Opening up the main menu, though, is where you see some significant changes in the way LG has structured S-Class. It adopts an iPhone-style grid of icons categorised under four headings: Communication, Multimedia, Utilities and Settings.
Arrange the main menu vertically...
In portrait orientation, you can swipe sideways to flick through further options on each line. Flipping the phone sideways engages the built in motion sensor, automatically rotating the screen and doubling the number of icons displayed from 16 to 32. Thanks to distinctive labelling, and the crispness of the higher resolution display, it’s still easy to read and make selections.
The screen was usually pleasingly responsive on our full production handset, and the phone processed commands quickly, with user-variable haptic feedback confirming presses. It’s not as effortlessly elegant as the iPhone UI, but it is a big imrovement on previous LG touchscreens.
...or horizontally
Surprisingly, however, LG’s new UI has done little to address the issues with texting and other messaging we’ve encountered and fussed over in previous reviews of its touchscreen phones. For such an essential and basic part of the phone user requirements, texting should be a breeze. Any touchscreen UI can have drawbacks against lower-tech but quick-to-press conventional keypads.
However, the Arena does itself no favours, with the virtual alphanumeric keys used when messaging restricted in size by control buttons running down the right hand side. As well as reducing finger space, it also requires careful dabbing to avoid mis-pressing keys that will change the input method or clear options – which can be frustrating if you’re in a hurry.
Not the best touchscreen texting UI we've seen
It’s a shame LG didn’t opt for something like the full-width numberpad used for dialling, which works fine. Selecting contacts too can be a little longer-winded than normal with a conventional phone.
COMMENTS
@Langley
Why would you buy a Macintosh? It's simply a rip-off of a Xerox Alto gui interface. Why would you buy a Chevrolet or Volkswagen? It's a rip-off of a Karl Benz auto. I wish all the iTards out there would get their heads out of their arses and realize that Apple and every other manufacturer out there will copy and/or modify existing designs to advance whatever product they make better or at least different. Every design or concept Apple comes up with is submitted as a patent so no one 'steals' their precious ideas. And the stupid US Patent Office grants most of them. The Patent system is broken and does nothing but stifle innovation. If every designer and manufacturer in the world did this, we would all still be living in caves.
This 'Apple is the best' attitude is making me throw up.
LG=Mac fanboi
What a blatant iPhone rip-off. Why would anyone buy a phone from a company that can only copy other companies' products?
RE: LOL @ the Fanbois
See - that would be for the most part true, except usually it's the other way around, with the "regular person" spouting untruths about a phone they've never actually used, then the majority of "Apple Fanboi"'s holding their tongues or just ignoring them.... occasionally you get the occasional apple-tard who can't help themselves and spouts another pile of crap back the other way... and then it becomes entertainment! :)
Still... interesting observation... go back through the messages above and count the number of lines of "regulars" to "appletards", then scale them based on amount of crap dealt... I dare ya! ;)
Mines the one with the future ZunePhone clone in the pocket.
LOL @ the Fanbois
<chuckle>
Fanybois make me smile.
Regular Person: "I don't want an iPhone because it can't ...."
Apple Fanboi: "SILENCE! THE iPHONE IS THE BEST! IF IT CAN'T DO SOMETHING THEN IT ISN'T WORTH DOING! YOU ARE A MORON IF YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING THAT THE iPHONE CAN'T DO! EVERY DEVICE EVER CREATED WITH A TOUCH SCREEN IS JUST COPYING THE iPHONE! ANY PHONE RELEASED FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF TIME WILL BE A CHEAP KNOCK-OFF! I WANT TO SUCK OFF STEVE JOBS AND SWALLOW HIS STICKY MESS!"
Seriously - that's how you come across.
Hmm
Lots of things wrong here, on both sides of the argument. For example -
1. When you "buy" a subsidised phone, whether it's an iPhone or an Arena, it's yours. Legally and in every other sense it belongs to you, 100%. Of course you're committed to paying the x month minimum contract, but that's a separate matter, and not contingent on the phone.
2. The headphone jack on the iPhone 3G isn't recessed. Any 'phones will fit.
3. OS3.0 lifts Apple's SDK restriction on turn by turn directions. So there's now nothing to stop TomTom (or any other satnav co) from developing maps and software for the iPhone. Remember, OS3.0 is coming to the (GPS-equipped) iPhone 3G as well as any new hardware.
4. Yes, this is indeed yet another cheap iPhone clone that fails horribly. The UI is actually quite a poor impersonation, with too much eye-candy in place of the logical stuff that actually makes the iPhone nice to use. The browser is slooow and laggy, and of course once you scratch the surface you find this is no smartphone and no comparison to the iPhone at all, with no apps, little email smarts, and none of the expandability that makes the iPhone more than just a pretty face.
