LG Muziq Review

Last year LG introduced the Fusic, their first music phone for Sprint. The Fusic was a solid performer with excellent reception and above average battery life, but it lacked the sleekness of competing handsets like the Samsung a900 and its bulk, external antenna and white casing turned many off. For the sequel LG set out to refine the design and make it more appealing to the masses. The result is the Muziq, a trimmed down and redesigned Fusic that should just as easily find a home with the business professional as the 16 year old music enthusiast. All the main features are back, including the 1.3 megapixel camera, external music controls, EVDO rev 0, FM transmitter and microSD slot, but gone is the antenna, 5mm of thickness and the white coloring. Included in the box you will find:

• Handset
• 800mAh battery
• 64MB microSD card
• 3.5mm headset adaptor with microphone
• Wall Charger
• USB Cable
• User Manual
• Music Manager CD
  

The Muziq completely overhauls the design of its predecessor while taking design cues from its Chocolate brethren. It measures in at just 15mm thin, putting it in line with the MotoRAZR, Samsung m510 and Verizon’s similar vx8600. The antenna has been brought inside, and the outer touch controls have changed from mechanical buttons to touch sensitive ones with excellent haptic feedback. The phone is made of a slick black plastic which slips easily into a pocket, but at the same time makes it a fingerprint magnet. MUZIQ feels solid in hand, if not a little large to the ear.

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (mm)	Weight (oz)	Weight (Gramms)
LG Muziq	3.80" x 1.94" x 0.61"	96.5 x 49 x 15.5	3.14	89
LG Fusic	3.78" x 1.89" x 0.78"	96 x 48 x 20	4.23	120
Samsung SPH-M510	3.74" x 2.00" x 0.64"	95 x 51 x 16	2.93	83
MotoRAZR V3m	3.90" x 2.10" x 0.60"	98 x 53 x 14.5	3.49	100
LG VX8600	3.89" x 1.93" x 0.58"	99 x 48.5 x 15	3.26	93.4

On the left side of the phone you will find the charging port and the volume rocker, while on the right is the microSD slot and 2.5mm headphone jack as well as dedicated music and camera keys. The volume, music and camera keys are all found on the top half of the flip.


The front of the phone houses a small 1.3mp camera at the top, which is flanked by a status LED on the left and flash LED on the right. These LEDs are well hidden by design, and one would only notice them with a close inspection. Underneath the camera sits a 128x160 TFT LCD screen which displays basic features like time, date and signal and battery strength, as well as ringer and Bluetooth status. Below the display you will find the music controls and the single speaker. The controls are set in a circular pattern, with the play/pause button being surrounded by track forward and back to the right and left, and up and down buttons on the top and bottom. When in use the keys glow red, and they fade to a translucent white when inactive. Given that this is a music centric device stereo speakers would have been more appropriate.

When flipped open you will find the earpiece set above the 176x220, 2.25” display. It is a TFT unit featuring 262k colors, but with that much real estate we would expect a QVGA display. On the bottom half of the flip is a standard keypad and the microphone. The keypad offers a four way directional pad with the menu/ok button in the middle, right and left softkeys, dedicated speakerphone, back and camera buttons as well as the standard send/end and 12 key dialpad. The camera key on the keypad actually launches the picture menu, whereas the key on the side will take you directly to the viewfinder. The keys are completely flat, but do offer a solid click to let you know they have been pressed and there are topographical cues which makes dialing without looking easier. It’s not the best keypad in the world, but we don’t have any real complaints with it.

Overall the design is a welcome change from the Fusic. The black casing makes the phone look much more professional and the lack of antenna means it fits easier into the pocket. However, the same boxy design of the Fusic was carried over to the Muziq, and the phone lacks the refinement and class found on the VX8600 for Verizon. Even still, the phone has a broad appeal as both a slim, slick device for the tech crowd and a professional appearance for the businessman.

Interface:

The Muziq uses Sprint’s uiOne interface which is found on most of their mid- and high-level devices. It is quick, familiar and easy to navigate. The only change of note is the replacement of the Media Player with Sprint TV, which we will discuss later. On the main menu screen you will find Web, Call History, Sprint TV, On Demand, Missed Alerts, Music, My Content, Messaging, Tools, Pictures, Contacts and finally Settings. When arranged in grid each item directly corresponds to one of the 12 keys on the dialpad. When switched to list view all 12 options are viewable on one screen (a welcome change from the Fusic) and still correspond to a key, but the order of the items is changed. For example, Tools corresponds with 9 in grid view and * in list. You can change the skin of the menu from Black to Bubble Gum, Glacial or Tropical.

The phone also supports Sprint’s themes, which means that you can download what amount to new skins for the phone. These themes also place shortcuts to items such as On Demand, websites and content on the home screen. The phone ships with the Muziq skin applied, which feature On Demand, Music and Send Text on the home screen, but users can switch to the manufacturers (“LG”) default UI if desired. Regardless of theme, the right and left softkeys correspond to Contacts and Favorites, respectively, from the home screen. Favorites allow the user to customize 12 shortcuts to various phone menus, options, bookmarks and content.

Phonebook:

The phonebook can hold up to 500 entries with a maximum of five numbers, three email addresses and a personalized ringtone and picture per entry. Voice dialing works well and is launched via holding the talk button or with a press of the multifunction button on a Bluetooth headset. Perplexingly, it cannot be launched with the multifunction button of a wired headset. In addition to dialing a contact, you can check the phone status or missed alerts, find a contact, launch a bookmark or initiate a text message. The phone does not have dictation software however, so you will need to type in the message with the keypad.

The main phonebook screen has a text search box at the top and the numbers below. The soft keys are not functional, and you have to hit the menu/ok button to select a contact to edit, delete or send contact via Bluetooth. To send a message you have to click on the number you want to send to (even if there is only one) which brings you to another menu where your options are Call, Send Message, Edit, Prepend and Delete Field. This system is more cumbersome than it needs to be, and I’d like to see the softkeys utilized from the main phonebook view to allow quick access to messaging and options.


Organizer:

The PIM functionality for the Muziq is standard fare. You will find your basic calculator, planner, notepad and voice memo. The alarm clock allows you to set three repeating alarms, as well as a quick alarm. All of these applications are fairly spartan, but they get the job done. As this is not a smartphone you will not find a robust calendar or advanced items like a to-do or task list

Messaging:

The Muziq has a robust messaging package for a “dumbphone.” In addition to the usual suspects- SMS and MMS (or as Sprint calls it, Picture Mail-) you will also find Voice SMS and a fantastic email client.

SMS is easy enough, and the Muziq employs T9 predictive test, but for all input the default method is ABC. Messages remember your last used method though, so you don’t have to change to T9 every time. One of our biggest complaints about the Fusic was that it could not keep up with our typing, but luckily the Muziq seems to have corrected this and hasn’t missed a keystroke yet. Picture mail is also very straight forward, and even novice users should have no problem sending a message in just a few clicks. Voice SMS allows the user to record a short message, much like voicemail, and send it to another user. The user receives a text, which prompts them to call a number and retrieve the message.

The email client is head and shoulders above other offerings. It’s a new client from Seven which should start appearing on more Sprint handsets. It allows you to check your IMAP or POP email, and offers quick setup for AOL, AOL AIM, Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail mailboxes. Setup was quick and easy, and the application walks you through a terrific tutorial about using keyboard shortcuts and getting the most out of the client. It offers push email via text messaging, and you can manage multiple accounts at once. We were unable to get the push working with a Gmail account, but overall this client is hands down the best email program we’ve seen on a handset. In fact, with push working we actually prefer it to many of the smartphone clients we have used. Kudos to Sprint for raising the bar by bringing a viable mobile email client to the common phone.

