I keep seeing it on the internets, this is Verizon’s “iPhone killer”. Please, not even close.
I am currently a VZW customer who’s stuck with the original LG Chocolate (vx8500) and dissatisfied more every day. It’s not a bad phone, it just doesn’t suit my needs anymore. I have grown to need a full (qwerty) keyboard, a bigger screen, full HTML web browsing and a better camera. I am willing to pay for these features. Since I am locked into a contract for another year, I am looking at paying full retail price for ANY device I want. When the phone’s price becomes a non-issue, the playing field levels out considerably when comparing devices, regardless of carrier.
This is my personal review and partial rant about the new LG Voyager (vx10000) and Verizon. Weighing in at $469 retail, it doesn’t offer much outside of looks that other, less attractive devices like the Samsung i760 do for slightly more money without being crippled by the always disappointing Verizon interface.
The Voyager does a good job in the looks department, it’s not a bad looking phone overall with gloss black and chrome trim, large front screen and a big keyboard. The branding is muted, small and stamped in chrome, similar to the original chocolate. Most LG devices are nice to look at, which is what initially roped me into the Chocolate, my first non-pay as you go phone. It stole enough look from the iPod to make it alluring. Same deal with the Voyager, steals enough of the iPhone’s simple visual design to warrant an immediate comparison. However, the front screen is smaller than it could have been, same with the second screen once flipped open. The front screen could have stretched farther, north and south, gaining about another inch of screen real estate. Inner screen could have been a tad wider also. Both screens are low res. I’m supposed to watch video and surf the net on this thing? Hey Verizon, bump up the number of pixels! 
The overall size is smaller than I expected. It looked much bigger in photos I had seen. Then there’s the weight, it’s extremely light, which to me, makes it feel cheaply made. My chocolate phone weighs more than the Voyager and it’s tiny! The Voyager is strong on looks but skimps on quality of build parts.
The Voyager could have been all that without treading into smartphone territory, big touch screen, 2 MP auto-focus camera, html web browsing, full keyboard, mobile tv, music & movie playback and function as a mass storage device but no Verizon drops the ball again.
The touch screen is nice but it’s a gimmick. Same tired VZW UI, menus, and options. There is a virtual keyboard but you only see it when using the web browser, you can’t use it to write text messages. I have this giant screen and I have to use an alphanumeric keypad unless I open the phone? At least make using it an option. 
The HTML web browser is decent but sluggish and I can live without Flash. No java since the phone runs on BREW, which sucks. Pages render s-l-o-w-l-y and navigating by dragging your finger is a joke since the phone takes at least a second to move the page after dragging. Drag, wait, drag wait. No thanks. After adding a full HTML browser seems like a waste when you have to switch to “optimized web” in order for it to perform reasonably well. Oh, and it’s EVDO is the slower Rev.0. Why no Rev.A? I have a side business selling online so more and more, internet access becomes important but I’m not ready for a (usually ugly) PDA with a slew of features I’ll never use.
Adding VCast for unlimited data is a must to get the full functionality out of this phone but it adds MobileTV. I haven’t tried this but it seems interesting. The camera is a mediocre 2 MP with slow auto-focus. For being a flagship phone, this thing should have had 3MP minimum AND a flash. The physical keyboard is similar to the enV but I like the rubber coating present on the Samsung i760 keyboard.
Expandable memory up to 8 GB microSD is nice but means 
I have to spend MORE money for moderate storage (internal 184 MB doesn’t cut it for a media-centric device). A better Mobile Email app is nice but I would prefer to install Mobile Gmail. Oh, Verizon phones don’t do Java, guess I’m out of luck.
In conclusion, the LG Voyager may be on a decent network and look nice but it’s a half-hearted attempt at capturing a burgeoning US market that wants more out of their phone without jumping into PDA/smartphone territory. LG needs to stop buckling to Verizon and crippling their phone to the point where they are practically useless for anything except making phone calls.
After seeing earlier today that Samsung’s recent F700 is coming to VZW under the model number U940 (it’s crippled too with a 2 MP camera instead of the original 5 MP or even later 3 MP, probably VZW’s awful UI instead of the slick Croix interface.. WTF?!?!) I will probably hold out for that phone and see if it improves in any of the areas where the Voyager has failed.
People like(d) to complain about the iPhone’s price but when you’re in a spot like me and forced to pay full retail so you don’t have to get another contract, the iPhone doesn’t seem so expensive anymore. Add to the fact that and SDK will be out for the iPhone in February 2008, this is just the beginning of what the iPhone is capable of offering customers. More and more it seems the iPhone is a platform and not just a phone/iPod. It would be nice if the big carriers (I’m looking at you, Verizon!) would learn to get out of the phone makers’ way so we could see some truly innovative devices hit the US market.
