The overall design of the MUZIQ is very clean and simple. The top of the handset has a slightly protruding hinge that works well. The bottom of the device is free of any buttons or holes except for the battery cover release. On its right side is where you will find plastic covered headphone and microSD ports. Also on the right are the device’s extremely thin dedicated camera and music access buttons, which are actually located on the flip top portion of the handset instead of the base.
The LG MUZIQ is a multimedia powerhouse. The device can hold up to 4GB worth of music, or approximately 4000 songs, through its microSD slot, though it ships with only a 64MB card. Audio playback quality was excellent, and Sprint’s Music application allowed me to quickly download the latest audio tracks for an economical price of US$.99 each. The MUZIQ also supports streaming radio from Pandora and Sirius for those more fond of radio. Sprint provides its Music Manager software in the MUZIQ’s sales kit but I didn’t find it necessary to use, since I just swapped memory cards from my T-Mobile Dash and was off and running in seconds.
Photos taken with the device tended to be a bit overexposed, and indoor photos looked a bit warm. The automatic white balance seemed a bit shaky, but with some minor adjustments photos will generally look fine. Moving photos to and from my Vista PC was an easy task. Sprint also offers its Picture Mail application, which allows for photos to be sent directly to friends (MMS) or upload directly to its site to view online, though they will be downsized in resolution.
With great multimedia performance, partially thanks to some new upgrades in the external music player and FM transmitter, along with newly added music background mode as well as stereo Bluetooth, this music-focused phone is definitely a winner. Providing stellar performance in all aspects, despite some minor glitches, the music-centric MUZIQ should be put high on the list of potential music phones
