LG VX8360 Phone, Silver (Verizon Wireless)

Great Basic Phone February 15, 2009

Reviewer:  LEE  (Philadelphia PA) -

Great basic phone with really good sound, Good battery life, Good all round quality. Also some nice features with V-cast, GPS, Bluetooth, EVDO, and more. Vibrate mode is only average and could be stronger. The charger port opening has a weak feel which could be damaged or broken if not opened carefully. Overall a great phone for everyday use with enough hi tech features without going overboard. Very good user guide and easy to set up and use.

Great little phone April 24, 2009

Reviewer:  The WB  (Michigan) -

After many months of searching for a basic phone to replace our aging Motorola e815's, Verizon released the LG VX8360 -- no frills cell phone that has good phone reception at a reasonable price. Data and text messaging are not features I am interested in. I have those functions completely blocked on my service. After 48 hours of use, here are my observations:

Pro:
* Phone reception test -- my basement is a dead zone for many callers -- In a word: GREAT.
* Reception is equal to my old Moto e815, as a comparison.
* Installed and formatted a 2 GB micro-SD card -- works perfect.
* LG's menu system is far better than Verizon/Moto's menu system.
* Camera has increased functions -- better white balance, 3 resolutions of pictures, separate store soft key.
* ICE menu with important notes capability.
* Now able to transfer picture and music files to and from my Palm T5 via BT without firmware hacks.
* My old Moto BT headset paired right up.
* Speakerphone is louder than my old e815 -- the front facing speaker is also larger.
* Full duplex Speakerphone -- a real nice change.
* Phonebook is feature filled in comparison to my older phones.

Con:
* Ringer is much quieter than all of my previous cell phones.
* The phone has to be open in order to use the speaker phone.
* Vibrate mode is weaker than my e815.
* Pulling the phone out of a holster -- too easy to press the side voice memo button.
* LG has an option to change the front small screen in the menu, but selecting a new screen fails to change the default.
* Music files transferred by BT are placed in the My Sound directory, not in My Music directory.
* Non-standard 5 pin micro-USB charging/data port -- a standard mini and micro USB cable will NOT work.

The camera on this phone is better than all of the prior cell phone cameras I have owned. Comparing 1.3 MP from this phone, my Motorola e815 and a old MX-1200 1.3 MP Fujifilm camera, this phone took the best pictures. Having the ability of exposure control, multisegement light metering and corrective white balance with EV adjustment in the fly, pictures come out clear and clean. I'm pleased with these results, but the quality is not the same as a modern, higher megapixal dedicated digital camera. For the convenience . . . .

Overall, I'm pleased with my upgrade. I have recommended this phone to others who are looking for an upgrade at a reasonable price.

*****
UPDATE - 10/06/2009

I had one camera on one phone give out a few days ago. When we went to access the camera, the phone froze. This required the battery being removed in order to restart the phone.

Took the bad phone to a local Verizon store -- after a quick verification, they warranted the phone on the spot. 20 minutes later, we were back in business with a working camera phone. Verizon and LG stood behind their phones.

Terrible reception, music features don't work. June 30, 2009

Reviewer:  A. Biggs  (NH) -

My call quality completely tanked once I started using this phone - from great digital sound on my four-year-old phone to barely-there analog-like sound on this shiny new one. I've had it for six weeks, and I've only been able to complete one phone call. (I had a six-foot-wide area to wander in while I talked.) My husband got the same phone at the same time I did and has the same problem. We've already contacted Verizon, and apparently the phones are operating on their digital network, not the analog. This problem is with the phones, and nothing else.

Before you try to skip a song you don't want to hear, be warned: you'll have to reboot the phone in order to continue listening. It doesn't like to be interrupted. The display will make you think the phone is playing, but you won't hear anything. Again, this happens on both our phones and the problem is consistent.

I wish I could believe that I just wound up with a lemon, but my husband's phone has identical problems. I've never had music features before, so I don't really care about that, but I DO expect to be able to TALK on the PHONE! That should be a pretty basic feature.

On the plus side, it looks spiffy.

Pretty nice phone February 8, 2009

Reviewer:  johnn noxville 

I have had this phone for around two weeks and i have seen some things that i like and some that i dont like. Overall this phone is a decent size. It is a long phone. The body is long somewhat wide and somewhat thin. The buttons are easy to press, very large and they feel nice.

