LG Viewty Review

[»X«]

Well here's my first major review. I got the Viewty a week ago and had a good chance to try out all it has to offer. Since it's my only camera, I can't really take pictures of its screen etc.

Appearance

I got the silver version of the Viewty. To be honest, I didn't even know they did one in silver. My first impression was just how light it is. Much lighter than the iPhone. The silver one also looks really beautiful.

In the box was the usual phone stuff, chargers, cables etc. But there is also a neat little stylus. Unfortunately there isn't an option to store it inside the phone, so you have to make do attaching it to the phone with the provided string. So when you're making calls or carrying your phone around, you have this quite chunky stylus in its case dangling from your phone.

This is my first experience using an LG phone, so when I found out there is only ONE port on the phone to charge, sync and use headphones with, I was a little annoyed to put it mildly. Mainly because with my Nokia N95 I could charge and use my headphones. Perfect for long train journeys. For the Viewty its either headphones or charger. Can't have it both ways.

The memory card (MicroSD) slot is located under the battery itself, which some of you may find annoying, but I have no real need to keep removing it, beside the phone turns on and off pretty quick so its hardly an issue. You can also use the phone as a mass storage device so using the supplied data cable; you can access the memory card remotely.

Locking and unlocking the phone is very simple, instead of the iPhones slide function, the Viewty simply has a button on the right of the handset. Push to lock push to unlock. Simple. Next to that button is the camera button and what I found was there was no way to safeguard an accidental press. There isn't a way of disabling the camera like on the N95 which has a shutter. If you press the camera button by mistake, oops. But it's not the end of the world.

Functionality

From first boot, the phone will run you through its jog wheel options. The jog wheel is located around the camera lens and acts as a zoom function when in camera mode or scrolling through menu options. Another way to scroll through long menus or a full contact list is to drag your finger up or down, but I found it usually found that to be an actually button press, causing menu items and contacts to be opened rather than just scrolling it. It was far easier to use the jog wheel.

For each menu item you interact with, you're treated to an audible beep and a tiny vibe from the handset. This obviously lets you know you've pressed a button and it does help. Although I turned off the beep from the start.

There is no real point me going into great detail about the menu. It's got all the usual phone stuff, setting up Bluetooth, messaging, sms etc.

Web Browsing

This was hailed on other sites as the best feature of the phone. Its not. By far. In fact my old Sony K800i performs far better using the net than this phone does.

For a start, it never seems to display any page quite right. You would think for having a large screen and the ability to tap and drag like the iPhone, the Viewty would far excel any phone currently in the field. But unfortunately its browsing is sub par.

The first major annoyance is the inability to save usernames and passwords for websites you visit. The N95 did this perfectly well and used its own auto complete to get the job done. The Viewty has no such feature and so manual entries of all details are required every time. If you plan on using this phone to browse the net often and use the same sites, you're in for an irritating surprise.

Entering usernames and passwords is made easy by having the ability to use the full keyboard, but obviously, you must switch the browser to landscape mode first. However one major flaw in the Viewty is when it comes to entering web addresses, the phone defaults to portrait mode. You can only then use either the multitap entry process or handwriting. Even if you're viewing a page in landscape and click to enter a URL the phone will not allow you to enter it with the keyboard and the phone switches back to portrait. This is most annoying, because as we know, web addresses contain all manor of odd combination of words, letters and symbols which entering on multitap, is a bitch to put it mildly. Got a long URL to enter? Forget it.

The connection speed isn't the best either, even my K800i rockets when it comes to loading Neowin, and using the Opera mini application on the K800i, it really flies and it so much better than the Viewty.

Camera

This was one of the most disappointing features of the Viewty.

Firstly, the phone kept forgetting my settings. Each time I would fire up the camera app I had to tell it I wanted 5 mega pixels and to store pictures on my card. Taking quick high quality snaps wasn't fast by any means.

Secondly the same problem happened if I was taking a movie. It defaulted on the lowest quality.

Picture quality was poor I thought. Once again, compared to my N95, this doesn't come close. It has a proper (ish) flash but still, most pictures become washed out and blurry. However the video quality was excellent. Widescreen and high res and saves to avi, instead of mp4. Much easier I find, especially if you plan on editing the movie. Taking photos is a simple affair and produced the usual camera shutter sound. But oh dear, you CANNOT disable it. Even switching the phone to silent still produces a loud shutter noise. So much for taking photos of ugly people on the bus in secret.

