The LG Viewty Smart (or Viewty 2) is an upgraded version of the immensely popular LG Viewty, and is very similar to the LG Arena, except that the Viewty Smart has an upgraded 8 megapixel camera. Here at Mobile Phones UK we loved the Viewty and the Arena, so it will come as no surprise that we like the Viewty Smart too.
The Viewty Smart looks much more like the Arena than the original Viewty. It's a slimmer, curvier form, with metallic accents that give it a very "2009" look. And it's entirely touchscreen driven, with just one button on the front face. But LG's new S-Class 3D user interface, based around a rotating cube concept, makes it very easy to use. One of the highlights of this phone has to be the amazing LCD display, which has an ultra-high resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and a huge 3 inch diagonal. It's a brilliant platform for running the capacitive touch-display, and also for viewing photos and videos.
This brings us on to the next highlight of the device: the 8 megapixel camera. This is a stunner too. As you are probably aware, the quality of a camera is not determined simply by the number of megapixels, but by the quality of the optics. The Viewty Smart delivers the optics to match the resolution, with its Schneider Kreuznach lens, and can take photos that match the best from Nokia, and can give Sony Ericsson a run for their money too. The camera is equipped with autofocus and an LED flash, and also features a new Intelligent Shot Mode that analyses the subject, background, and lighting conditions and compares the data against seven pre-programmed scenarios in order to take the "perfect" picture. It's taking point-and-shoot to the next level, and does make it easy to get great shots. It's not going to make you the next David Bailey, but as far as point-and-shoot photography goes, we think that this will match most dedicated digital cameras, at least in good lighting conditions. The camera can also record video at up to 120 frames per second, which means that you can playback in slow motion for special effect. Video calling is also available.
The music player handles all common formats, and the video player can play DivX/XviD formats too. Dolby Mobile provides the best quality audio, and an FM radio is included too. But for reasons unknown, the 3.5mm audio jack and FM transmitter that appeared in the LG Arena have not been included in the Viewty Smart.
A-GPS is included however, as well as full connectivity with WiFi, Bluetooth and USB.
The available user memory is a huge 1.5GB and the phone has a microSD card clot that will accept cards up to 32GB, so there is certainly no shortage of storage capacity.
Battery capacity is typical for this type of phone. Heavy users will probably need to charge on a daily basis, and we would anticipate that anyone who is lucky enough to own one of these beauties is going to make good use of it!
The Viewty Smart is a big step up from the original Viewty. LG have improved the camera, the screen, the user interface, the memory and have added WiFi and A-GPS. And they've made it smaller and lighter at the same time! The battery life may have suffered as a result, but we can't fail to be impressed by the strides that LG are making in the touchscreen arena. And speaking of the Arena, the two phones are very similar: choose the Viewty Smart if the 8 megapixel camera appeals, and choose the Arena if the the 3.5mm audio jack and FM transmitter are more important to you.
However, as with the LG Arena, there are reliability problems with this phone, especially on Orange-locked handsets. Check out the user comments below. The main problem reported by users is that the screen blanks out when a call is incoming. We believe that this is related to the proximity sensor that detects whether you are holding the phone. A solution has been suggested by one of our readers - see the review below by Geoff_W from UK on 26th Jun 2009, but beware that this may invalidate your warranty! A safer solution is to keep returning the phone to Orange until they fix the problem.
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Features of the LG Viewty Smart include:
* 8 megapixel camera with Schneider Kreuznach lens, autofocus and LED flash
* Video recording (QVGA, 120fps) & video calling
* Display: TFT LCD, 480 x 800 pixels (3.0 inches) touchscreen with accelerometer
* Music player (MP3/AAC/AAC+/e-AAC+/WMA formats)
* Video player supports DivX & Xvid formats
* FM radio
* Dolby Mobile
* A-GPS
* Speakerphone
* Voice recording
* Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, Email (IMAP4, SMTP, POP3)
* T9 predictive text
* Document viewer (TXT, PDF, DOC, PPT, XLS)
* Ringtones: 64 voice polyphonic ringtones / MP3 ringtones
* Wallpaper
* Java games, plus 8 built-in games
* Memory: 1.5GB plus microSD memory card slot (up to 32GB)
* Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi
* Internet: WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 12, EDGE, Full web browser, Google Mobile Service
* Vibration alert
* Quadband GSM plus 3G UMTS
* Size: 109 x 56 x 12.4 mm
* Weight: 102g
* Talktime: 5 hours
* Battery standby: 330 - 350 hours
