This Shiny Beast is the Best Phone on the Market

Author's Rating:

Pros: Sexy looking phone, sturdy construction, and exceptional performance.

Cons: Battery life could be better, fingerprint magnet.

The Bottom Line: 
It is the best looking phone that Verizon has ever offered; it also has the call quality, reception, and features that put it atop the other phones on the market

Author's Review
In Europe and Asia, LG markets their new line of phones as “the Shine,” but their new phone to hit Verizon Wireless is mundanely called merely the “LG 8700.” Despite the lack of a sexy name, this little phone is one of the sleekest, coolest, and sharpest phones that Verizon has offered to date.

Why I Chose the LG 8700

As a loyal Verizon Wireless customer, it was time for my wife and I to take advantage of our “New Every Two” upgrade. After playing with every phone at the Verizon store on numerous occasions and reading every review I could find online, my wife and I both decided to get the sleek LG 8700. Before this phone, we both had the Motorola E815, which is widely considered to be one of Verizon’s best phones ever. I was a bit reluctant to “upgrade,” because our old Motorola E815s still performed exceptionally and, quite frankly, Verizon offers few new features that my wife and I have any interest in that we could not use with our old phones. However, the old phones started to look a bit beat up, so we decided that we might as well upgrade before Verizon takes our discount away. Verizon was running a special in July that with a promotional code, the phone was completely free after using the $100 new every two credit.

Size of the Phone

There is no doubt that the LG 8700 is sleek, sexy, and seductive. With its brushed stainless steel finish, the phone looks shiny and solid. The phone is slightly heavier than they typical plastic phone, and as a result the phone feels very solid in the hand. The hinge, as well as the rest of the phone, appear well-built. The exterior of the phone, when closes, measures 3.82 inches by 1.95 inches by 0.54 inch allowing it to easily fit in my front pocket.

The Screens

One of the unique aspects of the LG 8700 is the external display. Most phones have a square screen, but this LG’s display runs vertically down the center of the front. The external screen remains very high quality, with 65,000 colors with which it displays caller ID, signal and battery strength, and, of course, the date and time. The external screen can be used as a viewfinder for taking photographs of yourself, but it cannot be used to display photo caller ID.

The inside screen is probably the most gorgeous screen that any Verizon Wireless phone has ever possessed. With 262,000 colors, the 2.25-inch internal display is absolutely gorgeous. When my wife first opened up the phone, she was astounded by the vivid color and detail. This is also the first phone I have seen that has animated wallpaper. There are two choices that come preloaded with the phone (one of a car, the other with bouncing steel balls) or a video can be shot with the camera and then saved as the wallpaper.

The Keypad and Controls

The keypad maintains the sleek stainless steel image of the phone, with a flat metal keypad which looks very similar to the keypad of Motorola’s Razr. While the keypad is flat and a single sheet of metal, there are textured lines between each key (and the keypad does glow a beautiful blue color when dialing). The keypad is pretty basic with two soft keys, a four-way navigation pad (and an OK key in the middle), a clear button, a speakerphone button, and of course the send and end keys. Probably my most significant gripe about this phone is that it is easy to accidentally hit the wrong buttons. It has not been a terrible problem, but I find myself needing to be more careful than I am used to when I type. I am not sure what genius designed the layout, but I think putting the send and the clear buttons next to each other was really dumb. When typing a text message, it is very easy to accidentally send a message when I just want to delete the last letter I just typed.

Reception and Sound Quality

The call quality on the LG 8700 is outstanding. I was quite happy with my previous phone’s reception and sound quality, but the LG 8700 definitely beats my old Motorola E815 hands down. Thus far, I have only used my phone around the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but I have always had a solid signal. I found it a bit odd that in some places where I would generally have five bars with my old phone, I may only have three or four with the LG 8700—but the call quality still sounds better. The LG 8700 also has a speakerphone, which sounds good for a cell phone.

Battery Life

Battery life is one area where the LG 8700’s performance is less than stellar, but it is not as bad as some of the reviews online make it sound. According to Verizon’s website, the LG 8700 has a talk time of 200 minutes (3 1/3 hours) and a standby time of 240 hours (10 days).

