LG KU990

LG mobiles hit the market a few years ago but they were not successful as they had their share of problems and consumers they time to build trust with a new handset manufacturer.All that is set of change with the introduction of the dashing LG KU990 Viewty, the 5.0 Megapixel camera phone from LG.The phone also boasts of VGA recording and QVGA recording at 120fps.Apart from that it also has loads of feature that will give serious competition to some of the Nokia heavyweights.

LG KU990 Viewty specifications:

• Dimensions : 103.5 x 54.4 x 14.8 mm
• Weight: 112g
• Display : 3″ with 240 x 400 resolution
• GPRS,EDGE
• 3G : HSDPA,3.6Mbps
• Bluetooth v1.2 with A2DP
• 5 MP camera with autofocus
• VGA recording at 30fps
• Approx Price : $550

Design and Display

The design of the phone is strikingly similar to the LG Prada and on the same lines as the iPhone.The large 3″ screen along with Flash UI will give iPhone a run for its money.The front panel has three keys only and rest is handled through the touchscreen which is very responsive.The three keys include Green,Red keys and the correction key.Secondary VGA camera is placed at top-right corner.The top and bottom parts are clean and no ports/keys can be found here.

The back panel holds the big 5.0 Megapixel camera based on Schneider-Kreuznach optics and having autofocus.The camera also has a jog wheel which can be used to control the digital zoom, a nice addition.The Viewty is powered by a 1000 mAh Li-ion battery,good enough to last 2 days with moderate to heavy usage.

The display is a stunning 3″ screen which accepts input not only through the stylus but also through your fingers or other metal keys etc.The clarity of the display is great and the brightness and saturation levels are good.The visibility under sunlight is good but certainly not at par with latest Nokia models which are exceptionally good.

User Interface and Browser

The user interface on the LG KU990 Viewty is Flash based.Though the phone is not a smartphone, LG has taken a few steps to fulfill the gap which includes the inbuilt task manager.The home screen features only the clock and the calendar but there is a shortcuts button which when tapped brings a set of customizable shortcuts.The bottom of the screen has four fixed shortcuts to main menu,Dial pad,messages and the Contacts.Tapping on the current profile brings up the profile manager.

The menu system has been subdivided by clubbing similar things together.This gives the main menu a clean look but does lose out on a bit of ease of use.The main menu has four icons ,first related to making calls/messages,second relates to entertainment,third one is for organizer and the four one contains all the settings options.A touch when accepted gives a gentle vibration which is a welcome move.

The phonebook has a capacity of 500 contacts and extensive details can be added for each contact. The phone features a QWERTY keyboard and when messaging the phone turns to landscape mode.The Viewty also features handwriting recognition.

The default browser on the phone is excellent and you won’t need to use a third party browser.The browser has tabbed browsing ,mini-map,landscape mode etc.The scrolling is not as smooth as you would expect.The browser delivers rich experience and handles sites well both in landscape and portrait mode.

Media Player and Camera

The music player is a much improved version found in the Prada.This one has track sorting according to artist, album, genre, playlist, recently played similar to what is found on Nokia phones.Surprisingly the player features no equaliser settings which might make few music lovers stay away from this phone.The player theme does nor change even on changing the interface theme which should have been the case.

The audio quality on the Viewty is very good.The handset scores well above expectations as it has been primarily advertised as a camera phone. The inbuilt memory of 100MB can be quite handy for storing a few tracks.Also you can transfer songs to the device using the USB mass storage mode.

The camera is the strong point of the phone and features one of the best 5.0 megapixel camera phones we have out there in the market.The big screen is a definite advantage when using as a viewfinder.A slider on the right side controls the various modes of the camera.Jog wheel as mentioned is used for controlling digital zoom.The shutter key is used for autofocusing and taking snaps.The strobe flash used on the phone is better than the LED flash but not as good as Xenon flash.

There are tons of settings to play around with in the camera.The camera has various preset modes which include landscape,party,beach,night,sport,portrait,high sensitive.Apart from that it has Panaroma mode and mode which does exactly what BestPic mode does in SE phones.Manual focus,white balance,color modes,ISO settings…you name it and you have it all.

