http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/ Engadget Comments for Sprint launches LG LX550 (Fusic) http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/Aug 15th 2008 7:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/
Download BitPim (www.bitpim.org) and find the melody you composed (it will have a .mid extension).

Go to the file on your computer (probably a .wav or .mp3) and change the name to *exactly* the filename of your melody (including the extension). Use BitPim to load your ringtone over the existing melody. Then when you want to make it your ringtone, chose the "My Melodies" folder and use the newly created ringtone.]]>Aug 19th 2008 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/May 24th 2006 10:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/May 24th 2006 10:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/May 24th 2006 10:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.mobiledia.com/phones/lg/fusic.html

But then reading the specs on that page it also shows it as having GPS!]]>May 24th 2006 11:13AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/
If I were a sprint customer I'd be all over this guy.]]>May 24th 2006 11:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/May 24th 2006 1:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/
The Fusic appears to rectify these problems. A2DP is something I sorely miss with my A900, as well as the microSD expandability. But the real question is, how will the fusic behave as a PHONE? My A900 is all aces in this department: signal strength and voice quality (based on my personal experience in my area) has been among the best I've ever used. Will the LX550 live up to it? Previous LG's on Sprint haven't received the strongest marks in this department.

Also, battery life. A2DP and FM Transmitting seem like they will tax the battery life and three hours is unacceptable when it comes to music playback. For me to buy this phone, I will have to wait and see about both how it performs as a phone (because this is of course a cell phone and I want to use it to make calls first and foremost) and how long the battery lasts.

]]>May 24th 2006 3:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ZDM/story?id=1998634 and seems pretty happy with the phone. Battery life is clocked at almost five hours for voice calls, which is most likely similar to what you'd get while playing mp3s. Five hours is great for a CDMA phone, and it a step in the right direction.

Can't wait to use it in person.]]>May 24th 2006 6:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/May 24th 2006 7:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/May 24th 2006 7:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/but i would rather have reception over a fancy new music phone.]]>May 24th 2006 8:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/Jun 21st 2006 4:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/Jun 27th 2006 9:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/May 15th 2009 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/Sep 17th 2006 9:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/Aug 31st 2009 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/
"The phone they sent me, an LG Fusic, is really quite awful, and the service, Power Vision, is tremendously misconceived and full of dumb features that don’t work right and cost way too much. So I’m going to review the dang phone anyway, even though if anybody from Sprint is paying attention they’re going to lose their lunch and some executive bonehead over there is going to go nuts and I sincerely hope that this doesn’t put an end to the entire free-phones-for-bloggers boondoggle, because I’d hate to get beaten up at Etech next year by all the other bloggers who would hate me for spoiling all the fun."

[http://joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/09/19b.html]

Given that Sprint seems to be giving these phones away to bloggers for free, I'd take any glowing review you read with a very large grain of salt ...
]]>Jan 3rd 2007 7:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/
from http://joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/09/19b.html
My Response http://hunterdg.blogspot.com/2007/01/joel-spolsky-is-officially-idiot.html

"There’s no desktop integration, no ITunes integration, no feature for subscribing to Podcasts, nothing like that"

(this is a GOOD THING! it means it's not proprietary. if you can't figure out how to xfr files without needing 'integration', then you deserve an ipod, not this phone)

"When you plug the phone into your computer using the supplied USB cable, it thinks you want to use the phone as a modem. Yes, one day I might want to do that, that’s true, but for now I just wanted to get MP3s onto the thing"

(all phones since PAM (phone as modem) began have used the data port primarily as a modem. Why would that change? remember, this is a COMBINATION phone AND MP3 player, it's gonna require some mental capacity to accomplish things.)

