Customer Reviews

LG F9100 American Idol Phone (AT&T)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've had my LG F9100 for about a month now and I am getting increasingly annoyed with it and Cingular and LG. All of them together have made this phone an absolutely terrible buy.

When I went looking for a new phone after many years on Verizon, what I wanted was simple: Either a phone that could play MP3s, or a phone with a keyboard. Years ago I had a Sharp Zaurus and I loved typing things in -- ideas, to-do lists, stories, whatever -- but the Zaurus had a lot of limitations. A phone with a keyboard would solve a lot of problems.

As soon as I saw the LG F9100, I was in love. It seemed an elegant and excellent solution: An electronic device which can be a true multitasker and still fit in my pocket! Just what I wanted.

Wrong. My first disappointment was discovering that the keyboard doesn't work with anything other than text messaging over SMS, IM, and putting numbers in the phone book. Using Google over WAP: No keyboard. Using MapQuest: No keyboard. Even using the built-in calendar or memo applications: No keyboard.

Well, okay, I thought. Text messaging is pretty cool, and there's an SMS-SMTP gateway so you can send e-mail from your phone to any address on the Internet.

On a long trip in Atlantic City I decided to use the text messaging to tell my friends about amusing things happening on my trip. They were short messages -- but not short enough. Every message I sent got cut off.

My research on this showed that SMS only supports 160 characters per message. Okay, SMS is for SHORT messages. But -- and here's where I started to get annoyed -- if I send an SMS message to another PHONE and it's over 160 characters, the message gets split up and then reconstituted at the other phone -- SEAMLESSLY -- so I can send long messages, up to slightly less than 1000 characters. So the 160-character limit CAN be worked around. But, for some reason, NOT for SMS-SMTP. Which is pretty stupid, considering that my wife's phone is a crappy little Motorola and the Cingular SMS-SMTP gateway server is probably a big ole Unix box somewhere.

So I called Cingular customer support. It took me over an hour and I never found anyone who could even understand my problem, much less fix it. I finally got an SMS text message -- oh the irony! It was LONGER than 160 characters -- explaining that SMS is limited to 160 and they couldn't do anything about it.

Fine. So maybe I should be using MMS, which is the successor to SMS, to send my messages. MMS doesn't have the 160-character limit.

Too bad the F9100's KEYBOARD doesn't work with MMS.

Fine. Well, the phone also does Java. I'm a programmer. So I figured maybe I could write my own program which would allow the keyboard to be used to send e-mail. Except how to access the keyboard from Java? I sent a message to LG to ask. I received this reply: "Our equipment is not compatible with the applications you mentioned."

So I wrote back again asking what applications their equipment WAS compatible with. I mean, clearly the keyboard CAN work -- it works with the text messaging, and that was programmed using some language or other. I got this back: "Our phones are designed according to the service provider's specification. As such, the functionality of your phone is the mere design result approved and accepted not only by your service provider, but by the FCC. The F9100 was mainly designed for text/SMS messaging usage. Therefore, the keyboard usage is limited to such. In addition, LG is not in a position to provide any more information than what you have been given concerning the internal coding as that is considered proprietary information."

Which I translate as "Any boneheaded design decisions aren't LG's fault, and furthermore we have no intention of fixing any of them, no matter how much it angers our customers, so go stuff an eggplant where the sun don't shine." In fact, a later message from LG made it clear that Cingular is LG's customer, not me. I guess I hallucinated that little LG logo on my phone and the box it came in.

Okay, fine. So I'll just keep my own little messages on the phone, using the keyboard to type in SMS messages which I'll just save and never send out. I can still use it for to-do lists and stuff.

Except for the final flaw: Every so often, the phone eats parts of saved messages. They just turn into gibberish, and if you try to read them, the phone's text messaging application crashes.

And I have yet to get the phone's Yahoo Messenger feature to work.

Way to go! Guess I now know what the F in F9100 stands for.

so i have had this phone for 4 or 5 days now, and i am *trying* to like it, but i am know i am going to send it back.

i can live with no camera, memory slot, bluetooth, etc. i txt quite a bit, dont really mobile IM, but figured maybe i would start, and it seems NOT A STRETCH AT ALL, that i would use THE most popular application on the Internets.. its called Email... maybe some of you have heard of it?

well, apparently not the folks somewhere between LG/Cingular/f9100 marketing and decision making teams. i have had phones for years that do email. doesnt need to be a full-blown app like outlook, but email on a mobile, especially one that does mobile IM seems pretty no-brainer as likely to be wanted. if you were thinking that a phone with 4 protocols of mobile IM capability and a slide out freakin keyboard would have included some email ability, even in the form of a pay-for 3rd party app, to do email you would be wrong. True, i can send email as XXXNNNYYYY@my.cingular.com, but thats no use to me, or i suspect, the billion people whoalready have an email address.

