LG LX550
EngadgetMobile reports on the LG LX550, which will be launching on May 28. A mid-range clamshell handset that features an MP3 player and an FM transmitter, the phone also features:
* EVDO
* Bluetooth with A2DP
* 1.3 megapixel camera
* changeable faceplate
Via EngadgetMobile.
Mobiledia reviews the LG Fusic and concludes, about the phone’s music capabilities: “Overall the Media Player offers outstanding music playing capabilities, integrating an Equalizer, FM Transmitter, and A2DP Stereo Bluetooth. Strangely, the Fusic is unable to use A2DP on the Music Player (not the Media Player). Severely limiting the usefulness of buying music over the Sprint Music Store, the Music Player and Sprint Music Store have too many restricts to be useful. Consumers are better off ripping their own MP3s and playing them with microSD cards on the Media Player.”
CNET reviews the LG LX550 (Fusic), and talks about the phone’s music capabilities: “Like Sprint’s other music phones, the LG LX550 offers a music player that supports MP3 and AAC files (but not WMAs), as well as music purchased over the Sprint Music Store. Alternatively, you can transfer your own songs to the phone via the TransFlash card and the USB cable but not over the handset’s Bluetooth connection. The music player itself is pretty bare bones; it displays album art for songs purchased from the music store, but the user interface is sparse, save for the standard title and artist info, along with a progress bar and time elapsed/total time. You can pause your tunes, skip to the next song, create playlists, and shuffle or repeat your music. And unlike previous Sprint music phones, the LX550 has an equalizer, and you can scan forward or backward within a song. It’s a satisfactory experience overall, and we give Sprint credit for not forcing users to buy its music.”
Phonescoop has a review of the LG Fusic, and writes, “There are two music players on the device. One plays music purchased through Sprint’s music store or transferred to the phone (well, the memory card, really) through Sprint’s software. For those who choose to use their own music collection and software, there’s a second player that plays mp3s and videos saved to the memory card from any computer. … Neither application is multitasking. So if, for instance, you are walking down the street listening to your music and want to take a picture of something interesting, you will need to quit the music player to start the camera. Neither music player saves where you were in playback, making it difficult to resume after you quit. Both applications will pause to take voice calls.”
IGN reviews the LG FUSIC and writes about the phone’s music capabilities: “MP3 playback is really the big selling point of the Fusion, and it’s certainly one of the more capable phone’s we’ve yet used. Nevertheless, a variety of compromises become apparent after some use. Song selection is relatively straightforward with the phone either opened or closed, and if you organize your music well when transferring unprotected songs from your PC, you’ll be able to find just what you’re looking for. Incoming calls boot the phone out of music mode to call answer mode pretty seamlessly, and when the call is completed the Fusic will ask if you’d like to go straight back to the song you had been listening to.”
DigitalTrends reviews the LG Fusic and writes, “The LG Fusic is a superior sounding music cell phone with a full slate of phone and picture technologies, flawed only by its music management and music feature implementation. We find it hard to believe that the problems we’ve cited couldn’t be solved with a software update, and the phone is equipped with Firmware Over the Air (FOTA) capabilities, so that shouldn’t be a problem if and when. But until then, the Fusic represents some great leaps forward that can be just as many steps back.”
MobileBurn reviews the LG Fusic and writes, “I found the audio playback to be quite good on both of the players. The main music player supports MP3, AAC, and WMA files with no problems. As already mentioned, the player comes with convenient external controls, as well as a music equalizer that can be tailored to your liking. The Fusic supports Sprint’s Music Store for downloading the latest music files, all at a premium price or you can load your own from your PC. Saving files was a breeze and can be done directly to the 64MB microSD card included in the sales package. One of the the standout features on the Fusic is the device’s built-in FM transmitter. The transmitter works by latching onto one of your stereo’s stations (88.1-107.9MHz) and broadcasting your music through your stereo receiver whether it is in your home or in your car. The transmitter worked reasonably well when tested, but we did encounter static and some slight hisses during use. As with any FM transmitter, the closer the device is to the antenna, the better.”