From bad to worse: Now the LG Fusic Cell Phone isn’t playing anything
A week ago, I reported on the LG Fusic cell phone. According to reviews online, the cell phone’s much-touted MP3 playback features were artificially limited:
In what appears to be an effort to thwart ring tone piracy, the MP3 player only operates when the phone can talk back to Sprint. Unfortunately, this limits it’s usefulness in places where there is no consistent cell coverage, like subways, rural areas, and planes.
Uninnovate.com » LG Fusic Cell Phone/MP3 player can’t play MP3s in the Subway
Well, it turns out the LG Fusic has an even worse feature called Firmware over the Air, or FOTA. This allows the phone’s internal software to be updated by the cell phone carrier. The idea is that the owner of the cell phone doesn’t have to be bothered manually updating the phone when the cell phone provider can automatically do it for them.
Unfortunately, the LG Fusic doesn’t ask the user to confirm that they want their phone updated. According to reports online, the phone by default will apply any update sent to it from the cell phone provider. Sprint released a new update last week which contained a software bug that effectively made every LG Fusic completely nonfunctional:
It seems the firmware update, pushed just a couple days ago to customers’ handsets, quickly and efficiently bricked each and every one of them. The whole situation is a full order of magnitude more frightening than Nokia’s similar experience with the E70, seeing how Nokia’s update was optional and at least required the user to manually perform the upgrade.
Sprint fumbles, fries Fusics with faulty firmware - Engadget
In this case, the faulty update was a mistake and LG Fusic owners can visit their local Sprint store to have their phone fixed. But this is a preview of larger problems with FOTA. Unless a user can choose whether or not to accept an update to their phone, they are at the mercy of the cell phone provider to give them useful, working updates. If the cell phone provider or one of their partners wants to turn off features or add new restrictions after the user has paid for the phone, they can with FOTA. And if the past is any indication, it’s likely that they will.
technorati tags:sprint, fota, lg, fusic
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[…] In a similar vein to a recent mention of a Verizon trick which attempts to force the user to use an expensive data service to check e-mail, rather than the free built-in WiFi, Uninnovate discusses the (Sprint) LG Fusic which not only disables on-phone features such as MP3 playback when no coverage is available, but also has no way for users to opt out of (or reverse) firmware updates, even when they cause the phone to become inoperable. Please share this!These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Please get the facts straight. Firmware (not Fireware) Over The Air is NOT forced on the user. You have to go into the phones menus and tell it to upgrade. Also, I’ve played MP3’s just fine with no coverage whatsoever.
More than likely the MP3’s that won’t play are bought from the Sprint online music store. I suspect this is a copyright issue and put in place to protect Sprint from lawsuits. I have never had a problem playing MY MP3’s on the phone, but have never bought from the Sprint store.
MP3’s that are purchased through the online store cannot be played through the outside media player. Kinda lame but it has to do with copyright laws and stuff. No big deal I guess, I have plenty of MP3’s to play. Plus with some of the power vision plans you can get 1-4 free songs per month so over time you could get a decent collection on there. Oh, and you can also download the songs off of Sprints online music place that you’ve purchased onto your computer. They come as WMA files and require Windows media player to locate a license for it.
All in all I’m happy with the phone. I did have it reboot when I received a video file from a friend on Verizon, but it wasn’t a big deal to me.
The MP3 players FM transmitter is pretty good too. With my car radio I can stand about 20 feet away from it with the phone not having a problem, but my in-home stereo is a different story. The phone has to be about 2-3 feet from it or it will crackle.
I haven’t been subjected to the OTA updates yet so I can’t really say much about it.
