 "Great Stylish Phone" | 2008-10-06 |
| - Reviewed By ali_chaudhary |
| Bought the LG TU720 SHINE (the Canadian version of CU720) for my wife. Before I handed over the phone to her, I spent a few days exploring the phone capabilities. I came to the following:br /br /Pros:br /Great looking phone that is very attractivebr /Great sound qualitybr /MicroSD card expandable memorybr /Simple and easy to usebr /Solid feel, particularly the slider snaps and doesn't feel flimsybr /Above average camera with simple editing toolsbr /br /Cons:br /Though this phone has a solid feel, it does need delicate handling. If you intend to use this phone for rough usage, it will easily catch scratchesbr /Average battery lifebr /Soft keys are not programmable and cannot be customizedbr /So far, unable to add my own *.mp3 ringtonesbr /Maximum ringer volume could be louderbr /br /Overall, me and my wife both love this phone because it does what its supposed to do very well. However, a word of caution for those who intend to give their phones a rough ride, the LG TU720 won't be able to handle it.br / |
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 "Not a fan after having it for a week." | 2008-09-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: AHJNTIGKF8PAS |
I purchased this phone directly from AT&T Wireless over the telephone. I first went to a local retail store and handled the phones a little bit, thought this one looked nifty and had nifty features, so I decided this would be a good choice for me.
The navigation button is AWFUL. I don't find it just slightly annoying or something that I need to get used to. It's just oversensitive, or when you got to navigate something, you'll accidentally press the button (i.e. when you're texting and you mean to put a space, you will SEND the half finished to text). That's another problem I have -- the phone doesn't have any warning about sending a message. You press the navigation button and it's sent, period, off into the universe of half finished texts.
Another problem I have is the camera. This phone has been advertised as taking great pictures. Sure, the pictures are ok if you're taking them in absolutely, precise optimal coniditions. If you want to zoom, you have to turn the picture quality down to 640x480. The flash is useless. It lights up, yeah, but as far as lighting the area you need for the picture, it just makes eyes glow and the picture look grainy. These pictures will absolutely not be printable from this camera if you are not outside in the sun without clouds. Then they're quite lovely.
I'm also not a big fan of the keys. I find myself constantly pressing the wrong keys. I am petite and have petite hands to go with the rest of me. I have to be very aware of which keys I'm hitting when I'm pressing the buttons on this thing.
It _is_ an attractive phone. I actually appreciate the weight on it, it feels like it has substance and feels well built to me. I love the screen. I don't mind the menu (though navigating it with the button pisses me off).
I will be returning this phone for the Blackberry Curve. My husband has one and it's just a better phone. it doesn't take video, but I never take videos anyway. The Blackberry's photo quality is better, the navigation button FAR EXCEEDS ease of use compared to this LG Shine. I find that the Blackberry Curve far outSHINEs this SHINEy annoyance. |
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 "It's Pretty :D" | 2008-08-31 |
| - Reviewed By User: A21Y57KGZQTV1H |
Sooo
i got this phone 2 days ago
to replace the Lg Fusic that my padre ran over :p
so anyways
this phone is quite cool looking.
and the mp3 ringtones sound good,
but you can't record your own ringtones.
and you can't change the ones for new text messages and whatnot.
the camera is nice.
but the video recording can only record for 1 minute and 1 second before you have to press the button again.
joystick isn't that hard to use.
the buttons are small but that bugs me because my hands are big :p.
you can also browse through the rest of the phone while the media player is playing by minimizing it.
the vibrate is long, and loud, so i wouldn't recommend keeping it on vibrate if you go to school and use it in class.
oh it can also use .GIFs as wallpapers
...
but the ringtones and any noises you want to use that you put on the phone must be in mp3 form and 250kb or less.
or else it will say "File too large to be used as -insert noise thing here-"
and i think i mentioned this somewhere back there but you can't record your own.
so you will actually have to buy your ringtones unless you want a part of a song thats like 9-10 seconds that you have to like cut yourself.
the sound is clear when talking.
you can only select up to 10 people to send one text to at a time.
Sooo.
that's it.
out of 10 i'd give this phone a 7 or a 6
mostly because of the complicated ringtone thing
and the short videos
the LG Fusic i had before this had more features.
still this phone looks awesome :D.
but it's just unable to do stuff it should be able to do. |
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| "disappointing photo quality" | 2008-08-16 |
| - Reviewed By djbartu |
| For a claimed 2.0 megapixel camera, the outdoor photo quality of the LG Shine is not the greatest. I upgraded to the Shine from a 1.3 megapixel Samsung Sync. hoping for better pictures. However, when comparing the exact same shot from both cameras, the Samsung was a definite winner. I am truly disappointed in the LG. |
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 "Sony Ericsson W580i vs LG Shine CU720" | 2008-08-07 |
| - Reviewed By genwang2 |
Background: Over the past two months, I have spent a great deal of time debating between whether to get the Sony Ericsson W580i or the LG Shine CU720. After making numerous threads at various forums regarding this question, reading countless reviews, watching many videos, looking at hundreds of pictures, and mapping out the pros and cons of each one multiple times, I have settled on the Sony Ericsson W580i. Since my family just got a family plan with ATT (3 lines/550 minutes shared) and one of my sisters got the Shine, I was able to do a comparison between the phones.
