After four years of being a Sony Ericsson evangelist and owning a T610 (still my favourite design), K700, K750, W810 & W880 I’ve got an LG. It’s as big a moment in my consumerist life as when I bought my first pair of Puma trainers after years of only wearing Adidas. How shallow it all seems!
My contract was up, Orange asked me what ‘phone I wanted, and so I looked at what was available. Helen has the K850i and it’s a good ‘phone – it just didn’t do it for me, and it’s been a little unreliable. I don’t do Nokia, and Motorola (the only other make I’ve ever owned) didn’t have a good enough camera in any of their ‘phones. So it was Samsung or LG. The LG Viewty is special, so I went for it.
Three days in and I’m impressed. There are areas of its functionality which I’ll never like as much as my Sony Ericssons (having to press the back button three or four times when a long hold should do it – not going back to the homescreen when you’ve finished a call, meaning you have to do all that pressing – the way that the T9 predictive text seems to switch itself on and off at will or stay on or off in all applications when you always want it on for texting and nearly always off for website addresses…to name just a few…) but it’s just such a lovely thing to use. The big screen is clear and well lit in the way that Nokias never seem to be, and whilst it’s not as responsive a touch-screen as on the iPhone (see below) it’s still far, far better than I expected and getting easier to use each time I operate it. The pictures I’ve taken seem good quality but I’ve yet to print one out yet to see how good it really is. My particular bit of gadget related joy is the way that the ‘phone vibrates very gently when you press a key on the touch-screen. Nice. I’m enjoying LG life.
It’s not a perfect ‘phone but I know I’m happier with it than I would have been with what Sony Ericsson currently has on offer. And after four years using variations on the same basic operating system it’s nice to explore something new.
So why didn’t I get an iPhone then? I’m an Apple user. I have a MacBook and an iPod. I’m typing this on an Apple keyboard plugged into a PC because I’ve yet to find a PC keyboard which types as nicely… Getting an iPhone seems an obvious thing for me to do. I had a play on one last week and it was such a fantastic device. The touch-screen was beyond what I thought was possible (especially when scrolling) and it was so well thought out in the way that only Apples seem to be – it puts the Viewty to shame in both areas.
But.
- I get my broadband free with Orange. O2 don’t do broadband in this area. The iPhone is only on O2 so I’d have to move networks and end up paying an extra £15-£20 a month on broadband.
- My Viewty is still a lovely bit of kit despite its little foibles and I got it thrown into my mobile contract for free. An iPhone would have cost me £269. It’s good, but it’s not £269 better than a Viewty.
- The iPhone currently only holds 8GB of music, video and files. So if I want to be able to carry around all my music with me, which I do, I’m still going to need my £160 iPod Classic.
In short even with free internet browsing (which is almost offset by a higher minimum monthly tariff on the iPhone with O2 and the cheap data deal I get with Orange) the iPhone would cost me an extra £450+ over the length of my eighteen month contract. And I’d still have to carry my iPod around. I was happy paying a little bit extra for my MacBook because I was getting a much better product, but the gap between an iPhone and a Viewty, Nokia N95 etc. isn’t that great.
Maybe I’ll get a second generation iPhone when Apple stop taking the piss about the price. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy my Viewty…
NICE!
I completely AGREE! I now have an LG Viewty and I also had a good play on the Apple iphone before I even attempted to think about opting for the Viewty. I was so hung up on getting an i-phone for Christmas until I actually went to the Apple store and experienced it for myself, it probably took me around 40secs to think ‘WOW’ and 2 more minutes to think, what a load of shit! I’m a serious gadget girl, I study, eat, drink and sleep technology, but this i-phone put me off.
I personally found it weighty and quite bulky and to top it off an annoying ‘Exclusive to O2 network’ sign was displayed above it on an exhibition board. To text anyone using the i-phone seems a daunting task, its just impratical. Good design, very good quality graphics, nice dynamics, but not quite there, it just didn’t do it for me.
Now LG surely must have seen this coming and has done everything in their power to make their phone lets say better, might not be in the design, but the usage ability is just a lot more pleasant, you can really enjoy the phone. Its basically self explainable, I haven’t once read the manual and I use the phone like I’ve had it forever. The highpoint really is the vibration as you touch the screen, almost the same thrill as when your on the Nintendo Wii and your remote vibrates (hmmm how sad), but it is quite exciting at first ;-D
With all these up and coming smart-phones, you so need to weigh out the pros and cons; which one is better or even more better, because its not about which is worse any more, its either really good or really really good.
In my opinion, I think the LG is a lot better than the i-phone for many different reasons; freedom of network usage, its able to do all the major functions the Apple i-phone can do in a more practical way, you do not need to use your fingers all the time as it comes with a stylus pen (how the hell did Apple not think of that) and it is not a rip-off.
Yea, I guess the LG has its glitches about it, but its more about what you’re used to on previously owned phones that now might be different on the LG and you’re just going to have to read the manual to overcome them, nothing at all that is detrimental though, because you so get used to it. But what I’ve realised with these types of phones is that you just shouldn’t use one if you don’t have the nack of learning how to use things quickly or if you’re a technophobic. The big pictures and icons really help, if you ask me, the navigation is way too simple.
I don’t have a problem with T9 predictive texting, perhaps because I don’t use it full stop. The scrolling is fine, that took me perhaps a day to perfect, it needs a certain motion as i discovered, you hold as if you’re grabbing the page and drag it up or down. But besides all that, the phone just has so much going on inside it too; it features Google maps, so if you’re lost, no need to pull out your A-Z, muvee making, jukebox, mobile tv, very fast internet and a 5Mp camera, errrr how did Apple miss that one out, the i-phone only has a very low quality 2Mp camera.
The LG Viewty is a real good cheaper alternative to the Apple i-phone and I recommend it to anyone, gadget freak or not. For what the LG Viewty can do, the Apple i-phone is not worth up to 300 squid, fact. However if Apple came out with a new and improved version, I think even I would have to do a swap…..sorry LG.
But i agree with you foolhandy, Apple really is taking the piss about the price.
Verdict:
Apple i-phone = Really good!
LG Viewty = Really really good!
Gonna get my viewty today, can’t wait!!! At first me too wanted iPhone but I find Viewty better, cheaper and nicer now. I agree with Lady J, when Apple releases iPhone 2.0 then its probably gonna be better than Viewty or any other phone, but the price isn’t worth it.
For me there are two things missing : It will not pair with a lot of bluetooth kit ,ie, pioneer for one , and LG say the KU990 IS MADE TO ONLY WORK WITH THEIR KIT!!! .
Two, there is no AUTO ANSWER so if you touch the phone whilst driving with the bluetooth on ,ie your h/free ear piece etc, you get a £60.00 fine if seen by Mr Plod.
Please MR LG, a firmware upgrade asap.
My LG Expo is ready to ship this afternoon. I really feel like a latecomer to the smartphone/Expo scene, but I am excited to study what could be completed with it. At this point, I do not know what I don’t know, so I’ll be spending numerous time exploring the machine and the boards. Because of all who contribute and help noobs like me!