Product summary:
The good:
The LG Muziq has an attractive design, a rich multimedia feature set, stereo Bluetooth, EV-DO support, plus access to Sprint's array of 3G services. We especially liked the inclusion of a built-in FM transmitter and the performance speeds.
The bad:
The LG Muziq's touch-sensitive music controls can be tricky to use, and we weren't too thrilled with the skinny side buttons. Speakerphone quality wasn't too great either.
The bottom line:
The LG Muziq is a well-rounded phone with a stylish look and a great feature set that takes full advantage of Sprint's broadband network.
Reviews:
Most of LG's music-oriented cell phones have so far been in Verizon's stable--the LG Chocolate was the star music phone last year, while newcomers such as the LG VX8600 and the LG VX8700 have also held their own as slim and sexy multimedia handsets. Sprint customers had to look elsewhere for their music needs, such as the Sanyo M1 with its 1GB of internal memory, and the Samsung UpStage with its innovative dual-LCD design. There was one notable marriage of LG and Sprint, however, called the LG Fusic, but it's been awhile since we've seen any kind of update to that phone.
Until now, that is. After a long hiatus, it looks like Sprint and LG have come together at last with the brand-new LG Muziq. It comes with a built-in FM transmitter, a 1.3-megapixel camera, EV-DO support, and a microSD card slot, as well as access to Sprint multimedia content including Sprint TV, the Sprint Music Store, and streaming music from Pandora. We also like that we could multitask applications while listening to the music. A slender and easy-to-use phone, there were a few design issues that we could've done without (such as thin keys on the side and the touch-sensitive music controls), but the LG Muziq is overall a quality music phone with excellent performance. The LG Muziq will be available for a very affordable $99 with a two-year service agreement with Sprint.
Design:
As far as sequels go, the LG Muziq is far more than just a Fusic II. Featuring a much more streamlined design, the Muziq has discarded the white-and-navy color scheme of the Fusic in favor of a glossy black exterior and glowing red music player controls similar to those of the LG Chocolate. At 1.94 inches wide, 3.8 inches long, 0.61 inch deep, and weighing in at 3.14 ounces, the LG Muziq is a slender and lightweight phone that feels comfortable in the hand and cradles nicely next to the ear. The overall design is rectangular, with clean lines and a smooth finish that's unfortunately prone to fingerprint smudges. We're happy to see a vibrant 262,000-color 1.3-inch diagonal external screen on the LG Muziq. Not only does it display the customary date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID info, it also acts as a camera viewfinder, and it will show the currently playing track whenever the music player is activated. It also supports photo caller ID, which is a nice touch.
The camera lens, flash, and status LED sits above the display, while the music player controls are beneath it. The music player controls are circular, much like the LG Fusic and the Sanyo M1, but they are touch-sensitive, which is similar to the controls on the Chocolate. We're generally not fans of electrostatic touch keys like these because there's always a danger of accidentally pressing a key unless you have a key guard lock. For the Muziq, there are options to either activate or deactivate the key guard lock, so that allows for some flexibility. Another downside to electrostatic touch keys is the lack of tactile feedback, but the Muziq solves this problem with a slight haptic feedback whenever you touch the music player controls. We really appreciate this innovation, as it helped us be aware of when we've actually pressed a key. So while we're not entirely sold on the touch-sensitive music player controls (we still prefer real tactile feedback), we do like the key guard lock options, and we prefer the haptic feedback over nothing at all. Rounding out the phone's exterior are the volume rocker and charger jack on the left spine, while the right spine is home to a music player key, a camera key, a headset jack, and a microSD card slot. Even though all the side keys are raised above the surface, they seem a little too thin for our liking.
Features:
The LG Muziq has a pretty impressive feature set to go along with its stylish good looks. But before we address its multimedia capabilities, we'll start off with the basics. The LG Muziq's phone book stores around 500 contacts, which is a little skimpy for a phone like this. Each entry has room for five phone numbers, e-mail and Web addresses, and a memo. You can save callers to groups or pair them with a photo or any of 31 polyphonic ringtones. Other essentials include text and multimedia messaging, a vibrate mode, an alarm clock, a calculator, a scheduler, a notepad, and a world clock. There are also a number of higher-end features including a wireless Web browser, voice memo recording, voice commands and dialing, mass USB storage, e-mail, instant messaging, a speakerphone, stereo Bluetooth, a memory card manager, EV-DO support, and a music composer so you can create your own ringtones. The LG Muziq is also Sprint's first phone that allows use of a 4GB microSD card, which is great for storing music and image files.
As indicated by its name, the LG Muziq is primarily a music phone. Its external music player controls on the front certainly make that clear, and even though we had issues with the touch-sensitivity of the keys, we really like music phones that have the controls right on the outside. The music player interface is closely tied to the Sprint Music Store, so you can simultaneously download songs to your PC and wirelessly to the phone. You can also use Sprint's Sync Manager software (PC-only, however) and the included USB cable to transfer songs from your computer to the phone. Songs are automatically grouped by title, artists, and genres, and you can create your own playlist if you wish. The interface is rather generic and plain, but at least you can do things like repeat songs or put them on shuffle. But you're not tied to just MP3s for music choices. Thanks to the Muziq's compatibility with Sprint's broadband network, you'll also get access to streaming radio from Pandora, which is an online music service, plus Sirius satellite radio.
Performance:
We tested the dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) LG Muziq in San Francisco using the Sprint service. Call quality was excellent when talking via the handset--callers sounded crisp and clear, and they reported little to no fuzziness on their end. It still sounded as if we were talking on a cell phone, but not excessively so. Speakerphone quality was a different matter--we thought it sounded a little low, and callers said we sounded rather muffled and had to ask us to speak up. We paired the LG Muziq with the Plantronics Pulsar 260 stereo Bluetooth headset and are pleased to report that we managed to stream music wirelessly successfully.
EV-DO speeds on the LG Muziq really make surfing the Web a dream. Pages loaded in mere seconds, the streaming video wasn't pixelated, and there was hardly any rebuffering. Music quality was admirable as well, though songs still sounded a little faded and tinny. The LG Muziq is great for a quick music hit, but we would still prefer a dedicated music player instead.
The LG Muziq has a rated battery life of 4 hours of talk time and as long as 10 hours of music-only mode. Our talk time tests revealed the LG Muziq has a talk time of 4 hours and 22 minutes.