Phone calls & SMS

Making a phone call with the Viewty is simple enough. You get a keypad to manually dial numbers, contact list obviously and call logs. Once in a call, the screen locks so no accidental presses. So if you want to use secrecy or activate loudspeaker, you need to unlock first.

The contact list is one of the disappointing features. It sorts your contact by name and sections them. So you contacts are sorted in A-D, E-J etc. Its ok, but it's a shame you can't have a full list of them all and scroll ala the iPhone. There is a search option where you can do that, but the window to scroll is so tiny, it's not worth it. For a full screen touch phone, LG isn't utilising its power very well.

Texting with the phone is pretty simple but nothing to write home about (see what I did there?). You have the choices of keyboard, handwriting entry and multitap using T9. However even using multitap, I found myself making so many mistakes and the fact the delete key is on the bottom of the phone, backspacing becomes long winded. The keyboard was supposed to making texting easier but I just couldn't get to grips with it. There is such a small margin for error and fingers hit the wrong keys. It's also not as intuitive as the iPhone and doesn't correct mistakes.

Multimedia

In anticipation of getting a Viewty and me being so compulsive I bought an 8gig MicroSD card. Of course it turns out the Viewty only accepts 2gig max so it didn't like my card at all. So be aware. I used my old 1gig card and found an interesting problem. Browsing the contents of the card from within the phone can be painful. The card I used was from my N95. This had about 30 folders on it, some empty, some with mp3s, pictures, system files etc. The N95 managed to read this card in a flash, but the Viewty takes a long time. It took about a minute to read the card and that was just to be able to view one picture I took. The problem was improved when I cleared off the card and let the Viewty make its own folders. But still, be aware. I found this out the hard way when I copied a folder containing 26 subfolders, each with about 4 files. I tried to access the folder from the Viewty. 10 minutes it took. And during that time the phone freezes up. No button works, cant receive calls or text's, the only way is to remove the battery if you don't want to wait.

As most phones, mp3's can be assigned to ringtones, alarms noises, txt tones and email alerts. So that's a plus.

Games & Applications

For a phone as pricey as this, you would expect at least ONE game. In fact the only 2 applications you get are Youtube & Google maps. Youtube is for want of a better word, awful. Tiny pixelated picture, awful distorted sound and serious connection issues. Having to buffer every 10 seconds. Google maps isn't too much better, but it does the job. But it doesn't have the style or grace as the iPhones.

Regarding games, I managed to install 20 .jar games on the phone. This really shows off the phones inability to handle java games. For starters when you load up a game, it's usually a small screen. Fair enough as it wasn't made for the Viewty's large screen, but there isn't a keypad on the screen. So actually trying to play a game using the arrows is a pain. You can hit a button to bring up a number pad but it's laid out in a landscape form. Not like

123

456

789 but more like

123456

7890#*

Truly horrendous. Not to mention you can't touch 2 buttons at the same time. Not a problem really, but just shows up when trying to play games.

Summary

The LG Viewty isn't a failure, but there's something about it. Its one of those phones you see and want, but when you try it you think "oh, isn't as good as the iPhone" or just "oh". If you see someone with an iPhone (which is rare around where I live) you just seem to notice. The way the menu flows etc. But the Viewty is not that impressive. It's not a phone your proud to show to your friends. Every time I showed it to people it was only to bitch about why isn't it as good as my N95.

LG didn't push the envelope. The menu animations are **** poor, and the touch screen side of things was let slip. It had the potential to seriously take on the iPhone but it just sits in its shadow. True the iPhone isn't perfect and the Viewty was never meant to be an iPhone, but surely you see what others do and you compete and do better. Not just slap on a touch screen and not use it to its full potential.

Currently I sent my Viewty back and im getting a brand new Sony K850i. That will do me nicely.

6/10

If you have any questions about the Viewty I didn't cover, let me know.

Again apologies for lack of pictures, I didn't have a means to take them. Just Google the Viewty for pics.