I have tried to transfer Wal-Mart-downloaded WMAs to my Fusic and none will play. Any suggestions? The phone’s specs on Sprint’s website says it plays WMAs.
i just bought the sprint LG Fusic phone. i need help! i have no idea how to get the songs from my media player on my phone. i dont know how to get them on the memory card or any of that. HELP! thanks. parker1954@aol.com
love this phone. when i first got it started downloading music and had trouble figuring it out but now its a breeze. but what i do have problems with. when i text message and use t9word and type the letter i. no matter how i go about typing the letter i in, when i hit space it inputs a phone number from my contact list. to get the letter i in there ihave to type a word like im hit the space bar, then the back bar and delete the m off of im and then hit space and go on. its a pain in the ass.
also today i got a picture mail sent to me. when i clicked on the button to view the picture. my phone shut off. ive tried it a few times and the same thing. the phone just shuts off. these are the only two problems i have. if anyone has any input. csnyder005@woh.rr.com
thanks
Yo, I just LOVE how any monkey with a blog can make himself sound all official and what not. I HAVE a Fusic, I CAN play my MP3s in the subway (I live in NYC and take the train EVERY DAY) and I have NOT had any problems with any FOTA nonsense. So basically, this article is null and void.
John…. I have the same prob with Walmart downloads. I called Sprint tech support and they told me it will only play songs in MP3 format. They told me there was software to tranfer them, but Walmart says no. So, I think we are out of luck with our Wal-tunes!
I got my Fusic after 6 months of back and forth with two Samsung A940s and one A920 Simply put Not a single prob w the Fuse xcept the cut off when lrg vid files prob solved by opening pics from web then downldng to mem crd
hey i just purchased a fusic today and when i got to plug the adapter to my computer and in my phone on my computer it says new hardware found and all that good stuff so install now and i got to install the hardware and it cant find anything… then i look where all my drives are and no other drive is there like my friend told me to just drag and drop my music into a fold that should be there? someone please help i just want to get music on my phone!!!!!
i have the same problem i bought myne a few days ago and wanted to put songs from my cd’s on it… it went through the whole thing of installing at first then said nothing found.. how do i get the songs from my cd’s onto my phone??
Just got this phone. Anybody having problems with the MicroSD card not staying and popping out randomly? It seems the card won’t go down all the way and stay there. It’s kinda making me mad, hehe.
I have had the Fusic since September 05 and have had two probles similar to those mentioned above.
First the MP3 player stops occasionally and locks up no matter what format you are playing. Restarting the phone does not help. However putting the phone in airplane (no tx/rx) the player works flawlessly.
Also the auto updating of the phones software. Today I spent an hour in a Sprint store for them to tell me they could not figure it out. The phone will not download the new updates, AND the display phone on the shelf had EXACTLY the same problem….It’s not me it is the system.
About transferring files…Just open a folder showing your phone (Drive e, f ect) and copy and paste or whatever. Do not worry about new hardware, treat the phone as a storage drive. THEN restart your phone for the music to show in the phone…..
Bottom line….NEVER BUY A BRAND NEW PRODUCT!
I’ve had the Fusic since May ‘06. I was absolutely stoked to get the phone, until the same day the white part (where the light flashes on top) broke off and Sprint refused to fix it/replace it, regardless of my insurance coverage because it was “cosmetic” and not “mechanical”. Since then, I’ve had multiple problems.
- My phone dies at random times and it seems to get much poorer service than my previous Sprint phones and even puts me in roam in some places I previously had 2 or more bars. I’m sure the service has something to do with the battery life.
- Every couple of weeks my speaker phone/microphone makes static-y noises even if I’m not on speakerphone. For some reason, the person on the other end of the phone can’t hear the extremely loud and annoying static.
- The blue lights tend to come on on the media player at random and stay on for great lengths of time (until making my battery die at least). But yet again, this wasn’t considered to be a “mechanical” defect.
- I’ve had problems using the bluetooth capabilities on the phone and still can’t get ringtones unless I buy them from Sprint (which by the way was my reasoning for “upgrading” to this phone).
