This is the first mobile multimedia to use Dolby Mobile technology to deliver a surround sound experience.
The full touch screen wide by 3 inches (7.6 cm) of the LG Arena has a WVGA resolution (ideal for watching movies in DivX or Xvid DVD quality). Its recording capabilities D1 can shoot videos in DVD resolution. ARENA can record video in slow motion at 120 frames per second
to capture all the details. The 5-megapixel camera boasts of high-end features as well as autofocus and manual.
The Arena can handle hundreds of music files and video with its 40 GB of storage, 8 GB of internal memory and a Micro SD card slot. The powerful battery provides a range of up to 30 hours listening to MP3 music and 300 hours standby. An integrated FM transmitter allows the Arena play music wirelessly through a car or home stereo. In addition, the Arena can be coupled to any helmet with its standard 3.5 mm audio jack.
The phone also supports the Google Mobile, which includes Google search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Google Blogs. A-GPS navigation and geographic markup are also possible.
The LG KM900 Arena that we are testing today was one of the sensations of the last Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Korean manufacturer has attracted considerable attention around the new S-Class 3D interface of its product. The Arena holds it all its promises? The answer after the test.
With this new model Touch, LG is far from being at his first trial in this matter. The Korean automaker was even used as old veteran on the front of the touch as it was the first to leave a mobile fully usable without a stylus and finger to the first Prada.Since then, the Korean released in France the Viewty, the KF700, the Renoir, the Prada II, the KP500 and KB770. But this does not mean that the Arena is in line with all these products. LG wishes to mark a real breakthrough with this new mobile. It is not so materially as Korean wants to stand out but rather on the side of the interface. It has indeed provided the KM900 Arena its new S-Class User Interface 3D scrutinized as we move later in the test.
For the rest, the mobile includes an LCD touch screen of 3 inches (7.62 cm) qualified multi-points by the manufacturer. It offers a resolution WVGA 480x800 pixels and 16 million displayable colors. The sensor autofocus camera of 5 megapixels, which aims Schneider-Kreuznach certified, can also shoot in a remarkable resolution of 720 x 480 pixels. In terms of connectivity, the Arena has nothing to reproach himself with compatibility with all current technology such as 3G + (HSDPA) 7.2 Mbps, WiFi and GPS. Finally, the 8 GB of internal memory are also supported by the presence of a microSD card reader.
The LG KM900 Arena comes with the following accessories:
• A charger
• Battery
• Headphones Stereo earphones with 3.5mm jack microphone
• A USB data cable
• The user manual
• A memory card 8 GB microSD and SD adapter.
You'll notice the generous presence of the memory card 8 GB microSD Added to 8 GB internal memory, they allow the user to enjoy a very comfortable storage capacity from the outset.
Appearance and Design
LG has managed to give his real identity KM900 Arena despite the fact that most of the front panel is occupied by a screen. Rather than yield to the lure of a discreet look LG dare chrome edges and slightly rounded for its arena. These features ensure the mobile to be easily recognizable and offers extra grip enjoyable. Despite the technical details carefully, the KM900 is quite fine with 12 mm thick.
The front appears perfectly smooth since these 3 keys at the bottom of the screen are sensitive and not mechanical.
The sides and back are made of light gray plastic soft. The finishes of the device are remarkable and the whole is perfectly assembled. Only the chrome surround seems a little too sensitive to scratches and can age badly if you put it in your pants pocket or the bottom of a bag. If you fall for the Arena, we recommend you buy a bag fast enough.
Access to the decision to charge the mobile for its part is located behind a sliding cover for excellent craftsmanship. One downside though: the memory card slot is under the battery cover.
The right has 3 keys, very classic, namely the two buttons for volume and one that triggers the camera function.
Finally the top houses the button to turn on and off the phone, the handsfree connector and stereo headphones as well as the release button on the battery.
OS & Ergonomics
The KM900 features are certainly interesting, but not revolutionary. If this phone was as expected, it is mainly for its new user interface, named S-Class 3D. Unlike most of its competitors tactile, the Arena is what is called a feature phone, that is to say that embeds a proprietary operating system and is not a smartphone (Symina, WindowsBut it will matter little to most users, given the number of functions that this phone offers, both for the multimedia desktop. It is on this operating system that is superimposed on the interface S-Class 3D. LG has already announced that it would be declined on other operating systems, including Windows Mobile.
