The LG KE850 Prada, with its smooth interface and sharp touch screen that isn’t made to be operated by a stylus but actually by the user’s finger, lately has heard comparisons and been accused of a rip off (by non mobile world community) to Apple’s iPhone, which is kind of strange considering LG announced this phone and its unique touch screen features an entire year before Apple announced its much ballyhooed phone.
As you can tell by the Prada, this is a joint venture of LG and the highly chic fashion brand. It’s not the first collaboration between a fashion line and a cell phone manufacturer. Dolce & Gabana paired with Motorola to give us the Motorola V3I or V3T (depending on where you live) in gold with the D&G logo (with a extra 150.00) stamped on the phone, but no added functionality. LRG, Dwayne Wade, Diane Von Furtsenber and Sharp/Danger hooked up for the Sidekick 3 with similar, lackluster results. So when LG had announced that it was indeed true that the LG Prada was in launch mode and that it would come with a one-of-a-kind touch screen to fully operate the phone with no keypad whatsoever I was very excited.
When I got my hands on the LG Prada I was highly impressed with the sleekness of the phone, weighing in at a petite 12 mm depth, and a waiflike 85 grams. Easily concealable, it can rest in your breast pocket (or pants) with ease, and while sporting a nice robust 3 inch screen to operate the phone. Remember the phone has no keypad so this 3 inch screen that packs a impressive TFT 256k Touch Screen (240 x 400 Pixels). LG appears to understand the importance of ergonomic interface, and gives a very crisp and easy way to operate the phone. Without a doubt, the absolute best responding touch screen I have ever dealt with. (The iPhone, which will rely solely on the touch screen better operate at the same ease or it will be a failure right out the door.)
Under no circumstances would I consider this a Smartphone, but it does come with a document viewer that supports Powerpoint, Excel & Acrobat files. One thing I found cute, yet frustrating is that all documents are reformatted to fit the screen in its entirety which means no scrolling while viewing. With a 3 inch screen, the Prada isn’t one of the top tier phones for web browsing, with images being compressed and text not being in the right place, this can become very annoying and is suited more for leisure than the business end user. In addition, web media networks missing the web browser is not what you would consider fast at all with it just depending on GPRS & Edge so this web browser is no faster than the Sidekick 3.
On a happier note the LG Prada doesn’t disappoint with the media features. The 2 megapixel camera is really sharp and clear and has the resolution to back it up. American heads will love it while the UK & other mobile countries might scoff at it considering 3 megapixels is the present standard everywhere but America of course. The phone doesn’t impress with 8 MB shared memory, but it does come packaged with a 125 MB Micro SD (ScanDisk) card slot for expansion, and the MP3 functionality is surprisingly very similar to Apple’s iPod shuffle. It was good quality listening about on par with the Sony W810 phone.
Unfortunately, this first-of-its-kind phone will fall victim to the iPhone mania that will be unleashed world wide on June 29th. The LG Prada shouldn’t be slept on and if you want a stylish media phone then definitely give it a try if you got the bread, 600 Euros or $689.00. However, it’s a beautifully stylish media phone that doesn’t disappoint in the people it is being marketed to (although no 3G, and no Wi Fi). This phone will definitely get you some cool points in whatever crowd you are in when you whip it out.