LG VX-5500 Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)

Compact, basic phone with Bluetooth and camera March 20, 2009

Reviewer:  Steven Quigley 

I got two of these for free for my wife and I on a Verizon rebate deal. Overall, they're not bad if all you really want is a good, basic, compact phone, that also happens to have Bluetooth and a minimal camera. They're smaller than a 5300, very light weight, seem to hold a decent battery life (after returning one battery that was obviously defective), and the reception and voice quality is as good as my old LG VX8300. A Motorola Bluetooth headset works fine, and I like not having an external antenna. My only complaint is that it has a poor selection of ring tones, and some are not very loud. If you're into taking photos with your phone, this one doesn't have a flash.

The 5500 comes with a 1000mAH battery; if you want, you can upgrade that with a 1500mAH battery, but you'll need to also buy a new cover for the back of the phone to accommodate it.

so-so phone February 6, 2009

Reviewer:  W. Webber  (Austin, Texas United States) -

This phone is a decent cheap phone.
Pros:
1) No antenna to catch if phone is in your pocket.
2) Calls seem clear
3) battery life seems okay

Cons:
1) Phone often stops working as a phone if you do not power it down each night. Powering down and up again will fix it. But symptom of phone not being able to send calls is quite a pain. Phone acts like it is going to call, but no audio is sent either direction. In other words, you have no idea that the call isn't going to work before you call.
2) Phone will not allow you to use recorded audio as a ring tone.

Nice Little Cell Phone March 23, 2009

Reviewer:  Regular Guy 

I live near the ocean so cell phone reception is not usually good. The Verizon salesperson recommended the LG VX5500 since a friend of his said it worked in his basement. It works great! I get very good reception and the phone holds it charge. It is nice and compact without an antenna.

Battery Issues really hold this phone back March 13, 2009

Reviewer:  Eddy Silverside "Eddy"  (Philadelphia PA) -

Just picked this phone up a few days ago. After a full charge, the battery lasted less then 24 hours, on standby. Thinking it was a fluke, I re-charged. After another full charge, again less then 24 hours. I made two 5 minute calls, and the phone actually turned off on me. Not even my razr was this bad. I had read rave reviews for the LG VX5400 and thought the LG VX5500 was a sure bet. I was wrong and would exchange the phone it if I hadn't already Mailed the UPC code on the box in for the rebate. So I will upgrade and pay full price just to get away from this phone. It really let me down.

Technological issues cause screen to go blank August 19, 2009

Reviewer:  Ivan K. Samuelson "Bolski"  (OH USA) -

I got this phone for my daughter and within the past two months, I have had to exchange it twice and I'm getting ready to do it again.

Within a month of receiving the phone, the inner screen went white which prevented her from being able to view her contacts, text messages, pictures, etc. I took the phone into a Verizon store where they promptly swapped it out. I went out into the parking lot and immediately, the outside screen went bad, showing a line through the middle of it. I immediately went back into the store and they were surprised to see me. I showed them the screen and they couldn't believe it. They responded immediately and swapped it out giving me a third phone.

It's been a month since that swap and as of last night, the phone's inner screen went white, just like the first phone. Searching the internet, I've found that I'm not the only one with this problem. I'm taking it back in today to get a different phone.

Other issues include the following:

- Poor picture quality
- A constant, high-pitched whining sound from the ear-piece

I would avoid this phone at all costs. There is apparently a technical problem with this phone causing the screens to go blank.

Overall, my experience with Verizon and its employees at the store was great. They were very helpful and I have no complaints with the service. My complaints are with this phone which apparently LG has allowed to be released with known issues, so my complaint is with LG and not Verizon. However, I would hope that Verizon would start doing some kind of recall and stop providing this phone to its customers.

meh... it's alright. July 19, 2009

Reviewer:  JMF "JMF"  (ca) -

if you're not a features junkie and all you wanna do is make and receive calls and text messages, this is the phone for you. i've had no issues with the battery life, reception and voice quality are generally pretty good, and it's bluetooth capable. in short, it has all your standard phone features.

