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Verizon’s Voyager Offers No Competition to the iPhone

Posted December 11, 2007 9:00 AM by Jason Swifter
Categories: Competition 

imageThe battle lines were drawn and the much hyped iPhone war was about to happen.  Verizon launched the Voyager as a direct competitor to Apple and AT&T’s iPhone. Only this is not much of a battle. In a nutshell, the Voyager is no competition.

I had the opportunity to test out the Voyager this weekend and compare it head to head to my iPhone. I must say, that I was excited at first about this competition. After all, the Voyager is a touchscreen! With a full QWERTY keyboard! It is on a faster data network! And did I mention its touchscreen?!!

Before I go on, if you are looking for a real review of the LG Voyager, read this one. This post is just some first impressions. I am no means an expert on mobile devices but I am an iPhone user and I know what I like.

I had gone to the Verizon Wireless store to hold one in my hand and it did not feel too impressive. When I first got my iPhone, it felt really heavy. But after feeling the weight of the Voyager, the iPhone’s heaviness was justified as a sign of better materials. The Voyager feels like any other cheap plastic phone.

The touchscreen feels like the screen of the Treo. The keyboard opens right to left (which for my righthandednes seemed very counterintuitive). The sounds were very generic and the menus were like any other LG phone’s.

There was noticeable lag when taking a picture ( a good 3 seconds). The “Home” button said “Clear” and it took me 10 minutes to figure out that’s how you get back to the previous screen.

It had great battery life (I didn’t have to recharge it all weekend after heavy use) and as mentioned before, the data speed was way faster in more places than the EDGE’d iPhone.

As far as Verizon phones goes, it is quite impressive. But as a direct competition to the iPhone, it’s no contest.

Again, check out some of these great reviews of the Voyager before making a decision. As for me, I felt it was a pitiful attempt to compete with the iPhone.

Special Story:
As I was testing out this phone I heard a very sad story. A neighbor of mine (clearly influenced by advertising) bought his son in high school a Voyager for Christmas. He was so excited because his son wanted asked for the iPhone but the family was on the Verizon network. The Verizon salesperson told him that it was just as good as the iPhone if not better (because of the keyboard). That kid is going to be hurting Christmas morning.

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Comments

  1. A neighbor of mine (clearly influenced by advertising) bought his son in high school a Voyager for Christmas. He was so excited because his son wanted asked for the iPhone but the family was on the Verizon network. The Verizon salesperson told him that it was just as good as the iPhone if not better (because of the keyboard). That kid is going to be hurting Christmas morning

    You feel bad for some spoiled brat who’s getting a $300 dollar cell phone and just because it’s not the iphone he will be dissapointed?!? What is wrong with this world? I feel bad for the starving kids in 3rd world countries! Get a life!

    Posted by Steven on December 11, 2007 9:21 AM

  2. Steven, This isn’t starvingkidsmatters.com, it’s iPhonematters.com. Of course people care about starving kids. This isn’t the place for it. Come on!

    Posted by chris martin on December 11, 2007 10:35 AM

  3. Does anyone know how much monthly plans cost for all of v casts features? Just curious how the two phones compete in that category.

    Posted by Albie on December 11, 2007 4:26 PM

  4. Yeah this totally isn’t a biased article in anyway. First off, the voyager beats the iPhone on several levels, and, you’re sad because your neighbor won’t pay 100 dollars more for a phone you have that will probably will be bricked?

    You’re very intelligent…

    Posted by Joe on December 12, 2007 1:27 PM

  5. I don’t get it…you state the features of voyager are better than iphone…yet you side for the iphone…why?
    Because you could understand that “clear” means “back”...?  Iphone is heavier..and therefore better quality? Come on…High tech materials are lighter and stronger…  Also the LG PRADA was before the iphone.
    Voyager is a hybrid of LG PRADA and the ENV.  Two phones out before the iphone. Iphone ripped off LG

    Posted by smu on December 16, 2007 2:25 PM

  6. For the guy that wrote this…Why the hec would the kid be hurting on christmas…Dude the boy must be spoiled rotten…If i were to get a razor than i would be happy even if i wanted the voyager…Dude you are being such a drama king…so if i were you i would think about the kids that dont have a phone…and that the sons dad got him kind of the same phone…the kid should understand…and seriously my parents would never buy me a voyager or the iphone i have to earn it with my own money.

    Posted by hadley on December 26, 2007 10:50 AM

  7. I have the Voyager, and my father has the iPhone. I have actively used both. I prefer the voyager for being more “phone like” then the gigantic, heavy iPhone. The iPhone looks pretty with its giant screen, but practicality is out the window. Who wants to carry that thing in their pocket all the time. As a phone, the Voayger is better. As a navgational device, I’ll say equal. For the web, the Voyager is better, and faster. For pictures, the Voyager wins for doing video and allowing you to send video. For music, the iPhone wins, but the Voyager is no slouch and handles it well. For keyboard entry in addition to touch screen, the Voyager not only wins, the iPhone doesnt even place. For obscenely large look at me I bought an expensive phone type screens, the iPhone wins hands down. Id rather have the smaller, yet still adequately large touch screen that the Voyager provides. My phone bill for 2 phones, both with unlimited web, text messages, video messages, voice messages,  voice command, and Mobile TV which iPhone doesnt even have, I pay $110. Thats 2 phones with all that !! ((Tv is only on my Voyager, the other phone is an Env ))

    Thats a great deal…

    Posted by William on January 7, 2008 2:49 PM

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