Pros:
1. a lot of things are customizable on the phone from the font to the different screens. I think they really added some nice features to customize the phone.

2. The resolution is really nice. The words and number and pictures are really sharp.

3. Front screen is great for looking at text messages.

4. Buttons are just really nice.


Cons:

1. The buttons on the front screen are really hard to press because they are inset and not sticking out. They are really hard to feel. You could not find them in the dark. They are flush with the front so just not a good design.

2. The alarm clock features are awkward. When your alarm goes off you only have two options snooze or dismiss. If you dismiss the alarm is still in the alarm section but its just off. I dont want to have to go into it and delete it i want it gone after it goes off.

3. The charged door is almost impossible to get open if you dont have nails. it is so small and is really stuff in there.

4. There is a lag. It isnt significant really but i cant stand any lag wether it be a second or 200 milliseconds it just bothers me.

5. The phone comes with default pictures and for some reason you cant delete them its really annoying to go through my pictures and see like hearts or waterfall.

6. The phone also does this with contacts. There is an ICE contact, Directory assistance, and voicemail contact that cannot be deleted from your contact list.

7. you cant sent a specific tone to a persons and their text message. i know this is a rare feature i had on one of my phones, but i wish they would put it on.

8. The keyboard is a little farther down on the phone that most other phones. The upper part with all the d pad and send end and clear features is realyl big and it makes the keyboard start much further down the phone. So your hands have to be towards the bottom edge of the phone to type nicely.



Overall this is a nice phone. If i could go back i would definitely be questionable to buy it again. I am happy with the phone just not in love with it. It does serve its purpose and thats all i really need. It's definitely worth the $50 i paid for it when i updated my existing contract.


It has been awhile and i want to change my view now about this phone. I would not recommend buying this and if i had the chance i wouldnt buy it again. There are many problems with this phone. The vibration is so soft you might as well not even have it on. I had it in my pocket and heard the vibration without even feeling it against my leg. Another problem is when you have a calendar appointment and it reminds you say within 15 minutes of the time you put. If you delete the event after it reminds you, it reminds you again to some event it made up with like all crazy symbols. i went to edit and then tried to edit the date which said march 3, 4095 and when i clicked it my phone powered down and then restarted. I guess this is a glitch or something but its really annoying to get a reminder for an event you dont have in your calendar.

Poor call and Speaker sound quality after two tries July 30, 2009

Reviewer:  RMT "RMT"  (Virginia USA) -

Though an immitation of the previous LG 8300, the LG 8360 has frustatingly poor call quality. I purchased the 8360 and then exchanged it for another 8360 in the Verizon store. My previous LG 8300 had clear sound quality and an excellent speaker phone. The new 8360 crackles and drops words in and out of conversations. THe speaker phone also echoes and crackles in conversations. Words and muddled and lost. I've lowered the volume, as suggested by Verizon Tech, but the crackling and dropped words continue so I exchanged it for another LG 8360 at the Verizion store. It continued to crackle and drop words just like the first one. I called Verizon Tech Support. They reprogrammed the phone and told me again to lower the volume (it was on medium). Finally they suggested I bring it back to the store for Tech to decide if there was a problem or not and if I could have another replacement from a "select" list of phones. Apparently, if you return the same model twice and want to switch models you may only do so from a approved list of phones at a Verizon Store. Also, Verizon stores now require a $35 restocking fee for returned phones if you change the model unless you have less than 10 minutes usage on the phone.

The phone will not stay on speaker phone mode even when I have it activated for calling out alerts. I have to flip open the phone and chose the speaker phone button. It cannot stay in speaker phone mode. There is no menu access for the speaker phone to control this. I was out of contract when I purchased this phone. It also has a very soft vibrate that is essentially useless.

I've been told by Verizon Tech and at the Verizon store that they never have any problems or returns with this phone. Perhaps I'm a fluke; however, a quick search revealed similar complaints. THis is not a remake of the 8300, despite it's simlar functions and positive CNET reviews. I intend to return the phone for a second time and either reactivate my old phone or cancel my contract, depending on Verizon's action.

I'm pretty happy - can't use it as a watch though July 25, 2009

Reviewer:  Horatio  (Boothwyn, PA USA) -

I like this phone. Overall, it's pretty cool. I LOVE the microSD card. I've got almost all the music I could possibly want on there and there's still room for tons of stuff! And it's so easy to pull it out and use it like a disk drive. The only tiny problem is that it's soooo small that it's tough to handle. My fingers aren't small enough to easily get it in and out of the slot.

