LG Venus unboxing

by Michael Caputo posted Nov 20th 2007 at 1:09PM

We've been keeping our parcel carrier busy the past few days and today will be no different -- the LG Venus for Verizon just arrived at our door! LG has incorporated touchscreen navigation along with a solid music player into the latest incarnation (in spirit, if not in name) of the successful Chocolate series. From first glance, the device's slide mechanism is flawless and weighted perfectly, though there seems to be some sluggishness using the on-screen controls. But enough of the chit chat already, go check out the gallery and be on the lookout for the review!

Gallery: Hands-on with the LG Venus

Filed under: Handsets, LG, Verizon Wireless, EV-DO, CDMA

Tags: Chocolate, features, LG, Unbox, Unboxed, Unboxing, Venus, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, VX8800

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Gio @ Nov 20th 2007 2:04PM

With all this Verizon unboxing, I better see a HANDS ON WITH THE SPRINT PEARL 8130 coming soon!!!

Highly Ranked

Mark @ Nov 20th 2007 2:05PM

Is the touch screen that useful? Seems to me its displaying the standard 4-way pad + OK button most of the time.

Highly Ranked

xB Owner @ Nov 20th 2007 5:37PM

I'm anxiously awaiting the hands on review. Hopefully before the end of the day. I'll likely go by one of the local Verizon stores to check one out hands on myself this evening.

T-Mobile contract is up in February and I am sick of declining cell service around here. I used to have strong signal at home and at work with T-Mobile. Now it is completely random. No signal one minute and 4 bars the next in the same exact spot. I'm hoping the switch to Verizon/LG can solve this and other issues I've had with T-Mobile/Motorola.

Highly Ranked

daniel s @ Nov 20th 2007 8:20PM

trust me they will!!!

Neutral

!!! @ Nov 20th 2007 10:35PM

Could you get the review up by Noon tomorrow? Would be nice...since no else has reviewed the Venus.

Neutral

Matt Gagle @ Nov 20th 2007 11:12PM

I actually like the looks of this over the voyager, as it seems to be a bit smaller . . .

Neutral

xB Owner @ Nov 21st 2007 11:41AM

I checked it out in person last night at a local (Visalia, CA) Verizon store. The salesman looked at me like I was crazy when asked about call quality, signal strength and how many customers had picked one up. Apparently "normal" people don't ask those questions. He explained that the phone was "brand new" and he thought that they might have sold one so far.

The phone felt ok in my hand, but it was a bit awkward since it was still attached to the display tether. No way to tell how it would really feel in palm or in pocket. The touch screen was ok, but nothing all too impressive. The haptic feedback is definitely noticeable, but not nearly as satisfying as an actual button push. I don't know if there is an adjustment to the "feedback" level, but on the phone I checked out it could definitely be reduced. Smudges will also definitely be an issue. And my wife's first comment was, "It looks like the screen will be really fragile."

Navigation through the menus felt cluncky. And it could be just me not knowing the OS, or menu structure. (I'm used to a Razr on T-Mobile.) I think that the display menus on the lower touch screen are adjustable, which would definitely be a first step if I purchased the phone. Getting to the music (one of the biggest reasons to get this phone in my opinion) was kind of a pain. (Looking back, I think there was a "Music" button you could push on the side, that I never tried.) The sound quality was decent out of the phone's speakers, but the volume just wasn't there. Then again, how much can you expect out of a phone.

After my first hands-on dealing with the Venus, I'm just not sold. I actually found myself gravitating toward music enabled smart phones such as the Q after checking out the Venus. The drawback to those (for me) is the larger size, and the possibility of paying for unused features. All I really want is a compact phone that can maintain good signal strength, be comfortable in my pocket, and play a dual role as my ONLY DAP. I'm just not sure the Venus stacks up.

I left the store wishing once again that Sony/Ericsson provided more phones to the US market, and that they were willing to build phones compatible with CDMA.

Just my $ 0.02.

Neutral

musicman @ Nov 21st 2007 4:17PM

I got the Venus on Monday and it's going back today. While I do like the feel and look of the phone, I don't like the touch-screen navigation. Just to slow and clunky.

Neutral

Engadget Fan :) @ Nov 21st 2007 1:33PM

i love you guys, but folks over at howardforums, crunch gear, and skatter tech all beat you guys to this. hopefully you guys will get the first unboxing next time! :)

Neutral

JayMonster @ Nov 26th 2007 10:31AM

I bought this phone for the wife because she wanted something simple. Simple it is. Gadget folks will be sorely disappointed by this phone.

As noted, the touchscreen displays are REALLY sluggish. The structure of it is nothing more than a virtual D-pad. No sliding of your finger to go up and down menus. Those witout small fingers may find the nagivation arrows a bit too close to the corner menu items.

Things such as the feedback for button presses are adjustable, and it is definitely telling, but as somebody else said, not nearly as clean feeling as you would like and does not have the same satisfacion of a key for tactile feedback.

The phone "locks" automatically whenever you slide the phone closed, so if you open it to dial a number and then close the slider, you must hit the "music button" to unlock the device to use the screen menus to end a call rather than sliding back open to hit the End button. This is just an example of how unintuitive much of this phone setup is.

There are plenty of ways to customize the buttons and setting, so in theory you can come up with a layout and settings that work for you, but Out of the Box, it is just disappointing.

Neutral

smartpill @ Nov 27th 2007 7:38PM

I just returned mine. I wanted it to be good, but like others have said, the touch controls were sluggish, sometimes didn't respond, or when you "click and drag" which was supposed to scroll through the lists, it sometimes didn't work or triggered the wrong control. I have an iPod touch, but wouldn't switch carriers for the iPhone and the responsiveness of the Venus is not even close. I also agree that the controls are a bit unintuitive and to me, the plastic touch screen looked cheap compared to the iPhone/iPod's glass screen (it looked "wavy").