LG Vu Plus

The LG Vu might have been one of the originals to help aid the ball rolling for touchscreen devices on AT&T's lineup, but since its initial release almost 3 years ago, there are probably plenty of owners who are now ready to do an upgrade. Last year, we witnessed the LG Xenon which actually has a lot in common with the just released LG Vu Plus GR700 – which incorporates some improved specs over the Vu and an added physical QWERTY.

Size and Weight :

The dimensions are weight 3.95 ounces, Size (inches) 4.31 x 2.1 x 0.6 inches.

Network and connectivity:

The gene pool remains the same with the LG Vu Plus with its quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM and dual-band (850/1900 MHz) UMTS connectivity. It's graced with 7.2 Mbit/s HSDPA speeds for some quick connections where available.

Camera and Video:

The 3-megapixel auto-focus camera includes an LED flash. Test photos were OK, with decent resolution, but with a slightly blurred effect around sharp edges. Outdoor shots of perennials and a brick patio exhibited vibrant color. I lost a few shots to motion blur, even with the faster-than-average auto-focus. Recorded 320-by-240-pixel videos were a dim, jittery disappointment indoors at 10 frames per second, though a well-lit outdoor video looked marginally better.

Memory and Display:

Internal memory is limited to a paltry 50MB, which is safe to say insufficient for media buffs, but fortunately you can supplement it with microSD cards up to 16GB in capacity. It's made entirely of matte grey plastic, and looks sophisticated. The 3-inch plastic resistive touch screen sports 240-by-400-pixel resolution, and was sharp and bright in practice.

Entertainment Features:

MP3, AAC, and WMA tracks sounded clear and punchy over Motorola S9-HD ($129.99, ) Bluetooth headphones, though they took over a minute to pair properly. The music player displayed large album art thumbnails and was simple to navigate. The Vu Plus streams clips through AT&T's clunky Cellular Video app. 3GP videos played smoothly in full screen mode, but MP4 and WMV clips were out; you also have to cue them up from the file manager, as there's no standalone video app icon. Mobile TV has yet to take off in the U.S., but the Vu Plus could change a few more minds. Powered by FLO TV, the Vu Plus was quick to fire up smooth, sharp-looking television. Swiping up and down changes the channel, and you can bring up a cable TV-style channel guide that lets you jump to a program with a single tap. The IM client supports AIM, MSN, and Yahoo accounts; AT&T bills each message as a text. The clunky AT&T Social Net app delivers Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter updates, plus RSS feeds. On the GPS side, you get the TeleNav-powered YPMobile and AT&T Navigator.