LG Voyager Review

Camera Interface

Camera:

The Voyager has a 2MP AutoFocus camera, similar to the one used on the enV, but loses the flash, manual lens protector, and “hump” located on the back. The camera takes 3 seconds to load and can be launched by the touch-screen or by the dedicated button on the left edge. From there, the entire display is used as the viewfinder and you can then press the camera button again to capture the image. With the AutoFocus is set to one-stop, it takes 2 seconds to capture the image (compared to 3 sec on the enV) and an additional 3 seconds to save. The total turn around time to take one picture, save it, and take a second picture for saving is 10 seconds . If you need to take pictures closer together, you can turn off the autofocus feature and it will cut the amount of time in half.



Images taken outside have good color representation and saturation, but details are a little soft and not as sharp as the images from the Maxx Ve. Indoor images require a good amount of light for them to come out decent looking. To take images in low light, the only option you have is to select the Night Mode, which slows the shutter speed, but in doing so, it adds a lot of grain to the image, and they have a tendency to come out blurry.



Camera Options:

• Resolution: 1600x1200, 1280x960, 640x480, 320x240
• Self Timer: Off, 3 sec, 5 sec 10 sec
• White Balance: Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Glow
• Shutter Sound: Shutter, No Sound, Say Cheese, Ready 123
• Color Effects: Normal, Negative, Aqua, Sepia, B&W
• Night Mode: On, Off
• Save Options: Internal, External (memory card)
• Photometry: Average, Spot
• Auto Focus: One Step, Two Step, Off
• External Display: On (for self portraits), Off

Videos can be recorded at maximum of 320x240 resolution, with the length being up to the available memory. Watching a recorded video on the phone is best, due to the smaller screen size. Once they are transferred to a PC, you can see how low quality they are, with blotchy color and low frame rate. It would have been nice if the Voyager could record videos at 640x480 VGA resolution, since there is no other phone that Verizon sells that is capable of this.


Audio:

It is no surprise that the Music Interface has also been customized for the front screen and is viewed in landscape mode. The music menu shows icons for Genre, Artists, Albums, Songs, Playlists, Inbox, Play all, and Shuffle. Once a song begins playback, there are several icons on the left and right side of the screen that you can select from. You can repeat the current song or shuffle all the songs of an album, as well as rewind and fast forward.. Unfortunately, the player interface on the Venus is much more customizable, and can continue to play music while the phone performs other tasks, such as sending a text message. It is a shame that the Venus can do this, yet the Voyager cannot.



The overall sound quality of music is good, thanks to the stereo speakers. However, they are located on either side of the internal display and sound muffled when the phone is closed. The only way around this is to flip the phone open (which means you stop using the touch-display), or listen to music with a wired or Bluetooth stereo headset. We would prefer the speakers be located on the exterior of the phone, so they have better sound quality and would be easier to hear.

The Voyager can play streaming videos using the V Cast Mobile TV or V Cast Video service. Using the V Cast Video feature is the same as in all other Verizon phones, where you can stream pre-recorded videos over the EVDO network, but because of speed limitations, image quality is pixilated and audio is low quality. For the best viewing experience, it is recommended to use the Mobile TV service, which uses the faster MediaFLO network, with live TV broadcast at 30fps. Unfortunately, this service is only available in select areas, which means spotty coverage when traveling. The Voyager uses a retractable antenna to pickup the MobileTV broadcasts, but it has a flimsy design to it and feels like it can break easily.


Software:

As with most other Verizon phones, the Voyager uses Qualcomm’s BREW format for all application. One of the most useful is VZ Navigator, which is used for GPS guided directions. Even though it can be accessed by the touch-screen, we found using the internal screen and keyboard to be the most effective way of typing in and viewing directions. Not to mention that the voice guided turns played through the speakers are louder with the flip open. We were able to use the application around South FL, and had no problems following the turn-by-turn directions to get to our destination. This is one feature that the Voyager truly shines over the iPhone.





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