Customer Rating: 
Summary: Cool looking, not so durable
Comment: Before owning this phone, I had lots of faith in LG, and still do I guess. The problem I had is that after about 4 months, I was the touch screen cracked and I can no longer see who incoming calls are from, nor can I see any of the buttons on the touch screen. Luckily, I have memorized the positions of most of them, but I still can't see incoming calls. And even though I have an extended warranty to cover manufacturer defects, a cracked screen is not covered so I will have to pay $50 to replace the phone.
Also, the touch screen is slow to respond and gets annoying. The MP3 player is a neat feature, however it doesn't recognize the names of songs I have added, and the software crashes on my computer. The camera takes good quality pictures but takes them very slowly, and they don't always get saved to the phone. Overall, the technology is cool, but it is still in it's infancy
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bought Venus over the Voyager
Comment: I love about 98% of all of the functionality of this phone. I had about 1 day left before I could exchange this Venus for the Voyager. So I went into the Verizon and asked for the manager. He took me directly to the Voyager so we could compare apples to apples. We went through all of the features that I used on my phone and mutually agreed that the correct phone for me was the Venus.
Voyager has problems multi-tasking where the Venus had no problem with what I would be using. I had to spend way too much time opening the Voyager to access the keyboard. Time I didn't have spend opening the Venus.
Yes, there are some minor problems with the accessibility of the volume control and the lock/unlock feature, but not that serious. Slider works very well and seems very well built to avoid breakage. The camera takes very nice pictures and I love the camera controls. When you want to take a picture, you open the slider, hit camera button and
the screen flips 90 degrees so that it feels and looks just like a camera.
I actually play a Verizon $6.95 WSOP Texas Hold'em game that I downloaded and there is no usage fee. I have played some tournaments and cash tables and do quite well, but this little game is an awesome challenge. The larger you set the blinds, the more difficult the players. Nice challenge.
The screen has held up very well with not one scratch. I bought a $9.95 Samsonite leather belt clip holder from WalMart and it works great. It rotates 360 degrees and the phone stays nice and safe and very easy to access without worrying about the phone falling out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: good phone - intuitive functions
Comment: As a phone this one is pretty good. I use this phone to make calls, check emails, take and send pictures, text, and do some light web surfing (traffic, weather, sport scores). I don't use it as a music player, or watch movies, clips, etc. I have only found a few issues:
1. I hear a slight high pitched hissing sound on my end when talking on the phone. The people I am talking to can't hear it & say that I sound very clear.
2. The camera is easy to use and takes good pictures. However, the camera navigation controls are tilted so you have to rotate the camera to the side to use the camera controls (don't know why they did this).
3. The volume rocker button on the side of the phone is almost flush with the side of the phone and difficult to feel when I am on the phone & want to adjust the volume.
4. The display takes almost a full second to appear when I slide the phone open to use it. It's not too bad, but I would prefer that the display comes on immediately when I slide the phone open. This goes for all of the screens - everything takes just a little too long to open up.
5. The unlock button on the phone is towards the bottom right side of the phone, which is not where you thumb is when you normally pick up the phone. It would have been better placed towards the top of the phone so you could easily push it with your thumb.
Here's the good:
1. The touch screen is easy to use and intuitive. I have long, slightly big fingers and I have no problems with hitting buttons by mistake.
2. The phone feels solid & well built. The plastic/rubber, faux leather back is nice and feels good in the hand.
3. The phone is not too small for the buttons on the navigation array or the dial pad, and the dial pad has send, end and clear buttons (these were left off the original Chocolate slide by LG). At the same time the phone is small enough to easily fit in my front pants pocket without creating a phone shaped buldge in my pants ("Is that a phone in your pocket or are you just glad to see me??").
4. As a phone, it works very well. Strong signal, no dropped calls (I live in Seattle), and aside from the slight hiss, the calls sound good.
5. The phone is ready for all of Verizon's new stuff - VZ navigator (turns your phone into a GPS for directions, maps, nearby gas stations, restaurants, etc.), mobile web, checking your email, ESPN MVP, downloading video clips, etc, etc. I am currently using the VZ navigator - it's a nice tool if you travel a lot or do a lot of out of town driving.
6. Cool looking and touch pad controls. If you want a sexy phone and don't want the bulk of an Iphone or a voyager, this is a great option.
Overall I am very satisfied with this phone and would recommend it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Decent phone; HORRIBLE mp3 player
Comment: Wouldn't it be nice to have an iphone but at one third the cost? Yeah, that's what I thought too. Unfortunately, the LG Venus certainly isn't that.
