There is an alternative Qwerty keypad input method, which automatically kicks in when the phone’s switched into landscape mode. This, too, requires careful attention for accurate message writing – we found our largish fingertips didn’t suit the limited space available and our message-tapping irritatingly error-prone.
The music player's been refreshed
The S-Class refresh is carried over neatly into plenty of the Arena’s features. The rotating reel used on the multimedia home screen is a slick way of selecting tunes and video clips. You can build wheels of favourite content to carousel through, and the media player widget looks smart and works effectively.
The LG touchscreen music player interface has been spruced up too, with a decent look and selection of control and setting options – including a Dolby Mobile sound option for the equaliser.
With 8GB of on-board storage and a Micro SDHC card slot, there's ample room for multimedia goodies. Downloading content over the air is quick thanks to 7.2Mb/s HSDPA and Wi-Fi, though tunes can be easily transferred from a PC using the supplied USB cable and either LG PC Suite software or Windows Media Player, or beamed over Bluetooth.
The LG Arena really excels in the multimedia department. Sound quality is highly impressive for the music player, with a rich, detailed sound that gets added presence by switching on the Dolby Mobile audio processing.
In-menu movie and music playback
That LG packs a decent set of in-ear earphones is a bonus, but you can also add your own. An FM transmitter built into the Arena enables you to transmit tracks to nearby radios, so you can listen to tunes you’re playing in the car or on a home radio. It’s simple to tune to a free station, with a nifty rotating tuner dial making it all very intuitive. A similar dial interface is used on the phone’s FM receiver.
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.
