Price Range: $590.67 to $742.00

The Complete Camera Phone

Following the huge success of the LG Mobile Black Label Series Chocolate and Shine, LG has progressed into the high-technology camera phone category with LG Viewty. 5 Megapixel Camera, 3 Inch Touch Sensitive Screen, High Speed Video Recording (120 FPS), Auto and Manual Focus, ISO 800 and SmartLight

The LG KU990 Viewty is a true powerhouse packing a mass of high-tech goodies under its hood: the impressive 3″ touchscreen display with 240 x 400 pixels resolution, the HSDPA 3.6 Mbps capability, the stereo Bluetooth and the highly intriguing 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, which is also capable of capturing video at 120 fps. Feature-packed and exquisite, the LG KU990 looks set on the fast track to success and we were more than happy to get our hands on it.

The Viewty is an imaging focused 3G phone comes with a 5.1 megapixel digital camera feature. The user will be amazed at the imaging qualities as the camera comes with a Schneider kreuznach lens, auto focus, image stabiliser & a xenon flash. The LG KU990 Viewty comes with dedicated camera buttons which are situated on the side of the handset which also allows the user to select the camera or video settings. The phone comes with video capabilities which allow the user to record video at 120 frames per second, edit video & playback video footage. The Viewty has a voice recorder which allows the user to record voice clips which can be added to multimedia messages. The phone has a built in music player which allows the user to enjoy music playback on their phone whenever they feel the need for sound.

Battery life is good - an average user could easily make the battery last well over two days but if you tend to take lots of photos and surf the web a lot, then a daily charge is probably recommended.

Key Features:

5 Megapixel camera certified by Schneider-Kreuznach
Enjoy various focusing techniques
Capturing the best moments even in low light
Taking steady pictures with Image Stabiliser & Direct Key
Catch every detail with high-speed recording (120 FPS)
Discover true viewing pleasure with 3 inch full touch screen
Freedom of expression with Handwriting Recognition & Editing
Mobile technology making full Internet

Specifications:

Network 3G
Form Factor Camera phone
Message SMS/MMS/VideoMMS/Email
5 MP
FM Radio Yes
MP3 Player Yes
Bluetooth Yes
Vibration Alert Yes
Internal Memory 90Mb
Memory Slot Micro SD 2Gb
Talk Time (min) GSM: 355, 3G: 233, VT: 138
Java 2.0
Digital Zoom 16 times
GPRS 12
EDGE 12
3G Yes
Built-in Game Yes
USB/PC Sync Yes
Speaker Phone Yes
Colour Black
Touch Screen Yes
WAP 2.0
Internet Google Package
DivX Video Player Yes
Video Camera Yes
High Speed Vide.. Yes - 120 FPS

Price Range:

NEW Multimedia Phone

This high capable handset comes with built in 3G HSDPA technology which allows the user to enjoy high speed Internet connectivity & multitasking skills on their 3G phone. This high speed built in technology allows the user to take part in a two way 3G video call with other compatible 3G video calling contacts. There is a small camera situated above the phones large touch screen which will record the user’s expressions & surrounding which can be viewed by the other contact on their 3G phones screen.

The user of the LG KF700 can view their contacts expressions on the 3 Inch touch screen which is a fun way to communicate with others & enjoy a face to face call experience. The built in Bluetooth® technology & USB port provides the user with easy to use connectivity options which allow the user to connect their LG KF700 to other compatible devices either using a wireless Bluetooth® connection or a cabled connection using a USB cable between two compatible devices.

LG showcased a number of mobile phones in Mobile World Congress this year including the LG-KF600, LG Viewty, LG-KF510, and the LG-KS20; all of which we’ve already featured before. One we haven’t yet, however, is the LG KF700 slider cell phone. The LG KF700 is a multi-media phone; the first in the world to have three different input methods. These are the 3″ touch screen, shortcut dial, and alphanumeric keypad.These three input methods could work together to make the easiest intuitive phone available.

This phone is one of those stylish phones yo just want to pick up and play with. The phone comes with a built in WAP browser like most phones nowadays which is a XHTML Internet browser which gives you the user access the Internet on your 3G phone whenever you needs to access Internet. Other sites can also be viewed on this phone for fun and your personal entertainment. The camera allows you to capture still pictures as well as moving video footage, like many new phones. The 3 Inch colour touch screen works as a really well as a viewfinder when the user is using the 3 megapixel camera feature, where pictures can be edited and they can also be zoomed in on.

