My exclusive LG PRADA review

With the LG Prada AVAILABLE in stores for just a couple of days now, I'm so excited to be able to get my hands on a test unit for review! Thank you official LG distributor! Behold, the LG Prada!

It has been truly been an experience using such a revolutionary device for the first time. Totally no keypads or stylus to function with, just... the touch of your finger. For the purpose of this review, I will use mainly photos to do the talking, and walk you through each feature on this sexy Prada.

First Impressions
The FIRST thing that hit me when I held it in my hands for the first time was the size. It does NOT look as big as the pre-launch photos put it out to be. Its significantly smaller. And so light too. You'd be amazed. Switching it on, the word PRADA appears accompanied by a sound so similar to an F1 car racing by. A very nice (albeit shocking initially) "touch" from LG (pun intended). Then, the new touch screen interface to behold. Absolutely amazing. There's a (customizeable) sound when pressing every function / "key" on the screen. Another very nice touch. LG has to do this I suppose, being a touchscreen, otherwise you'd never know for sure whether you pressed the application / key. Also for your interest, when switching off the Prada, there's a strange sound like a car honking 3 times. (Note: these start up / shut down sounds can be disabled). Overall, I have good 1st impressions indeed with the Prada.

Physical aspects / build quality

• As you can see, compared to my Treo, the LG Prada's noticeably smaller and slimmer. I can guarantee you its also lighter.
  
• The LG Prada has a candy bar / PDA form factor, with only one colour variant; Black. Both the front and back are covered in black plastic material, with the sides made of chrome silver finishings. In my opinion, this just adds to the simplicity and sexyness of the Prada brand. One look at this device and you know it screams Prada. Very classy.
  
• The front screen is a very big 3" display with only 3 buttons visible. The Call, Menu and Call-End buttons. Very simple.
  
• On the left hand side, you will see a metal flap covering for charging / earphones, the volume increase / decrease keys (also functioning as the T9 word change when in SMS/MMS/Memo modes) and an "OK" key (which I'm still uncertain what it actually does)
• On the right hand side, you will see a dedicated camera / mp3 player key (hold for a second or two, the Camera application activates)(press lightly once, the mp3 player activates) and the device lock / unlock key (Very important).
• At the back of the LG Prada, you will see the 2 mega pixel camera (branded with Schneider - KREUZNACH. A partnership like Carl Zeiss with Nokia), a mirror for self portraits and a tiny LED flash. The LG brand is imprinted clearly at the bottom.
• With the main feature being touchscreen, you may need to adjust to moving around with either your finger tip or your thumb. The thumb is most comfortable it seems, but you will need to find your way around to see what suits you the most.
  

Display / User Interface

• The LG Prada supports 256k colours, which looks quite sufficient on the 3" display screen.
  
• There are 4 main TABS within which contain different applications. (Note: For the photos, I used "Butterfly Theme" rather than the very cool default Black theme otherwise the photos would look rather dull being just black and white)
  

Phone TAB (Contains: Dialing, Contacts, Call History, Message and Browser)

Browser

Multimedia TAB (Contains: My Stuff, Camera, Camcorder, Voice recorder, Mp3 player, FM Radio and Games & Apps)

Organizer TAB (Contains: Alarm Clock, Calculator, World Clock, Unit converter, Calendar and Memo)
Alarm clockCalendar

Settings TAB (Contains: Display, Profile, Settings, Bluetooth and SIM Service)


ProfileDisplayThemeBlack Theme (Super cool!)Blue ThemeButterfly Theme
Fish Theme
SettingsClock & Calendar
AnalogueDigitalBluetooth

Call quality / Messaging

• The LG Prada's call quality is clear and I have no complaints here.
  
• Messaging wise, it supports SMS, MMS and Email. Pretty standard so far. But how does it feel to text you ask?
  

• It definitely will take some adjustments to. But you may like to know, like the Chocolate series before, LG texting interfaces are actually quite similar to Nokia's layout, especially with the "0" key being the "spacebar". To change the word in T9 however, on the Prada, you will need to use the volume side keys on the left. Not quite the most ideal location, but after a while, you should have no problems. Do note though, for the fast texters out there, you'd need to slow down a bit on the Prada. It needs a little time to register your finger feedback.

Multimedia / Camera performance

• The LG Prada has pretty decent music capabilities. Quite standard you could say. Music and ringtone volumes are quite loud, so you won't have any problems here. My review unit did not come with any external memory microSD cards so I could not test the song playlist features.
  

• Camera wise, I would say that although its a 2mp camera, the result is still a tad bit blurry for my liking. You do get a whole array of features though; zoom, multi shots, custom photo selections, flash, self timer etc. Here's a sample of what I took.

Other features

• On the front screen, you will notice a small arrow close to the bottom; pressing it will bring out a menu similar to a profile quick launch (e.g when you want to select silent before a meeting etc). Quite a good inclusion by the LG designers I thought.
  

• Once you select the clock type of your choice, under Display/Clock & Calendar i.e. Analogue, Dual Clock, Calendar or Digital, you will notice that you can move it across the display screen to any position that you like. Perhaps nothing worth mentioning you might say, but if it was a wallpaper of your loved one (for e.g) you wouldn't want a clock to block the any part of the wallpaper would you?
  

• Battery life on the review unit I had was about 3 bars (out of 4) a couple of days ago, and after 2 days of use with constant experimenting and playing with the touchscreen, its only gone down to 2 bars. I'm not sure if this is indicative of the actual performance, but if it is, then it is very impressive.
  

What I liked about the LG Prada

• Its easy to learn this new interface. After a while, you shouldn't have any problems navigating your way around.
  
• Its so light and pocketable! Included in the inbox (which I did not have at time of review) will be an exclusive Prada phone pouch and cloth cleaner to wipe those fingerprints which WILL be noticeable on the screen.
• Ring tones were loud enough.
• Its PRADA. Most definitely one of the most attractive top rated fashion mobiles around today. No doubt about it.

What I did not like about the LG Prada

• The glossy black material which attracts fingerprints and smudges. (Good thing they included a cloth though)
• Texting could be challenging to master at first, being a touchscreen device. Furthermore, the screen is quite sensitive to accidental brushes. (Good thing there's auto keylock to counter this problem though). But of course, a regular keypad would be better in terms of responsiveness when texting / entering phone numbers.
  
• Camera quality is mediocre.

d3xlabs recommendations
Previously having been put off by the LG Chocolate, I was initially sceptical about the LG Prada at first. But after going through each function and familiarizing myself with the glorious touchscreen, I have to admit, I grew to really like the Prada. It was a joy to just want to "touch" the Prada and hear the sounds after each press. On the other hand, sure there will be alot of smudges and prints, but you have to remember, it IS a touchscreen device. Its quite a revolutionary device by LG and you can't help but wonder what the iPhone will be like next year. Well, the LG Prada IS available now, so why wait for the iPhone?

My LG Prada rating - 4.5 stars
Selling price - BND1,288-00
(Use your DST Privilege card for better discounts)

AVAILABLE NOW, in limited quantities at Incomm Gadong.