This article is more than 1 year old

LG GD900 Crystal camphone

See-through styling – a clear winner?

Browsing on the LG GD900 Crystal is pretty good; just using the touch screen in the usual way to brush pages around and click on links. A really nice touch is that you can use the keypad as a trackpad and move a pointer around the screen, which can make it a lot easier to locate and activate hyperlinks, especially on busy pages. It's not something we'd use all the time, but it's handy to have the option. You can zoom by pinching the screen between forefinger and thumb, iPhone-style and we were able to view YouTube videos without any problems.

LG GD900 Crystal

Alas, the call quality isn't crystal clear

Given all these good things, we were slightly disappointed by the call quality on the GD900, the speaker delivering a slightly metallic, thin sound when making calls. E-mail, however, proved easy to set up and there's support for Microsoft Exchange. It also comes with some fun motion-sensitive games.

The battery stood up reasonably well, giving us a good two days of calls plus camera, music and video use. Indeed, the 3in screen is just about big enough to make extended video playback worthwhile. A-GPS would have been nice, but it's not essential, and its omission is probably reflected in the price, which places it firmly in the midrange rather than the high end.

Verdict

So is the GD900 Crystal see-through keypad a gimmick? Well, yes and no. It's certainly designed to grab attention, but LG has also been clever enough to back it up with some genuinely useful functionality. It works perfectly well as a keypad but, if you don't like touch screens, you probably won't be keen on this either. Nevertheless, its trackpad operation is a boon; controlling what's on screen without messing it up with your pawprints, as well as delivering well-executed gesture shortcuts. All in all, it's a great little style phone that will turn heads, but won't embarrass you with a lack of functionality. ®

More Phone Reviews...


Toshiba TG01

Sony Ericsson
C903

Samsung
i8910 Omnia HD

Nokia N97
85%
LG GD900 Crystal

LG GD900 Crystal camphone

It looks like a gimmick but, in use, the benefits are crystal clear.
Price: £380 RRP

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like