i also have a moto mpx220 from cingular, and it comes pre-configured for like 5 major ISP's email, and a great wizard to walk you thru a outlook/imap/pop3 account. i used it all the time and thought "great, now i can use a keyboard for simple stuff like email, and not have to drop $400 on a treo."

also, the slide rattles, opens in your pocket, there is NO WAY to turn off alert tones, poor font choices so it looks like a cheapo computer from 1991, you CANT use the keyboard on all the phone's INCLUDED applications, like its openwave WAP browser!!! surely someone between LG and Cingular could have added a middleware to hook the keyboards APIs to the Openwave text input APIs so that i could type in URLS with the INCLUDED keyboard rather than than tripple-tapping the phonepad.

sorry Lucky Goldstar, i want to like this phone, but please hire an Interface Designer, not just engineers. example, how about the Inbox saying "Inbox(2)" when i have messages instead of saying "Inbox" all the time. my phone from 2000 did that!

physically, the phone is pretty alright (despite the slide issue), so maybe there will be a firmware upgrade that just starts over from a software point of view and evolves this thing from barely ok (if txt and IM are all you ever use, and i KNOW that that is not true of even 17 year olds) to a pretty rawkin little txter/IM'er/emailin' sidekick fighter,

but thats just me lookin on the bright-side.

-mario

Looks very cool and exciting at first glance. Great color display. I've had this phone for about a month now, and wish I hadn't forked over the $150 bucks.

The phone keys are too small... you have to push with the very tip of your finger to operate them. The screen is great as is the slide out keyboard... but forget about any simple email or web browsing using the slideout keyboard. It is not supported !! How dumb is that? This great sliding keyboard, but it is only used for IM and data entry for the phone book. Anything else and you need to use the old multiple key pressing for alpha characters.

Oh yeah.. the documentation... stinks, there are several pretty icons that show up on the screen for which there is no legend. And especially around the use and setup of different networks, where good documentation would be helpful, it is non-existant.

Add this to the annoyance of having it sliding open all the time in your pocket, or while you are using it...there whould be some way of locking it shut. well, I am sorry I purchased this phone.

I enjoy texting and instant messenging. I wanted to update my phone so that I could do both fast and without any hassles. I looked at several phones with full qwerty keyboards, and the LG 9100 was a great choice for me. I started my search by looking at the Treo 650. I have had a Palm for years, and I thought this would be a natural progression. The Treo is a pretty nice phone, but I did not like the large size and how the PDA part of the phone did not support many of the applications that I have come to rely on. I was also not able to find a way to connect up with Yahoo Messenger easily. With its limitations, I could not justify the $300 price with a two year contract. FYI, I have a friend with a Treo, and her reception is not nearly as good as my LG 9100. Last night we went to Chili's, and she had no reception, while I had three bars. This is a natural occurance.
Next I looked at the Motorola A630. It is about $50 more than the LG 9100, but has a camera, bluetooth, and is nice and small in addition to the full keyboard. I decided against the A630, because the keyboard was too small for my hands and was a bit tough to type with. The 9100 has a great keyboard that is good sized and the keys have a solid feel to them.
Then I looked at the Sidekick. I didn't spend much time with it, because it was much too large for me.
Finally, I strolled into Cingular and checked out the 9100. It was just right. The phone is nicely sized. It fits into my front jeans pocket without any problem. The phone sort of splits in the middle to reveal a full qwerty keyboard. The keyboard is great. Nice sized keys that have a solid feel, so you know when you have typed a letter. I can text fast with this keyboard. As an added bonus, the phone also connects directly with several instant messenging services: AOL, ICQ, and Yahoo. I really like how I have been able to set up the phone so that is automatically logs me into Yahoo Messenger, and I can stay connected to my friends all day long. The phone allows you to keep 35 conversations going at once. I don't have that many people I talk with, but I have been able to keep a conversation going with three with no problem.

The 9100 is an inexpensive texting and messenging machine, and that is what its focus is on. It is not a smart phone though it does have some internet connectivity. It does not have a camera, though you can send and receive pictures. It has great reception. I can hear people well, and they tell me they can hear me well too. I have not had any problem with the keyboard sliding out accidentally, or with the phone accidentally dialing numbers while it is in my pocket, though it does have a nice autolocking function on the keys just in case. It allows you to set about 10 speed dials, and you can also set up 10 of your contacts with voice dial. Plain and simple, this is a phone with great texting capabilites. If you are looking for more, then you should look into the A630 or Treo phones.

