some definate iPhone killers on my site if interested.
The Samsung f700 I think is a very close iPhone competitor… or it could be.
You can read about it at http://www.technologycurrent.com
I’ve had an lg vu for around a week now. The most annoying thing for me is that the phone needs to be unlocked every 5 seconds. Is there a way around that?
@ mescovitz you can changa that by going to the menu. go to settings click the plus or the more buttonclick the security button it should be the first one and than go down to the 4th button “auto screen lock” click that you can change that to off after 15 sec 30 sec 45 sec or even after 1 minute
How can I enable mms to work on my unlocked LG Vu CU920
I have a VU, haven’t used the TV feature yet. Battery life sucks in my opinion, I only had to charge my Razr once every 2 or 3 days. I have to charge this twice sometimes depending on usage. Camera is okay, it has to work really hard in low light, so motion pictures are next to impossible to capture.
i hete this phone it was a bad choice to get it
i cant return it because i need towait one more year to get a new one..
ehhh my dad would let me get a new phone but the rule is that you cant get a new one until the phone you have is already one year..
if you go tp pictures often
it hangs or it takes a long time to get to the pics.
that also includes the videos, and musics..
i do not like it very much
i hav has this phone 4 like 9months and it sucks. I dont hav service in many places far away from where i live and the phone freezes sometimes.
This is my third VU since February. I can’t wait to get rid of it but can not upgrade for another year. The battery life totally sucks. I can’t get through a whole day without having to charge it. I do not talk much, maybe 30 to 40 minutes a day total and no text messaging, no TV, no internet, no IM, so what is wrong with this thing??? When I plug it in to charge, within 20 minutes it is stating “totally charged” that can’t be right. AT&T needs a battery exchange program like US Cellular has.
it SUCKS! i bought it and around 14 months later the touch screen gave out WTF!!!! A touch screen that dont work, POINTLESS WHY SIGN ME UP FOR A PHONE FOR TWO YRS AND BREAKS.. i didnt do anything wrong.. it was in my pocket… damn pocket breaking shit.. lol
My boyfriend and I bought 3 Lg Vu phones 2 years ago and now all three are junk. We took care of them, but the touch screen goes no matter what. I would never buy a view again, even the upgraded model. The guy at AT&T admitted to me that our model was discontinued for that very reason. Now, until I can decide on a new phone, I am stuck with only send and end working. Crap.
i hate this phone!!!!!!!!!! i am on my 3 rd on the first two the screen cracked on me and. the on that i have now has a rectanle that is like rainbow colors in it!!! i hate this phone!! i would tell any of my friends NOT to buy it!!!! BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD PHONE
I have had this phone since April 2009, and have only had to get a new phone once. It was because the battery wouldn’t hold a charge for more than an hour or two, so I called AT&T. They said they didn’t have any batteries that came without a phone, so they sent me a whole new phone with a new battery! It was the nicest thing I’ve ever heard AT&T done for a customer! Haha.
i had this phone almost a year and within that time i had bad experiences
with in one month i could not touch screen, after that was fix the phone would no longer charge, and as of August 9 the screen can no longer be touched at all
i say this is bad phone…do not buy
Yea, so my screen just gave out on my Vu like 10 minutes ago. I have over 200 pictures on my phone and now I can’t access them. I absolutely HATE the LG Vu!!! I would not reccomend it to anyone! And Att sucks too! BTW, if anyone knows how I can get all my pictures off the phone, please let me know.. I would really appreciate it as I am expecting ATT to be of no help to me whatsoever.
Amanda, if you go to a corporate store and buy a new phone, they can retrieve most of the info from the old phone and transfer it. Only pics, videos, and contacts though. I am sure they can transfer any downloaded games, etc but why would they when they can make you spend money to download new stuff.
I just got this phone a few days ago and I can’t do anything. With it. I can’t talk and text but I can’t go to theIM OR any of the messengers. That came this the phone I can’t download. Songs or YouTube please help what am I doing wrong I bought my phone on eBay band new still in the box how to I configure. My phone so I can enjoy it