The LG Cookie KP500 is a budget touch-screen mobile phone, costing (without a SIM card) around £100. This makes it a cheap mobile phone featuring touch-screen technology. LG mobile phones generally are marketed to budget users.
The LG Cookie KP500 is 4.19 by 2.18 by 0.47 inches, weighing just 3.14 ounces. It has a battery life of 3.5 hours of talk time and 15 days standby time. Its touch-screen is resistive, has a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels and is 3 inches large. The mobile phone’s camera has a resolution of 3 megapixels. Multimedia features include MPEG4, MP3 and FM radio. The memory slot has an inbuilt capacity of 48 MB. Internet connectivity is WAP 2.0 and the mobile phone has USB 2.0 and 2.1 stereo Bluetooth.
The LG Cookie KP500’s main selling point is that it looks and feels more expensive than it actually is. The touch-screen is of a good quality and pictures can be displayed both horizontally and vertically by turning the handset.
The fact that the touch-screen is resistive can lead to some annoyance, as it requires more effort to operate than a capacitive screen. The mobile phone lacks 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS, detracting from its overall functionality.
LG Cookie KP500 deals are very common across the major networks including T-Mobile, Orange, 3, O2, Vodafone, Virgin Mobile and Talk Mobile. Altogether, there are over 1700 different combinations of deals to choose from, with contracts from 12 to 18 to 24 months.
The Pop Pink is one of the latest mobile phones from LG, most notable for its compact and bright appearance; it’s a budget phone with a few extra features here and there. It’s one of the smallest LG mobile phones available, yet the screen is a sizable three inches. A very slim, yet solid feeling unit, at first glance it seems that this phone may very well do all it needs to do at a very low price.
Most notable about the LG Pop Pink other than its bright pink exterior, is the size of the unit and screen. The touch screen absolutely dominates the face of the unit, and is clearly the focus of the device. Despite only supporting EDGE data transfer at low data rates, this phone is still quite capable of surfing the internet, as well as sending messages through both IM clients and through social networking sites. The phone works well with the existing applications designed by LG for their phones. While this is to be expected of all LG devices, these applications still run smoothly even on weaker hardware.
While there are many good things to be said about the LG Pop Pink, the battery life is another story entirely. Supporting just 200 minutes of talk time on a single charge, the phone simply will not cut it for some. This combined with the total absence of Android are the greatest concerns about this phone, however in most every other way, the Pop Pink still manages to exceed expectations and is a welcome addition to the cheap mobile phones market.
The LG GW620 is the company’s first Android handset and is aimed at the middle to low end of the market.
The touchscreen and the QWERTY keyboard are a great combination, working really well together. The Android operating system functions well with the hardware too. The handset is small and not too heavy but still looks classy.
The phone comes with an FM radio and the interface is well thought through, laid out well and user-friendly. There’s a dedicated music button and a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can listen to your music without disturbing those around you. The play back quality is not the best but is ok.
The camera is a good function on this phone. It is 5-megapixels and you can file your favourite pictures in a specific gallery file, a great addition to phones especially as storage sizes are increasing. The down side to the camera is that it is raised on the back of the phone, which means that the phone never lies flat.
The phone is preloaded with Google applications, Google maps, Gmail and YouTube and you obviously can download apps from the Android Market. The phone comes with a Social Network Manager that enables you to keep track of your Facebook, Twitter and Bebo accounts from the one application.
Collecting emails on this phone is frustrating as it is not possible just to call up unread emails – you have to click through all the emails sent which is extremely time-consuming.
The LG Secret is made from tempered glass, carbon fibre and fake leather, materials that you usually don’t find in a mobile phone but the combination is a winner. The Secret is classy mobile phone by a manufacturer whose priority is luxury.
The phone is available from a number of networks and on contract from £20 to £30 a month, the top deal at the moment being offered by T-Mobile.
It’s a relatively thin phone, only 12mm, so it’s remarkable that it also boasts a 5-megapixel camera that can shoot both still pictures and videos as well as slow motion video. The camera has a LED flash, but picture quality in darker conditions would have been improved if the flash had been xenon.
Texting is easy on the even spaced keypad and you know when you’ve completed a task because the touch sensitive navigation keys vibrate when they’re tapped. Taking the criticism about the LG Chocolate very seriously, LG have not made the cancel key touch-sensitive.
The music player supports all file formats including AAC+, AAC, WMA and MP3 but it is disappointing that there is no 3.5mm headphone jack, although it does come with a 3.5mm headphone adaptor.
The touchscreen only works in certain menus, making it relatively useless a lot of the time. Apart from when playing games, the functionality of the touchscreen is poor.
Other similar phones to check out are the Sony Ericsson Yari and the Sony Ericsson C903.
The LG GM750 runs with Windows Mobile, has multiple home windows with a dedicated screen for your contacts, media content and applications, and loads of space. There’s a constant status bar at the top of the screen that displays a whole host of icons, some of which are a bit difficult to identify.
Microsoft Office Mobile is a great bonus to business users who want to read and edit Word and Excel documents on the go, but that is the limit for this phone. To create a new document would take forever on the GM750, as accurate typing is a slow process on the handset. You have to use the stylus, which is annoying, as it is not integral and you have to remember to always have it attached to your phone.
The phone comes with Windows Live Messenger so you can always keep up to date with the gossip, and you can merge your phone and your messaging contacts, which is extremely handy. The multitasking function is also useful as you switch between applications.
The sound quality is passable and there is the standard 3.5mm headphone jack so you can use your own headphones or the earphones that come with the phone, which are surprisingly ok.
Although the GM750 has lots of functionality it does tend to be a bit slow. Connection to the web via Wi-Fi is frustratingly slow even when close to a wireless router, and when browsing the web the small screen makes everything look a bit squashed.
The LG Renoir KC910 is a touch screen mobile phone that has a sleek attractive look; it has been marketed as a camera phone. Its compact size is ideal for those looking for a smaller alternative to the iPhone.
One of the best features of the handset is the eight megapixel camera. It is substantially better than that included with other LG mobile phones and the phone has a ‘smile detection’ function which will take the photograph when the subject smiles. Photo quality is excellent and the camera can be used to take good quality video footage. Some users may find that the flash is not adequate for very dark scenes.
Watching videos is also easy as the phone supports a number of file types, though some resolutions may not be compatible with the phone. The handset also has a good music player though the phone does not have the 3.5mm headphone jack that is featured on some other LG models; it is, however, equipped with Dolby mobile sound technology.
Users can connect with the internet using Wi-Fi or HSDPA and the phone has a GPS navigation feature to benefit users. Memory function is also considerably better than other models with an 8GB memory card. Sending texts and emails is easy with the onscreen QWERTY keyboard and the text function is aided with predictive text.
The maximum battery life is shorter than other LG handsets, just 264 hours, but this is acceptable when you consider the number of functions and applications this is supporting.
