LG CU500
Average Ratings
get a 3g sim card
I've had my 500 now for about 3 weeks. At first I thought the phone qwas great. However, i had alot of static noise and i was dropping calls in areas I Knew I had coverage. Then I realized that i did not have a 3g sim card. got one and it is 99% better.
pros: all the features and tools offered
cons: no voice dial...can live without. still has small amounts of noise
So far so good
I've had this phone for about 1 week and so far it's the best phone I've owned. The speaker is loud and I have no problems hearing the person on the other end. I really like the black finish of the phone. MP3 player is great also. Camera takes ok pictures, but not as good as I expected from a 1.3MP camera.
I can definitely say that I like this phone better than my old Motorola V557. I get excellent coverage and the 3G is great in the Atlanta area. I actually have not had one dropped call in the week's time I had the phone, which is a good thing.
The major bad thing about the phone is that it has to be charged once a day. Maybe it has to do with the 65,000 color external display.
Pros:
Loud speaker
Great reception
MP3 player
Nice fit and finish
Colorful external screen
Bluetooth
Cons:
No external speaker
Spkrphone option only works when flip is open
Black exterior picks up fingerprints easily
Poor battery life
Ascending ring tone
as a phone
I got this phone because my 6 year old Qualcomm didn't have a hands free option. Other than that, it worked fine for my needs in that it was a reliable phone. This new CU500 may have a slew of delightful non-phone functions, but as a phone, it's a bit of a disappointment.
PROs -
looks cool
has all the basic modern features - alarm, calculator, camera...
CONS -
speaker phone is very echo-y
definitely doesn't have the advertised 10 days of standby - I've gotten 3 on a good week
doesn't have the 5 hours talk time - I've been able to get maybe 2 hours out of it
a periodic low beep interrupts my calls
time display disappears after a few seconds
it's a bit of a bummer that the camera doesn't have a flash - really limits how much you can use it
Loving this phone so far.
I upgraded from the Sony Ericsson s710a, and for this LG CU500 being half the price, I'm getting a smaller phone with better features!
The sound quality is really great. People I have talked to said they could barely understand me on my old phone, but I come through crystal clear on my new CU500.
I really dig the shortcuts on this phone. I only need to press one button for a new txt msg, or to get to the music player. I also like the Voice Recorder shorcut on the # key.
My only real gripe is with the Cingular 3G service. I have had a heck of a time here in Columbus at my apt. No matter what I do, people cannot hear me saying anything, regardless of my signal strength. It only happens with the 3G network. I forced my CU500 into using GSM only, and it has worked great. I will be troubleshooting this with Cingular today.
As for what I have read concerning "confirmation tones" that cannot be muted (after you send a text msg, etc), they are very, very wrong. You quite simply put your phone in "VIBRATING mode" (silent mode) which you do by holding down the * (star) key. It mutes ALL noises.
PROs
- Very, very sleek design
- Love the shortcuts for a new txt msg, AIM, and the voice recorder
- Call/voice quality is fantastic
- 3G Data is *fast*
- External music controls
- Love the keypad
- Camera swivels
- Loudspeaker volume is superb
- Music over loudspeaker sounds amazing
CONs
- Cingular 3G in Columbus is messing up my calls
- The 3 buttons on side of phone are hard to press
- The hinge is VERY firm, and hard to shut the phone.
- Battery gets very warm with excessive use
- Battery gets HOT when charging/using at same time.
I repeat: You *are* able to get rid of the tones that play after you send a text msg, and the tone that plays once the txt msg is successfully sent. All you need to do is hold down the "*" key, and that puts the phone into silent mode.
For the $, get this phone. There aren't any other good Cingular phones that are 3G capable.
Cingular's handset of 2006.
It's common news how to enter the engineering mode to turn off 3G or turn on EFR.
The bottom line, is that this handset is our best overall voice quality phone without any hacking and, in addition feature wise it stacks up with any phone for any carrier in North America.
At first I was bothered that the internal screen was only 65k, but it is obviously necessary for the battery life and I don't really personally feel it's any poorer because of it.
At it's price point of less then $100 for most it is a steal. You could overspend for the V3i at $300 and have a comparable phone. But this phone is without a doubt Cingular's hottest non smart phone handset.
It's All Been Said But...
