Advantages: Exceptional camera for a mobile, easy to use, lots of different options.
Disadvantages: My screen broke very easily, hard to find any new apps.
I bought this phone a couple of years ago when I decided I wanted to upgrade my old cheap flip phone to something that was a bit more modern. After looking at phones around the £100 region I decided upon this phone from Virgin Mobile.
The LG KU990i, or LG Viewty as it is also known as, is a nice feature packed phone that is a good introduction to touch screen phones for those who have not used them before. It is a reasonably sized phone that doesn't weigh too much. It is 10cm x 5cm x 1.5cm. It can come in either all silver or all black. I decided to go for the black version as I felt it looked more modern and a bit more attractive as a phone. One feature of the outer casing that I do like a lot is the metal rear battery cover. This makes it feel secure, well protected and also looks very good. As I already had a sim card I had no problems starting the phone up on Virgin Mobile.
The phone has a 240 x 400 TFT touch-screen, 3G internet, 5.0 megapixel camera with manual focus, a powerful LED flash, Bluetooth support, a second camera for video calls, built in MP3 player and FM stereo, alongside many other functions.
To start with, I found using the phone very strange as I was used to tapping an actual keypad rather than a screen. My phone did not come with a stylus so I have had to use my finger or a pen for its use. The main features I wanted to work well was phone calls and text messaging. Making a phone call is very easy, just tap a button on the home screen then type in the number and press the green button to call. The clarity of the other persons voice is very clear and the volume can be adjusted to turning the dial that runs round the camera lens. Text messages were my next priority as I wanted a phone that was easy to text from and had T9 predictive messaging. This phone delivers both. The messaging screen can be accessed straight off the menu. Typing a message couldn't be easier, each "button" on the screen is larger and well spaced so that you rarely press the wrong button. Once you get used to it you can text just as quick as you would with proper buttons. I found the T9 prediction to be relatively accurate, however sometimes it would put the wrong word in without me noticing, such as neck instead of meal!
Next on my priorities was a reasonable camera so that I didn't have to carry my digital camera everywhere. I didn't expect much as it is a phone camera, however I think the photos it can take are nearly as good as my 8MP digital camera. You can get very clear pictures of all different scenes, such as sports, nightclubs, stills, portraits, landscapes and more. It has the option for auto smile recognition and a countdown timers so it can always get the right shot. It also has a manual focus option which is very rare for camera phones. This means that if you want to change the focus to exactly what you want, then you can. The only thing it lacks is an optical zoom. The camera can also be turned into a video camera and can record video at 120 fps, which means when you play it back, it is all in slow motion!
The next feature that I wanted was a big, easy to use phone book. This phone has loads of space for contacts and they are all easy to find as the phone sorts everyone out into 5 different groups depending on the first letter of there name. You can store lots of info for each person, such as home phone, mobile phone, email address and more.
As the phone supports flash and Java, this means you can download flash and Java applications off the internet to use on the phone. There are quite a few out there, but it's just finding the websites that tends to be the problem. One website I used was www.getjar.com, which has lots on there for all uses. One problem if you want to use applications and store lots of photos from the camera is the memory of the phone. It only has 100mb of internal memory, which for a touch screen/smart phone is not that great. It does have an expandable microSD slot though, however this is an added expense that I did not get.
Battery life can be a problem that plagues some phones, and can be a real problem if you are a heavy phone user. I am a reasonably light phone user and so I found the battery to last a couple of days before needing a full charge.
A couple of months after I bought this phone the internal screen cracked, which left a big black mark down the screen and the phone rendered useless. As the warranty was only 3 months long, I was stuck with a broken phone out of warranty. I decided to try and fix it myself and bought a new screen off eBay. Taking the phone apart and replacing the screen turned out to be relatively easy and quick to do, and since then it has not broken again.
Other features that are worth a mention are:
- The alarm clock - You can set up to 5 alarms on this phone and can set a different tone for each one!
- Calendar - I found this very useful as it stores all of your dates and allows you to look back through them (ideal for when I was working shifts and had to fill in time slips).
The Flash - Although already mentioned, it is worth another mention as it can be set to be constantly turned on, so as to act as a torch. It is very bright and therefore is good if your fumbling for your keys or dropped something on the floor in the dark.
I have since upgraded from this phone to a Nokia 5800 which I like a lot, however there are a few features that I miss from this phone that aren't present on my new one.
If your looking for an entry level phone into the touch screen world then I would highly recommend this one. It is very simple to use, not too big, looks good and does not cost too much. I don't think this actual model is still available, however there are newer versions of it which I have read are just as good.