Returning to the KM900 interest here, LG has almost completely revised his copy for us to propose a show that pleases the retina as soon as you turn your mobile. The manufacturer has revised and improved his previous interfaces. The user interface 3D S-Class has been specifically designed to provide quick and intuitive access to a set of multimedia features from the words of Korean.
In practice, a host cube, already outlined in previous models, offers 4 customizable home screens for easy navigation. But to get there, we take the trouble to simplify each of the faces as they contain shortcuts to the functions and content as the most used widgets, songs and favorite photos, contacts and favorites features the mostThe 3D animation of the cube is very successful. You navigate between these sides of a lateral movement of the finger. The screen is capacitive, and like the iPhone, reacts only finger. It shows both accurate and responsive.
The first thing that strikes you is its similarity to the iPhone! In practice, however, it differs enough from that of Apple for not crying plagiarism.The onboard accelerometer to switch the display to landscape mode when you rotate the camera. All the icons are visible through the fine resolution of the screen.
This definition is nevertheless a double-edged sword on a 3-inch screen as icons and buttons in certain menus and applications are a bit small for those with big fingers. It is even more glaring when you type an SMS or email with the virtual QWERTY keyboard lacks the precision of those that can be found on other competing models. It leads to some typos in the early days and never allows to type very quickly even after several weeks of use. Another flaw: the test version that LG sent us was a model of SFR pack. However, on the face of the cube dedicated shortcuts to applications, 9 slots available on 6 are devolved to those of SFR. And this is not negotiable! This means that you can not remove them to put others of your choice. So we end up in the end with only 3 locations customization, a cruel disillusionment as the face of the cube comes in handy every day for quick access to favorite applications.
After a few days with the S-Class Interface, it appears obvious that LG wanted "to show off the view." We see no objection in the absolute. The concern in this case is that it is often easier to go through shortcuts that ignore all the subtleties of the graphics arena. The most telling example is to get the home side of the cube, we superbly animated as you describe above. To switch from one to another of its aspects, you have two options. Either you come back each time to display his full, very pretty (for the umpteenth time ...) and you turn the faces to fall on the one you want. Either you turn while you're already in one of these faces. Thus, once we know exactly where the different faces of the cube against each other, no need to return each time to its materialization in 3D. Just place your finger from left to right or vice versa for access. It is certainly less dramatic, but it induces less manipulation.
Moreover, we find this philosophy of puffery when LG announced that the screen of his mobile multicast. He might be very good technically, this does not mean that it rivals the iPhone. The implementation of this technology seems less well controlled by LG. The zooming in / out to 2 fingers is present but there is a small delay between when you do and when it is taken into account. Finally, a technicality which has its importance: the iPhone can recognize the same 5-point plateau when the Arena 2. So we will call her screen "bipoints" So rather than multipoint.
Finally, to end the defects, we were surprised that there are persistent problems in the Arena. To begin, we arrived several times to see the product restart on its own or bugue outright, forcing us to remove the battery to restart. Similarly, when someone calls, the display name is sometimes several seconds to appear while the bells are ringing and the phone vibrates! If you are one who only win if they see the name of the caller displayed, this bug may cause you to miss calls. Expect the first returns of users to see if this problem is our only test version, or is attributable to all the early models.
5 megapixel camera
If the new KM900 Arena is definitely a mobile multimedia, however it is not classified in the range of camera phones from LG. The photo sensor of the Arena not proposing that 5 megapixels, which is below a mobile as the Renoir, for example. However, this resolution is largely sufficient as long as the optical quality is associated. One that is embedded here is of course AF.In the latter case, the presence of a flash LED does not change much about the matter until its effectiveness is limited. But Arena is in good overall picture. Under ideal conditions, it allows for pictures purposes, natural colors.
The interface of the photo function is the same as for the video function. It is fairly practical in that it must scroll through a virtual wheel to reach the setting you want. Even if we made it in time, there has been faster and more intuitive as the interface! It offers still more functions directly borrowed from the world of photography as face detection, smile, a 16X digital zoom (use sparingly because it degrades the image), etc. ... The presence of a GPS chip in the bowels of the beast can geotag your photos.
Photos taken from the LG Arena in 2560 * 1920 pixels [click to enlarge]
The statement for the quality of video captured part of the same logic as that for the photo, but more pronounced.The record is really good in optimal lighting conditions. Quite simply, it almost seems to have a small video camera in his hands as the videos offer little jerks, accurate color and sharp image definition. You can safely view them on a computer screen or even on TV. Another advantage: the 8 GB of onboard memory can shoot for hours. And LG also adds a microSD memory card which is also 8 GB as well say you're going to film almost freely.
