It’s not every day that you get your hands on a phone that’s more than a phone.  When I unboxed the LG Vu, I was holding in my hands the next step.  Live TV on a cell phone, now possible with the LG Vu.  Not only is it possible, the quality is GREAT.  Let me say that again, the live TV quality on the cell phone was GREAT.  I showed it around the newsroom, and everyone who saw it was amazed.  Granted that live TV comes with a nice fee tagged on to your monthly bill, but it is a pretty nice step forward where the service is available.

Read on for the rest of my thoughts, mostly good, little bad and some in the middle.

Your phone now has TV.

First off, it’s worth noting some details about the Vu:

The Vu’s base cost is $299.99, but after rebates and credits for signing a contract the price falls to a more reasonable $99.99.

You can get your standard AT&T contracts, but there are some add-ons that would suit the Vu.  (Unlimited MediaNet access is $15/mo and the Mobile tv basic is $15/mo while the Pro is $30)

The Vu’s screen is bright 3″ with 240 x 400 resolution and 262K colors.

It does have some internal memory, and is expandable up to 4GB via a MicroSD card.

You get up to 3 hours of talk time on a charge, and the battery is removable. (Meaning you can get a backup and swap on the go.)

It’s got your basic Bluetooth wireless connectivity. (I never realized how great this feature was until I transferred numbers, pictures and video ON MY OWN, without waiting 45 minutes in the store.)

You can plug it into your PC via USB as well.

There’s a speakerphone and voice dialing and voice commands are available.

It is a 3G phone, meaning it’s on the faster network, but the Vu also has EDGE for when you’re not in range of the 3G network.

The Good:

-The number one thing that stands out on the Vu is it’s great TV interface and programming.  Right now there are 17 channels available including NBC, CBS, ESPN, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, CNBC, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Pix(A feature film movie channel), Fuel TV,  Victoria Secret TV, Food Network, FloMusic(coming soon).

Now, there’s no local programming on the NBC and CBS channels, but they fill that time with network programming.

All of the channels are “mobile” versions, which means you won’t necessarily see what’s on the “air” version of the channel.  But it’s important to note, I saw the O.J. verdict come down live on MSNBC; there was the SEC Championship game on CBS and Friday night on ESPN had live NBA basketball.  MTV & Comedy Central have programming that’s what you’d expect.  Food Network I think is pretty normal.  Nickalodean has it’s usual kids’ shows.  (What am I watching as I type?  Live college hoops on CBS Mobile, UMass vs BC)

I can’t talk enough about the TV feature.  It really is great if its in the budget and you’re in an area where it’s available. (From the AT&T release: mobile TV services are available in Grand Rapids through FloTV.)  A caveat about the service, I left it on while driving in the car and it did not work.  Not sure if it’s a security feature or if it was just unable to keep up while I was on the go.  When I was at home, I had TV service on the second floor but not on the first floor.  But while I was in the newsroom with 2 floors above me, it worked fine.

-The included 2.0 MP camera takes some pretty impressive snapshots for a cellphone.  (The resolution on the pics is 1600×1200) The video quality when taking movies was pretty good as well.

-Voice quality and sound quality also fall into the good category.  Every call I had in network was crisp and clear.  I didn’t have an opportunity to test it out at the limits of AT&T’s network, so make sure you’ve got coverage where you’re at.

-It has exactly what you’d expect when it comes to downloadable ringtones, calculator, calendar and alarm clock.

-I also really like the hold button.  Maybe it’s because I hate my current phone’s hold button, but it’s pretty nice.  A quick double click, of the button, but it’s not easy enough to do that I’ve ever had it go off while in my pocket.

The Bad

-There’s no stereo headphone jack, which means you have to use the phone’s speaker or the proprietary headphones included with the phone.

-Touchscreen Tetris is awful.  Every phone I’ve ever had, Tetris is an instant download.  Unfortunately, it’s not a touchscreen friendly game.

-Gmail is not one of the options in the mobile email settings.  It’s the best email since emails been invented, yet it’s not included.  That was unfortunate. (Yahoo, AOL, AIM, Windows Live, Comcast and others are available though.)

-The MicroSD card cannot be replaced without removing the battery.  An annoyance if you want to get it out of your phone while still using it.

-The Vu will not replace your MP3 player.

The Middle

-The phone’s touchscreen was quick and intuitive.  When I pressed a button, it worked.  There is haptic feedback (meaning it buzzes when you touch it) and it beeps.  You can turn down the response or turn it off entirely. (I turned it down.)  But it definitely takes some getting used to when punching out texts while in qwerty mode.  D’s frequently became f’s and I found myself hitting the spacebar instead of any of the bottom row letters.  One good thing it does have though is a little pop-up above the key you pressed so you can keep your eyes on typing.

-The speed of the 3G internet is quick and impressive, but it’s kind of wasted on the browser.  All browsers in my experience fall short to the wonderfully amazing Mobile Safari.  It’s not a bad browser persay, it’s just not top shelf.  It will get you by though, I was able to go to most of my mobile sites, gizmodo, engadget, gmail etc.)

You can download Opera Mini and while it’s okay–it’s not great. (And there’s a quirk with the phone’s settings that you have to approve every time a downloaded application connects to the internet.)

Finally…

When you go to AT&T’s site the reviews are positive. 337 of 372 customers who reviewed this product would recommend it to a friend. It seems like people are satisfied with the phone.

Is this the de facto phone to go with if you’re an AT&T subscriber… I think it depends on what you want out of a phone.  If MMS is important to you and you want to watch TV on your phone this is a good one.  If web browsing is what you’re after, there are better phones(iPhone) on the AT&T network.

I’ve definitely had fun with the Vu.  I still can’t get over watching live sports on a phone (with quality that amazed the newsroom.)

Got questions?  Shoot me an email at Matt(dot)Schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com. And for more updates check me out on twitter: twitter.com/mattschuler