LG KU990 Viewty

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LG KU990 Viewty Dimensions (w/h/d): 54 x 104 x 15 Weight: 112g Talk Time: 4 hours Stand By: 430 hours Camera: Camera Resolution: 5.0MP Handset Type: Standard Coverage (Band): Quad Video: Bluetooth: Mp3 Player: Mp3 Ringtones: MMS: Java Games: Radio: GPRS: Email: Internet Browsing: 3G: Flash Memory: WiFi:

Dimensions (w/h/d): Weight: Talk Time: Stand By: Camera: Camera Resolution: Phone Type: Coverage (Band): Video: Bluetooth: Mp3 Player: Mp3 Ringtones: MMS: Java Games: Radio: GPRS: Email: Internet Browsing: 3G: Flash Memory: WiFi:

Dimensions (w/h/d): Weight: Talk Time: Stand By: Camera: Camera Resolution: Phone Type: Coverage (Band): Video: Bluetooth: Mp3 Player: Mp3 Ringtones: MMS: Java Games: Radio: GPRS: Email: Internet Browsing: 3G: Flash Memory: WiFi:

Our Review of the LG KU990 Viewty

The Viewty was a late comer to 2007, making its auspicious entry to the mobile market a few months before Christmas. However the handset has done very well, and has seen LG shift millions of units worldwide thanks to its great design and roster of high-end capabilities.

With its 5.1 Megapixel camera, autofocus and Xenon flash, the LG Viewty is a powerful imaging beast.

The LG KU990's common name alludes to both the high calibre of the built-in camera – 5.1 Megapixels, with autofocus and Xenon flash – and its aesthetic appeal, which it has borrowed heavily from its fashion-centric LG stablemate, the LG Prada. Whilst the Viewty may remind you of the Prada, it is however an entirely different, and altogether more powerful beast.

The Viewty is very easy on the eye, featuring a 3" 240 x 400 LCD touchscreen display on one side, and dedicated space for the camera and flash lenses on the other side, taking its cue from the Sony Ericsson CyberShot range. At a first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Viewty was merely a digital camera, and not a high-powered smartphone. It should probably be called a phone-camera and not a camera phone.

Those of us disappointed by the lack of high end features on the Prada phone are going to be more than happy with the LG Viewty. The same sleek styling that the Prada became known for makes a welcome return. The Viewty is a sleek black monolith which is curved at one end, designed to allow you to easily hold the phone when it is in camera mode.

You have the option of using either a QWERTY or a numerical pad when composing a text or email, whichever you prefer.

Back to that 3" touchscreen - call function buttons are mounted beneath the main display, through which the majority of the phones functions are accessed. The touchscreen comes with a touch feedback feature, which means that you can actually 'feel' the response from the virtual buttons with a subtle vibration. A common problem with all touchscreen devices is that you can easily accidentally select options you didn't intend to; the pseudo-tangibility of the Viewty's screen means that you can confirm menu choices with a slight buzz at the fingertips. You can either use your fingers if you want a more hands-on approach, or use the stylus which comes provided if you don't want to smear your Viewty with greasy fingerprints.

Menus are as bright, clear and legible as they are intuitive and adaptable - for example, when composing a text message or an email, you have the option of using a QWERTY pad or a numerical pad, which ever one you are most accustomed to. So rather than users having to adapt to new technology, you can make your Viewty adapt to the way you like doing things.

Needless to say, images taken on the camera also look super-detailed and lush, as good as anything you re likely to take on Nokia's N95. The camera has some great features including flash, autofocus, camera strobe flash and focus assist beam. The images you can capture with the camera come out crisp and clear and with the added software it is usable even in difficult lighting conditions. It also shoots video as well as it takes pictures (VGA 30fps, QVGA up to 120fps) and as the Viewty is DivX compatible, you can shoot video content and upload it straight to the web.

On mentioning the web, now would be a good time to talk about the browsing capabilities of the LG Viewty - it's an HSDPA compatible smartphone, capable of achieving broadband download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps, so sending and receiving files and is super-fast and vewing web pages is eye-pleasing smooth on the 3" screen. Sensibly, web pages can be viewed in the landscape format, making use of the longest dimension of the display.

What about music? The built-in music player supports MP3 and AAC file formats and playback is good. However we must be honest and say that this isn't the strongest point of the Viewty, which is, again as its name suggests, primarily designed for imaging and web access. The 100MB of on-board memory (microSD expandable up to 2GB) would also be filled up by proper audiophiles in no time at all. We're are however pleased to announce that with the Viewty, LG have revived the long-thought dead tone composer function, and so the dubious joy of composing ones own ringtone makes a very welcome comeback on this 21st Century bad boy.

 Pros

Fantastic camera.
HSDPA compatibility.
Large internal memory.

 Cons

Stylus is easily lost!
You have to remove the battery to put a memory card in.

Our Rating

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The LG KU990 Viewty is a true multimedia phone with great looks and features to boot. Although it hasn't enjoyed the joint hype of the K850i, N95, and the iPhone, the Viewty is capable of giving them a run for their money.

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LG viewty after 2 months

Review by: t-mobile rocks :] from Wiltshire, 17th March 2008

the lg viewty looks great the style and metal used for it works great. the let down on the phone is the touch feedback, the mp3 ,texting and the components on the phone. texting on the phone is very hard and takes longer than most phones.the touch sensor takes around 2 seconds before it gets you to where you want. also it freezesat times which can be embarrassing around friends or can just annoy you.the mp3 is terrible and the worst i have ever seen on a phone so if you like a good music phone the viewty is not for you.playing games on the phone is boring and very hard to work as it is all touch.the camera on the phone is amzing though and most definately the best part of the phone. it produces clear and crisp pics and you can also change the theme of the pic. the video on the phone is amazing aswell as you can do slow motion vids but the let down is that they have no sound. the headphones for the phone are not very good and you are best of buying a different pair.

on the whole i feel that the LG viewty is not worth the money. i fell for all the advertisment that LG gave the phonebyt in the end after 2 months with the phone i am dieing for an upgrade. View Full Review

t-mobile rocks :] from Wiltshire gave the LG KU990 Viewty a

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What a phone

Review by: ali* from Uk, 23rd January 2008

This phone is amazing and much more practical and easy to use than the i-phone which i found was difficult to use and was not practical for day to day use as it wouldn't fit in my pocket View Full Review

ali* from Uk gave the LG KU990 Viewty a

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iPod killer?

Review by: Gman from London, 2nd January 2008

Not a bad crack at the lads from Apple. The 5MP camera and the zoom functionality alone are reasons to buy this... The DivX player also beats the iPhone. I have a feeling that this ann the new Samsing's will giveSteve Jobs a good run for his money! View Full Review

Gman from London gave the LG KU990 Viewty a

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LGU990

Review by: sleekg from London East Hackney, 25th December 2007

da best phone of the year biggest phone screen ever made in uk.lovely phone for everyone. i will force every1 to go for this phone View Full Review

sleekg from London East Hackney gave the LG KU990 Viewty a

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