Menu/Phone Book: There are two ways to navigate the LG CU500’s wealth of features: Menu, which takes you to a high level of applications, and Options, which is where you’ll find quick access to more popular features such as the alarm clock, IMs, and Bluetooth. There are a few empty spots you can program yourself. 
Entering and accessing phone numbers in Contacts is simple. We particularly like the first prompt asking where to store the numbers – either the phone or the SIM (the phone calls it a SmartChip). That’s a nice touch. You can include 2 phone numbers, an e-mail address, a photo, a ringtone, and notes for each contact. There are no slots for address information; if you want that capability, consider adding it to the notes section. You can also send any contact in the phone book as a vCard either via Bluetooth or in a message.
Camera/Video: The LG CU500 sports a 1.3-megapixel camera lens that sits at the top of the cell phone. You can swivel it to snap pics on the sly or point it in your own direction and take a self-portrait. Although the camera phone lacks a flash, you won't really miss it, as we have found to date the flash doesn’t do too much to enhance picture quality. As for picture quality, we weren’t overly impressed when compared to that of other 1.3-megapixel camera phones; however, it's better than many VGA camera phones. Video-recording quality is acceptable, with voice and video playback in sync, but you can record only 10-second video clips.
Music: As mentioned earlier, the MP3 playback quality is impressive. The cell phone supports MP3 and AAC (one of the iTunes music formats) but not Windows WMA file format. If you want to listen to WMA files on this cell phone, you’ll need to convert them either to MP3 or AAC. While you can purchase an additional USB syncing cable to sync directly with your computer, we should note that the option won’t work if you have a Mac. Additionally, if you really want music on your cell phone, you definitely need to purchase an optional TransFlash memory card. There’s simply not enough room in the cell phone’s memory to store songs. As for music-centric features, the player supports Shuffle, Repeat, Playlists, and Equalizer options.
Connectivity/Bluetooth: As expected, the LG CU500 offers Bluetooth connectivity. We easily made connections with a Motorola H700 and found call quality to be sufficient when using this Bluetooth headset. You can also send files via Bluetooth; however, you will need a TransFlash memory card as the cell phone doesn’t have sufficient enough memory to support larger files.
Like the Samsung Sync, the LG CU500 uses a new technology called UMTS/HSDPA, which is the major connectivity story here. All you really need to know about UMTS/HSDPA is that with the right cell phone and local coverage, you can stream content over the Internet at superhigh speeds and watch and/or listen to it on your handset. The LG CU500 has this capability. For the most part, we could get a good connection, which made accessing and streaming content a breeze. For example, in the same time it took to watch a 1-minute video on YouTube over a DSL connection, we were able to select, load, and watch a 20-second ESPN clip, then choose another clip to watch. That’s not too shabby.
We should mention, however, that the video quality isn’t fabulous, though it’s not as if you're watching in slow motion, where you hear the words before you see the action – all of that is in perfect sync. But while watching a Saturday Night Live skit on the cell phone, we had a hard time making out some of the finer details, but it didn’t detract too much from the overall experience. |
Look and Feel: Overall, the LG CU500 is a good-looking cell phone. While it’s big, it’s not quite as long as the Samsung Sync, so it doesn’t feel quite as awkward when talking on the phone. It’s also not quite as wide as the popular Motorola Razr, making it comfortable to hold. Unfortunately, the screen is not nearly as vibrant or crisp as the Sync's.
We even liked the three music-centric (rewind, play, fast-forward) buttons on the face of the cell phone. Unlike with the LG 8100, we never accidentally hit the front buttons and started playing music while the phone jostled around in a purse. But our favorite design feature is the swivel camera lens. You can swivel it to face you to snap self-portraits or swivel it the opposite way and snap pics on the sly.
Keypad: Perhaps one of our favorite elements on this cell phone is the keypad. We particularly like the combination of brushed metal and black rubberized keys. Although the keypad is flat, it was easy to navigate even in darker environments. Since the keys are so well spaced (not too far and not too close together), we rarely encountered misdials. The only real quibble we found with the keypad is the OK button (with the Cingular icon on it) in the center of the 4-way navi-key. If you press it once, it functions as an OK key, but if you press it a second time, you are taken to the Cingular store. |
LG CU500 Expert Rating
