LG KM900

The well-rounded feature set - which could've been a major asset in any reputable handset - is easily eclipsed by the interface that boasts some of the best looks and handling in quite a while.

Our LG namesake is the first ever handset to run the new touch UI of the Korean company. In addition, you get a state of the art connectivity package and a nicely sounding 5 megapixel shooter. Well, obviously it's not a top of the line imaging monster like the Renoir but the target audience is different here.

Having made a great first impression with its brilliant screen and inspiring UI, the LG KM900 is now to face a more serious test. For starters let's have a look at the LG KM900 main specs.

LG KM900 -

General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 2100 or 850/1900 MHz, EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps Dimensions: 105.9 x 55.3 x 12 mm, 105 g Display: 3" 16M-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels) Memory: 8GB flash storage, microSD card slot (up to 16GB) User interface: S-Class Touch UI Still camera: 5 megapixel autofocus camera, Schneider-Kreuznach optics, autofocus, LED flash Video recording: 3GP D1 (720x480)@30fps, QVGA@120fps high-speed recording, QVGA time lapse recording Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, Wi-Fi, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out, microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS Misc: Accelerometer for screen auto rotate, Multi-touch input, 3D hardware accelerator, DivX support, Dolby for Mobile audio enhancement, FM radio, FM transmitter, office document viewer Battery: Li-Ion 1000 mAh, Talk time: 3 h 50 min, Standby: 300 h, Music playback: 30 h Retail price: 400 euro (540 US dollars)

S-Class user Interface A well designed and smooth running user interface is among the most important features of a phone these days and the iPhone and its amazing market success is the quintessential example. LG have equipped the Arena with their spanking new S-Class UI and what can we say - high-end is implied.

The capacitive touchscreen is quite sensitive and haptic feedback has always been on the LG feature list. The hardware graphic acceleration is essential: everything from homescreen to dropdown menus rolls, sweeps in, unfolds and revolves extra smoothly.

The S-Class builds upon the previous UIs of the house thus still feels familiar despite the enormous amount of upgrades.

This time around, there are four homescreens and they break down the homescreen UI to four easily manageable chunks: widgets, contacts, shortcuts and multimedia.

No matter which homescreen you choose the UI never skimps on eye candy - smooth animations, reflections, 3D spatial effects, motion blurring - it's all there for your viewing pleasure. And better still - the 3" WVGA screen makes sure the image quality is exceptional.

It kinda reminded us of the day that the Apple iPhone arrived in our office and how amazed we felt back then. However it's been almost two years now that the iPhone is out and the bar is as high as ever.

A new and eye catching addition to the interface is the cube interface - the four homescreens are placed on the sides of a cube that you roll by finger sweeps. You can zoom out by pressing the center Home key and roll the cube to select a homescreen.

Gallery is a real 3D treat LG Arena offers two gallery modes depending on the handset's orientation. In portrait mode images and videos are displayed in a grid while in landscape mode one image is displayed in the center and two more by its side in an impressive 3D spatial view.

Did somebody say Cover Flow? Yes, the layout is quite similar to the Apple iPhone Cover Flow Album Art browsing, but let us remind you that the iPhone offers that view mode in its iPod music player only.

Dolby enhanced music playback is just fine The LG KM900 Arena Music player is accessible both from the Cube interface as well as from the main menu. The homescreen music player is rather basic but it does the job of quick access to the playing music.

The tracks are displayed on a rotating reel and get visualized with their album artwork "printed" on virtual vinyl records.

Video player The LG Arena comes with a relatively large touch screen (especially for a device of that size) measuring good 3". That, along with the DivX/XviD support turns it into a potentially excellent portable video player - especially considering the good track record. The LG Renoir for example managed to play every desktop XViD/DivX video we threw at it. Unfortunately, we had issues with DivX/XviD support in our pre-production unit, but LG will surely fix that in the retail version.

To switch the video player to full screen mode you only need to tilt the phone to landscape position. A tap on the touch screen reveals the onscreen overlay controls. Except for the standard controls (such as play/pause, volume, etc.) you can also change playing speed and to zoom in or out.

Middling camera, first-rate video recording We really had high hopes for the 5 megapixel camera on the Arena but the best we can say about it at this point is OK. The full-res samples reveal poor detail. But let's not forget it's a pre-release unit, which may as well have most of the issues fixed before it's retail-ready.

The good things about the camera are that there is no over sharpening and the colors are lively and perfectly matching the scenes we shot. If it wasn't for the problematic detail we would've called the camera perfect. It's hard to find a cameraphone with such accurate colors and crisp contrast.

The LED flash is useless. It really struggles in poor light and will hardly make a difference, even in close quarters.