When I first got the phone, I immediately charged it and then programmed it. That first evening, I talked for two to two and a half hours (over an hour of that was talking on the phone with Verizon because they really screwed up my plan with I activated the new phone). When I got off the phone with Verizon, my battery charge was down to one bar; I decided to wait to charge it until the next day, but when I woke up the battery was completely dead. I was worried at that point that the battery life might end up being horrid. Fortunately, the battery has lasted much better since then (for instance, I have not charged my battery for four days; in the last four days, I have used the for about two hours of talking and taking a half-dozen photographs, but I still have two bars left).

Bluetooth

The LG 8700 features stereo Bluetooth. I paired the my new handset with a Motorola H500 headpiece in about two minutes—the two items work perfectly together.

Camera

While you will never confuse the LG 8700s camera for a dSLR, it nevertheless outstanding for a little camera phone. I have yet to make any prints with the camera phone, but I have taken some shots that I have looked at on my computer that I am sure will make beautiful 4x6 shots (before owning this camera I would not ever have dreamed of making a print with photo taken on a camera phone).

The VX8700 has 2-megapixel camera. There are a good number of options to choose from with the camera’s menu. The are four different resolutions to choose from (1,600x1,200, 1,280x960, 640x480, 320x240 pixels). Maybe my expectations for a camera phone were too low, but I was thrilled that I could adjust the white balance, the brightness, color effects, and even the spot metering. After taking photos, some basic editing can be done with the phone, including cropping and rotating pictures. Unfortunately, there is no flash built into the phone (but, honestly, most phone camera flashes are almost worthless, so it is not a terrible loss).

Multimedia

The LG 8700 supports the new EV-DO and V Cast features that Verizon offers. With its EV-DO support, the LG 8700 allows users to surf the internet with Web 2.0, check email, and use various instant messaging software. The phone also supports V Cast Music and V Cast Video. While those features are nice if you want to pay Verizon to download music and videos, Verizon paralyzed the phone by requiring uses to purchase the “Music Essential Kit” to get the software and USB cable necessary to take advantage of features. However, with a Micro SD card and a card reader, MP3s can be put onto the phone without paying extra to Verizon.

Micro SD Compatibility

Like most new, higher-end phones, the LG 8700 contains an expansion slot for a Micro SD card. Currently, these cards can be purchased with a memory capacity up to four gigabytes. The use of the expansion card is obviously storage: MP3s and photographs taken with the phone can be stored. A frequent criticism of this phone is that the Micro SD card slot is behind the battery; thus, every time I want to insert or remove the card, I need to take off the metal backing of the phone, pull the battery out, and then I can get access to the card. Personally, I do not find this terribly annoying since I rarely remove the card. I actually kind of like it hidden back there because unlike most phones where the slot is only protected by a flimsy plastic door, there is no way for dust or dirt to get into the slot.

Fingerprint Magnet

Many people criticize the LG 8700 as a fingerprint magnet. Well, their criticisms are true. The shiny, stainless steel casing clearly displays fingerprint smudges wherever it is touches. Fortunately, the smudges are easy to wipe off with a cloth. If fingerprint smudges bother you, then the LG 8700 is probably not the phone for you.

The Phone Doubles as a Hand Warmer

After talking for more than about 10 minutes, the back of the metal base begins to warm up. It is not that serious, but it is noticeable. Occasionally, my old Motorola E815’s screen got hot when I talked—it drove me crazy when it was pressed against my check. Fortunately, the screen portion of the handset remains cool, but the back of the base does keep your hand warm.

Included Accessories

Included in the box is not only the standard wall-charger, but also a headset adopter (for those who use wired headsets) and a pouch. The padded cloth pouch is actually something I am quite happy with (my standards must be way too low). The case is a thick, padded, black pouch, which feels like suede leather (but is undoubtedly a cheaper knock-off). The case perfectly fits the LG 8700 and allows me to keep the phone in my pocket and my wife to keep it in her purse without fear of scratching the phone or getting dirt in its crevices. Unfortunately, the phone needs to be removed from the pouch to see the caller ID.

Final Thoughts

The LG 8700 is not only the best looking phone that Verizon has ever offered, but its call quality, reception, and features also put it atop the other options. The flat keypad can be a bit difficult to use and the fingerprints might drive some people crazy, but I am extremely happy with my LG 8700 and would definitely recommend it to others.