LG Shine CU720
Average Ratings
Shine is On
I'm not the type of person that changes phone once a year. Been looking for a good phone to replace my sliding Samsung unit that was used for over 2 years. I could listen to MP3's, it had a good camera w/ FLASH, and just overall a good phone. Cingular offered nothing but same ole crap flip phones for the longest time, and most camera phones don't seem to come with flash. Why is that??!! Finally since AT&T took over some exciting new phones have been released. The Shine was it! Super nice phone, with some really nice features. Basically a newer version of my current phone but all the features are more up to date and more powerful plus it offers even more options.
Pro's: Being able to multi task, making wallpaper FULL SIZE, Camera seems to work well, MP3's can be nicely organized, SDcard is SUPER NICE for loading up multimedia, overall very easy to figure out and use and has many neat little features.
Cons: Keypad is a little small, some MP3's aren't very loud, can't save text messages to a designated folder to be able to save them.
Still in my 30 day trial period, but so far so good!!
Looks nice, poor camera and text device
(from a post I made on att forum - since then, I've reverted to using my old trusty SE W810i w/ the AT&T sim, and Shine is going back. I will probably pick up an unlocked K850i or N95)
1) They've lost the autofocus high quality camera. This is a dealbreaker for me so the phone will most probably need to go back. The shots it takes are a lot worse than my old SE W810 - desaturated and fuzzier. And, like I say, no AF. Reviews of the 720 elsewhere with the nice lens are very positive. This one won't get those rankings.
2) The look of the device is quite nice, with a good slide action
3) Very very hard to type one handed - the 'keys' dont really give much under pressure and you will make many mistakes
4) The joystick is a disaster. Reminds me of an older silver SE I had with a similar joystick. Just put a 4 way button there people! (like the 810)
5) The UI is not at all consistent and has many holes. Why can't I multiselect photos and then DO something with them (other than delete) ! e.g. multi then send via bluetooth is not possible.
6) Google maps won't run. Opera and Google mail will, but are crippled with the inability to say 'always allow' the internet access. You can read many threads over past year as to whose faults this is, but bottom line is that Cingular have altered the firmware such that those apps that they deem are not signed correctly will NOT have the menu option to allow acccess for the entire session. Thus every single access will prompt a stupid allow dialog. This is absurd of course. But lucky you, consumer, the phone is loaded with time limited sample applications that don't suffer from this problem and ask you to pay after 3 day trial. Nice.
7) Volume is low, and, moreover, both voice quality and speaker quality are sub par.
On the upside, AT&Ts network seems quite reliable and the video playback and screen quality in general are high.
But as I fell right now, this device will need to go I think, and I'll pick up a 3G SE or Nokia.
I love it but........
Would have to say that this phone is nice. There could be some things that can be improved on (Like the battery life). I have turned my settings down to the very lowest and when you turn the phone off and then back on the battery goes down 1 bar.
All in all the phone works like a dream. The funny thing about it is that the phone hasn't be released in some AT&T stores yet, but I got one.
Please wait till they come out in the stores to buy cause the slide up and down function in much stiffer then ones that you can get else where.
The camera works like a dream and the video record is awesome. Would not trade this phone in for the world.
I had the Apple Iphone and though that was great I love this LG phone better. You still can do some of the functions as the Iphone. Email, contacts, maps, ring tones (that you don't have to purchase at the Itunes store) you can make your own and put it on the phone, graphics, and games, games, and more games.
If you are a person who has to have the latest and greatest this will be the phone for you!
Faultless Equipment
I purchased my LG Shine about a month ago and I love it! Really, I don't have enough complaints to give a "Cons" list but the "Pros" are unending! The only thing that has somewhat irked me is the joystick. I'm not a huge fan of it but with all the good qualities the phone possesses, I can't really dwell on one minor thing.
PROS
*Phenomenal Picture/Video Quality
*Crisp, clear sound quality
*Very User Friendly
*Sleek, easy slide, brilliant shine
*Great for listening to music
*Technologically superb
*Huge screen
*And more, so on, etc.
In short, I absolutely adore my Shine! I couldn't have asked for a better phone. I actually had a customer exchange their iPhone for a Shine not too long ago. How bout that? I hope you will enjoy yours as much as I do mine!
Absolutely horrible phone.
