Mobile Phone :LG GT540 Review

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:21:08 +0000

One of the big news stories for 2010 is the continued growth of Android powered devices. Android allows manufacturers to produce high end smartphone style handsets, which usually sell for a premium price, for a lower cost. Whilst some Android devices will still retain a high cost

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One of the big news stories for 2010 is the continued growth of Android powered devices. Android allows manufacturers to produce high end smartphone style handsets, which usually sell for a premium price, for a lower cost. Whilst some Android devices will still retain a high cost to consumers, there are signs that Android devices will come to market at a more mid range price, giving smartphone access to a wider audience. The LG GT540 pricing is still not confirmed, but in LG’s words it is a product that is designed to be an introduction to touchscreen based smartphones for consumers, which would indicate an accessible price, especially for the prepay market where smartphone penetration is still rather low.

The LG GT540 made its debut at the recent CES event in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronic Show is the largest consumer technology tradeshow, and showcases a whole host of consumer electricals, not just mobile phones. The dimensions of the GT540 are not yet confirmed, but it seems from pictures and video to be a good sized mid range device. Sporting a 3 inch TFT touchscreen, supporting up to 256,000 colours, the display has a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. Accelerometer support is included, allowing the display to auto rotate, useful for web browsing and playing games. The top and bottom of the handset are very curved, a pleasing look, reminiscent of some Sony Ericsson devices. The device will be available in three colours, Black, White and Pink, further enhancing LG’s claim that the device is intended for mass market consumption.

The LG GT540 is the second LG handset to run on the Android OS, and it seems the device will offer the standard three screen Android layout, LG do not appear to have tweaked the UI in any way. Being Android, we know that the handset is going to work really well with the Google suite of internet services, plus there is good social networking integration, for the main services of Twitter, Facebook and Bebo. This allows you to have live updates sent through to your device, so you can keep up to date with the latest news from friends and family.

The device includes a full media player, supporting MP3, AAC and WMA audio files, plus MP4, H.263, H.264 and WMV video files. LG also state that the device will also playback DivX files, which is a welcome inclusion, and hopefully one that other Android devices launched this year will also be able to include. As well as the media player there is also a Stereo FM radio, with RDS support, and there is ample storage on offer for storing music, with the GT540 able to accommodate MicroSD cards up to 32GB in size. The inclusion of a 3.5mm audio jack allows users to select from their own preferred headset for listening to music playback.

The device includes a 3.2 Megapixel camera, with autofocus. As with many other Android devices, the camera is nothing special, but suitable for image capture for those moments when you don’t have a proper camera to hand. Video recording is enabled, but there is no front facing camera, so no video calls.

Connectivity is always king for a device that relies on web integration, and the GT540 delivers the full suite of options. A quad band GSM handset, the GT540 includes support for HSDPA over 3G, up to 7.2Mbps for downloads, plus WiFi for use in cafes, restaurants, pubs and connecting in to your own home network. When out of 3G coverage, the GT540 offers class 10 GPRS and Class 10 EDGE for data connectivity. Bluetooth 2.1 is included, and offers A2DP support. Finally connectivity to your PC via Cable is handled by a MicroUSB connector.

Click here to view the embedded video.

All in all, then, the LG GT540 seems perfectly adapted for its target market of first time touchscreen smartphone users. The standard Android UI is something most people will pick up within a few hours of usage, and the GT540 seems an ideal choice as an introduction to the world of permanent, online, mobile connectivity. The LG GT540 should start being available in most markets from April 2010.

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Mobile Phone :LG GT540 Review