I know that I don't really have anything new to say about this phone that hasn't already been said on this forum, but here's my two cents anyway:
PROS:
Fastest phone in America for internet
Near-instantaneous text messages
Good signal strength (Cingular/Atlanta)
Great speakerphone
Nice look
Stereo Bluetooth support
Every feature you'd want: calendar, alarm clock, voice recorder,e tc.
CONS:
Doesn't include data cable or memory card
Minor Bluetooth glitches
Doesn't stream Cingular TV over stereo Bluetooth headset
Annoying chime can't be changed
No Voice Dialing
High speed internet, but small screen makes it impractical to surf the web
Overall a great phone, especially for the price. I buy a new phone every month, but I might keep this one for two months. :)
Just got it...but a bit skeptical.
OK I'll start with what I like:
Design
Overall feel of phone
Display set-up/selection
Camera..even though there's NO flash
Keypad is great
OK What I dont like:
Side keys could be a bit more protruded
When u have ur SIM to ask for ur code the phone will accept the code but will say "Invalid SmartChip" even if u have a perfectly good SIM card like mine...I have another CU500 coming in to see if its just the one I have now that does it....If so, I'll repost something here to let you guys know.
REVIEW: I just got this phone yesterday so I cant really give an in-depth review. I love the phone's design/fuctionility besides the side keys. I find them to be a nuisance to use SOMEtimes. I gave away my Bluetooth headsets so I cant comment on Bluetooth. I only get about 2 bars of service at my house so I really cant comment on the data transfer speed but its FAST compared to the Samsung SGH Zx10 I had prior to this phone. O yeah...3G isn't available yet my area, Mississippi(dont ask how I got the phones). But this phone works WAY better than the Zx10 outside 3G areas. All in all this is a good phone thats feature packed that has become my favorite out of all my phones(Nokia 6620,6682, Motorola v551, v557, Sony Ericcson Z525a, W600i, Samsung Zx10). This was my 1st review and agian I just got the phone yesterday.....with that being said....excuse the crappiness of this review. ; p
LG does it again!
I just got this phone last week and am thoroughly impressed.
Pros:
Full Digital Audio player including support for WMA MP3 AAC AAC+ etc even though the documentation says it only supports MP3, AAC and AAC+.
Very VERY fast downloads! my area does have 3G yet, but even on edge this is plenty fast for anything I could need!
Great 1.3 MP camera with zoom in lower resolutions.
Bluetooth included:No Wires, Even has support for the bluetooth stereo headphones, and no need to email/MMS pictures to people!
Brilliant Display... Brightest I've seen in a long time!
Very thin trim design... take that Razr!
Cons:
Case smudges very easily.
Memory card could be easier to get to... must have finger nails.
All in all a fantastic phone. Well worth the $$$$
What's the real deal?
So, I bought this phone because my plan has been up for 2 months now ... and I'm quite surprised and angry.
... first, I love the 3G aspect ... and I love playing music on it ...
... second, I wish that the phone numbers were listed better ... I love my black RAZR, because I would see the icon that showed which number if it was a mobile or home or even a fax number.
... third, I don't know why my MICROSD card won't read for some reason, and I'm tempted to give it back ...
... fourth, I hate the factory OLD RING ... it's quite disturbing ... I need the original LOUD ring that the LG 1400 had ... that woke me up the in the morning!
... fifth, I bought the USB/headset and I was disappointed with the quality of sound.
... I could go on, but that's the jist of it.
... thanks.
CU500
I owned this phone for only 3 weeks. Within that time frame i came to HATE this phone AND Cingular. Here are my complaints with this phone:
1. No voice dialing option. I purchased a bluetooth headset and then found there was no voice dialing option. How lame is that?
2. Text message alerts cannot be turned off. I have my phone at my desk all day and I cannot have an alert sound every time I get a text message. This is not an option. The only way to science the text message alerts was to silence the phone. I called both LG and Cingular and complained about this "feature". They blamed the other guy. I asked to have a "Silent ringtone" created for those of us that found this feature annoying and again they refused.
3. No auto answer when a head set is plugged in. I had this feature on my old Motorola but not on this phone. i had to open the phone and press a button for every call. Again, annoying when you are driving.
4. The battery life on this phone sucks. After 20 minutes of talking I was already down 1 bar.
5. This phone gets HOT. I mean physically hot. So hot that it is hard to hold.
6. The only good thing I liked about the phone was the MP3 player with buttons on the front of the phone. Very nice but not enough reasons to keep this phone. I returned the phone and canceled my service with Cingular with 30 days. I now own the LG VX8300.