Overall, I spent a lot of money on a phone that I’d almost pay them to take back. I thought I hated my previous stone age phone, but I’d take it over all of the problems I’ve had with this one anyday. I haven’t had any complaints regarding Sprint, their service, or their products until I bought this phone. I plan on switching providers in June.
i just bought the fusic from a friend and it was great… but after two days all of the existing music became invalid and makes the music player lock up… someone help me…
I bought the fusic a couple of weeks ago and honestly i have had no problems that would ever make me want to take my old phone, i love the fusic, i have Literally been trying to download every game, real tone, and wallpaper i can to try and fill up the memory on it and i haven even come close to a tenth of it even with 150 ring tones, 335 wallpapers, 257 pics, 20 Home vids, 32 games, 10 apps. and about 100 + mp3 songs, so even with all that stuff it doesnt slow it down and i love it
I own the fusic and cannot get MY music on it, I tried the e drive thing shown above but it doesn’t show up on my computer,(I can’t get my computer to show any sign of my phone existing other than the “new hardware” wizard. If someone could lay out some easy, accessible steps I would be most appreciative.
thanks.
You are so lucky (the people with no problems), I want a Fusic so badly but my cousin wont let me get it! So now I have to get one of those really stupid Flip Phine Chocolates……I know, it’s going to suck.
To get the phone to connect to your computer:
1. Connect phone to computer via USB cord.
2. Ignore new hardware wizard.
3. On your phone, go to Menu–Tools–USB Flash Drive
4. Press yes when the phone alerts you that phone calls will be disabled during connection.
5. Your phone should show up in ‘My Computer’ now.
thanks to Carsonne that helped alot! i have songs on my phone now! but with my memory card in, it only holds 11 songs. is that right?:S
You haven’t a clue about LG Fusic phones. I know this by your statement concerning MP3 playback. My phone was shut off by Sprint for two days and I still had access to my MP3 player. I took a trip to San Diego and still had access to my MP3 player. Do a better job in researching before posting false statements.
Got my phone August of ‘06… and have had only MINOR problems- a freeze here and there when on the internet.
Did have troubles at first with putting my own MP3s on it.. WMAs work when you go to the menu: Tools, Memory Card, Music.. otherwise MP3s only work on the outside (strangely enough the sprint purchases do not work through the Memory Card option). It’s lame yeah but I got a free converter and I can deal, especially since I have that option of uploading my own.
My battery life is consistent and it’s not too much of a nuisance.
…Maybe I just really take care of my stuff really well… but I haven’t had any mechanical flaws.
My music can play in the metro as well, haven’t had any problems with that.
The micro SD just needs a good push and lock. otherwise that needs to get looked at.
Hope this helped some, but I actually love my phone. When I went looking for a new phone (in Aug) it was really hard! I wanted something youthful & fresh. The Razor was already overpopulated and also in demand to frat types and business people alike (strange to me). The Krazor seems interesting, but not enough for me to end my 2 yr agreement. Cheers!
with the fusic phone are you able to take songs from cds and have them play in the media file like mp3s? if so how?
well, the only thing i hate about this phone is that you have to cheat the thing in order to put tones in it and play them but they don’t go to the memory card, they go to the phone’s internal memory and that sux since you have very limited space in it. any way to just be able to play MP3’s as ring tones? please let me know.
LOUSY PHONE DOES NOT RING OR GIVE VOICEMAIL NOTIFICATIONS. SPRINT CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NO HELP.
I have had my fusic since January 07 after losing my old phone and my nano. I have never had any trouble with it. I use it as a modem for my computer and can still receive incoming calls. I have downloaded music to the mini sd card using my phone in USB mode. I also have downloaded songs from Sprint. And YES those do not work if you do not have a connection. So people telling you to get your facts straight probably thought you meant regular mp3s on the card and not the mp3s you bought from sprint. I use the FM transmitter all the time. On road trips and in the house. Another great idea is the checkbook 3.0 from mobatech.com. I love it and have saved it in my favorites. I love my fusic and recommend it to anyone.