vB Easy Archive - LG 4400 vs. Audiovox CDM8600 CANT DECIDE!! pleeasee help

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LG 4400 vs. Audiovox CDM8600 CANT DECIDE!! pleeasee help
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Posted by: Dave4321

so i'm on the 15 day free trial with the lg 4400 and i've heard alota good things about it and it works great and stuff, the only thing is i dont exactly like the way it looks and what not. I was at the store looking at other possible phones and saw the audiovox cdm8600 and right away liked the small size and speaker phone is a big plus. I was ready to get it when the sales person told me how the battery life isnt as good and people have complained about it and all sorts of things. They also said how the lg is a great phone. Should i get the audiovox anyway and take my chances? Or stick with the Lg and just exchange it for the different color (which i assume is the same exact phone) Pleeeeaasseeee help, thanks

Posted by: kilsen

I got the 8600 a few weeks ago -- primarily chose it for the very small size. My wife doesn't like it. Too hard to read the outer display; too hard too see and press the buttons. Her firm pays for her phone plan, and she can get a new one now, so all she needs to do is go to a Verizon store, try the various models, decide what she wants, and go back and tell someone at her firm what she picked. She did that Friday, and picked the VX4400. Sales people in the store all felt that the 4400 was tops in terms of ease of use, quality, screen size, buttons, etc. She picked it DESPITE its lack of a feature she's come to rely on with her last 3 phones: the ability to attach a strap to it. Apparently the 4400 has no way to loop a strap into it.

But I don't regret my decision to choose the 8600 at all; I was going for the smallest size I could get; my last phone was a Motorola Timeport 8767 which I carried on a belt clip, and the 8600 I can actually just stuff in the front pocket of my pants. Battery life has been fine (I "conditioned" it as recommended -- let it run all the way down before charging it the first few times.) I've used the speakerphone a couple of times and find it to be fine. I've used the voice activated dialing a couple of times and like it; I'll probably tag a whole bunch of my contacts for voice dialing. And I bought a mobile office kit (data cable and software), and am now able to transfer MIDI ringtones to the phone (yes, even though Verizon does everything they can to prevent it).

I suspect your final decision will be a matter of personal preference; which features are most important to you.

Posted by: petec

Well, I into day 5 of a 15 day trial. I have a 4400 that I gave to my wife when I got this 8600. Right now, there is a good possibility I will take the 8600 back and trade for a 4400.

Reasons:

4400 allows a voice dial tag for every entry in a given person's file ("Joe Home", "Joe Work", Joe Cell") The 8600 only allows one voice tag. If you try "Joe Home" then "Joe Work" All that is left is "Joe Work". I suppose I could make separate phone book entries for each "Home", "Work", etc but this could make it very incompatible with any address book files. It could also gobble up a lot of memory but that is just speculation on my part.

There is no continuous "On" mode for the LCD. Max of 20 seconds and I have not found a button I could press to light it again and not select something.

Compared to the 4400, the 8600 display is "trashy". Seems to have less resolution and brightness range. Perhaps new wallpaper would be better.

The front LCD doesn't light except during an incoming call where as the 4400 seems to come on under many different circumstances.

The front LCD keeps switching from "Version Wireless" to the clock. About 5 seconds each. Every time I want to know the time, it says "Verizon Wireless" and I have to wait.

When you do a phone book "find" and give it a letter, it finds every entry that has that letter anywhere in their name. Not just the first letter. "Trashy" and not well thought out.

Minor factor, I have a cable for the 4400 but don't know how far (price wise) I will have to go the get one for the 8600.

And the big one. I want to do free web browsing. I can do it with the 4400 but when I do every thing the same way with the 8600, I get a "Security" problem of some kind.

PeteC

Posted by: Dakota

Quote:

Originally posted by petec
I have not found a button I could press to light it again and not select something.

Press any "dead" key. In the standard display (clock, wallpaper, etc.) press CLR or HANGUP. In various other places, it depends on where you are. Ex: in the Phonebook opening menu (FIND, ADD NEW,...) pressing the left soft key will relight the display.

Quote:

Originally posted by petec
The front LCD doesn't light except during an incoming call where as the 4400 seems to come on under many different circumstances.

Pressing the volume up or down key with the cover closed will light the outside display but otherwise do nothing.

Quote:

Originally posted by petec
The front LCD keeps switching from "Version Wireless" to the clock. About 5 seconds each. Every time I want to know the time, it says "Verizon Wireless" and I have to wait.

