Thread: LG VIEWTY (KU990) Mobile Phone

THE LG VIEWTY (KU990) IS DEFINITELY bigger and better than its precursor; the PRADA. It did surprise me with its pure black and stylish looks. Well, it sure does make a difference when a 5 Megapixel digital camera is integrated in a mobile phone. LG, with the KU990 jumps in to the bandwagon of 5 Megapixel camera phones along with the Nokia N82, Samsung G800 and the Sony Ericsson K850i. Evidently, with the KU990 LG seems to be looking seriously into the emerging field of mobile photography.

The KU990 has a 3" touch screen with three hard buttons on the front; the Send/End keys and the correction key, which is used as a back space or for going one level up in the interface menu. On one side is the camera shutter button, a screen lock/stabilizer button and a three mode select slider for camera/video/gallery. The other side hosts the charger/headset/data cable universal port, which is ingeniously hidden under a sliding cover. The 5 Megapixel camera at the back has a jog wheel which has a multi-purpose control.



The jog wheel is used as a volume control for multimedia mode and it can be used as a zoom button for the camera. Also you will find the strobe flash, the focus assist light and the loudspeaker at the back. The touch screen is very sensitive which is good as far as the usage factor is concerned. But the stylus dongle does not plug anywhere into the handset. It's quite innovative and looks great but not convincing enough and very inconvenient as you have to carry it separately all the time.

Though the camera is 5 Megapixel, the image stabilization is not impressive enough. There are several preset scene modes, plus there are some special shooting modes. The Continuous shot mode gives you up to nine continuous shots, while the panorama mode stitches up to three shot images. The camera has many excellent features like the 120fps video mode. Interestingly, LG is the first to have this feature integrated into a mobile phone. The 150800 WOW! for a mobile camera, it's an excellent move by LG. But the 150800 did not prove very effective in my trial. The LG Viewty is more of a camera with integrated cell phone than the other way round. While LG seems to be on the right track, there is room for some improvement.