Key features:

• Alpha-numeric keypad
• Shortcut dial
• 3 Megapixel camera
• ISO 800

Specifications:

• Network 3G
• Form Facrtor Slider/Full Touch
• FM Radio
• Mp3 Player
• Bluetoot 1.2
• Standby time 280hrs
• Java MIDP 2.1 / Applet MIDlet
• HSPDA
• EDGE
• 3G
• Infrared Port
• USB 2.0
• Touch Screen

Price Range: $389.00 to $439.37

A New Experience in Design and Usability

The main display screen is a colourful TFT screen which is 2 Inches in size & comes with a 240 pixel by 320 pixel screen resolution for a clear viewing experience. The user can view high colour dynamic wallpapers on this large & colourful screen. The phone comes with eight themed displays which include artwork by Keith Haring.

The lower screen which is 1.5 Inch in size & displays up to 262k colours on a highly useable touch screen. The lower screen is an InteractPad™ screen which comes with changeable interfaces to suit the feature being used which allows the user to control their features using the beautifully designed touch screen with InteractPad™ controls. The casing is compact & the handset has a solid feel to it which weighs 107 grams in total. Its overall dimensions are 14.1mm deep by 50.7mm wide by 101.2mm tall which feels good to hold & operate in a single hand.

The phone comes with a selection of messaging services which allows the user to communicate with others without making a call. The user can create, send, receive, forward & delete messaging on their phone. The KF600 Venus supports a mobile email service, multimedia picture messaging & a text message service complete with a predictive text input option. The user will be amazed at the outstanding looks & usability of the stunning LG KF600 Venus which has been designed to be admired & enjoyed.

The music player works very well. Music quality is good and the main speaker is loud! The touchscreen interface really does work well here - you can access all of the music functions without opening the slide. Support for a Bluetooth-enabled stereo headset is included and there’s plenty of memory available for storing music: the microSD card slot can accept cards up to a whopping 8 Gbytes, which is enough for around 2,000 songs. We’re pleased to see the inclusion of an FM radio too.

Key features:

• 2″ 256K-color TFT LCD display of QVGA resolution
• 1.49″ 256K-color TFT 176 x 240 pixel InteractPad
• 3.15 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash
• Tri-band GSM/EDGE support
• Bluetooth and USB v2.0
• Cool additional themes by Keith Haring
• FM radio
• Cool games

Imaging

3 Megapixel Camera
4 x Digital Zoom
Auto Focus
InteractPad™ Camera Controls
Horizontal or Vertical Mode
Flash
Camera Settings
Photo Album
Video Record
Video Player
Video Settings
Dynamic Wallpapers
Theme Displays
Keith Haring Artwork

Messaging

SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Email
Predictive Text

Sound

Music Player
InteractPad™ Music Controls
Album Art Display
FM Radio
MP3 Ringtones
Polyphonic Ringtones
Voice Recorder

Price Range: $553.62 to $614.90

Enrich Mobile Internet Experience

LG KS20 provides customers with an advanced mobile internet experience with its ’Broadband Mobile Internet’, ’2.8 inch Large Screen’ and ’Intuitive Touch Input,’ and is only 12.8 mm thick. Compatible with highly advanced Broadband Mobile Internet networks, the phone allows users to enjoy the full benefits of 3.6Mbps mobile internet, music downloads, video clips and Windows Live! ™ content, as well as push email.

The LG KS20 weighs about 92.5 grams and has dimensions of 99.7 x 58 x 12.8 mm. It has a TFT touchscreen and 256 thousand colors. It has 2.8 inches for its display size and has downloadable wallpapers. The ringtone of this unit can be MP3 or polyphonic in format. It also has a composer wherein users can create their own music. It too has a vibrating alert feature. Not only is it thin, the KS20 is also very light. Everyone who handled our review set was amazed at how weightless it seemed. At just 92.5g, this handheld is even lighter than the HTC Touch which tips the scales at 112g.

While most users will be happy with that, some may lament that it feels too much like a toy because of the same reason. While we admit that the chassis is a little plasticky, the fine construction on this LG ensures that it doesn’t come across as cheap. The black and silver glossy finish does invite fingerprint marks easily, so using it with a case is advisable.