Overall I will have to give this a 5/5 as it served me well as a phone, was easy to use, was packed with great features and has a truly brilliant camera.
The LG KU990i, or LG Viewty as it is also known as, is a nice feature packed phone that is a good introduction to touch screen phones for those who have not used them before. It is a reasonably sized phone that doesn't weigh too much. It is 10cm x 5cm x 1.5cm. It can come in either all silver or all black. I decided to go for the black version as I felt it looked more modern and a bit more attractive as a phone. One feature of the outer casing that I do like a lot is the metal rear battery cover. This makes it feel secure, well protected and also looks very good. As I already had a sim card I had no problems starting the phone up on Virgin Mobile.
The phone has a 240 x 400 TFT touch-screen, 3G internet, 5.0 megapixel camera with manual focus, a powerful LED flash, Bluetooth support, a second camera for video calls, built in MP3 player and FM stereo, alongside many other functions.
To start with, I found using the phone very strange as I was used to tapping an actual keypad rather than a screen. My phone did not come with a stylus so I have had to use my finger or a pen for its use. The main features I wanted to work well was phone calls and text messaging. Making a phone call is very easy, just tap a button on the home screen then type in the number and press the green button to call. The clarity of the other persons voice is very clear and the volume can be adjusted to turning the dial that runs round the camera lens. Text messages were my next priority as I wanted a phone that was easy to text from and had T9 predictive messaging. This phone delivers both. The messaging screen can be accessed straight off the menu. Typing a message couldn't be easier, each "button" on the screen is larger and well spaced so that you rarely press the wrong button. Once you get used to it you can text just as quick as you would with proper buttons. I found the T9 prediction to be relatively accurate, however sometimes it would put the wrong word in without me noticing, such as neck instead of meal!
Next on my priorities was a reasonable camera so that I didn't have to carry my digital camera everywhere. I didn't expect much as it is a phone camera, however I think the photos it can take are nearly as good as my 8MP digital camera. You can get very clear pictures of all different scenes, such as sports, nightclubs, stills, portraits, landscapes and more. It has the option for auto smile recognition and a countdown timers so it can always get the right shot. It also has a manual focus option which is very rare for camera phones. This means that if you want to change the focus to exactly what you want, then you can. The only thing it lacks is an optical zoom. The camera can also be turned into a video camera and can record video at 120 fps, which means when you play it back, it is all in slow motion!
The next feature that I wanted was a big, easy to use phone book. This phone has loads of space for contacts and they are all easy to find as the phone sorts everyone out into 5 different groups depending on the first letter of there name. You can store lots of info for each person, such as home phone, mobile phone, email address and more.
As the phone supports flash and Java, this means you can download flash and Java applications off the internet to use on the phone. There are quite a few out there, but it's just finding the websites that tends to be the problem. One website I used was www.getjar.com, which has lots on there for all uses. One problem if you want to use applications and store lots of photos from the camera is the memory of the phone. It only has 100mb of internal memory, which for a touch screen/smart phone is not that great. It does have an expandable microSD slot though, however this is an added expense that I did not get.
Battery life can be a problem that plagues some phones, and can be a real problem if you are a heavy phone user. I am a reasonably light phone user and so I found the battery to last a couple of days before needing a full charge.
A couple of months after I bought this phone the internal screen cracked, which left a big black mark down the screen and the phone rendered useless. As the warranty was only 3 months long, I was stuck with a broken phone out of warranty. I decided to try and fix it myself and bought a new screen off eBay. Taking the phone apart and replacing the screen turned out to be relatively easy and quick to do, and since then it has not broken again.
Other features that are worth a mention are:
- The alarm clock - You can set up to 5 alarms on this phone and can set a different tone for each one!
- Calendar - I found this very useful as it stores all of your dates and allows you to look back through them (ideal for when I was working shifts and had to fill in time slips).
The Flash - Although already mentioned, it is worth another mention as it can be set to be constantly turned on, so as to act as a torch. It is very bright and therefore is good if your fumbling for your keys or dropped something on the floor in the dark.
I have since upgraded from this phone to a Nokia 5800 which I like a lot, however there are a few features that I miss from this phone that aren't present on my new one.
If your looking for an entry level phone into the touch screen world then I would highly recommend this one. It is very simple to use, not too big, looks good and does not cost too much. I don't think this actual model is still available, however there are newer versions of it which I have read are just as good.
Overall I will have to give this a 5/5 as it served me well as a phone, was easy to use, was packed with great features and has a truly brilliant camera.
Summary: The camera is one of the best features, it is as good as some digital cameras.
This review may also appear on Ciao and Dooyoo under the username Qroo.
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