Customer Reviews

PCS Phone LG PM-325 (Sprint)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Had this phone for a few weeks now. I think it is the best LG phone for Sprint so far. It get better good reception than my previous phones (LG 5250, LG 5350, Samsung A400). I am getting reception in areas that I never had a signal before, which is surprising considering the antenna is internal. Phone had trouble switchin cell towers when I was cruising at 75mph on highway. In the middle of a call, signal would fade, drop, and hop to 5 bars. Hope they fix that with an update, none of my phones did that before.

Got the this phone primarily cuz everyone and their mothers have a flip(clamshell) phone so got this to be different.

Bluetooth on the phone is a crippled and only good for headset. Can't sync the phone with any other bluetooth device. I hear Verizon(lawsuit filed against them in CA for it) does same thing. Too bad cuz bluetooth sounded kinda cool. They do it so it forces users to use their extra services and so people can't share 3g services with other devices. Boooooooooo.

I am not sure why phone doesn't have flash for the camera. There seems to be a spot right next to the lens where they could put one. Instead there is a shiny silvery plastic thing. I have no clue why its there. Probably going to giving themselves room to add a flash for the next version of this phone. Boooooooooo.

That monitor feature is a strange feature. it is not that much louder than the normal earpiece on high setting. Seems almost pointless.

It is a great phone. LGs have a pretty easy to navgiate interface. voice dialing is better than most cell phones. Lots of builtin features such as a great alarm clock. Can program 4 alarms into it. 3 minute of voice memo. A Calculator that isn't hard to use. nice tip calculator.

I would have give then phone five stars if it wasn't for the crippled bluetooth and lack of flash. Another crappy thing that i did not factor into review is that u have to sign a 2 year contract to get this and any Sprint phone at a low price. if it wasn't for this phone I wouldn't have made the commitment.

I'm not a Sprint apologist, though I have to say Sprint has improved in terms of customer service in the past two years. (Before that, well..., let's just say I seriously considered dropping Sprint and did not recommend the carrier for some time to prospective new cell phone buyers who were friends or colleagues of mine.) That said, I have to say Sprint's latest offering, this LG PM-325, is a step in the right direction.

This phone is a sturdy little package that offers cutting edge technology and functional ease. It's by far the best Sprint phone I've owned -- my previous models were a Qualcomm 2760 and a Samsung N400.

Strengths include its strong reception. My Samsung seemed to find dead spots that my Qualcomm never had any trouble with. This LG model is even better than my old Qualcomm, particularly in my house, where dropped calls were once a problem. Not anymore. I now get four bars in the best location (the rear of the house) and at least one bar in the worst (the basement). In the basement of the YMCA, which was once a guaranteed dead zone for Sprint's digital network, a signal sometimes creeps through, though I still wouldn't rely on a normal conversation there.

The phone book is an incredible resource. It allows me to enter so much information that I find it represents one less reason for me to consider a PDA. The sound is crisp, the color screen is fabulous, and the software is excellent.

Now I'll defer to those who've tried using the Bluetooth technology, which while I understand it's practical applications have not truly experienced. Basically, I plan to use it primarily for its wireless headset ability. Perhaps one day I'll get a pocket PC, using the PM-325 as a wireless modem to dial up a connection. If you're one of these picky technocrats who expect clean data transfers and full compatibility with other Bluetooth devices, you'll have to pick another Bluetooth phone or wait for software upgrades. Frankly, I think people get too bent out of shape over such issues. Although I can understand how it can be a little frustrating to have to re-enter data -- my Samsung wouldn't deliver my phone book data to my new LG, forcing me to spend three days re-entering the carryover info recently.

More practical criticisms are the size of the keypad (you have to be sure to dial carefully since the keys are so close together) and the inconsistencies in web surfing (which may be a Sprint problem concerning Sprint's servers and certain web pages).

I love the easy-to-use calculator, the tip calculator, the voice memo, the notepad, and even the alarm clock, all offered under the Tools menu.

Don't buy this phone solely for its Bluetooth capabilities. Appreciate it for its overall design and cell phone capabilities.

