LG Shine: I don't mind making it my signature phone
All the boxes of LG Shine must have been snapped up the very moment shipment reached our shores? It seems to take a little longer than usual for the review units to reach my hands. I previewed it on May 3, and it took this long to whet my appetite!
LG Shine featured in CommunicAsia 2007, Singapore
On first look, a lot of thoughts have obviously gone around packaging it, inside out. Even the gift-box that wrapped it did not come in the regular al-cheapo art card finishing. It's got style, my friend, this LG Shine KE970!
But what caught me by surprise was the tremendously improvement LG packed it in for Shine compared to what it did in Chocolate -- over so short a time! Both are Black Series adopting the simplistic yet elegant designs, but the moods and style are distinctively different. You can't help feeling that, overall, LG Shine is far more advanced than its predecessor in the Black Series.
THE OUTLOOK. It's a slider, full metal, masculinely solid with the silverish, it feels heavy. It's a total departure from the touch-pad buttons of the Chocolate KG800, and in its place are the solid buttons.
It's cool when idle. In the off mode, the display screen on LG Shine reverts into a fashion mirror.
What I find refreshing is the scroll wheel below the the screen. It navigates smartly, especially you are scrolling for the contact list, and it also acts as a press-down button for you to make the ‘select’ command.
Accompanying the scroll wheel are two little buttons on both its right and left. I later found out that, when used in a combination, they effectively turn into an up-down-left-right scrolling pad when you happen to access the menu or utilise the enabling software that comes with LG Shine.
You simply have to place it in your palms to realise the marvel how a scroll wheel and four buttons -- and the two blue pilot lights -- could wow you!
Ah, the screen. It's a reflective 2.2-inch with a 240x360 pixel-dense display, which is soothingly perfect in any indoor environment. It still amazes me how the screen could hide snugged within the metal casing, and yet spring into life with vivid colours once activated.
The placement of the buttons, including the separate buttons to activate the camera and the MP3 player, have been re-aligned from what we are so sued to the Chocolate. It takes a little getting used to it.
The camera is a disappointment as i would have preferred a 3.2 megapixel, though it features a 2.0mp auto focus lens by Schneider Kreuznach. It takes decent resolution image in broad daylight without much complaint. However, by placing the camera on the outside without a sliding protector of sorts may soil the lens easily for careless users.
I always treat my handset as an extended arm to my computer, so I am a little demanding on the interface mechanism. It's rather desirable that LG Shine has located the power/data connector on the side of the phone, hidden by an improved pivot-based flap. I can easily interface the Shine with the computer to let it function like an USB flash device. This is a cool design design for moving music clips or downloading photos off the handset.
Yes, besides the 50MB internal memory, my unit of Shine comes with a 1GB MicroSD card, which gives me ample storage capacity on a day's outing on the multimedia front.
THE FUNCTIONALITIES. Frankly, I had my fingers crossed before exploring the software loaded on LG Shine. My experience with the operating system on LG Chocolate wasn't that pleasant as it is a tad slower with cumbersome steps.
It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The interface between the form factor (the scroll wheel) and the function menu is quite intuitive. The wallpaper and the font, with a variety of sizes, look hip.
Voice calls. The calling experience is more in tune with our behavioral pattern during the in-call mode. Unlike Chocolate, there is now a speakerphone, which makes driving less hazardous. In addition, there are other features like call holding, in-call text messaging, in-call contacts browsing and, yes, call recording, for which I am most thankful. It can be useful for my podcasting
Text calls. Though I am pretty caught up in texting in making day-to-day contacts, I still harbour strong dislikes for T9. Some friends have told me that Shine has an improved T9 with predictive text features, it doesn't bother me much. But I am glad that hitting the right button for a capital letter is now made much easier.
I must confess I wasn't sure if I have messed up the menu, but Shine seems to limit a mass broadcast to only six recipients for one text message. I have to check it out again.
Contact Management. Having learned some painful lessons on other handsets when it comes to transferring contact lists and address-books, I make it a habit to save the data on the SIM card before changing to a new handset. It looks like Shine gives me the seamless experience to handle this chore.
The browser. Having a 2.2-inch bright screen is definitely a plus point, as it gives me a wider viewing area on the browser. LG Shine score some brownie points here. Photo rendition is great, so are the video files. It comes as a big convenience too to pack in the capability to display Macromedia Flash. There are additional capabilities to display, Microsoft Office files formats like .doc, .ppt and .xls -- and even view PDF files and slideshows -- but I don't think I would want to strain my eyes to peer through any viewing device less than a computer monitor for those files.
LG Shine enables cookies. If you are on EDGE, this makes logging back into your favourite mobile services a breeze.
OK, don't forget, LG Shine also enables printing using Bluetooth.
Utilities. They include the regular stuff: the alarm clock, calendar, a calculator with scientific functions, a stopwatch, a unit converter, and something unusual , a Word Clock application!
Camera. It's quite forgivable if Shine only comes with a 2.0mp quality. The camera software is well thought of with useful features like focus metering, white balance and a short tray of colour effects. It gives you slightly more control over picture quality if you are a discerning photographer.
Previewing LG Shine in Seoul, March 2007
OVERALL APPRECIATION. Frankly, I don't mind making LG Shine my signature phone. It's elegant on the outside, intuitively functional on the inside. It feels solid and heavy.
The good news is that, variants of LG Shine will reach Malaysian market pretty soon, with the Candy Bar and Folder models heralding the 3G version in the months to come.
Though I would love to have a 3.2mp camera packed into it -- what more with the 50MB embedded memory and the expansion slot for MicroSD -- my only resentment is the playback quality. I hope LG could at least benchmark against the old Sony Ericsson K600i for this frontier.
LG Shine Candy Bar and Folder models
Meanwhile, Screenshots was told that it will still be another ten months or so before we get to see the third and the final in the LG Black label Series.
At the recent CommunicAsia 2007, LG specially flew in the VC and business team leader for Asia, Middle-East and Africa, Bo Choi (picture above, left), and the GM for Southeast Asia and Oceania, Matt Seo (picture above, right), to meet the press.
Apparently, there are reasons for celebrating as LG moved into the second half of 2007 by capturing targeted market share.
The media contingent from Malaysia was told that LG Shine had sold over 1.5 million units globally since its availability at the outlets from May. It was tracking closely the market dynamics paved by LG Chocolate previously.
SHINING MOMENTS Contest. Stand a chance to win a LG Shine in the Shining Moment contest. Closing date is Saturday, 8th of July. For details, click here, then click ENTER.
Life's good... LG PRADA and LG Shine reviews in Screenshots
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