By David Klein

Verizon's Voyager is a valiant response to AT&T and the iPhone.
However, it still grasps onto an aging style of cell phone software and as such, does not make the leap into a new generation of usability
and interaction. This reviewer focuses on the Voyager's outside
display since the inside is reminiscent of other Verizon phones that
are equipped with a QWERTY keyboard. We know LG makes good phones
with tactile keyboards. The challenge was to integrate a
touch-sensitive screen.

I have several general complaints about Verizon's interface. The
menus always dedicate a significant amount of real estate to allow the
user to quickly gain access to other features. For example, in the
Settings menu, I select the settings I want to edit. A quarter of the
screen shows which settings I am currently editing plus the other
settings that are accessible by pressing the left or right arrow
buttons.

This seems like a huge waste of space if I only want to
change one thing. It also forces the user to scroll down more often. I
noticed this again and again while navigating the phone's many
features. Ideally, if I want to send a text message, I should enter
that menu and not be distracted by large icons representing
neighboring menus.

The Voyager does not allow e-mail access from the touch-sensitive
screen. To see e-mail, I must open the phone and connect to the e-mail
service. Why does it not have a local e-mail client? Shrug. I'm very
disappointed.

Surprisingly, the touch-sensitive screen has two different home
screens. The primary home screen has a large wallpaper with four
buttons lining the bottom: Messaging (text and photos), Phone, a
button with a vague icon, and Contacts. The important button is the
one with the vague icon. It brings up the iPhone rip-off screen.
This provides the user with a list of applications. What's unusual is
the messaging and contacts buttons on the primary home screen are
accessible via this new iPhone-esque screen. That appears to be the
theme of the Voyager: access the same functions through many different
pathways. Redundant, inefficient and obnoxious.

The touch-sensitive scrolling is a disaster. It works, but I feel
like I really have to force the scroll to make it move. You have to
press down with an unusual amount of force. Also, the touch-sensitive
presses are inaccurate even after double-checking the calibration.

The 3G speeds are impressive. However, after reading about how
miserably slow EDGE is, I was expecting magic while browsing the web.
I can't determine exactly where the bottleneck is. Maybe the phone
has a slow processor; maybe the 3G connection isn't great in my area.
Basically, I wasn't thrilled by the browsing speed. I have honestly
seen the iPhone browse that fast with WiFi turned off. The web
browser allows the user to select the "real" website layout or an
"optimized" version. "Real" does a pretty good job, and I prefer it
over "optimized" since optimizing makes lots of mistakes.

The camera quality is decent. Having the ability to capture video is
very cool. The camera application also offers plenty of options that
the iPhone lacks. However, the quality still doesn't come close to my
super-old Canon S200 (2 megapixel) camera.

The volume is much louder than any phone I've ever owned which is
nice, but the sound quality during conversations is a little messy.

After a day of play, I realized that the Voyager is a pretty impressive
first attempt by LG to create a touch-sensitive phone. It has some
obvious drawbacks, but what phone doesn't? My recommendation for
Verizon customers is to not settle with the Voyager if you are eager
to have a really innovative cell phone experience. It's definitely a
step up from the other Verizon branded phones, but it isn't superb
which is what one expects when making the transition to a
touch-sensitive interface. Hopefully, LG or another company will
release a better version with more natural scrolling for Verizon soon.

If you've tried the Voyager or have any feedback, let us know in the comments or forums.