Overview
In a highly competitive market, selling a ‘standard’ mobile phone is just not good enough. Manufacturers are more frequently trying to offer something inspiring and unique in their effort to please the millions of mobile phone users who are ready to ditch their old mobiles for a shiny new model.
With things hotting up from a vast array of mobile phone manufacturers, it would seem that LG are playing the good old game of ‘looks sell’, by introducing their newest addition to their Black Series range, the LG GD900 Crystal mobile phone aka as the first transparent phone! So with such a revolutionary title, let see what else this phone has to offer apart from its crystal clear looks.
Review
Dubbed as the first transparent phone, you would be inclined to agree that this is definitely the LG Crystal’s crowd pleasing feature. Although granted the LG GD900 Crystal isn’t the slimmest or lightest of sliders at 13.5 mm thick and weighing 120, it is nonetheless a sleek looking handset which can neatly fit into any handbag or tiny purse without creating the rather annoying bulging effect.
As you slide open the keypad, the grey keys on the transparent fascia light up allowing it to glisten over the stylish silver chrome exterior. Now, call me a sucker for all things pretty but when I first clapped eyes on this phone, just like any person I was fixated on the transparent keypad more than anything else. However, as I got over the sexy crystal clear glass keypad I got on with the task at hand and that was to see what features this phone had to offer.
Like any phone which focuses on design I am always a little sceptical when it comes to functionality, and I must say I was a little when I first heard about the LG Crystal. Apart from the standard touchscreen functionality on the main 3.5 inch screen, the crystal clear keypad also doubles up as a second touchscreen interface. This allows you to swiftly swipe through the homescreen by acting like a mouse pad for web browsing as well making use of the handwriting recognition and gesture shortcuts. Reading this you may think that a multi-touch keypad could be altogether overwhelming however, there is some logic behind the LG’s madness. The idea behind this is to keep the main screen free of your ‘sausage’ fingers that might detract your view. Although, overall I loved this features as it allowed me to zoom in and out of our photos or maps without having to pitch the main screen to do this, however sometimes I had to be very careful when trying to launch an application as there was a lot of responsive surface.
As well as the rather cool second touchscreen functionality, the gesture control shortcuts was something which I thought was a little unnecessary. To start with you are quite intrigued by the fact that you can assign 12 fingers gestures (no and I don’t mean the abusive ones!) to nine functions, however as the novelty wears off you realise that you can actually customise the same shortcuts on your homescreen, which to be honest was a lot easier then faffing around with your fingers!
The LG Crystal uses the same gold winning 3D S-Class interface, as seen on the LG Arena. This features a spinning cube interface allowing you to flick around on the screen with each face on the cube consisting of an aspect of the menu e.g. contacts.
With a nice 8 mega pixel camera included underneath the Crystal exterior we thought we would have a go at taking some pics to see how the camera worked. Although, altogether it is offers a neat camera functionality, I was a little disappointed with the lag time experienced from time to time when using the keypad to zoom in and out, which did made me miss some opportune shots of my friends getting up to all sorts of exploits!
The GD900’s browser does a good job of displaying complex pages and offers a speedy download HSPDA speed and is even faster when near a WiFi hotspot, however one of the frustrating things about the Crystal was there was no GPS! Surely, a mobile phone which is truly setting itself apart from its competitors should have considered this a must have feature.
The Gaj-It Verdict:
Design: 9/10
Usability: 8/10
Features: 7/10
Value: 8/10
We Say
Undoubtedly the reputation of LG offering sexy and slick designs has superseded itself, with the introduction of the LG Crystal mobile phone. Touting a stylish and sleek exterior you are mesmerised by its pristine looks and electrifying transparent keypad, but scratch underneath the surface and you may see a few specs of shattered glass when it comes to its features. Now, although I loved the useful multitouch screen functionality, it’s camera and additional 32 GB of SD memory space, I was a little disappointed with the unnecessary gesture support and more importantly the lack of GPS functionality. It would seem that LG have gone all out on one feature and left little room for some of the others, intentional or unintentional, it will be up to the LG customers to decide whether they are willing to compromise on features to bag themselves a damn good looking phone!
LG GD900 Crystal is available free on contract for £30 a month, £500 on pay as you go or £350 without a SIM.