"Somehow, somewhere, I managed to stumble on a menu that made the phone act like a USB hard drive"

(maybe in the TOOLS menu? This is also well documented in the manual)

"Oh, I see, there are two cords. You have to plug the headphone cord into the microphone cord and plug that into the phone. Now it’s long enough. OK, it’s awkward, but I can live with that."

wow. what phone has ever had a standard mini 1/8" headphone jack on it? maybe one or two? Reasons: 1: too big for small phones(similar to the mini-usb, couldn't fit a standard usb) 2: the min-jack on phones serve multiple purposes (headset, headphone, call/end button on headset, etc) thus requiring more contacts than a standard 3 contact 1/8" jack. this is much easier and more cost effective done with a 1/32" micro-jack, as they were designed from the start as multiple-contact (4+) jacks.

REMEMBER, this is a COMBO PHONE+PLAYER.

At different points in the article, Joel claims that the media player, when paused, prevents the backlight from turning off. this is correct, although only when th flip is OPEN. Close the flip and the problem is solved. He also stated that when playing media through menu/tools/memory card, that he could not close the flip without the media player exiting. (this is true, but not the proper way to play media on the card) Earlier in the article, he criticizes the external pause button functionality. This indicates that he has accessed the media player and a song in the proper way, and closed the flip, while the media player continued to run, then allowing him to use the external pause button. Yet he purposefully left this tidbit of info out.

the proper way to play media stored on the card is

menu/media player/media card (who would've guessed) all media needs to be stored in the 'media' folder on the memcard. why not the 'music' folder you ask? because this phone is a MEDIA player (Music AND Video).

the 'music' folder and 'music' menu item are for the songs downloaded from the sprint music store (utterly useless IMO)

"You can’t get into to the MP3 player unless you can establish a network connection to the Sprint Music Store. Even to play your own MP3s"

This is a blatant lie. the MUSIC STORE and the music you may have downloaded from SPRINT (i dunno why you would) cannot be accessed without a signal. the files stored in the MEDIA folder, are accessible at any time through menu/MEDIA PLAYER. (and also menu/tools/mem card)

"I thought this thing was supposed to have full length movies somewhere. Ah yes, how about “MSpot Movies?” It says I’m going to get “Full-length Hollywood movies.” Only $6.95 a month. Yes. ~ I don’t understand. Are these movie titles? Not movie titles I’ve ever heard of. Yep, it’s true. What you get for $7/month is about 10 movies that seem to be in the public domain"

Did you think you were going to get movies for free? A little naive don't ya think? the "Sprint Movies" application (download-able from my content/applications/get new) Has the mainstream movies available for purchase from $3.99-$5.99. Da Vinci Code, Spider man 2, the Forgotten, Click, White Chicks, etc. An acceptable collection for bored moments.

"So really the only stupid thing that Sprint did is to send this phone to a bunch of know-it-all, hipster-wannabe, pretentious early-adopter engadget-reading 41-year-old bloggers, with our pretentious black iPods and our sleek gun metal RAZRs and our MacBook Pros and our so-called “Podcast” listening habits"

Lastly, yes, sprint was stupid to send Joel a phone ans assume he could figure out the darn newfangled contraption well enough to write a noteworthy review. And he calls himself a know it all? FAR FROM IT, Joel. While the rest of your description may be accurate of yourself, it certainly doesn't Describe me, or the majority of "Bloggers" (Or so i Hope)]]>Jan 5th 2007 2:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/
Good thing is we can take them and trade them within 30 days...

anyone got any good ideas on easy directions on all the features of the phone?]]>Jan 7th 2007 3:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/
in liue of the usb connection you could just get an SD card reader. most laptops have them built in.]]>Jan 8th 2007 5:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/Dec 16th 2007 9:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/I just bought the Fusic phone from Sprint and let me tell you I love it. I have three words. Kibbles and Bits! Kibbles and Bits baby. Its the sauce in my frying pan! There is nothing better...and I can jam to the mp3's OooOh the ladies are going to be swarming over me. Go get one and you definately wont be classified as a poopbutt. ]]>Jan 9th 2007 1:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/Feb 4th 2007 12:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/24/sprint-launches-lg-lx550-fusic/Feb 15th 2007 9:58AM