First of all, why would a phone billing itself as a music phone NOT use a 3.5 (standard) mm headphone jack? You cannot find high quality 2.5 mm headphones anywhere and adapters aren't tiny--defeating any purpose of having a smallish mp3 player. Maybe it's because they want you to buy their bluetooth headseat. Unfortunately again, that too is wildly awful--people 20 feet away can hear every word that comes out of them, even when the headseat is on your head.
Suppose magically there were good 2.5 mm headphones, what then? Well you'd have to deal with the irritatingly slower playback of the songs than they're supposed to run. It's a bit subtle at times, but the songs are definitely slower--using a micro SD card or the phone's own memory.
You can get small album art images during playback, but I'd rather the song sound the way it's supposed to.
The phone itself works decently. It's small and nice looking but the touch sensors react correctly only about 75% of the time, which is actually pretty bad if you think about it. Graphics are great, the camera isn't. Other than the touch screen, there's nothing new about this phone and there certainly isn't anything wonderful.
Please, save your money and pass this info along. I'm returning mine and likely switching to a phone company that provides its customers with better phones.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It could be better
Comment: I recently bought the venus. I spent $199 on it and that was with a new 2 year service plan. It is now only $99 and I think that if you buy it for this price it is deffinitely worth it. I like the phone but the screen is really big and scratches easily. Mine is extremely scuffed and I've only had it for about 4 months. Also, sometimes the charger cable does not stay in tact and I awake to find that my phone has not been fully charged. It is a bit plain looking in person (it looks better on tv,) and I wish it had more display options (it only has venus black, venus color, and basic.)It also has minimal talk time. The phone goes dead if you talk for an hour straight whereas on other (cheaper) phones i've been able to talk for up to 3 hours at a time! Another thing that bothers me is that I tried to sync my limewire playlist and it'll only hold 7 songs. On the other hand, if you are in to taking pictures, this phone is for you! It takes such crisp, clear pictures you don't even need a digital camera! The ringtone sound is also better than most. I've never had any major problem with this phone and if I did, it would be understandable because I did buy it the day it came out. There are always going to be some kind of kinks that need working out. The truth is, once the thrill of the touch screen wore off, I got bored and now I would like to move on. I actually got bored in the first 2 months but it was too late to return it by then.
Summary: Cool looking, not so durable
Comment: Before owning this phone, I had lots of faith in LG, and still do I guess. The problem I had is that after about 4 months, I was the touch screen cracked and I can no longer see who incoming calls are from, nor can I see any of the buttons on the touch screen. Luckily, I have memorized the positions of most of them, but I still can't see incoming calls. And even though I have an extended warranty to cover manufacturer defects, a cracked screen is not covered so I will have to pay $50 to replace the phone.
Also, the touch screen is slow to respond and gets annoying. The MP3 player is a neat feature, however it doesn't recognize the names of songs I have added, and the software crashes on my computer. The camera takes good quality pictures but takes them very slowly, and they don't always get saved to the phone. Overall, the technology is cool, but it is still in it's infancy
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bought Venus over the Voyager
Comment: I love about 98% of all of the functionality of this phone. I had about 1 day left before I could exchange this Venus for the Voyager. So I went into the Verizon and asked for the manager. He took me directly to the Voyager so we could compare apples to apples. We went through all of the features that I used on my phone and mutually agreed that the correct phone for me was the Venus.
Voyager has problems multi-tasking where the Venus had no problem with what I would be using. I had to spend way too much time opening the Voyager to access the keyboard. Time I didn't have spend opening the Venus.
Yes, there are some minor problems with the accessibility of the volume control and the lock/unlock feature, but not that serious. Slider works very well and seems very well built to avoid breakage. The camera takes very nice pictures and I love the camera controls. When you want to take a picture, you open the slider, hit camera button and
the screen flips 90 degrees so that it feels and looks just like a camera.
I actually play a Verizon $6.95 WSOP Texas Hold'em game that I downloaded and there is no usage fee. I have played some tournaments and cash tables and do quite well, but this little game is an awesome challenge. The larger you set the blinds, the more difficult the players. Nice challenge.
The screen has held up very well with not one scratch. I bought a $9.95 Samsonite leather belt clip holder from WalMart and it works great. It rotates 360 degrees and the phone stays nice and safe and very easy to access without worrying about the phone falling out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: good phone - intuitive functions
Comment: As a phone this one is pretty good. I use this phone to make calls, check emails, take and send pictures, text, and do some light web surfing (traffic, weather, sport scores). I don't use it as a music player, or watch movies, clips, etc. I have only found a few issues:
1. I hear a slight high pitched hissing sound on my end when talking on the phone. The people I am talking to can't hear it & say that I sound very clear.