Although its front surface is pretty clean with only the call and hang-up keys along with a directional joystick below the display, there are quite a number of shortcut buttons on the right side. One of those is the power button, while the other two activate the browser and camera applications. We would have liked one more button to act as an OK key so minimizing applications can be done much faster. A microSD card slot is also found there which supports cards up to 2GB in capacity.

Key features

• Custom LG implementation of the UI
• 2.8″ 65K color touchscreen TFT display of QVGA resolution
• HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
• 400 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200 processor
• 128MB RAM and 256MB ROM, microSD expansion slot
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• Surprisingly good 2 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• USB to 3.5mm jack adapter
• Sturdy build, quality casing and compact dimensions

Price Range: $79.99 - $149.95

The gorgeous display measures two inches diagonally (320×240 pixels) and supports 11 lines of text. With support for 262,000 colors, it’s one of the most attractive displays we’ve seen on a cell phone and arguably the best on an LG handset. Graphics and animation were sharp, and colors popped. Our only gripes, and these are small, is that the display has a reflective quality and attracts smudges and fingerprints easily. Also, it’s hard to see in direct light and nearly impossible to see when the backlighting is off. You can change the clock style, the backlighting time, and the font size but no other options are customizable.

The Chocolate’s buttons take some time to get used to. The “send” key is where it usually is, left of the cursor pad, but the “end” key is on the side of the phone. The cursor pad, meanwhile, looks like an iPod-style scroll wheel but isn’t – it’s just a cursor pad. And the cursor pad and soft keys are touch-sensitive, with no tactile feedback. The learning curve is sharpened by the beautiful new Flash-based menu system, which doesn’t look like other Verizon phones. (Fortunately, you can kick the phone back into the familiar Verizon menus.)

With the interface, you are able to theme it to fit your personality and style, something we enjoy doing. By default, the phone uses the “Rock n Roll” theme, which places all your menu items in a circle. It almost seems to invite you to use the touch wheel in a similar fashion to an iPod, but really you just need to click to the right or left to spin the onscreen wheel navigation. Once you make your first choice, the submenu is a simple list layout which you tap up and down on the wheel to navigate through. This is the point where we started to get the hang of this thing. As we said before though, you can change wallpapers and themes to your liking. The phone is Get It Now compatible, so there is how you access additional ringtones, games, and other applications as well.

That said, if you’re looking for a music-phone on Verizon, learning the Chocolate is worth the effort. This is Verizon’s best music-phone by a long shot. It supports stereo Bluetooth, playing music easily through our wireless Plantronics Pulsar 590 headphones. It has a roomy 68 MB of on-board memory, accepts MicroSD memory cards up to 2 GB, and – finally – can play both WMA and MP3 files natively in Verizon’s V CAST Music player. You can put music on the phone by dumping it into a MicroSD card, or syncing it via USB cable with Windows Media Player. Verizon has also gotten rid of the $15/month subscription fee for their V CAST Music service, so if you feel like buying songs over the air for $1.99 each, go for it.

A cool perk is the phone supports Bluetooth for talking and listening. This comes in particularly handy for MP3 and music playback, as you can conserve the phone’s battery life while listening to music via wireless stereo headphones. I used the Motorola HT820 Bluetooth stereo headset, and was very impressed. I could crank the music as loud as I wanted with little or no distortion before the volume became painful. I didn’t notice any pops, clicks or anything indicating the headphones were picking up wireless signals.

Price Range: $386.10 to $458.44

The Ultra Slim Slider

The navigation zone is separated from the upper part of the front with a slightly protruding chrome line, which helps to open the phone. Instead of buttons or a color display, like in KF600, here we see a touch sensitive area with LEDs, where we have the soft keys, the green receiver, and the “Clear” button. There are no arrows and you’ll have to either run a finger in or just touch the area, pointing at the direction desired in order to scroll. This system is actually pretty convenient, but as any innovation, it takes time to get used to it. However, you can only go vertical/horizontal. There’s also an option for a vibration feedback (three levels) or a sound, to confirm commands, in case you have difficulties understanding when it happens.

The phone is done in slider form factor, is quite slim and looks rather attractive. The case is fully metalic, including the back lid. The design is very smart and compact; the memory card slot is positioned in the upper back of the phone, and the SIM slot is hidden right under the battery, in a small pull-out tray.Changing the SIM card is a pretty complicated process, so there’s even a 4-step instruction drawn right on the case above the tray of how to do it right.

