Verizon Voyager

We’ve been eagerly anticipating Verizon’s mass media promotion and marketing of the Voyager. Wait no longer. When a :15-second LG Voyager television commercial ran we quickly gobbled it up and are now presenting it for your viewing pleasure. Without further adieu, the :15-second Verizon Voyager Television Commercial:

The beauty of mistakes! Miffed by the online pre-order process, as many were, one woman went directly into her local Verizon Wireless store to get help pre-ordering the Voyager. The warehouse must have thought that phone was ordered by the actual store, which had her shipping information, making her the first consumer to order and receive her Verizon Voyager.

This information was uncovered in our forums, and many were critical of her claims, but she followed up with very genuine photos of her new Verizon Voyager being unboxed in her home. What follows are her initial opinions and thoughts about the Voyager from the perspective of an average consumer:

Since the 12th of November I have had my LG Voyager which was pre-ordered from a Verizon store on the 9th of November. It arrived via Fedex with a 2day shipping sticker on the box. It was sent directly from the warehouse and I do not have a clue as to why/how I received it so early. My sales rep did nothing special when pre-ordering the phone nor did I pay any extra monies to get it so early. In fact when I called technical support with a couple of questions they were as dumbfounded as I was as to why I had the phone. Needless to say, because I have it prior to it’s release date there are a few things that are not functional (like the mobil tv) and won’t be until the 21st - the day it is to be in the stores and the day that VZW computers are scheduled to allow for such things as tv. I will share what I have learned about the phone to date but please keep in mind that I am not technically savvy and I know many of you out there will have questions that are way over my head!

The Voyager is essentially the same size as the enV but slimmer. I am 5′4″, 105 lbs. and find this phone fits comfortably in my hand. My husband is 6′2″, 220 lbs. and has no problem with it either. The lock key on the left side of the phone guarantees that it won’t inadvertantly turn itself on and is easy to access/use. Since I activated the Voyager from home I had to install my contacts list manually and was surprised at how easy it was compared to some phones that I have had in the past. At the bottom of the touch screen are icons that allow you to access the shortcut list - contacts - new - etc. This brings up the phone pad and you can proceed from there. The touch screen was easy to use with no skipping, double entries or any of the other quirks that come with phones like the chocolate. As with most phones, the Voyager was very self-explanatory during this process. It was after I had installed my list that I finally picked up the book (not the brightest) and learned that, for those of you who don’t like the idea of having to push a button 3x’s to obtain the desired letter, you can use the keyboard and just type in the name. Either way, it takes about the same amount of time.

The touchscreen is made of a “glass type” material and actually didn’t smudge up as bad as what we have all seen in pictures on the review sites. It easily wipes clean with a soft cloth. I am of the understanding that VZW is coming out with a protective cover similar to the one that the phone comes with that will aid in protecting the screen. I do not know if it will hinder the ability to easily use the touchscreen - they weren’t available for order when I ordered the phone. The leather pouch or glove as the rep referred to it does fit but it’s a tight fit and I would be afraid that the phone might fly out when you try to retrieve it. It did not come with a pouch (doesn’t mean that yours won’t) but did have software and a USB cord.

The ringtones include 4 different beeps and approximately 20 ringtones - they are okay and are a matter of preference but I changed those out the first day. There again, it was easy to navigate through the various lists of music and there is quite a selection to choose from! I had to use the phone to listen to and download the ringtones as there is nothing available on the computer for the Voyager at this time. That will probably change when it hits the stores. The sound was very clear and sounds more like a radio than it does a phone. You can hear music/sound coming from both of the internal speakers and it didn’t have static or that garbled sound some phones do.

I could hear conversations more clearly on the Voyager and my husband said that it was much easier to hear what I was saying when I was talking to him. Simply by flipping the phone open you access the speaker phone and even that was clear with no distortion or static.