2. The camera is easy to use and takes good pictures. However, the camera navigation controls are tilted so you have to rotate the camera to the side to use the camera controls (don't know why they did this).
3. The volume rocker button on the side of the phone is almost flush with the side of the phone and difficult to feel when I am on the phone & want to adjust the volume.
4. The display takes almost a full second to appear when I slide the phone open to use it. It's not too bad, but I would prefer that the display comes on immediately when I slide the phone open. This goes for all of the screens - everything takes just a little too long to open up.
5. The unlock button on the phone is towards the bottom right side of the phone, which is not where you thumb is when you normally pick up the phone. It would have been better placed towards the top of the phone so you could easily push it with your thumb.
Here's the good:
1. The touch screen is easy to use and intuitive. I have long, slightly big fingers and I have no problems with hitting buttons by mistake.
2. The phone feels solid & well built. The plastic/rubber, faux leather back is nice and feels good in the hand.
3. The phone is not too small for the buttons on the navigation array or the dial pad, and the dial pad has send, end and clear buttons (these were left off the original Chocolate slide by LG). At the same time the phone is small enough to easily fit in my front pants pocket without creating a phone shaped buldge in my pants ("Is that a phone in your pocket or are you just glad to see me??").
4. As a phone, it works very well. Strong signal, no dropped calls (I live in Seattle), and aside from the slight hiss, the calls sound good.
5. The phone is ready for all of Verizon's new stuff - VZ navigator (turns your phone into a GPS for directions, maps, nearby gas stations, restaurants, etc.), mobile web, checking your email, ESPN MVP, downloading video clips, etc, etc. I am currently using the VZ navigator - it's a nice tool if you travel a lot or do a lot of out of town driving.
6. Cool looking and touch pad controls. If you want a sexy phone and don't want the bulk of an Iphone or a voyager, this is a great option.
Overall I am very satisfied with this phone and would recommend it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Decent phone; HORRIBLE mp3 player
Comment: Wouldn't it be nice to have an iphone but at one third the cost? Yeah, that's what I thought too. Unfortunately, the LG Venus certainly isn't that.
First of all, why would a phone billing itself as a music phone NOT use a 3.5 (standard) mm headphone jack? You cannot find high quality 2.5 mm headphones anywhere and adapters aren't tiny--defeating any purpose of having a smallish mp3 player. Maybe it's because they want you to buy their bluetooth headseat. Unfortunately again, that too is wildly awful--people 20 feet away can hear every word that comes out of them, even when the headseat is on your head.
Suppose magically there were good 2.5 mm headphones, what then? Well you'd have to deal with the irritatingly slower playback of the songs than they're supposed to run. It's a bit subtle at times, but the songs are definitely slower--using a micro SD card or the phone's own memory.
You can get small album art images during playback, but I'd rather the song sound the way it's supposed to.
The phone itself works decently. It's small and nice looking but the touch sensors react correctly only about 75% of the time, which is actually pretty bad if you think about it. Graphics are great, the camera isn't. Other than the touch screen, there's nothing new about this phone and there certainly isn't anything wonderful.
Please, save your money and pass this info along. I'm returning mine and likely switching to a phone company that provides its customers with better phones.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It could be better
Comment: I recently bought the venus. I spent $199 on it and that was with a new 2 year service plan. It is now only $99 and I think that if you buy it for this price it is deffinitely worth it. I like the phone but the screen is really big and scratches easily. Mine is extremely scuffed and I've only had it for about 4 months. Also, sometimes the charger cable does not stay in tact and I awake to find that my phone has not been fully charged. It is a bit plain looking in person (it looks better on tv,) and I wish it had more display options (it only has venus black, venus color, and basic.)It also has minimal talk time. The phone goes dead if you talk for an hour straight whereas on other (cheaper) phones i've been able to talk for up to 3 hours at a time! Another thing that bothers me is that I tried to sync my limewire playlist and it'll only hold 7 songs. On the other hand, if you are in to taking pictures, this phone is for you! It takes such crisp, clear pictures you don't even need a digital camera! The ringtone sound is also better than most. I've never had any major problem with this phone and if I did, it would be understandable because I did buy it the day it came out. There are always going to be some kind of kinks that need working out. The truth is, once the thrill of the touch screen wore off, I got bored and now I would like to move on. I actually got bored in the first 2 months but it was too late to return it by then.