Well, I meant to post about this earlier in the week. I get a lot of search hits for information on the VX9800 -- and even emails. Now there at least is a place for some of the details of the phone. The pictures show the keyboard, of course, and the miniSD card slot.

I'd guess that the 9800 will provide MP3 playback from the miniSD card slot in the same way that the LG VX8100 does. That is, after you've flashed the LG VX8100 -- hopefully this won't be needed on the VX9800.

The keyboard is easy to use as a thumbboard or two finger hunt'n'peck while it's on a firm surface. I almost always use it as a thumbboard. However, it is no where near as easy to use as the original Blackberry keyboard (the pager sized Blackberry from 5 or so years ago). The keys actually take a fair amount of pressure to push, which slows things down some and tends to tire out my thumbs (maybe I'm just not gaming as much as I should be -- hrm). The symbol and caps lock keys work great: they are toggle keys. The only downside is that there isn't any indicator if they are activated or not. If you're not typing text but trying to hit a number key to activate a menu item, you may find yourself hitting it a couple of times before you realize you're still in symbol mode.

The sofy keys are absolutely a pain to hit when the device is open part way, like you'll see in the phonescoop picture. It can open completely flat and that makes the soft keys a bit easier to hit. Applications should use other keys instead to make it easier to navigate. An application designed without soft keys for another phone that uses the one and three keys actually makes navigation a dream. Your left thumb can easily hit the 1 and 3 keys while your right thumb can hit the 4-way navigation buttons and the select and back keys.

The screen is just amazing. Applications get a full 320x239 -- almost full QVGA for business apps or game playing. This is basically the normal 4:3 aspect ratio of a computer screen (although not that of wide screen displays). This is the resolution most people played Doom at "back in the day." Doom? Hey, that would make a great port to this phone. ;)

Let's see, what else can I talk about since the data is now public on phonescoop? I still can't really talk about how the applications perform. Bluetooth performs well. It's less restrictive than I would have expected -- but that may change before it actually ships, too.

The use of the phone as, well, a phone is pretty straight forward. The keypad locks on a configurable timer, which is great. It behaves pretty much like a normal "candy bar" style phone. When you flip it open, it automatically goes into speakerphone mode with both of the stereo speakers blasting the other end. This works very well. You can also dial with it open, too. Closing it goes back to non-speaker mode so you can pick it up for a half-private conversation.

The use of the external screen is limited to a few tools and messaging, although I can't figure why anyone would want to compose a message using the keypad when a keyboard is a flip away. While composing a message, when you flip the keyboard open it stays where you were which is absolutely brilliant.

Anyway, before I run off into land I shouldn't be talking about I'll stop now. Here's the link to the technical data at phonescoop. Naturally, it has the March FCC filing date, which many of us saw when this first hit phonescoop. I wonder who made them take it down? The FCC link does contain the user manual. Check out the highlights section.

LG VX-9800 Specs & Features (Phone Scoop)

Posted by Shane on September 17, 2005 12:42 PM | Permalink