The Achilles heel has once more brightness. Once it drops, the quality suffers clips captured with a digital noise really too strong. We find the possibility to record accelerated or slowed. With the same flaws as the previous models: when you save in these modes, the resolution of the video does not exceed the QVGA (320 x 240 pixels).
Note that the transfer of files is the simplest way by connecting your PC to your Arena.A breeze!
Other features (MP3, Web, email, GPS ...)
In good mobile multimedia, Arena offers the full range of functions for leisure.Let's start with the undeniable strength of the mobile's music player. Although not free of small defect, it offers a beautifully presented with colorful animated interface and very successful. It is fairly standard in terms of the different options available but there are of course all the most common functions such as creating playlist, the playback modes and equalizers. They offer the opportunity to refine the rendering of a song to your liking. It regrets that cons is not possible to move forward or backward in a song through the status bar of the song. To do so, the only solution is to keep the shift key piece, which is not intuitive for a touchscreen mobile.
Now to the more important: the audio rendering. The KM900 is well positioned in this field on the video playback as we shall see a little lower. It offers a very high level of listening, able to compete with the vast majority of MP3 players. With a special mention for bass. The mobile is set by default to put you in the ears. In fact, the titles you rich bass explodes in his face. If that does not suit you, you can change at all while adjusting the equalizers. There are over 20 in all and it must be really difficult not to find happiness. The kit provides hands-free stereo is no stranger to the case. It is a great time with her in-ear tips and white design that is both sober and stylish. But you can also plug your own headphones if you feel like it, LG has finally adopted the mini-jack connector 3.5 mm. For those who want to cut the son, the mobile also offers stereo Bluetooth compatibility. Our tests with 3 different headsets have also been particularly successful.
Too bad when you throw a song from the shortcuts one side of the cube, it completely blocks the mobile and we can not do anything else. Multitasking is possible, however, since the main player but the developers apparently forgot to implement it in the keybindings page. To excuse this very slight defect, the KM900 features a FM transmitter that offers the opportunity to play his songs, or any audio from your mobile to your car or home stereo. The icing on the cake: the Arena includes Dolby Surround Mobile. It is the first mobile to offer this technology which is an evolution of this Dolby Mobile in the LG KC910 Renoir. It offers a unique spatial and is more suited to listening to a wide range of musical genres with the Renoir. LG has particularly emphasized this partnership because you can enable or disable the Dolby Surround Mobile on the control panel of each song. Finally, note that it is also activated for movies.
What could be good news ... if the bankruptcy was not complete at the level of compatibility with different video formats! The pill is all the more bitter that LG has once again promised the earth during the presentation of the product during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. At the verdict, we find ourselves with a product that can only play the classics of the mobile formats like MP4 or 3GP. It is far from the DivX announced by the manufacturer. It's appalling when you consider that the LG Renoir was able to read a wide range of formats. Quite simply, he transcribed on his screen without flinching most videos gleaned on the net. If you want to read the Arena, it will almost always re-encode your videos since the KM900 only reads the DivX mobile profile. Outrageous for such a multimedia powerhouse! Especially since the competition does not hesitate to offer ever more mobile compatible with DivX, Samsung Ultra Player in mind!
For the rest, the Arena offers advanced functions connected enough, though far from the best kind of like the iPhone or Google Phone. The web browser is passable. You can engage in sessions of the real web browsing, but the experience is quite choppy. We advise you to focus on sites designed for mobile Internet.
The multi-points of the Arena can zoom in / out as iPhone, but reactivity is not really with go mobile and still lagging behind, albeit slight, but ends up irritating if you repeat the process several times in a relatively short period of time. The phone also supports the Google Mobile, which includes Google search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Google Blogs.
Conclusion (Plus Minus)
Ultimately, it leaves an impression we Arena contrasted. But we still recommend you ...Its design and compact clearly argue in its favor. It is very nice to have a phone with a 3 inch screen too small footprint. The new 3D interface S-Class which is the focus of attention is not perfect but it is nevertheless very successful and visually speaking qualities far outweigh its shortcomings. Those who have "big paws" might feel really cramped.
Multimedia side, the Arena is full of features with capabilities honest video / photo capture and a great player. The video player is against the sentence in relation to its limited compatibility with the more than DivX. Not to mention the bugs that make mess for such a product. The phone features the Arena are in the average mobile touch screens with great quality in conversation very correct but an autonomy that barely exceed two days in normal use (voice + sms + photo capture / video + music player).
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