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LG KU990 Viewty

Price tbc www.lge.com

What a Viewty ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ With a 5.1-megapixel camera, HSDPA mobile broadband and a smart glossy finish, the LG Viewty is one of the biggest launches of the year. But can it live up to its promise?

IKE the more design- which measures an impressive focused LG KE850 Prada, 40x65mm – taking up most of L which launched earlier the handset’s front fascia. this year, the LG KU990 Viewty On the side of the phone, you’ll Focus on: is a touch-screen handset with find the Viewty’s only keys: a no keypad. However, while there dedicated camera key; a lock key 5.1-megapixel camera are many design similarities (essential when the entire front between the two devices, the of the phone is a virtual keypad Putting aside for one minute the You have two means of Viewty offers some significant and menu) and a small switch, inclusion of HSDPA and the controlling the 16x digital zoom on breakthroughs in technology and which lets you slide between phone’s fine internet browsing the Viewty; unfortunately, both are usability. camera, video camera and video abilities, the LG Viewty’s obvious a little fiddly. Option one is to use Let’s look at usability first, as playback modes. draw is almost certainly its the virtual slide-control on the left this usually determines the On the back of the phone, 5.1-megapixel camera. of the touch-screen, which requires ultimate appeal of a phone to you’ll find the camera’s flash and the mass market. Schneider Kreuznach lens, which As we’ve already mentioned, the real thumb dexterity and caused us Although they look the is surrounded by a jog-wheel your internet homepage, you’ll jog-dial might help, or simple lens is made by Schneider to drop the camera twice. Option business, Mobile Choice has which operates both the notice a series of virtual navigation keys beneath the Kreuznach, a renowned two requires you to rotate the click- long voiced the opinion that camera’s zoom and the ability to internet control options that phone’s display. manufacturer of photographic wheel positioned around the touch-screen phones can be zoom in and out of webpages. appear at the bottom of the Similarly, the jog-wheel which optics and ample proof that LG camera lens on the back of the difficult to use. The lack of a touch-screen. controls the camera’s zoom can understands that the lens is Viewty. There are two problems physical keypad means that Handwriting These are simple shortcuts, also be employed to zoom in and paramount to a camera’s quality with this second means of zooming: you’re relying purely on the recognition which enable you to add to out of the internet pages and to and ability; even more so than the it feels clumsy and you’re highly visuals to tell you if your Handwriting recognition has favourites, zoom in and out of the control the volume of voice calls. number of megapixels on offer. likely to smear the lens with greasy intended contact with the been a staple on many PDAs for page and alter the view between A great idea in theory, but it In camera mode, the Viewty is fingerprints. Neither of which will handset has been registered. As years and, while it’s novel to portrait and landscape. doesn’t work that well in practice. a result, you can mis-type keys, have, it’s a real ‘love it or hate it’ Whichever way you choose to It’s fiddly as both a camera and designed to be held like a enhance the quality of your photos. tap a key twice, or neglect to technology, depending on the view the pages, they look great. browser zoom, as well as a conventional camera, with the However, for simply pointing and tap anything altogether and it handset’s recognition abilities. It’s when you come to browsing volume control. viewfinder showing a landscape shooting photos on auto-focus, the can prove to be an infuriating The Viewty encourages users that you hit trouble. The Viewty is view and the shutter key easily Viewty feels great. It’s a well- experience – especially if you are to use the boxed stylus to designed to be navigated with Navigating the phone accessible by your right index balanced handset with a great in a hurry. And who isn’t these personalise your photos by your fingertips or using the The usability issues that afflict finger. viewfinder and the shutter button is days when they’re using their writing on them. We tried it and stylus. You can stroke the the Viewty’s web browsing and When in camera mode, you can in exactly the right place. mobile? it works really well. Of course, webpage up or down as if you camera zooming don’t overly sully bring up all the required camera Having a dedicated switch for Thankfully, the Viewty goes the technology is better suited are moving a piece of paper – a phone which has a lot of tricks settings and controls simply by accessing the video camera and some way towards remedying to scribbling a few words, not just as you can with the HTC hidden beneath its glossy tapping once on the screen with video playback is also a nice touch that problem by providing a scrawling War and Peace. Touch. The functionality is erratic; exterior. vibration response every time However, it’s a quirky extra we sometimes the screen scrolls up The touch-screen operation is your fingertip or thumb. This gives and really sets the phone apart you touch a virtual key or rather like. and down, sometimes it doesn’t. the best we’ve enjoyed to date for you access to such staples as from other run-of-the-mill camera command on the touch-screen. The same applies to the scroller making calls, sending texts and photo settings, zoom and flash. phones. The phone vibrates very slightly Accessing the bars on the side and bottom of email and navigating through the to register that you’ve pressed a internet the phone. Viewty’s icon-based menu. The button. With mobile broadband (HSDPA) The problem is, although the vibration response really does four key menu categories – each Beneath the movie clipboard It’s still no substitute for a and a large display on offer, Viewty’s display is large by mobile improve the touch-screen represented by a symbol. It would icon (at least, that’s what we standard keypad, but it has accessing the internet should be standards, you can only ever see experience and the overall help if the four key categories think it is) you’ll find the fun enabled LG to design yet a real pleasure with the Viewty. part of a page, which makes simplicity of the Viewty’s were named, however. The first multimedia stuff like camera, another beautiful phone with a While it looks the bee’s knees, scrolling essential. And if the operating system is also a major menu category is represented by movie studio, games, FM radio, huge screen. The Viewty comes there are some usability issues scrolling mechanism is erratic, plus. a phone symbol and here you’ll music and video playlist. Under with a 240x400 (W-QVGA), which are largely down to the you’ll simply stop browsing. This There are 24 icon-based menu find the relevant call, contacts 262,000-colour TFT-LCD display, touch-screen. When you access is a real problem. A side-mounted options, which are divided into and messaging options. Continued over >> Review LG KU990 Viewty continued