Edited March 13, 2008 by _X_

[AionXn_]

I was planning on purchasing a Viewty too. I researched a lot about it and decided to continue using my SE W580 for now. The reason why I wanted a new phone was so I could show it off to my friends (and I wanted a touch screen phone). I love how the Viewty looks..if only the iPhone was able to look like that. Thanks for the review. I've read there's lots of minor issues with it..like the ones you've mentioned.

[»X«]

Well at least one person found it useful. I think. :p

[MightyJordan]

Looks like that's put me off recommending it to my dad. He's after a new phone soon, as he's due an upgrade from his Samsung D900. I kept praising the LG Viewty, but after reading the review, I'm left with egg on my face. I hate to say it, but I think the iPhone is better, and I never thought I would say that ever! :D

It looks like the best phone out at the moment is the Nokia N95. My dad agrees with this, but it looks like he's gonna hold off for a bit and wait until August, because the N96 comes out then, and IMO, it's basically the N95, but it looks 95x better! :D

Great review! (Y)

[GrimReeper]

Nice review. I was looking at this phone today and it looks pretty chunky. Pitty about all the things wrong with it, iPhone still isn't released in Australia so we may have to just settle for it :(

[»X«]

Im getting a Sony K850i soon so I shall also review that, this time with pictures!

But as I said, I don't miss the Viewty at all. It just seemed a gimmicky phone. Nothing more. By that's my E-Pinion.

[peacemf]

i was looking into a viewty to replace my k850i which has been nothing but a pain, even with the firmware updates........

but found that it was a few steps BEHIND the k850i in terms of sms etc....

so went for a N82.........will give you a review later :)

[Echilon]

Thanks for the review. (Y)

[Minimoose]

Im getting a Sony K850i soon so I shall also review that, this time with pictures!

But as I said, I don't miss the Viewty at all. It just seemed a gimmicky phone. Nothing more. By that's my E-Pinion.

For some reason E-Pinion made me laugh loads.

Anyway :p My friend bought one of these and was disappointed slightly, after using it i totally agree with your review (Y)

[Peter Lyon]

I was fiddling with a friends, and the thing that struck me, is that the custom made menus were slow on the specific hardware they were made to be used on... i mean wtf?

[emzino]

My cousins got this phone and it's baaaad as in 'not good'. The UI is terrible. Can't see why anyone would rave about it.

Giving it a 6/10 is generous imho.

[nothin2seehere]

Re: the 2GB memory card limit...not true. I've got a 4gig card in my Viewty and it works fine. However, what could account for yours not working is the way it's been formatted. I just put mine in and it worked, but some people reported having to fiddle with formatting. YMMV.

If I could add to your list of gripes and comment on others:

1) Camera. Yes, I'm disappointed too. I actually seem to get better results in dark scenes than well lit outdoor ones. However, I've only ever transferred one or to a computer. I figured if they look bad on the screen, they can't look much better on a 22" monitor. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe the screen just isn't that good.

2) Interface. I like it. I've had mine since the end of '07, and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. It's a piece of **** to use.

3) When you SMS, or use the touchscreen at all for that matter, you can set it to vibrate to give you feedback of when you've pressed the button. Mine seems very temperemental with that feature: it sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. Damn annoying.

4) LG have reeeeally bad support. Not one firmware upgrade since release, and you can't download the included "PC Suite" from their website either. Don't you dare lose that CD that comes in the box!

Verdict: one better than the OP, 7/10, for what it is. I won't let personal opinion get in the way of what is otherwise a good phone. I would recommend it in certain situations, but for me I'll be sticking with Nokia or SE in the future. Shame I have 13 months to go on this contract :(

[freekedoutfish]

Currently I sent my Viewty back and im getting a brand new Sony K850i. That will do me nicely.

6/10

If you have any questions about the Viewty I didn't cover, let me know.

Again apologies for lack of pictures, I didn't have a means to take them. Just Google the Viewty for pics.

I have to say that im surprised by all the negative points people make about the Viewty. I've had mine about 2 days now and I have had none of the issues people have mentioned, including those above:

1) The camera quality seems absolutely great to me, I agree that the phone does seem to occassionally reset your options but I think it only does that depending on what you choose to do.

For instance if you choose to use the front camera for photos or use the slow motion video it resets to a lower resolution for obvious reasons, but you then have to set it back to how you want. You just have to be aware of that!