I agree this is very annoying, but Verizon thinks they are doing a good thing, since the alternating banner is not "Verizon Wireless" (as in an advertisement), but rather telling you what network you are on so you can decide whether to answer the call. It will show "Verizon Wireless" or "Extended Network" or "Roaming." Since 90% if the time I am on VZN, I find this info more annoying than useful. There is a way to turn this off temporarily (off until you power down, or until you lose a signal/go analog, and maybe a few other conditions). MENU-6-4-3-1-YES (reselect YES even if it is already YES). The alternating banner will go away.

Quote:

Originally posted by petec
When you do a phone book "find" and give it a letter, it finds every entry that has that letter anywhere in their name. Not just the first letter. "Trashy" and not well thought out.

Actually, it is a wild card lookup, and when it finds your search string, it will list at the top of the list those entries that have the string in the first word in the phone book name entry, in alphabetical order, followed by those that have the string in the second word, in alphabetical order, ...

If you are used to "first letter" "second letter" phone book search functions, you may find it difficult to adapt, but once you do this search function is much more powerful.

Example:

You have these entries in your book:

Anderson, Borg
Abor, Bill
Borchers, Alan
Borgeson, Don
Crystal Welborne Applicance

If you search by name for "bor" your list will be in this order:

Abor, Bill
Borchers, Alan
Borgeson, Don
Anderson, Borg
Crystal Welborne Applicance

Posted by: petec

Dakota said:

"Press any "dead" key. In the standard display (clock, wallpaper, etc.) press CLR or HANGUP. In various other places, it depends on where you are. Ex: in the Phonebook opening menu (FIND, ADD NEW,...) pressing the left soft key will relight the display."

Right, but when you get to be an old codger like me, and the backlight goes dim, I can't see s*** so I don't know what key could be a "dead" key.

It doesn't happen all the time of course but just often enough to flip me to somewhere that I have to figure out how to get back to where I was.

The info on the side keys to light the LCD is good.

As far as the "Verizon WIreless", I believe you only need to know that to make a call or answer a call. Making a call, the phone is open so they could put the message on the internal LCD. When answering, they could switch to the "Verizon Wireless" (or what ever) while the phone is ringing. The clock could be on the rest of the time.

When you consider how much goes into these phones, a little human engineering would have gone a long way. If I sound like I am harping, it is because I spent 25 years in the business of constructing human interfaces and I never would have allowed my group to get that out the door.

Sorry for the rant. Can't teach an old dog new tricks.

PeteC

Posted by: Dakota

Quote:

Originally posted by petec
Right, but when you get to be an old codger like me, and the backlight goes dim, I can't see s*** so I don't know what key could be a "dead" key.

It doesn't happen all the time of course but just often enough to flip me to somewhere that I have to figure out how to get back to where I was.

Good point (my problem, too). The volume keys on the side are generally harmless; they will either change the speaker volume and take you back to where you were, or they will do nothing, or they will scroll your choices one direction or the other. Not the best human interface engineering, to be sure, but kind of a workaround.

Quote:

Originally posted by petec
As far as the "Verizon WIreless", I believe you only need to know that to make a call or answer a call. Making a call, the phone is open so they could put the message on the internal LCD. When answering, they could switch to the "Verizon Wireless" (or what ever) while the phone is ringing. The clock could be on the rest of the time.

Agree. In fact, they did put the message on the inside display, and in so doing took away one line of your personal banner. Some of us have started a "nag" campaign to try to get Verizon to change this. We're calling Verizon customer service daily with the complaint.

In the older versions of the firmware in this phone, this did not happen, and you could have a longer personal banner on the inside screen. They need to allow us to turn this off. After all, if I really want to know what network I am on, I can put on my cheater glasses and look at those tiny icons at the top.

Quote:

Originally posted by petec
When you consider how much goes into these phones, a little human engineering would have gone a long way.

Agreed.

Posted by: Gagetwhore

It was not an early verizon of the firmware that didn;t have the verizon wireless banner. I bought the close to when it first came out so i do not have that on my phone. THis is because i have an older prl verizon on my phone. Since this is a non eri prl the roaming indicator isn;t effected by it.

I think i would find this annoying thats why i haven;t updated the prl.

I like the 8600 i have had a good luck with it. The 400 hundred i hear is a nice phone alot of people had had good luck with it jsut somethign about it i do no like. So i am quite happy i went with this phone.

Also free wap does work there is a tread about how to make it work but it did take me a couple of tries to get it to work though
But thats why they make more than one phone to let people have a choice