I have just experienced a problem with the music appearing to play but not actually coming out through the speakers. While this was going on, I also could not hear the audio on a video I'd recorded. I saw another review here that suggested simply turning the phone off and back on again. That worked fine. If this keeps happening, it will be annoying, but I've had the phone for about a month and used the music playing feature often, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that was just a fluke.

I don't like that Emergency Contact is now the first contact. I liked having a person called often being at the top of the list. Maybe this is some new standard.

The biggest annoyance is that there doesn't seem to be any way to leave the outer display on all the time so that you can pull the phone out of your pocket and see what time it is. Since I started carrying a cell phone, it's been my watch. But this phone doesn't seem to want to let you do that. You have to press a button to get it to turn the display back on. There doesn't seem to be an option to sacrifice the battery life to leave the display on all the time.

I really wanted a flip phone with a qwerty keyboard but it does not appear that Verizon offers such a beast even though others do.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the phone. I didn't realize when I went to buy a phone that I was going to come away with an mp3 player. I'm thrilled.

Nice phone but.... August 14, 2009

Reviewer:  Michael S Anderson "DASH7"  (Denver, Colorado) -

My wife and I got this phone at the beginning of July. We like the features and the sound quality seems fine. We are not glued to our phones all the time, so the phone works for what we use it for.

The bad thing was my wife's phone would not hold a charge for more than 2 days(My phone has been trouble free). Verizon replaced it and the next one had the same issue. We tried a replacement battery that Verizon supplied but the problem remained. In fact, the "bad" battery is my phone now and works fine.

Verizon has replaced the phone again(same model)with a 90 warranty. If it happens again, they will replace it again with the same model, and if it happens again, they will replace it with another model phone.

Some research on the internet showed that this is a somewhat common problem with this model phone.

UPDATE(9/25/09): Phone battery died again in about three weeks. Verizon just gave my wife a completely differnet phone (Motorola). They didn't even try giving her the same model like they said they were going to do. The Motorola seems to be working ok for now.

Requires a hidden $9.99/month data plan March 5, 2010

Reviewer:  Stanislav Alekseev  (Watertown, MA) -

Turned out that Verizon automatically requires a $9.99/month data plan as this is considered a "Multimedia Phone". Amazon refused to take the phone back based on the fact that they have misrepresented the information on their web site and promised to charge me $250 for deactivating this phone.

Nice. I use it mostly as an mp3 player November 1, 2009

Reviewer:  Tim Mooney "colorclocks"  (Westmont, IL United States) -

I have this phone, and I like it. I use it more often as an mp3 player than as a phone, and this review will only talk about music.

I don't much like the process of transferring music from my PC to the phone. At first, I tried to use it as though it were a USB flash drive. I got this to work, but there were problems: many tracks showed up twice, and I couldn't copy mp3 files I purchased from amazon.com to the phone.

Then I started using Rhapsody to transfer files. On the whole, I don't much like Rhapsody, but at least it's less of a pain than iTunes. This works for all of my mp3's, but it's really slow, compared to just copying to a flash drive. I've discovered that some phones are intended to transfer files like a flash drive, and some are not. Too bad I received the kind that is not. On the plus side, this phone is engineered to allow you to download music directly to the phone from an online vendor. This is not a plus for me, but I'm sure some folks will like it.

I also like the ability of this phone to send high quality stereo music to bluetooth headphones. (I'm using Audiovox's ARWH1 bluetooth minibridge to receive the signal and drive a standard set of stereo headphones. It's nice to listen to music without getting tangled up in wires. You can also use headphones with a microphone to talk on the phone, but I haven't tried it. If you're interested in this, you need to make sure the bluetooth device supports A2DP.)

Horrible Handset October 6, 2009

Reviewer:  G. Lavigne  (Portland, ME United States) -

This is my fourth flip phone. The Motorola I had was great but the service provider was lousy. The VX8300 was a terrific unit and never let me down. I picked up a Flipshot for the great camera but washed the thing and killed it. Thinking the VX8360 would be at least as good as the 8300 was a mistake. This thing sounds bad, opens awkwardly, doesn't vibrate enough to let me know there's a call when it's in my pocket and gets terrible reception almost everywhere I go. Even the battery life is disappointing to me and I'm NOT a long talker. LG really dropped the ball on this one. Verizon should really upgrade their return policy.