LG VX8300 (Verizon Wireless)

The follow up to LG's VX8100 this phone has been slimmed down and improved a bit in the looks department personal choice I prefer the silver more then the blue on the VX 8100
Pros on this phone Reception is VERY good I get signals everywhere and even in areas where I have had Zero bars of signal I could still make and receive calls with no problems. Hearing people has not been a problem on the VX8300 as it was on the LG VX8100 (the problem on the VX8100 was fixed with software version 7) I have had a few people ask me to repeat myself (perhaps they just have trouble hearing) bluetooth capabilities for this phone dont seem up to par with my LG VX9800 I have tried several times pairing up a Motorola HS820 with the VX8300 and it took a few tries before it Paired with the phone
even then it doesnt seem as good as the bluetooth on the 9800 or the VX8100
Perhaps this is a software issue with the phone and be fixed in future updates
The outer screen is ok and doesnt seem as crisp as the Outer LCD on the VX8100
You also Cannot read text messages from the front screen really not a big deal since you have to open a phone to respond to text messages anyway but Im sure some will find this a hindrance
the camera on this phone for a sub 2 Mpixel camera is very good IF your subject sits still but for a camera phone it does what it should and does it well this IS a PHONE after all

the battery life on the phone seems to be on par with what most CDMA phones get of course depending on your usage of text messaging listening to music, playing games and GASP using as a phone talking to people you should expect to get somewhere between 3 and 4 hours talk time and if you hardly ever use the phone right around 6 or 7 days

I did not have a Micro SD card so I couldnt try out the music features & Capabilities of this phone

Inside the phones main screen is bright but for some reason doesnt seem to be the same quality of the VX8100 in the menu section of the phone you have the Capabilities to change the Menu Themes from the Normal Verizon UI that is found of most their phones now
you can choose from The Normal Default Setting, Silver Spin, Pulse, Business, Tropical, and Blue
Which is nice to be able to change the Red Title bar found at the top of the screen of 99% of verizons phones to blue, green, or .... Keep it the boring Red
The Ringers are still the normal boring ones found on practically every LG that has been released the last 2 years Which is good for Verizon so they can force you to Buy Ringtones from their Wide Variety of partners using the Get it now service

The buttons on the phone are looking at the phone from the side appear flat but they are raised The Camera button is on the side of the phone and the speakerphone button stands alone no multi function use on it

Voice Activated commands work well and had no trouble understanding me when I said "my account" or send message to
although some friends with higher pitched voices had trouble getting it to understand them

This is a great LG phone with some nice add on features to the LG VX8100
is it worth upgrading to? Depends, if you can get it from Verizon cheap enough go for it otherwise I would stick with the 8100 or go with the LG VX9800
If you havent upgraded in a while and would like a great phone that wont disappoint the VX8300 might very well be your next phone