:: Mobile Phone Reviews ::

LG KM900 Arena review:

LG KM900 spec sheet: 3" 16M-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels) S-Class Touch UI Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support 3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) Wi-Fi and GPS receiver with A-GPS 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics, LED flash, geotagging D1 (720x480 pixels)@30fps, VGA@30fps, QVGA fast-motion video and QVGA slo-mo video 8GB built-in storage Hot-swappable microSD card slot Standard 3.5mm audio jack and TV out USB Mass Storage Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP Accelerometer for screen auto rotate Multi-touch input 3D hardware accelerator DivX and XviD support Dolby for Mobile audio enhancement FM radio with FM transmitter Office document viewer Smart dialing One of the most exciting handsets the season - the LG KM900 Arena - returns to our office and this time it is going to stay a bit longer. After getting off to a flying start in both sales and reviews the Arena certainly looks like the next big thing from LG. In these tough economic times no company can afford too many blunders so it better live up to those high expectations. One of the most exciting handsets the season - the LG KM900 Arena - returns to our office and this time it is going to stay a bit longer. After getting off to a flying start in both sales and reviews the Arena certainly looks like the next big thing from LG. In these tough economic times no company can afford too many blunders so it better live up to those high expectations Main disadvantages: Poor sunlight legibility Inadequate flash performance No voice-guided GPS navigation software available No standard USB port Records video in 3GP file format Maximum email attachment size is 1MB only (both ways) Limited DivX/XviD video support Audio Quality: Nice Quality The LG KM900 Arena has pretty decent audio quality, achieving noteworthy scores on some of the readings in our traditional audio quality test. The handset even manages to slightly outdo the Apple iPod 2G on some criterias and that definetely means something. The only notable problem with the Arena audio output is that it has cut-off bass frequencies, probably due to some kind of high-pass filter meant to improve sound on small size headphones. On the positive side the LG KM900 Arena has decent intermodulation distortion and oustanding dynamic range, noise level and low stereo crosstalk readings. The total harmonic distortion extremely low value is also commendable achievement. And here go the results so you can see for yourselves. FM radio and FM transmitter The Arena comes with FM radio and you can use it either through headphones or through the loudspeaker. In either case you've got to have the headphones plugged in as they serve as an antenna. The radio stores up to 50 stations and there is support for receiving two-line radio station info over RDS. Scrolling through stations is very easy and intuitive - you have quick access through the two rows of buttons below the main window. Much like the music player, when the FM radio is running in the background you can control it using the home screen widget. Another nice addition to the LG Arena feature list is the in-built FM transmitter, allowing you to stream wirelessly the currently playing track to any standard FM radio receiver (e.g. car audio or home multimedia system). Image/Camera Quality: Video player does its job The LG Arena comes with a relatively large touch screen (especially for a device of that size) measuring 3". That, along with the DivX/XviD support turns it into a potentially excellent portable video player. The LG Renoir for example managed to play every desktop XViD/DivX video we threw at it. Unfortunately, we had issues with DivX/XviD support in our pre-production unit, which also persist in the retail version. The only DivX videos we managed to play where those converted through the DivX converter on the supplied CD. To switch the video player to full screen mode you only need to rotate the phone to landscape position. A tap on the touch screen reveals the onscreen overlay controls. Alongside the standard controls (such as play/pause, volume, etc.) you can also change playing speed to 2x or 4x and to zoom in or out. The 5 megapixel camera is good enough to please you all After our disappointment with the image quality of the camera on the pre-release unit, it's time for some good news. As you already know the LG KM900 Arena takes photos at 2592õ1944 pixels and has Schneider-Kreuznach optics. The pictures taken with it revealed a more than capable camera. The picture quality is good enough and will keep most users happy. The colors on the sample images are very lively and accurate. The automatic ISO is also appropriate and the picture detail is decent enough. Of course nothing is perfect in life, and so is the case with the Arena's camera. The full-res samples below reveal over-sharpening on some edges, but we don't think that's a big issue. Also there are clear signs of more aggressive noise reduction traces in the shadows or the clear blue sky. Besides the aggressive noise reduction there is not much else to complain about. The LED flash - as you have may already guessed - does not help at all. Maybe in some low light conditions it will give you some extra illumination at close range, but it won't guarantee you a great picture and there's likely to be some blurring. Rich connectivity options Wireless connectivity support is abundant in the LG Arena. Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE is on board and so is the HSDPA 7.2 Mbps. The phone also supports the two local connectivity standards - Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The Bluetooth version is 2.1 with A2DP support for stereo streaming and 802.11b/g for Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi options have a simple interface - you choose the desired network, type the pass key and voila - you're connected. Of course there are plenty of advanced options available for the geeks out there. The last and most important thing is that every installed Java application which requires internet access prompts you to choose between UMTS and Wi-Fi, which is great option. Multi-touch web browser, but still no Flash The browser is decent, almost identical to the one on the Renoir and Prada 2. Unfortunately, scrolling and panning is a bit jerky and not really that fluid. Thanks to the multi-touch implementation however, the Arena delivers where other browsers fail - the legendary 'pinch' zoom the iPhone made popular. Loading speeds are not admirable as well. On Wi-Fi the LG Arena browser takes a bit more time to fully load a page than the iPhone's and you can't really pan around while the page is still loading. Overall Conclusion: To sum it up, we were impressed by almost all aspects of the LG Arena. If you are on the hunt for a touch-based multimedia device at a reasonable price, the Arena is definitely a handset to consider and the S-class UI by LG without a doubt will be a trend setter throughout the year. Rating Against Price: **** A '4 Star'. Recommended!