Battery Life: The claim that Sony Ericsson has poor battery life, in short, is complete bull ****. Those that say they had short battery life... you just got a lemon (or are trying to reason yourself out of the fact that buying a shine was actually a poor decision). My OTHER sister, who also got a Sony Ericsson, also gets great battery life with hers. Rather than the claimed "3-4 day charge" that many people on this forum and others are claiming, I have found that the phone will last over a week (11-13 days). The LG Shine, which is said to have poor battery life, disappoints: its battery life is indeed very short. The papers that the LG Shine comes with claims that battery life is around 3 hours of talk time, up to 240 hours (10 days) of standby time, is standard marketing bull ****: through a test of 10 different charges with three different batteries, the phone has lasted no more than 3 days before it required a charging.
SE: 10/10 Shine: 3/10
Durability: People say the LG Shine has a stronger build than the Sony Ericsson, but if you actually compare the two, you find that you cannot actually compare the two... Why? The SE is a plastic phone; the LG shine is a plastic phone with metallic components. One thing that is not usually noted is that the Shine actually has VERY little metal in its body; it's only the battery cover and some of the front. The LG shine doesn't really feel that much more durable than the SE. If you drop the shine, you will certainly damage the screen, and/or scratch the body, and/or break the phone. With something plastic, eg. Sony Ericsson, a drop will do no more than give a few scratches. Regarding the slider mechanism, the LG Shine's "snaps" when you open and close it, whereas the SE's slider is not as snappy. Due to the difference in the way that the phones slide, it isn't really accurate to say that one feels more durable than the other. Since the durability was one of my biggest concern in getting the phone, I did a test of each phone upon cracking open the box: I opened and closed each phone 300 times. Results: The LG Shine's slider remained the same; the SE's slider got smoother after the test.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 6/10
Fingerprints/Scratchability: The claims that the Shine is a fingerprint magnet could not be more true. The Shine cannot stand to be touched at all. Walking around with the Shine put in my side jeans pocket for a day, the Shine went in looking stellar and came back looking pretty poor. The back plate had obviously been rubbed on, the front plate exhibited small, but noticeable scratches. I'm sure you could prevent the Shine from getting scratched by getting a screen protector and/or case, but the hassle of one is not something that I'd want to deal with (not to mention such protection would take away the "beauty" of the Shine). The Sony Ericsson, as one may predict, does not scratch easily. Same jeans, same walk, and the SE still looked great after. There was something that looked like a small scratch on the front screen on the SE, but nothing a wipe could clean off. Speaking of which, with the LG Shine, you cannot wipe the phone with any shirt; it will scratch if the fabric of the cloth/shirt is rough. A BIG reason people get the Shine is because it looks good. Well, if you don't take care of it like a newborn baby, it's going to look like **** and ipso facto, it was a poor decision to buy the phone for its looks.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 1/10
Keypad: People always complain about the keypads of the Sony Ericsson and the LG Shine and say how small they are and how difficult it is to text with them... Most of these complainers are complaining from hearsay (they repeat what they read/hear from others, not from their own experience). The problem of cracking keypads is also a huge concern for potential buyers of the SE. First, to address the keypad. The size of the keypad is very usable for texting and other usage. I have 6'2" and have large hands and I can still manage to comfortable use the phones' keypads. Texting with both is very easy (albeit not as easy as texting on a RAZR). The SE's keypad is not as responsive as the Shine's, meaning the click down are not as solid, and that the row of numbers are connected so that one press on a number slightly depresses the row, but nonetheless, it is very solid. The LG Shine's keypad is like a smaller version of the RAZR. Regarding the cracking keys on the SE, I performed a test to see if this rumor was true. Over a period of 2 days, I had the phone off and during my spare time (which is a lot since it's summer), I've been clicking away at the keys (with a good amount of pressure I might add), and the keys exhibit no sign of cracking. Clearly the cracking keys is an issue with older phones (which you could potentially still buy if the reseller of your phone has old stock).
SE: 9/10 Shine: 9/10
Navigation: Those that say navigation on the Shine is difficult are clearly retarded: physically or mentally. The joystick on the Shine takes no practice to nail. It is very easy to use, and is not too small. The SE, with no joystick, as imagined, is also very easy to use. My only caveat with the SE is that there's no dedicated end call button like my old Nokia. The numbered menus in the Shine are very easy to use.