It is quite obvious that sleek looks and youthful appeal are very high on the LG list of priorities recently. Just as we gave you the flamboyant LG KF600, LG KF510 makes us wonder how much sweeter Chocolate can get. Undoubtedly of the same bloodline, the two handsets take a different approach to full touch navigation with InteractPad and Touch Lighting. The rest of the ammo is basically the same. The really sleek metallic finish and bigger 2.2″ display (no InteractPad to shrink the screen) are the LG KF510 major assets. The ultra slim slider has the looks and handling to get us exited, so let’s get rolling.

The right side of the LG KF510 offers more than the left side, the unit features a USB port on the top right hand side, followed by a microSD card. Below the microSD card slot is the sliding end key, its a like odd to get use to, but in essence it works just like a standard end key button control. The new sliding end key serves all the purposes of a Red Receiver key, like exiting menus and powering the handset on and off. Finally below the end key is the units Music Player key which also acts at the devices camera key when held down.

Key Features:

Deeply Alluring Color Gradation

Tempered Glass

Real Metal Body

3MP Camera with Autofocus

MP3 Player and FM Radio

Specifications:

Type Slider

Vibration Yes

SIM toolkit Yes

GPRS Yes

Video MMS Yes

EMail Yes

Predictive text Yes

USB/PC sync Yes (2.0)/Yes

Scheduler/alarm Yes/Yes

Camera Yes (3.0MP, CMOS AF)

Internal memory 16MB

External memory Yes (Micro SD up to 4Gb)

MP3 Yes

Bluetooth Yes (2.0)

Price Range:

Fashionista’s Phone

The LG KP200 phone is a cheap low end clamshell phone. It does not belong to any of LG’s specialized brands like Chocolate or Shine, but it does sport the usual LG colors - grey and silver. The phone measures 86 X 45 X 20.1 mm and weighs at about 76 grams. Although the phone is of the low-end type, it does support features such as Java, an FM Radio, Photo album, Photo editor, and even Wallpapers; but of course, you couldn’t expect more from this low budget phone.

The phone comes with a large 3 Inch high colour screen which provides a high screen resolution of 240 x 400 pixels. The screen is an LCD TFT touch screen which comes with a touch screen menu interface which eliminates the users need for a keypad. The KE850 Prada runs on a Macromedia Flash user interface which is highly useable & effective.

The main attraction of the LG Prada is probably its enormous 3-inch diagonal touch display. The brilliant screen supports 256,000 colors that really show off the rich and colorful detail of the Prada’s gorgeous menu interface. You can adjust the brightness and backlight time, but not the font size. That sits just fine with us, however, as the default font is quite nice and large already. You also can choose from a variety of innovative themes that take advantage of the touch screen interface–one of our favorites has a moving fish on the home screen wallpaper that you can direct with your finger.

Specifications:

Network GSM
Form Factor BAR
Message Email
Pixel 2.0 MP
FM Radio yes
MP3 Player yes
Bluetooth yes
Ringtone 32ch
Memory Slot microSD
Standby time(h) 300
Java yes
Digital zoom yes
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE yes
USB yes
Touch Screen yes
Video Camera yes

Price Range:

Boasting a stunning black and silver finish, a smooth sliding action and luxurious to the touch, the U400 is something you won’t want to let go of. The U400 also features a Jog Wheel that lets you navigate through the handset with speed and ease as well as operate one of the handset’s coolest features, the DJ-ing mode.

The built in media player can play music in AMR, MP3, AAC, AAC+, ADPCM & WMA formats which provide the user with the highest quality performance. The user will find that all music controls are easily accessible & the jog wheel is the perfect DJ-ing tool for the scratching. The user can move the jog wheel freely to start scratching or simply press a number on the keypad to start playing a music sample. The user can create their own melodies with a choice of two modes, thirty one styles, ten instruments & five tempos. The LG U400 can play ringtones in imelody, emelody, MP3, AAC+, AAC LC, XMF, AMR NB & AMR WB formats. The user can stream music with the audio on demand streaming feature & enjoy streaming wirelessly using Bluetooth® technology. The user can connect the U400 to a pair of Bluetooth® stereo headphones & enjoy listening to their favourite tunes wirelessly.

