Editor's Note: In early October 2006, a firmware update activated Bluetooth stereo music support and allowed the use of 2GB MicroSD cards. The phone also now has a modem function, and plays MP3s as well as WMA music files. Considering this erases many of the "cons" in our review, we have bumped the phone's rating up by half a point.

The LG VX8300 has potential. Right now, it's an evolutionary upgrade to the workhorse LG VX8100. Once Verizon offers improved support for stereo Bluetooth, MP3, Adobe Flash Lite, and modem capability, this could turn into one of the premier music phones for Verizon Wireless.

At 3.6 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches (HWD) and 3.8 ounces, the VX8300 is marginally smaller and lighter than its predecessor. It's a rounded flip phone with external music control buttons, a rather washed-out 96-by-96 OLED display on the outside, and a bright, lively 176-by-220 display inside.

The VX8300's potential appears as soon as you hit the menu button. The menus are animated and can use one of six different color themes. The phone runs Adobe Flash Lite, the portable version of the popular Web programming language used for games, video, and animated Web-site user interfaces. Verizon Wireless isn't doing much with Flash Lite yet. And Verizon being Verizon, it won't reveal its future plans. But I've seen demos of great Flash Lite applications delivering news, weather, and local information, and Flash Lite–enabled sample phones that stream fun facts and data to your idle screen. Verizon Wireless would be smart to take better advantage of this technology.

Two other important features are still in the realm of "potential" for the VX8300. The phone will soon be usable as a high-speed Bluetooth or USB modem for your PC on VZW's EV-DO network with a $59.99-per-month BroadbandAccess Connect plan. And a software upgrade coming in the near future will enable stereo Bluetooth music playback, letting you listen to your tunes over wireless headphones. If either of these features are important to you, ask at your local Verizon Wireless store whether they've been enabled when you go to buy the phone.

The VX8300 has marginally better reception and considerably better battery life than the previous version. The earpiece and especially the speakerphone are both loud; the speakerphone cuts through even in outdoor environments. A touch of in-ear feedback helps prevent "cell yell." Unfortunately, the speakerphone doesn't work with the flip closed, and transmissions aren't as clear as on the Motorola E815, exhibiting some muzziness. The phone pairs with Bluetooth headsets such as the Plantronics Pulsar 590A, letting you use a pretty wide set of voice commands that don't require training. The contact book holds 500 entries.

The VX8300 plays MP3-quality ringtones (but only those downloaded through Verizon Wireless) and has a vibrate mode, which is less noisy but less powerful than that of the VX8100.

The VX8300's 1.3-megapixel camera is considerably better than that of the VX8100; photos are sharper, better focused, and less washed out. The camcorder mode takes the usual useless 176-by-144 videos at 6 frames per second. You can save your pictures in the VX8300's 28MB of shared memory or on a microSD memory card, which you have to buy separately.

This is a V Cast Music phone that uses Verizon Wireless's downloadable music service. You can sync it with Windows Media Player on a PC, and in fact you almost need to, because the phone doesn't play MP3s in its default configuration—only WMA files. You can enable MP3 support with an easy hack, but my general policy is that you shouldn't have to hack your phone: MP3 support should work out of the box, as it does on the E815.

Hooking the VX8300 up to a PC to transfer music files requires a $30 USB cable and software kit, which wasn't available when I was reviewing the phone. And no, you can't use the cable, charger, or sync software that worked with your old VX8100. I downloaded a few songs and dropped a few other WMAs onto a microSD memory card. Music was loud but lacked bass through the built-in stereo speakers. The headset jack supports only 2.5mm phone headsets, not 3.5mm music player headsets. V Cast streaming video played smoothly, with little rebuffering, and looked fine.

The reliable VX8100 has been a best-seller for Verizon Wireless since debuting last summer, and the VX8300 is better. But for it to replace the Motorola E815 and Motorola RAZR V3c as one of my favorite midrange VZW phones, it will have to realize its full potential. That means offering stereo Bluetooth, aggressively using its Flash functions, adding MP3 support, and bringing its modem option on-line. Then the VX8100 would truly be a formidable phone.

Benchmark Test Results
Continuous talk time: 4 hours 58 minutes

Compare the LG VX8300 with several other mobile phones, side by side.