I have spent minimal amount of time on the browser but what I have learned is that you will need to enter a http:// address and can then bookmark it for future reference. After I brought up the Yahoo page I attempted to sign on to access my mail but couldn’t get a response (couldn’t even type in my name). I don’t know if this is because the phone isn’t programmed for use on vzw computers but will wait until the 21st before calling technical support. Don’t expect any speed (like you would from your computer). I wonder if the ability of the Voyager to access the internet will slow down even more when everyone has their phones…. You will need to scroll around the internal screen using up/down and L/R keys to see the entire page and pan the external screen with your finger. Right now I feel that it is a bit awkward having to pan/scroll the sites but that is probably just because it’s a new concept. Voyager has zoom +/- options to let you see more of the page (still not all of it, tho’) and to zone in on a specific section of a page which will definately make for easier viewing. Beyond that I honestly can’t give you anymore information on the browser. I am still familiarizing myself with various other parts of the Voyager and have a habit of saving what I deem the most difficult/confusing until last.

The calculator does have the EZ tip function; calender is very easy to navigate; haven’t found anywhere to change the font as of yet and the wallpaper is fairly generic. The USB cord makes putting pictures on the Voyager easy (just drag and drop) which can be used for wallpaper. Although a service tech suggested not using the phone charger while talking on the phone (and said that I would find that in the book) as it could damage the phone, I have yet to find anything in the book that makes reference to that - not to say that it might not be there, I just can’t find anything on it!

Overall the Voyager has all the capabilities of the enV plus some. Clearer and larger picture, sharper color, and excellent sound (for a phone) - plus all of the additional features we have been hearing about. It has been easy to navigate and handle (not too large/small) and the touch screen is great. Because there are new/additional features I just make it a practice to keep the user guide handy for the time being but have not had to use it as much as I thought I would.

• Do I like the LG Voyager - YES.
• Is it worth the money I spent (full retail) - YES.
• Would I recommend it - YES.

There were a flurry of problems, issues, bugs, irritations… and whatever else you want to call them, for LG Voyager Pre-Orders. Fortunately, they all seem to be cleared up as Verizon has sent out their official “Pre-Order Now” e-mail.

We might remind you that VerizonVoyager.org even beat Verizon to the punch, sending out the availability e-mail 24 hours earlier. Many people were able to pre-order their phones even before the official announcement…. including us. And, we already received our confirmation for our pre-order.

This came in our e-mail inbox so now we’ll be eagerly awaiting  yet another e-mail that says our LG Voyager has been shipped!

By the way… we would have preferred white text on that black background!

If you enjoy this, please DIGG IT

LYRICS

I got more for ya, the LG Voyager
IPhone Destroya, What’s that? Oh ya
Don’t have Verizon – quit cryin
You need to switch whose doing ya cell phone providing
Fanboys sayin “I don’t neeeeed to switch”
Get left in the dust like Britneys kids
Don’t believe me, I’m in my car watchin mobile TV
While ya sittin at home, wishin for this phone
We told yall so don’t be mad at us
Ya phone looks like an abacus in comparison
My friend couldn’t buy one, now he’s cursin out the mouth son
Cause he feels like an amish person without one
I’m an advocate of sendin text messages,
Full Qwerty Keyboard, Wait I don’t see yours?
You’re behind with T9, by ten sentences,
Time flies by… are you a dyslexic kid?
You can’t type faster? What a disaster.
Yall hear that? Nothin but laughter

HAHAHAHAHAHA ya phone sucks so damn bad

I could go on and on… wanna test me kid?
Micro SD that can fit 8 gigs
digital camera, digital camcorder
music player man gimme my damn order
full browser for surfin the net
yall still aren’t sure just yet?
That’s nothing… I might start blushing
If you get me going about my touch screen
Stereo speakers and GPS
Actually, let me digress

If you don’t got yours…VerizonVoyager.org

One of our quick witted investigators (and forum members) snapped up this screen shot of the LG Voyager purchase link on the Verizon Testman website (thanks Brian). The picture does little more than to confirm the $299.99 price with 2 year agreement and that it will be available for Pre-order. But, the more exciting part is that it signals the imminent release of the pre-order going live… a moment that many of you have been eagerly awaiting: