LG Venus Review

Introduction

The Venus by LG is Verizon Wireless’s latest music phone and is the successor to the Chocolate lineup. It is a slider, and moves beyond the heat sensitive buttons of 8500 series by adding a pressure-sensitive dynamic LCD display. The camera has been upgraded to 2.0 megapixels, but otherwise the features remain similar to the Chocolates. The Venus has a QVGA display, EV-DO data, microSD expansion and a heavy focus on music. Included in the box the user will find:

• Venus by LG handset
• 800 mAh battery
• Cloth carrying pouch
• AC charger
• USB data cable
• Music Essentials CD

Design

The Venus (aka 8800) has been completely redesigned, and while itserves as the successor to the Chocolate phones the phones will neverbe confused for one another. Where the 8500 series made its mark withunderstated styling, the Venus comes at you with a mirrored display andplenty of chrome trim to make sure the phone will be noticed.

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (mm)	Weight (oz)	Weight (Gramms)
Venus by LG	4.00" x 2.00" x 0.62"	102 x 51 x 15.7	3.79	107
LG Chocolate 8550	3.80" x 1.88" x 0.69"	98 x 47 x 17	3.24	92
Blackberry Pearl 8130	4.20" x 1.95" x 0.55"	107 x 50 x 14	3.4	96

The front of the Venus is dominated by the two displays, the top being a high-quality 2” QVGA display with 262k colors. Just below sits an equally clear 1.49” 240x176 touch sensitive display which also features 262k colors. Both are bright and crisp and can be seen easily in all lighting conditions. The very top and bottom of the front feature a small strip of faux black mesh, and serve to conceal the earpiece and microphone. Around the entire top half of the slider is a quarter inch chrome trim. As you might have guessed it is nearly impossible to keep the Venus fingerprint-free.

The slider offers resistance initially, but then springs into action when it is sure the user is intending to open the phone. Sliding the phone open reveals a 15 key dial pad, with Send, Clear and End sitting above the number pad. The added width over the Chocolate is a welcome move because it creates much needed space for the keys. Where the Chocolate was downright terrible to text on, it is a much more pleasant experience on the Venus. The keys alternate between a blue pearl and flat dark gray (it might be a flat blue, it is very hard to tell just what color they are) and the keys are connected horizontally, making for a very cool looking pattern.

The housing is a dark navy blue which, to be frank, does not match the rest of the phone. Along the left side you will find, from top to bottom, a lanyard hole, 2.5mm headset jack, volume rocker, voice command button and the charging port. The right side of the Venus has the microSD slot, as well as hard buttons for the music player and camera.


The rear of the Venus is black and constructed of ersatz leather. It is best compared to the pleather dashboard of a low end car trying to mask its cheapness. The rear is simple and uncluttered; the 2-megapixel camera sits at the top of the unit while there is a single speaker at the bottom right. On the top of the phone is a small button which releases the battery door.

How LG okayed this design is beyond us, and while the build quality is excellent the styling is reminiscent of a cheap Chinese knockoff. The black clashes with the blue plastic, and the Venus is a mismatch of three different zones; the mirrored and chromed slide, the blue plastic middle housing and the black fake leather back. There is a sharp contrast from the elegant designs of the Chocolate and Shine series when compared to the Venus. Another gripe of ours is that the slider is misaligned when closed, leaving just a slight overhand at the bottom and disrupting the continuity of the design. Just looking at the Venus the average user probably wouldn’t notice it, but when running your fingers over the area it is very obvious.

The build quality of the Venus is very good. When viewed head-on the mirrored and chromed finish give the Venus a touch of class. However, when looked at as a whole the Venus leaves much to be desired. The complete mismatch of colors is nothing short of a fashion faux pas, and the cheap material used on the back is too prevalent to ignore. LG’s Verizon devices are usually top notch in the styling department, but we feel they really missed the mark with the Venus.