I have had this phone for a little over a week. I love it's compact size, which fits easily into your pocket. Also with the interior antenae, no snags! Another great feature is that the keyguard automatically comes on when the slider is closed and
the phone is inactive for about 8 seconds. To unlock you simply hit 2 keys or slide the phone open. You may also dial when the phone is in the closed slider position, although you will not be able to access menu features. Whether the slider is open or closed, the person you are calling will have no problem hearing you. The two drawbacks to this phone are that there is no speakerphone, which is an option I personally love. It does have a "monitor on" option which sort of acts like an amplifier of the call, but not really loud enough to be considered a speakerphone. The second drawback is there is nowhere to attach a wrist strap. But if you get the wireless Bluetooth headset, I guess it wouldn't matter much. It has a great feature called the tip calculator, which allows you to put in the total of your check and figure out the tip, but also gives you the option of splitting the bill with the desired number of people. No more arguments on who pays what! I thought the phone was black, but it is actually a very dark blue. The camera phone picture quality is great and you have options to lighten, darken and magnify pictures as well as change the color tone. It also has a self timer, so you can join in on the pics you are taking.
All in all I am very pleased with this phone, but good luck finding one. Maybe after christmas they will be more readily available. Hope this helps.

The battery in this phone is tiny, so with regular use I charge it atleast every other day.

It does not function perfectly with my Motorola HS850 Bluetooth Headset, meaning I cannot use the voice-dial/redial features built into the headset as expected.

Otherwise, this phone does SMS messaging (so no more logging onto the web for text-messages), has a clean interface, and the sliding keypad allows for convenient text-viewing and call-answering/ending.

Its footprint is small, also, so it fits comfortable in the pocket or small purse.

Also, the antenna is built in, and the phone still maintains great reception.

The only beef is that the slide-out keypad is somewhat flimsy-feeling, since it is plastic, but it maintains well.

Overall, this phone serves its purpose very well, despite lacking a longer batterylife and better Bluetooth v1.2 support.

I give a one star, not because of the phone's overall quality

Overall, its built solidly, and the voice quailty seeems fine

however, you're paying for a 'Bluetooth' phone that really has not much bluetooth at all

bluetooth headsets work here ----- but the best part of bluetooth is being able to sync up with your home computer and download your contacts and calendars into it ---- something that has been disabled on this phone

Hopefully, Sprint will correct this feature on later Bluetooh phones

UPDATE ------

I wanted to update my review ----- I have started using this phone for DUN (wireless internet, connected to my laptop over bluetooth) and it works EXCELLENTLY!!!

I have not found a phone that has handled DUN better and with more stability, than this phone -- definitely handles DUN better than the Treo 650

I am using Sprint Vision with Mac OS X Tiger --- i wish the rest of the bluetooth funcitons were available, but the DUN makes this phone a much better buy

The main reason I bought this phone in the first place was b/c it was way cooler looking, smaller and had more features than my Sanyo-4900. Even though it has more features, it is still not worth the money. I still have the sanyo, and I'm considering switching back to it, or buying the newer version, the RL-4920. The screen constantly looks dirty from collecting grime, the keypad easily slides closed,resulting in an ended call, the keys are to flush with the phone and are hard to press w/o accidently hitting another one. The phone shuts off time to time when in a data transfer, (internet, messaging, picture upload/sending) and sometimes during a call. I'm the kind that likes to have a strap on the phone so I can easily pull it out of my pocket, or loop in around my wrist to keep from dropping it when talking or carrying the phone, but this phone doesn't even have a hole to put a strap on it. So thank god I haven't dropped it yet. I've tested out the bluetooth with my computer, the only thing I can really do with it and my comp. is take calls through my computer, much like speaker phone, but on the computer.
Overall, the phone has good reception, seems to keep up with my roomates Sanyo-7300, but for the price (around 250) you'd be better off savying an extra hundred bucks and buy a Sanyo.

