The LG VX8300 Wireless Phone

The LG VX8300 wireless phone was introduced in the summer of 2006. I bought this phone using Verizon's "New Every Two" program, meaning I receive a free cell phone every two years. This phone retails for over $100, but I got it for free-- well, almost.

I chose this phone over the popular "RAZR" phones from Motorola because I wanted something a bit heavier that I wouldn't be prone to dropping and breaking. I've had LG phones in the past, as well as Motorolas, and the LGs have always had better sound quality and weren't as prone to malfunctioning. I also liked that it had the ability to play mp3s, and that it included a camera phone. The color display (both inside and out) was also a nice bonus.

This phone wasn't quite as "free" as it was advertised because in order to get mp3's, you need to purchase them from Verizon VCast. If you want to transfer mp3's that you already have on your computer, you need to purchase the Music Essentials Kit for $30 that contains the software and cables necessary to move the songs from your computer to your phone. I ordered this kit and they sent me the kit for the LG VX8100, and I had to return it. They eventually set me the correct kit, but they charged me twice, after telling me that they only needed my credit card number again to give me a refund. I ended up having to go through my credit card company to remove the double charge.

When I finally received the correct Music Essentials Kit, I found it confusing to setup. I consider myself to be pretty savvy when it comes to computers, but the instructions were confusing and the software installed itself into the start menu so that it starts every time I start my computer. This was extremely frustrating. After transferring one song from my computer to my LG VX8300 phone, I received error messages for moving other songs. This was because my phone did not have enough memory to hold more than one mp3. So, I had to purchase a microSD memory card in order to hold more songs. This memory card cost me about $25, which means I spent $55 total extra dollars on this phone, just to get it to play mp3's.

The sound quality is very good for such a small phone. The speakers can be quite loud, and the songs sound very crisp. One problem I've experienced is that if I do not secure this phone inside my purse, the outer buttons are somehow pushed which starts the music playing. I am sure I could find a way to deactivate this feature, but I have not tried yet. It's very irritating to be walking down the street, only to hear my cell phone mp3s playing inside my purse.

The camera feature on this phone is excellent. It is 1.3 mega-pixels and you can transfer the photos from the phone without too much difficulty.

A major annoyance with this phone is the lack of an "always-on" outside display. The exterior display only illuminates when you touch the buttons. Therefore, you cannot look at your phone to see if you have a text message, or to see what time it is. I often use my phone as a watch, and it bugs me that I can't simply look at the phone to tell the time, as I could with previous LG phones. While it's nice to have a color display on the outside, I would have rather not sacrificed the ability for that display to always be on.

Finally, this phone only holds 40 text messages, despite the fact that I have a 512MB memory card inside the phone. I am constantly having to delete the text messages in order to receive new ones.

All in all, the phone works well, but it definitely has some annoying quirks which took me some time to get used to.