LG KU990 Viewty ■ Size 103x54x14.8mm ■ Weight 103g ■ Display 262,000 colours ■ Resolution 240x400 pixels ■ Camera 5.1 megapixels ■ Video recording/playback/ streaming Yes/yes/yes ■ Ringtones MP3, AAC, WMA, AMR, polyphonic, MIDI ■ Radio Stereo FM ■ Connectivity Bluetooth, USB 2.0 ■ Internal memory 170MB internal ■ Memory card slot microSD ■ Messaging MMS, email with attachments ■ Internet browser WAP/xHTML/ HTML ■ Email client SMTP, POP3, IMAP4 and APOP ■ Java Yes ■ Games Space Commando ■ GPRS Yes + HSDPA (3G) ■ Frequency Quad-band ■ Talktime tbc ■ Standby tbc Features ■ HSDPA ■ 5.1-megapixel camera with auto-focus and Xenon flash ■ Large LCD touch-screen operation ■ Handwriting recognition the filofax/clock icon, you’ll find theory, but as the baddies ■ High-speed video capture (120fps) the phone’s organisational tools appear from nowhere, firing at ■ Jog-wheel for zooming camera and like calendar, memo and alarm, you thick and fast, it can get a web browser and adjusting volume plus the internet browser. And by little hairy, and you have to during calls clicking on the menu graphic that ensure that you don’t lose points could represent either a flower by getting trigger-happy and or a cog, you’ll be taken to the blasting good guys. phone’s profiles and settings, Also consider plus the Bluetooth connectivity. Conclusion Samsung G600 It won’t take you long to find Like many of this year’s most If you’re looking for a five-megapixel camera, out where everything is and you’ll anticipated handsets, the LG be zipping around the phone’s Viewty KU990 has got loads Samsung’s G600 offers a more conventional menu in no time, although some going for it. It looks fabulous, the operation. simple labelling would help. spec sheet is incredible and its All of the Viewty’s multimedia 5.1-megapixel camera and capabilities, from game playing HSDPA capabilities ensure it has to watching movie clips and a place among the top echelon home videos, are enhanced by of phones. Pros the phone’s high-resolution Unfortunately, there are too A wonderful feature set in a sleek package, including a screen. many little niggles to make this a large, dynamic display give the Viewty real star appeal. stone-cold classic and most Extras relate to the touch-screen and The Viewty’s pre-loaded game, the click-wheel zoom. Although Cons Space Commando, is well chosen this is much better and more The click-wheel zoom is fiddly and the battery struggles to because its graphics and responsive than any others we’ve gameplay make full use of the used to date, we’re yet to be cope with powering all that functionality. handset’s large interface. It’s totally won over by touch-screen essentially a 3D action shoot-em- phones. In the Viewty’s case, up set in AD 3765 on Space though, it’s the touch-screen MC SCORE ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Commando Platoon – a space operation of the camera and web station devised and created to browser that lets it down. withstand various threats to It’s also worth noting that LG Look and feel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Verdict Not the most humanity. is unable to provide figures for practical handset in the Ease of use ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Aside from some basic spelling the talktime and standby time. world, but its looks and errors in the scene setting, the We can report that we found the Features ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ graphics and attention to detail battery does drain quite quickly, feature set make the are great. The touch-responsive especially when browsing the ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Viewty one of the year’s Performance screen allows you to blast the internet. iconic phones. Battery life ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ bad guys, simply by tapping them with your finger or stylus as they Huw Morgan appear. It sounds simple in [email protected]