The image quality is top class and will give entry level digicams a run for their money. The images are well lit and have apt levels of brightness and color saturation.The noise level does tend to rise in some snaps.The shot-to-shot time at 4 seconds is good though has scope for improvement.

The video recording is the best ever to be found in a camera phone.The QVGA recording at 120fps is not as you might perceive.The 120fps captured video is stores in 15fps making it a slow motion video.The VGA recording at 30fps is great and yields good results.The videos are stored in AVI format with DivX 5.0 encoding hence keeping a check on file size.No macro mode is present in video recording.

Pros:

• Big 3″display
• Light weight
• Excellent camera
• VGA recording
• TV-out support
• Nice UI
• Good sound quality

Cons:

• No hot swappable memory card
• Slow performer when memory card filled up
• No macro mode for video recording
• No Xenon flash

Final Thoughts

The LG KU990 Viewty sets new standards for upcoming 5.0 Megapixel camera phones.Although not a smartphone the Viewty does have a peppy and fun to use UI.The big display and its light weight is bound to make users think about buying this phone ahead of iPhone after seeing its camera performance.Though it would have been great if LG could have brought some more features like macro mode for video recording or xenon flash but even in its current avatar it is great.A must buy if you want a great multimedia phone!

Rating: 4.25/5

Top 10 Mobiles

Cellphones are released everyday but only few survive the fight to live long in the hands of the consumer! There have been many exciting cellphones that have been released off-late that not only take functionality to a new level but also add a lot of glamor to one’s personality. I have reviewed the best cellphones across various categories and I will list them all here to help you compare them and help you make your decision easier!

1. Nokia N95 8GB

The complete multimedia device with all the looks that money can buy! It has everything ranging from 5 megapixel camera to 8GB internal memory. The phones excels at imaging and multimedia tasks and the big 2.8″ screen is sheer pleasure to work with . WiFi,GPS,3G, this phone has it all. The phone is a fast performer and has all the ingredients that make it a ‘mini-computer’.

2. Nokia N82

The Nokia N82 is a bar phone and is very much similar to the N95, but it has a few more tricks up its sleeve. The phone is a first from Nokia to feature Xenon flash which delivers amazing performance in night shots and can be considered as a replacement to entry level digital cameras in the market.Average looks do not go well with its personality but that will change when the all black Nokia N82 comes out soon.

3. Sony Ericsson W960

This one is revolutionary phone from Sony Ericsson and has loads of features starting from touchscreen to a 3.2 megapixel camera. The device excels at playing music as well as taking great images.8GB internal memory is an added advantage along with integration of WiFi. All in all it is great device and being Symbian it will attract lot of Nokia users also.

4. LG Viewty KU990

A LG phone made it to the list! The phone takes the imaging in cellphones to a new era with support for VGA recording at 30fps which is really cool and the images taken are also amazing. The interface on the phone is flash based and different from the rest and is operated through the stylus or your fingers. TV-out support also comes with this cellphone. A ‘different’ phone that sets it apart from the crowd.

5. Sony Ericsson P1i

P1i is an excellent offering from Sony Ericsson in the PDA department. Sony Ericsson has always come out with great Pocket PC devices and here is yet another example. The device manages to get almost all the things right. A 3.2 megapixel camera does a good job at imaging but lacks in the video department. Handwriting recognition , Symbian UIQ 9.1 OS , WiFi are some of the nifty features of the P1i. It is one the best Pocket PC devices and absolutely worth buying.

6. Apple iPhone

Apple has done a remarkably good job on its first cellphone it introduced in the market. The device has generated a lot of hype and interest all over the word and selective availability has resulted in ‘unlocked’ versions selling all over the world. A lot has changed with the device after a series of firmware upgrades and various annoying restrictions were removed. But what set the nail on the head was the announcement of the iPhone-SDK that sets the path for development of 3rd party Apps on the device which will take the experience to a new level. All of you would already know about its features like Multi-Touch, huge 3.5″ display, accelerometer etc. It is the device with the highest flaunt value and increasing functionality!

