The LG Shine is one of the latest in LG・s Black Label series of
premium phones. It is now available only in silver but I would think
that eventually they would go the way of the LG Chocolate and offer
it in other colours too. Come to think of it, it has been a long
while since anybody made phones in matte black plastic.
1GB microSD
The phone
We took the Shine out of the box. OK, that doesn・t sound quite
right. We took the handset out of the box, and just like its name,
the device is composed almost entirely out of brushed metal.
The entire phone was constructed to look like a futuristic gadget
made out of metal. From the back, the device looks just like an
ordinary compact camera at first glance.
A nice touch is perhaps the rotating handle that is found at the
bottom of the screen, in place of the usual navigation pad. Imagine
one of those toilet roll holders that you find in the bathroom,
shrunk down to size and gleaming silver in colour. That was probably
the simplest way to describe what is probably a new type of
navigation control for handsets.
The keypad is an etched metal type, just like those commonly found
on Motorola RAZR devices. The backlight is a nice shade of blue,
slightly darker than electric blue, but not quite crossing the
boundary to violet.
This also one of the few phones that does not block the SIM card
slot with the battery. You can access the SIM card without removing
the battery, but you will still have to reboot the phone for the
card to register. I would not recommend hocking the SIM card out of
the phone without shutting down first.
Well, it serves to reason that it might corrupt the data on the card
if the phone is still operating when you rip out the SIM card. I
wouldn・t chance it since 3G cards cost about RM50 a pop, not to
mention the time you need to go to the shop and queue for a
replacement. Having said, that I would like to point out that this
is NOT a 3G phone but I just have lots of SIMs because of the nature
of my job.
Software
The menu is a list of nine items, and you can change this into a 3x3
grid from the Settings submenu, but truth be told, it made more
sense to use list view in light of the roller-navigator that this
phone uses.
The main applications are the Alarm Clock, Calendar, Calculator and
Memo, just as are found in every other phone. The Calculator
application is a little bit curious in appearance, simply because
the operand symbols scroll down the screen in tandem with the
movements made by the roller-navigator. That is something not found
in other phones.
The phone directly plays Powerpoint slides, and also Word and Excel
documents as well. PDF is also supported, as are general text
documents.
Connectivity
Local connectivity consists of Bluetooth 1.2 and a USB cable which
allows you to move files from the computer to the phone. You can
connect out with Class 10 GPRS or EDGE, but this is not a 3G device.
Camera
The camera on this device is a fairly straightforward 2 megapixel
one. The night shots are quite clear but not spectacular, but the
Shine consumes battery power like a hog when you use the camera, and
then refuses to launch the camera application until fed more power.
The camera・s settings menu is not very responsive to the roller
navigator. As such, when you rotate the roller navigator, it takes a
while for the menu cursor to respond to your input. However, I did
like the autozoom function.
When you shoot a photo, the camera automatically goes into zoom
mode, adjusts itself and then shoots the picture for you. Of course,
this takes a little bit of time and there doesn・t seem to be any
command on the menu to turn this off.
Games
There are two games on this phone. The first one is BubbleSoccer and
the other is Fishing Mania. Now BubbleSoccer is simply a variation
of the Puzzle Bobble type of game where you shoot balls in such a
way as to match them by colour and make them disappear off the
screen. You lose when the screen fills up with balls.
Fishing Mania puts you into the shoes of an animated fisherman and
you can choose to go to different locations around the world and,
well, fish! Not very intellectually challenging, I must say, but a
welcome diversion after a long hard day・s work.
| Editor's Opinion |
The LG is hot. There is no doubt about that. Everyone who saw the
phone said that it was a great-looking product. The battery cover
scratches quite easily for a metallic surface though. I had expected
much better after all the hype over the quality of the materials
used.
The roller-scroller toilet paper roll holder takes some getting used
to. It feels much looser than it should have been, so you tend to
overshoot when you use it to navigate around the phone. I used the
keypad whenever possible, and you might well find yourself doing so
too.
I would say that the Shine is still a little pricey for a non-3G
device, and you are probably paying for the cosmetics and the ．wow・
effect that this product will have on people. The ability to view MS
Office documents is a plus, although I would have preferred a more
standard USB connector to hook up the Shine to other devices. Mobile
screens are just not suited for reading due to their size.
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