One performance problem that sends our review scores south is when text entry suffers from lags. We are pleased to report that we were able to speed through text message composition with no problems on the U400, so those who like to type in a frenzy of flurried thumbs won’t suffer the frustrations of delays and errors. Transferring videos to a PC via Bluetooth was easily and quickly done. We also appreciated the phone’s support for the A2DP profile (which allows for streaming to Bluetooth stereo headphones), a feature common to Nokia’s upcoming music slider, the 5300.

Key Features:

Stylish design in two fantastic colours!
Multimedia handset
Get the information you need with the U300’s dual screens
MicroSD memory card slot
MSN Messenger
Tri-Band with USB charger
Video Telephony
Embedded Java technology

Specifications:

Network WCDMA
Form Factor SLIDER
Message Email
MP3 Player yes
Bluetooth yes
Ringtone 64ch
Internal Memory Less 8MB
Memory Slot microSD
Java yes
GPRS yes
EDGE yes
3G yes
USB yes
Color Black, Silver
Video Camera yes

Price Range:

Chocolate 3G with touch sensitive music controls

Using the design cues of the stylish icon, the LG Chocolate, comes the U830 clamshell 3G handset. Featuring a slender body, a luxurious black and silver glossy finish, a hidden exterior screen and hidden touch sensitive music controls the U380 is the handset for people who value style and require the latest features. Open the handset to reveal a large, well laid out keypad and a highly detailed colour screen.

The U830 is an HSDPA-enabled phone — our test sample was a 3 branded model — with two cameras — one internal VGA for video calling, and a higher quality 2-megapixel external camera for photographic use. The phone has 184MB of available memory for storage, which initially seems very generous, until you realize one of the key omissions on the U830 — there’s no external memory port whatsoever, so the 184MB you’ve got is all you’re going to get. The primary LCD is a 240 by 320-pixel, 262K TFT screen, while the smaller external screen is a 128 by 160-pixel, 65K TFT. A2DP Bluetooth is supported for those with stereo Bluetooth headphones.

A 2.0 megapixel camera is on board to capture life going by, and viewing your photos is a pleasure thanks to the 2.2″ QVGA TFT internal display. LG has included 185MB of on board memory, but this only goes a short way to alleviating the need for a memory card slot. The device is already being sold through network operator 3 in Italy, Hong Kong, and the UK, but so far no other markets have been announced.

The camera has also been hiked from 1.3 megapixels to a more respectable two and despite occasionally suffering from over exposure, the photo quality is decent enough.

Key Features:

Network WCDMA
Form Factor SHELL
Message Email
MP3 Player yes
Bluetooth yes
Ringtone 64ch
Internal Memory 128MB
Standby time(h) 180
Java yes
GPRS yes
3G yes
USB yes
Color Black
TV yes
Video Camera yes

Specifications:

Dual cameras
Dual colour screens
Wireless connectivity with Bluetooth
Multimedia at your fingertips
Video telephony
Flight mode
Maxisim
Email

Price Range: $589.99 - $659.99

The KG245 features an internal display of 262,000 colours (TFT) with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels.

65,000 colour OLED external display with a resolution of 96 x 64 pixels. This allows you to use your phone in most countries so you can take your KG245 with you on your travels.

The KG245 may be an entry level phone, but at first glance this isn’t really apparent. The phone sports a sleek two-tone colour scheme with an attractive gloss black front complemented by a brushed silver back. Weighing 83g and with a discreet clamshell design, the KG245 is also fairly light on the pocket. LG has included a good quality 262,000 colour internal screen which is beautifully crisp, though perhaps a tad small. A 65,000 colour external screen is also a welcome addition, particularly when using the camera with the phone’s lid closed. These factors all combine to give the look and feel of a more expensive handset.

The KG245’s camera only provides 640×480 resolution, so images are best displayed on the phone’s screen rather than printed out. Despite the resolution limitations, images are colourful and bright and look quite good. LG also include a ‘flash’ on the exterior of the phone, which is basically just a small, white LED. It’s surprisingly bright but not as effective as we’d like. It is also described by LG as a ‘torch’, but we think this is perhaps getting a little carried away.

Key Features:

Embedded Java technology
Speakerphone
WAP 2.0
MMS support
Integrated digital camera with built-in flash
Bluetooth technology
64 Polyphonic MIDI technology

Specifications:

Network GSM
Form Factor SHELL
Message MMS
MP3 Player yes
Bluetooth yes
Ringtone 64ch
Internal Memory 8MB
Standby time(h) 200
Java yes
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
Color Black