SE: 9/10 Shine: 9/10
Reception/Sound Quality: I live in Northern California in a well populated city, and everywhere I go, I get 5 bars with the SE and from 3 to 4 bars with the Shine. I have found the number of signal bars that you get has a big impact on the call quality (as it should)... The Shine frequently echoes what the other person says, and a background static seems to be present in all calls. To ensure that I didn't receive a lemon shine, I tested a friend's shine and sure enough, it was the same. My friend told me they didn't notice the static (he probably got use to the poor call quality)... The SE's reception and sound quality it top notch. No complaints whatsoever here. Even with 3 bars (in a tunnel), the call was still strong.
SE:10/10 Shine: 5/10
Features: SE wins hands down. Read the features at each phone's respective website; I won't waste your time here. The LG Shine is the most basic of phones. The only thing its got over the SE is 3G. The Shine is all looks.
SE: 10/10 Shine: 2/10 (absolutely pitiful for a phone be so lackluster in features)
Other concerns and notes:
- The speaker on the SE kills that one which is on the Shine
- Both phones have ringtones are loud enough to be heard
- Both phones can [be modified to] receive games and , but with the SE, you have more options.
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| "Nice phone but with some drawbacks" | 2008-08-01 |
| - Reviewed By saeed_moham |
I have had it for two weeks now.
The good:
beautiful, sturdy design,
user friendly
and of course shiny!
bluetooth work fine...
The bad:
Java applications like .jar files that you download from internet onto this phone do not run!! I contacted customer service and they said that it is not simply able to do it... while most of the phones are!
It is also very difficult to see the screen under direct sunshine.
The battery is also not great... as stated it does not last more than 3h of talk time, and once you loose one of the 3 bars of the battery, you don't have much left before the battery is out... strange scale!
It has a flash and a great camera, but the flash is not a useful feature since it does not make much a difference... can be used as a flash light though...
It is a little heavy... which some may like actually.
If these are not big deals for you, other features are good enough I think.
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| "I love this phone but it attarcts scratches so easily on the mirror cover" | 2008-07-31 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2537NHQGG3AJF |
| I think this phone is wonderful. It is very easy to use once you play with it for a little while but the screen gets scratched almost just by looking at it. It will get scratched within hours just by having it in your pocket. Just be careful and have fun with the phone. But I was wondering if anyone has used a product like Displex Scratch Remover to remove the scratches on the LG Shine and does it work well or does it mess up the mirror finish that shows when the phone is not in use? |
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| "Great Looking Phone - Has Defect!" | 2008-07-30 |
| - Reviewed By kapjag1980 |
| This is a great looking phone, especially the silver. It is easy to use and within minutes I had it configured the way I wanted. I was very impressed with all it's features. However, there is one major problem with it - when you slide the phone down fast and slightly hard - it turns off and you can only get it back on if you power it back on. At first I thought it was my phone that was a lemon and so I returned the phone back to the store, the salesman pulled out a brand new one from the box, put in the battery, turned it on. Slide the phone down - and once again it did the same thing. We went through four phones in the store and they all did the same thing. This appears to be a defect with the phone. A simple google search for "LG Shine turns itself off" will reveal that. LG does not appear to be aware of this issue when I called them. In the meantime, stay away from this phone. |
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| "AT&T ruined what could have been an amazing phone." | 2008-07-16 |
| - Reviewed By lulipop2 |
| The Shine KE 970 that is made for the European marked blows this cu720 out of the water. AT&T left out so many features and the functionality is abysmal. They left out an entire protocol (FTP) to transfer files on bluetooth. It cant even connect to my computers as ALL my old phones and their bluetooth would. The speaker phone cuts in and out but its pretty loud..its just annoying. It looks sofisticated but it may as well be a fisher price phone for kids. The camera is flaky and leaves alot to be desired. Its very sad, such a beautiful phone, and I have to return it. If you dont care about anything else but making a call and texting and you get a good deal on it, great. The silver one looks better than the black one did to me. |
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| "Hello..hello..ello..oo" | 2008-07-13 |
| - Reviewed By reddc |
| Although the phone has several positive points, I wouldn't buy again. On the plus side the sound quality is very good when using the phone itself. It's very attractive looking, and it's loaded with great features all of which are easy enough to navigate through with the menu system. Now for the negatives: I've come to realize that it's not very compatible with my motorola bluetooth device. It connects fine and I can hear my party fine, but they consistently complain of an echo problem on their end. I have a friend who has the same bluetooth device and has no problem with it on his phone! A real dissapointment since the main reason I bought this phone was because it has voice recognition, thus giving me a true "hands-free" experience, or so I thought. The phone is not terribly easy to dial unless you have a small hand due to the design of the keypad. Lastly lets discuss the battery life. Yes, you have read it before in other reviews, so take it to heart. The battery life is quite disappointing. I can get maybe three days out of a charge if I seldom use the phone. Thats it. If I use it, it's considerably less. I can hardly wait to see how it will perform as the battery get old. Bottom line.... I feel I will be getting rid of this phone fairly soon. |
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