This is a pretty good cell phone and the slide feauture is definately an eye catcher.
Pros:
-camera is pretty good, 8x zoom, 680x480 resolution
-camrera has many options to make your picture come out better
-the sliding feature is pretty solid so far.
-bluetoth enabled
-65k color screen (way better than my nokia 6225)
-area code match
-battery is pretty reliable
-with the voice memo you can record anything you want as a ringtone.
-my aim actually works on this phone
-you can make and recieve calls without sliding the phone at all

Cons:
-reception isnt as good as i thought it would be (but i just received an over the air update and it is doing much beter)
-no flash on the camera
-not many accesories for the phone (yet)
-no actual speakerphone

All in all this is a great phone. if it had a flash on the camera i would give it five stars. Once again the sliding feature gets you many oohs and ahhhs.

Bought this phone for Bluetooth to connect to the HandsFree Link in my car (Note: Be sure to use a car charger as Bluetooth eats the power). All-in-all the phone works great! Getting 4-5 signal bars as compared to my wife's Samsung VI660, which gets 1-2 in the boondocks of Indiana.

Only drawbacks with the phone are that the case is indeed slippery as previously reported, and no case is yet available from LG, or the aftermarket, unless you want to go with a generic case. Most Sprint PCS stores do not have this phone yet. So, if you want it, buy it from Amazon.com.

I've now owned phones from three major companies: Nokia, Motorola, and now LG. Of the three, Nokia is the best, but LG comes in a close 2nd with this offering. The PM-325 is a good phone with some great things going for it. I've demoed several camera phones and this one, for it's price range, takes great quality pics. You'll have to go to a more expensive phone for a better camera. Reception/Quality is great, to the point of having to lower the volume all the way to keep my ear from being blasted! The UI (user interface) is also very stable, something my last phone (Moto's T720) couldn't be accused of, since the UI kept crashing thus turning the phone into a paperweight. Buttons are responsive without being too touchy, the menu is very straightforward and I learned a lot from just exploring the phone without having to consult the manual too much (very user-friendly). The phone will even let you dial/answer a call without even sliding down the keypad (set this up in the "Settings/Setup" menu)! Oh, BTW, I haven't had any problems with the phone shutting off unexpectedly, as other users have stated. I've only had the phone for two weeks, so if I encounter this problem at all, I'll update this review. My only theory behind this is, since the phone's display will power down (based on your settings) to conserve power, it looks like the phone is off. Therefore, if you're in a weak area and there's no tower signal (ie. no strength bars) it may seem like the phone is truly off. My experience so far: even with the display and keypad powered down, I STILL get calls and messages coming through! No problems yet.

My only caveat is the way the Bluetooth is used. It seems Sprint doesn't want users to bypass their PCS services by directly up/downloading to their home computer using BTooth, hence the missing star rating! The programming only lets you use the phone as a wireless connection for your computer to the internet (oh, and also to use a BTooth headset, BTW). Being a Mac user and seeing as the connection is easy to set up, it's good to know in case I have a iBook that needs an internet connection in the middle of nowhere! I don't know if PC users will have an equally easy time of it.

All in all, I'm happy with this phone. Now all Sprint needs to do is make their ringtones as non-subscription... buying a ringer at $2.50 and it expires in 90 days??! (This is what the greedy music executives want music downloads to be like, with nothing ever truly owned!!)... Ok, this is supposed to be a review, so I'll stop my ranting now...

I also experienced the issue with my PM-325 randomly powering down and finally figured out that this was happening because the battery wasn't 100% secure in its housing. Even a slight impact could jar the battery from its contact points. Here's a workaround that worked for me:

Remove the battery, then insert a strip of paper between the top of the battery and its housing. When you push the battery back into place, the paper will wedge it tightly against the contact points.

IMPORTANT: Wedging in the battery can make it difficult to remove, so make sure that part of the paper strip runs behind the battery AND a portion of it hangs out in front. This will give you a 'handle' to pull on if you need to lift the battery out.

A primitive solution, but effective. The problem has completely ceased since I did this. Aside from the aforementioned issue, the phone works great for me. Good battery life and excelllent reception/call quality. The other bells and whistles don't matter to me.