I had an AT&T Go-Phone and since it was old and messing up I needed a new one. I didn't have a contract so I saved up and finally bought the LG Shine for around $400. 400 DOLLARS! I know, stupid move, but i wanted a good one. Right after taking it out of the box I regretted it. Multiple problems. I finally just bought another Go-Phone for $350 dollars less that blew the Shine out of the water.
PROS: well...it was new.
CONS: no service (even though all other AT&T phones pick up great in my area); horrible battery (fully charged at the beginning of the day, one bar at night - even though it wasn't used but for a few texts); slow to respond sometimes; thick and cluncky body.
BOTTOM LINE: save yourself the hassle and money, don't buy it. Truly horrible phone. LG must have threw this phone together for a quick buck without testing it.
okay but annoying
at first i liked it but
CONS
-the screen is supposed to be a mirror, but you have to constantly clean the screen if you ant to use it as a mirror,
-the joystick is very annoying!!
-it drops calls allllll the time!!
-it will randomly shut off at the most random moments!! and you dont realize its off until you look at your phone and realize its been off for a while
- very bulky and heavy!!
PROS
-the mirror is cool(when screen is clean)
-it looks cool (at first)
over all i would say keep looking for a new phone
Not the best I've had
I've had this for a while. In fact I don't even know if they sell it anymore. My two biggest complaint are the hard to use navigation ball. And the fact that I just found out I can't just copy all of my pictures and photo's to a memory card at once. It has to be one by one. That's 2 years of pictures and video. From my daughters birth to her second birthday a couple of days ago. Any way my wife and I both have problems with ours so we are getting new ones soon. Well after I transfer all the photo's and video that is. :/
makes a good mirror
I had first purchased the shine and after one month had to get it replaced because the battery would not hold charge for more than an hour talking. Also it would get really hot when I would plug it into the charger. so after i had gotten it replaced i had the new one for maybe a month and that one had similar problems also with the added problem of it shutting off no reason.
PROS
small
slide phone (pretty cool)
built in mirror
CONS
short battery life (i mean short)
overheats when charging
shuts off for no reason
vibrate and ring are not loud and often drowned out by background noise
dropped lots of calls (AT&T)
Hard to Judge
PROS: Excellent durability (except for screen - easy to scratch), good sound quality, good picture quality, very dependable, few (if any) software bugs
CONS: Bluetooth, inconsistent quality, loud keys (not good for stealthy texting)
I've had my LG Shine for nearly two years and it's been excellent. I really appreciate durable craftsmanship and while the screen itself is prone to scratching, overall the phone can really take a hit. The only problem it ever gave me was the Bluetooth quit working after about two months. Not a huge issue for me, but could be problematic for some. The phone has only frozen once in these two years, and I just took out the battery and popped it back in. No lasting problems. The camera quality is pretty good as long as the light is decent. The flash isn't much good for pictures, but it has an "always on" feature that is useful as a flashlight. The internal memory is quite adequate, but if you feel the need for a memory card the slot is conveniently located on the side of the phone. It's true that the joystick takes a little time to get used to, but I didn't feel it was particularly annoying. To be honest, I'd be happy to keep this phone another few years except that I finally dropped it a little too hard on the tile and the faceplate around the edge came off. I'm toying with the idea of just gluing it back on...
However, It seems that the quality is inconsistent between phones. My boyfriend got the same phone (different color) about two months after I did and had nothing but trouble with it. Despite the fact that he treated it with utmost care, it froze on a daily basis, dropped calls, and shut down frequently. It died within about three months and he had it replaced. His new one however, behaves MUCH better.
Maybe the phone is needs to be dropped a few hundred times for optimum functionality? That's what I did anyway...
Superphone.
I've had this phone for a couple months, and it wasn't new when I got it, either. I've gone through like 7 phones in a year and a half (I have really bad luck with phones) and the shine is the only phone I've ever had that can withstand my clumsiness. Seriously, it got soaked in water for two hours, fell in a cup of coffee, and I drop it like three times a day, and it still works perfectly! Not kidding!
Aside from durability, this phone is still great. It may be a bit heavy, but it's not too heavy. Like, it's just heavy enough to be able to find it easily in my purse. A few other phones I've had couldn't keep up with me while texting. Like, I'd enter the text and have to wait a few seconds for it to appear on the screen. I don't have that problem with this phone. It's fast, and responsive.
I would definitely recommend this phone to anyone, especially teenagers or anyone clumsy. It may not be as "cool" as some newer phones, but it's still great.
