Camera

Camera phones were first introduced in 2000 as novelty items that took grainy photos of little value. Since then, increasing improvements in technology have allowed users to leave the standalone digital camera at home.

Compared to the market, the VX8300's 1.3-megapixel CMOS camera is fairly average. While much better than prior generation VGA cameras, the VX8300 is not state-of-the-art, trailing behind a few 2.0- and 3.2-megapixel devices currently leading the pack.

Capturing photos up to 1280 x 960 px in resolution, the VX8300 provides reasonable resolution for prints. Only about 60 photos can be stored at the highest quality, but users can choose lower resolutions such as 640 x 480 px, 320 x 240 px, 176 x 144 px, and 160 x 120 px to store up to 1,500 photos on the internal memory.

Using the 5-Way Keypad, consumers can quickly adjust the Brightness (-9 to +9) and Digital Zoom (4x). Combining options to customize photos, the VX8300 includes filter and color correction tools such as White Balance (Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, and Fluorescent), Color Effects (Normal, Sepia, Black and White, Negative, Solari, and Vivid), Self-Timer (3, 5, and 10 seconds), Night Mode, and Flash.

Users can also adjust the Shutter Sound as well as use the front display with the flip closed for self-portraits or group shots.

Also able to capture video, the VX8300 encodes clips in 3G2 format (MPEG-4 or H.263 video and AMR or AAC audio streams). Rather grainy and low quality, videos 176 x 144 px in size can be recorded up to 15 seconds in FLIX Message Mode, or an hour in General Mode.

The VX8300 lacks the technology to records decent video clips, too blurry and low in resolution for much use, and a common problem among all camera phones. However for capturing still photos, the VX8300 is an excellent device. With significantly improved image quality and reduced shutter lag over the VX8100, the VX8300 offers a convenient camera to snap impromptu shots.

Basic Features

The LG VX8300 operates on CDMA 800 / 1900 frequencies, making it compatible to just Verizon Wireless' digital networks nationwide. So customers who live in rural areas where digital coverage may be lacking may want to consider devices with analog frequencies.

As with many other phones, the VX8300 uses a Verizon-branded menu structure. However, rather than the standard no-frills fundamental navigation structure, the VX8300 is one of the first phones to features a Flash-based user interface.

Developed in partnership with Adobe, the VX8300 gives users the ability to not only change the menu colors (Red, Purple, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Green), but also adjust the entire home screen and menu layout with themes (Silver Spin and Pulse). The Flash-UI is slow and may annoy customers, but with prior phones commonly lacking usability features, the VX8300's new interface gives the much needed customizability customers have been requesting.

Miscellaneous features include Standalone Mode (RF Off) for operation in airplanes, TTY/TDD support and hearing aid compatible (M3-Rating) for the hearing impaired, and English and Spanish language support.

LG rated the VX8300's 1100 mAh Li-Ion battery at an impressive 3.83 and 384 hours (16 days) of talk and standby times respectively, considerably prolonging the battery life over the VX8100. However, these times are under optimal conditions. Handset manufacturers and carriers often list talk and standby time ratings with disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times. Actual times will vary.

< Prev Next >

This article is Copyright 2002-2009 Mobiledia Corp. and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from Mobiledia. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact us.