LG Fusic
For one reason or another, Sprint has asked me to continue with Phase II of the Sprint Ambassador Program and review their Power Vision service with another phone, the LG Fusic pictured above. It's an interesing looking phone. I'm not too keen on it's looks. It's on the slippery side as well. For a phone that is $330 retail price (that's without any of the sign up deals and such), a little too slippery for my tastes. It's got an antenna nub. I dislike the antenna nubs. It's a flip phone. I prefer non flip phones.
Once open, the phone is bright and running my thumb across the number pads, they are slightly rubbery and have a nice feel to them. The screen is your average cell phone screen. The menu is similar to that of the A920. Both being Sprint Power Vision phones, it makes sense since they have to have many of the same capabilities.
One cool feature I've used is the Sprint wireless backup. When activated, the phone wirelessly backs up all the contacts to a personalized server space. Using a web interface, you can log in and change/add/delete names from your phone book. I opted to enter the names/numbers I'd be dialing most using my computer and the web interface instead of pecking away at the phone's keypad. It was much easier. This alone is a very good reason to think about choosing Sprint. It is a $2/month subscription, but the ease of use is worth it. And there's always the chance that your phone could get fucked up. I'm assuming this data could be downloaded to another phone if you were to switch handsets or needed a replacement. The information is periodically updated from the phone to the server. And from the server to the phone whenever you log off of the web interface. Pretty fucking sweet. I pecked away at the QWERTY pad on my Q to enter my contacts. I probably just should've loaded up MS Outlook onto my computer, but I refuse to do so. I'm Outlook free – I'm a Thunderbird user.
So with my new six month review time, I'll be getting the same deal. Free reign on minutes at all times, free/unlimited data usage, free/unlimited downloads of any kind onto the phone. Pretty bitchin. And this time around, it's a 267 Philly area code instead of a weird 816 Kansas City one. This phone will most likely split time between me and Lady for the next six months so that she doesn't go over her minutes. I've been good with my minutes thus far, but who knows if I'll be using my cell phone for work more and more.
I'll be using the NFL Network stuff the most I think. There's even a new application which allows the user to watch full length feature films right on the tiny screen called Sprint Movies powered by mspot. I started to watch Spiderman 2, which was the featured one on the home page, which normally costs $4.99. It wasn't all that horrible, but not so great if you accidentally hit a button. The whole screen just starts to jitter. The 'rentals' last for a few days. I'm not sure how well this will do considering it's such a tiny screen and it's streaming which is just asking to be nto so hot. Considering it's the same price to rent the films on OnDemand, I'm not so sure about this thing. I'm currently renting Annapolis and am gonna try to watch more of it than the 30 seconds I watched Spiderman 2. ***Of note, when attempting to review something which is power intensive, it's best to make sure your battery is amply charged. A few minutes in, the phone powered down as it was just about out of juice.
Explore posts in the same categories: Gadgets, Sprint Ambassador Program
September 21st, 2006 @ 4:53 pm
"Joel on Software" has a scathing review of that phone up. He got one free as well.
November 1st, 2006 @ 5:55 pm
Funny you mention how you would consider getting sprint simply for their number backup service.. Verizon Wireless has been offering that feature (as a paid service) for at least a year or two.. But a month or two ago, they announced that they will open up the service to every one of their customers..For free..
Now would you seriously still consider using sprint which is an inferior network, only for their backup service which isn't a unique service, and you have to pay for it??
November 2nd, 2006 @ 12:42 am
Unfortunately, not all Verizon phones have GetItNow capabilities preventing their Backup Assistant from being as fully rolled out as Sprint's service. Free or not, I can't get it on my Motorola Q.
December 5th, 2006 @ 9:10 pm
Sprint has an inferior network? I'm sorry – back that up with some foundation before you make ignorant statements again. I've had both Sprint and Verizon – both have their ups and both have their downs, but BOTH are CDMA – they use the same exact technology. …and for data, Sprint is quickly rolling out EV-DO revision A which is much faster than Verizon's EV-DO.
Why did I cancel Verizon? Couple reasons…1) I get charged at least one minute airtime to use their "My Account Handset" – a web page that says "Airtime free" at the top and shows you your minute usage etc. It is airtime free, but it costs you at least one minute to access the wireless web which leads you to this page. Minutes are for phone calls – don't charge my data usage using my phone voice minutes – that is simply the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. 2) 9:01pm is when nights start. I go to sleep at 9:30 if I can help it. 7:00pm on Sprint, standard. 3) Socialist-esque control — I actually don't have a problem with a standardized user interface…it makes it easy to switch phones. BUT, their user interface disables A2DP bluetooth on the LG Vx8300 AND it turns off mp3 playback capabilities – you have to hack the phone right out of the box to get it to do what LG made it to do…why you ask? So you have to buy $1.99 songs over the air using VCAST. I don't want crappy VCAST — I don't even want ITUNES for that matter. I want to take my 192kbs (far superior to 128k on itunes and vcast) mp3 files (not Windows Media crap) and put them on my phone and play them. You cannot do this with Verizon's most popular phone (the 8300). If you're going to the standard interface thing, fine…don't you dare cripple the features that make us buy phones in the first place.
FINALLY, why I think Sprint is better (and I'm not even the Sprint customer in the house, my wife is–I have Nextel — which I know sucks – I'm waiting for a phone I really want to come out on Sprint or Alltel)….VCAST sucks! Why the heck do I want to pay $15 a month to watch YouTube on my phone? I can watch live ESPN on my wife's phone if I want to…movies, Fox Sports, live news…but again, that's SprintTV. VCAST? Let's see–I can download clips of the latest thug rapper's acceptance speech at the XM Radio Music Awards – or whatever the latest waste of time music awards show is…I can download YouTube…GREAT VERIZON…really worth $15. You should be paying me $15 a month to watch for what you offer.
Sprint is adding towers; they're getting in to new technology-they're certainly not perfect, but they're doing things people want to see. Verizon reflects the old Bell monopoly which can kiss it as far as I'm concerned. The days of monopolized phone services are over.
May 23rd, 2007 @ 6:29 pm
i dont have sprint or verizon… i have virgin mobile b/c it is all i can afford at the time. VM is pretty good… but i like to looks of the fusic. its young and colorful. 2 of my friends have it and they love it. im not playing battle of the phone companies…. but i think that sprint does charge too much for their unlimited text messaging. other companies charge less than $15… craziness! ill find a new company sooner or later….
June 20th, 2007 @ 8:01 am
This is in response to Courtney…I'm sure you meant to say Verizon's text messaging fees are crazy. It's only 10 dollars a month for unlimited text messaging at Sprint. For the working individual, we can't wait until 9 when minutes are free. My plan allows my minutes to be free at 6 pm…
August 25th, 2007 @ 12:08 am
Courtney believe it or not you are using Sprint right now on Virgin Mobile. As Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's whole network.
August 27th, 2007 @ 8:32 pm
I want this Phone so bad…
January 6th, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
yea this phone is freakin sweet i love it all except the blue tooth you can only send calenders and contact info and its so organized you have to select the right folder for any thing someone sends you and of the 3 options none of them support ringtones :(
May 27th, 2008 @ 11:04 pm
How do you hack ringtones for the fusic???
June 25th, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
My husband threw out the box to my LG Fusic phone and the accessories were inside. I would like to replace them. Any suggestions?
November 6th, 2008 @ 6:50 pm
Try e-bay for your accessories