7. HTC Touch Cruise

A strong competitor to the Sony Ericsson Pi1 , the phone is an improved version of the HTC Touch which had a few drawbacks. TouchFLO interface is fun to work with and makes navigation easier. Camera quality is not a strong point of the phone and display also could have been a bit better. Otherwise there are no drawbacks with this device and performs all the tasks a PocketPC can with utter smoothness.

8. Nokia N81 8GB

This device is aimed at music lovers who do not want to compromise on music quality. Apart from being a music phone the N81 is also a gaming device and belongs to the Nokia N-Gage gaming platform. The display is breathtaking and will leave you spellbound. NaviWheel is another great invention by Nokia. Inbuilt 8GB memory will never hurt. Bulky weight and average keypad are its only deterrents.

9. Sony Ericsson K850i

Sony Ericsson has done a great job by integrating almost a lot of features in this phone. Although the display is not big but you get a plethora of features like GPRS,EDGE,3G, 5 megapixel camera with xenon flash,motion sensor etc. WiFi is one thing which you will miss in this phone.Motion sensor is a cool feature aka. accelerometer of iPhone. The 5 megapixel camera with xenon flash paves the way for great imaging experience. Sound quality is another strong point. Only if it has symbian!

10. Sony Ericsson W910

Looks are of prime importance with this phone. Big display, good keypad, extremely thin, new Walkman 3.0 player are some of the positive points of this phone. Camera is not a strong point of this phone.The speakers are pretty loud and ShakeControl and ShakeMe are excellent additions. The phone also comes with a good accessory bundle. There are other phones with better functionality but they don’t look as sexy as W910!

LG Shine

The LG Shine is an extremely nice looking cell phone. It features a large screen and a normal keyboard. The Shine also features a 2MP camera, a good video camera as well as a microSD memory card slot.

The Shine is not a big handset measuring only 99.8 x 50.6 x 13.8 mm but its all metal construction accounts for the hefty weight of 119 g. Honestly, the handset doesn’t feel heavy at all and the added weight in fact adds for a feel of solidness that is rarely seen in modern mobile phones.

Here are a few of the technical specifications for the Shine:

• Street price: $329.99 (unlocked)
• Stylish all metal design with mirror finish display
• QVGA display resolution
• 2 megapixel autofocus camera with Schneider-Kreuznach lens
• microSD memory card slot

Things I like
The Shine is one of the nicest looking phones I’ve seen for a long time. The large mirror finish screen is a really nice feature to have. Overall I really liked this phone. Because of it’s metal design it has a very nice hefty feel to it. A number of phones these days feel so light that I’m always scared of breaking them when I touch it. With the Shine you’ll never have that problem.

Another thing I like about the Shine is that you can answer the phone without having to slide it open. A number of sliders force you to slide the phone open to answer it and this can be very annoying after a while. I think the Shine has a really good design and is a great cell phone.

Things I don’t like
The large mirror finish screen on the Shine is a finger print magnet. When the screen is on you can barely notice these finger prints but unfortunately when the screen is off these finger prints are annoying. The other thing that I dislike about the Shine is its poor menu navigation. When I was trying to navigate around the menus on the phone I had a big trouble finding some things. I personally think LG could have designed it much better than they did. Other than these couple of things I really like the Shine.

Pros:

• Large mirror finish screen
• Excellent design, feels hefty
• You don’t have to open it to answer the phone

Cons:

• Expensive
• Problematic scroller response
• Shoots video in QCIF resolution only
• Fingerprint magnet

Final Thoughts
The LG Shine is an excellent phone. It looks great, has a great design and is very practical. If it wasn’t for the steep price I would recommend this phone to everyone. Unfortunately because of its price not everyones going to be able to afford it. If you’re in need of a new phone plan you’ll be able to get this phone for a little cheaper. If you’re in need of a phone I would totally recommend the LG Shine.