2) The texting is fine, but not perfect I admit. But im a fast texter and I am able to run off a good sized text in a few seconds if I hold it correctly and concentrate. If you are the type who wants to hold a phone loosely and casually type without having to concentrate then YES, you will have issues.

But tough... just concentrate on what your doing!!

3) The speed of the interface with photos and folder navigation has not been an issue at all for me. I find it loads photos and navigates menus easily and what did you expect would happen if you use a memory card from a COMPLETELY different phone in a different make?

Mobile phones are not PCs and are not compatably with one another and you are bound to find issues if you use a card from an N95 on a Viewty because it wont be formatted to LGs standards.

4) You bought a 4GB card before actually checking what kind it accepts?

Even I had the sense to check that before buying it so that doesnt speak much for your intelligence tbh!!

5) The internet browsing!

Ok so its not great, but then agains ITS A MOBILE PHONE and its NOT a smart phone. If you want to browse the internet away from home then buy a smartphone, a laptop or go to an internet cafe. I found the screen was able to show a nice amount of information and was easy to move up and down.

You commented on the internet browsing on the k800i compared to this.... I found the internet browsing on my k800i awful and thats why I dont internet browse on my mobile.

6) Some people have commented in other reviews that the battery life is awful and I can only say "what are you doing with your phones?", because the only way the battery would die within 24 hours is if either you didnt charge it properly after buying it or you must be using it constantly every seconds or every hour.

Ive had mine about 4 days now and it was charged for 24 hours the first day and not once since and its only gone down one bar and its still going good.

Now ive taken photos, videos, texted, played music and even tried the game on it and thats just casual use.

I also had the sense to turn the brightness down when not outside.

7) Another negative point some have made is how long it takes to put files onto and off the mobile to a PC, and yes it does if you use the awful LG software they provide. But if you have the sense to turn the phone onto mass-storage then its no harder then plugging a pen-drive in and transferring files accross.

Its soooo easy and fast if you do some research.

8) Some have said the music quality is awful and all I can say is this beats my old k800i by miles on quality of sound. My k800i was tinny and unrealistic and awful and this has rich, true sound from it. I love the sound quality on it and the media player is good too, if not a bit simplistic.

But if you want decent music then get a dedicated mp3 player!!!

I like this phone and while its not perfect (texting can be fiddly if you rush and the scroll wheel is in a bad place) it is a GOOD phone and the other MAJOR issue I have about most reviews is this comparison to the iphone....

...stop comparing this phone to the iphone!

Its not trying to be the iphone or trying to kill the iphone, because its not a smart phone which the iphone is (or wants to be). The LG Viewty is nothing more then an attractive, useable camera phone that takes good photos, texts, plays music and does what a normal phone does.

If you buy this for an alternative to the iphone you will be dispointed because its not trying to be one!!

Everything about this phone IMO is well designed, built and implimented (except the scroll wheel), yes it has its issues but which phone doesnt? No phone is perfect and comparing this to an N95 smart phone is retarded, but the good aspects outweight the tiny problems with this phone and they really are just tiny issues.

Smart phones tend to crash every 2 days and my Viewty hasnt crashed once!!

Id rather the Viewty then an over complicated smart phone that will crash most days!!!

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

great review. i have the LG Venus and i'll tell that after buying this thing, i'll never purchase an LG phone again. Scratched the screen by simply taking the phone out of my pocket. one of the buttons is unresponsive until you press it like 4x. the software is slow as hell. overall build quality is pretty average.

i just look at LG as a middle-tier company. There's probably worse, but there's certainly a lot better! i'll stick to Motorola.

[sn00pie]

I've got the TU915 and I prefer it over the iPhone and that new Samsung touch-screen phone (I'm forgetting the name). So far I haven't had any major problems with the phone except its very easy to scratch on the bottom atleast. The iPhone feels alot bigger and heavier in comparison, and the Samsung is no different.

On the feature side the LG TU915 (Vu) doesn't have much compared to the iPhone, but if you're like me and those features are useless to you. You too will prefer the LG TU915 to the iPhone, like me. I bought a iPhone while I had my LG TU915 and I ended up selling it 2-3 weeks after.

The TU915 has pretty much the exact same UI, and it looks identical except for the 3 buttons on the bottom.

[KPSN]

I don't like It

[alxz.310]

Personally, I like the Dare more