THE LG PRADA KE850 TURNED OUT TO BE A CAPABLE phone in line with its stratospheric price. But it mainly appealed on its look and iPhone-like touch screen interface a muted fate that its sequel is not likely to repeat. At the 2008International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG showed off the Viewty, an update of the Prada KE850 with some high end camera features such as a 5.0-megapixel sensor. While that's far from a first in cell phones the Nokia N95 has one, not to mention many other handsets not sold in the U.S.the Viewty kicks it up a notch with an ISO 800 mode, an image stabilizer, manual and auto-focus, and a Xenon LED flash that could actually work, unlike the ones built into most cell phones to date.

Impressively, the Viewty can record 120 frames-per-second video files, although only at QVGA resolution. The phone can also record 640 by 480-pixel videos. That's par for the course for a standalone digital camera, but a generation ahead of today's cell phones sold in the U.S. The Viewty's form factor is well suited to making the most of its impressive photo and video capabilities. The 3-inch, 400 by 240-pixel, 262K color LCD screen takes up the front of the aluminum-bodied Viewty. There are also Send and Receive buttons on the front panel. On the back, there's a physical jog wheel for easier volume, zoom, and focus control. Meanwhile, the top of the handset sports the Shutter key, the Image Stabilizer key, and a 3-step Module Key for switching between Still, Movie, and Album modes.

In addition to its camera functions, the Viewty is a morethan-capable portable media player, with the built-in ability to decode DivX movies and play them back on the phone's 3inch LCD. That touch screen, incidentally, also let you write and draw on it, which one-ups the iPhone and is similar to older standalone Palm handhelds like the Palm TX. Rest assured that we will put the Viewty's photo and video abilities-along with its handwriting recognition and other features-to the test when we get one in for review.

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