Connectivity and Data:

The Muziq offers EVDO rev 0 data, which allows for broadband-like upload and download speeds. Obigo supplies the native browser, and the web is accessed through the Sprint WAP portal which is quick and easy. While the native browser can handle HTML pages to a point we would suggest downloading the free Opera Mini browser for better HTML browsing.

The Muziq implements the older Bluetooth 1.1 standard, and supports the HSP, HFP 1.5, DUN, FTP, OPP, A2DP, AVRC, BPP, and PBA profiles. Connecting to a headset, both mono and stereo, was quick and easy, and overall the sound quality was good. Contacts and calendar items can be sent over Bluetooth, but unfortunately you cannot send pictures, ringers or applications. The latter two are to be expected, but other Sprint phones support sending pictures via Bluetooth so it is a shame that LG has disabled this in the Muziq. It can, however, receive pictures sent from another Bluetooth device.

Computer Sync:

The phone comes with music manager software and a USB cable for sideloading your music. Music can also be added by dragging and dropping songs into the music folder on the microSD card. Both options are simple enough, but personally we prefer the latter. Users can also download music over the air via the Sprint Music store at a scant $0.99/track. For this they will receive the track on their handset immediately, and can download a copy for the computer as well.

User beware! If you do not have Windows Media Player 11 it will be automatically installed during the software instillation.

Camera:

The Muziq offers a 1.3mp camera and camcorder. The camera took generally acceptable pictures. Color replication was good under the proper lighting, but under normal halogen lighting colors were yellowed and overall the pictures were grainy. In VGA or QVGA mode 15x digital zoom is available, but in the 960x1280 (1.3 MP) resolution there is no zoom. Videos are recorded at a max of 144x176, and are decidedly low quality (though on par with most other mobile offerings.) Videos can be capped at 30 seconds and sent as Video Mail, or can be recorded until all available space is used and be transferred to a computer via the memory card.


Multimedia:

The Sprint Music Store supports .mp3 and .aac files and will accept microSD cards up to 4GB. Despite only having one speaker the volume was good. Instead of including a 2.5mm stereo headset, LG has packaged a 2.5mm->3.5mm adaptor with the Muziq. Audio fans will appreciate being able to use their headphones as opposed to a cheaper 2.5mm alternative. Stereo Bluetooth is also supported and works well, and offers the most convenient listening. With a Motorola S9 headset the sound was full and we had no complaints.


As with the Fusic, an FM transmitter is built into the phone so music can be broadcast to a nearby radio on an unused band. Still, this option is more of a novelty than anything else as reception was generally poor. It should be enough for in-room or in-car usage.

Software:

We touched on the replacement of the native media player with the Sprint TV application earlier. In past phones the media player allowed the user to access both Sprint TV and Radio, as well as play user generated content via the phone’s native (and often better) media player. This has appeared on recent phones as well, such as the Samsung UpStage and m510. Unlike the Samsungs however, which can still launch the native media player via the file manager, it seems to have been completely removed in the Muziq. This is a shame because the Music Store lacks the refinement of LG’s media player. That said, the Music Store gets the job done, supporting playlists and shuffle, and displays album art with the flip open. The new Sprint TV application is much better than the previous offering, and closely resembles a standard TV guide found on cable or satellite. Hopefully the Music Store will eventually get the same treatment.

Performance:

We are happy with the performance of the Muziq. The overall reception was very good. While audio became muddled in fringe areas, it held onto a signal longer than other Sprint phones tested.

The Sound quality on the Muziq was also great, and callers sounded loud and clear. Callers reported that we sounded good, and as long as we were in a good reception area the sound was comparable to a landline.

The battery is rated at 4 hours (240 minutes) of talk time, but in our testing we fell 20 minutes short. Even at 220 minutes the Muziq performs admirably for such a feature packed, thin phone.

Conclusion:

Overall the Muziq is a worthy successor to the Fusic. All the main features were there, and even though there were no major hardware or software upgrades the phone is a solid all around performer. The multimedia functions will appeal to tech junkies and the younger crowd, while the refined styling, above average battery life and fantastic email client will draw in older users.