I originally bought this phone on a whim when starting up my service. Slider phones have a cool look, and if looks are what you're going for, you might love this phone, but the functionality is lacking. The phone is a bit bulky, and especially since I wear tight low-rise jeans, it's slightly uncomfortable. It also easily slides open, sometimes while in my pocket and I'm walking, or when I'm trying to dig it out while it's ringing.

The interfaces are great and it's very easy to use. Other than writing text messages, the keyboard is great for adding contacts... and that's about it. What I found annoying is that the keyboard isn't supported for other things, like memo's or calendar dates. Having a keyboard on your phone and being unable to USE it for certain things that require lots of text is quite tiring and a test of patience.

The mp3 ringtones are great for this phone, however it took me about a week to figure out how to set a different ring tone. The option for the ringtone isn't entirely truthful, because you have to go and assign the ringtone you desire to EACH user group for it to take effect. No selecting one tone and having it apply to everyone. So it requires going through your entire address book and putting every contact into a category, then applying that ringtone for that group. Tiring to say the least.

The screen is large, the backlight is great, and the battery retains its charge very well. The jog dial makes navigation quick and easy, and makes playing many games very easy (a lifesaver in church). After about a week or so, I got bored with this phone and am looking for something with more features.

The lesson I learned from this phone? While the keyboard is fun and great-looking, unless you plan on using text ALOT (and shelling out more money for it) go with something a bit more functional.

i bought this phone because i am a text freak,,,,,i love the keyboard,,,its veryvery durable,,,the sound is so clear,,,i love nokias however no phone i have ever used or had has had the clean clear sound this phone does,,,the screen is bright,,,now the bad parts,,,no speakerphone,,,otherwise this is a great phone and i am glad i bought it

The slide keyboard kept sliding open in my pocket which was awkward, and this phone is uncomfortably thick. And it claims to have a wide range of Java games available, but when I went to d/l some new games, there were only about 6 available. 6 is not wide range.

I bought this phone for a reason other than its advertised intended purpose--for writing memos. I had wanted to purchase a Treo for the very same reason--but found it to be overkill for my needs (in both features and price).

I use this phone to write grocery lists, jot down quick ideas, and send (very) quick SMS messages. I find the slide-out keyboard to be extremely useful and, although the phone could be a bit slimmer, it certainly has a smaller footprint than a Treo or Blackberry--and I have found it to be sufficiently compact.

I can honestly say that this is the best phone that I personally have ever owned.

A good sturdy phone. Great for SMS, however kind of lack some features like a camera. Also the slide feature is too limited. One should be able to use the slide feature for internet browsing, MMS and such.

I ordered it on a whim. I saw it before and loved it. I thought it was pretty cool and I thought I could receive emails on it. I thought wrong. The phone looks pretty cool but thats about it. I'm upset I paid the $150 for it. I saw a phone on a commercial that looked just like this one, except the top piece swiveled so that when it was open it was at an angle and it looked like a tiny laptop. The keyboard didn't just slide out. ANd it had a camera. I thought this was it. Damn my laziness - I really didn't want to bother with reading up on it. I saw it, I loved it, I ordered it. COmpletely my fault.

I love stylish new phones with lots of features that make people say Ooooohh coool. But this isn't it. It just really wasn't what I expected, so that turned me off immediately.

I've had it about a couple of months and I'm still trying to like it. I really want to just get another but it kills me that I just got this damn phone and already I want it gone.

My major problem with it is that it randomly freezes. It just won't do anything, can't even turn it off, so then I have to take the battery out to get it to come alive again. That irks me to no end. It happens way to often. I thought of sending it in for a new one, but for what. Unless they're sending me back a different phone altogether, why bother.

The sliding keyboard seemed so cool when I first got it. I thought wow, this is convenient. I thought this would make my boring blackberry-user friend envious. But then I realize that I can't do anything with the keyboard but im and text. I really don't im all that much. Sux.

I can record sounds, which I thought was cool until I realized that it didn't matter anyway cuz I couldn't use them for anything. I can't put them on as ringtones for whatever reason.

I really wanted to get a sidekick but I got this instead cuz everyone seems to have a sidekick. I was pissed at myself when I got it. Sometimes I slide out the keyboard and text message a friend for a minute just so it looks like I can actually do something with it. Oh and no speakerphone. That sux a big one also. Sometimes my friend will send me a multimedia message 2 or 3 times and I'll never get it.

My favorite features are the actual number keys. I think they're cool. The screen is nice also. Nice colors, bright. Other than that, needless to say, I wish I would have read up on it more and gotten something else. This is a good teenager phone I think, for those who don't work and have tons of friends who are always online imming each other and don't have a need for many other features.