on the other hand, the camera isn't so great. i had an older model of LG phones, the vx5300. this phone lacks what the vx5300 had: flash, zoom, and better quality. i guess that's not so bad if you don't use your cell phone camera, but this OUGHT to be a standard feature regardless! i guess LG must've been REALLY marketing for folks on a budget.

secondly, the phone has trouble with bitpim, a third party data transfer software. bitpim supports a pretty wide range of phones, including my old VX5300, but i guess the vx5500 was a little too new. when you select a phone for bitpim to manually detect on your USB port, you MUST use a phone that shares the same USB data cable that the vx5500 does because the vx5500 is not supported. i managed to get all my pictures and memo pad notes off my phone, but i had absolutely no luck with text messages or my address book.

thirdly, the phone is mediocre when it comes to ergonomics. the phone's slimmer design makes it harder to grip, and the ridges that line the halves of its clamshell design aren't deep enough for large hands like mine, making the phone tough to open with one hand (try receiving a call while driving, you'll see what i mean).

and they took away the speed-lock feature! i remember on my vx3200 AND my vx5300 that they BOTH had a feature where if you held down the * or the # key (depending on which model you had), it would automatically lock your phone, a handy feature if you need to put your stuff down in a hurry and leave it unattended. well, well, lo and behold, it's magically GONE on the vx5500. i guess LG's reasoning for removing it is that people don't steal cell phones as much these days, but i would've appreciated it.

if you just want to make and receive calls/text messages, don't look any further. but if you want something that's ideal, look elsewhere.


edit 8/19/09:
oh yeah, did i mention that the camera color quality is MEDIOCRE? if you're gonna take pictures, you'd better have a light source that is -no joke- as bright as the SUN. all of my indoor pictures that do not have a light source that causes headaches ALL have a bluish-gray tint to them.

I love this phone! May 8, 2010

Reviewer:  A. Portukalian  (Portland, OR) -

I've had one of these for about 4 months now and it's been great! I purchased it as a prepaid phone for about $22 to use in case of emergency, got straight through to verizon at 11pm, who got it working that very same night. The battery lasts for days. I use it for unlimited internet access 24/7 and it's never failed to function. The sound quality is superb on speaker, through the ear piece, or via a plug-in headset. The bluetooth connection is also fantastic and I was able to surf the internet from the beach using this phone with bluetooth. It's micro usb cable connection works very well and it's easy to find a cheap cable to connect to it. You can program the arrow keys as shortcuts to messaging, turn off/on bluetooth, etc, making it very easy to use standard features without having to navigate through a maze of menus!

Garbage February 19, 2010

Reviewer:  Kenneth Matthew Glaspey "Kglass"  (Boston) -

Within 2 months of having this phone the screen died for no apparent reason. It never got dropped, it never got wet, nothing. Heck, I'm not a big talker and had only used it about a half dozen times. So following the warranty instructions I sent it back, at my own expense, only to have it returned to me with a note that says "unrepairable, return as is". When I called their customer service they said the "component that failed isn't covered under the warranty". ?????? Then what good is the warranty! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS GARBAGE!

A Mistake December 3, 2009

Reviewer:  Jay Powell  (Des Moines, IA) -

I own other LG products (tv, cell phones, etc) and they are wonderful. This phone is a dud. I am on the second battery. I returned the first one after two weeks since it only lasted a couple of days. Now the battery lasts around four days (I have had the phone around five months). It does not reliably receive calls when my friend's Blackberry, on the same wireless network, is receiving a crystal clear signal. Sometimes it will not synch with my car's Bluetooth unless I reset it(turn phone off and back on again). Periodically it will "BEEP" and drop my call. I am going to call my carrier and see what they can do for me to try to get rid of this mistake.

The basic phone is ok. It's everything else that makes this a bad experience. September 27, 2009

Reviewer:  David Munson "dmunson14"  (Mid Illinois, United States) -

If you are looking for a basic phone with limited features and lacking support this is your puppy. If you want to easily back up your contacts or customize your phone for free, (ring tones or backgrounds) look elsewhere. Seems like Verizon nickles and dimes you to death.