Prada, LG's latest fashion phone icon

Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta

Do you believe that the cell phone you are using speaks a lot about you? I don't. But I guess I don't belong to the greater majority. Undoubtedly, a lot of people believe that their cell phones are the message. That's likely to be the reason cell phone makers have worked feverishly to come out with attractive designer models.

Some phone manufacturers rely on the creativity of their internal design teams, while others collaborate with famous design houses and launch co-branded products. Nokia, Apple and Sony Ericsson knead most of their snazzy gadgets using in-house talent. Others choose to work with a partner. Take Motorola, for example. It collaborates with Dolce & Gabbana, and then the denim king Levi's also came up with their own cell phones.

It's common for two major brands to collaborate in creating fashion consumer electronics. Alcatel-Lucent teams up with the French fashion magazine Elle. In the computer world, Acer works together with Ferrari to design their high-end notebook.

In fact, design has become a crucial factor in product development. That's why we have been hearing the word ""experience design"" coming into the lingo of cell phone production. Designers do not just design the next products, they are supposed to create a unique experience that customers are expected to be willing to pay a premium for.

LG, the South Korean electronics company, is also known for its stylish mobile handsets. Still fresh in our minds are the black Chocolate and the shiny Shine. LG seems to have decided to continue going down the path of elegance. Early this year, it joined forces with Italian Prada and the outcome is the handsome, black LG KE850. It is, certainly, much more than a combination of pizza and pulkogi.

Prada Phone

Hardware-wise, the Prada phone by LG may not be a top charter, although, like most other LG phones that I've played around with, the precision craft is very obvious. It is just a little bit wider than the sliding Shine (KE970), which is another gorgeous looking cell phone from this Korean giant.

On the Prada cell phone, the first hardware buttons you will see is the three that form a thin bar along the bottom. The buttons let you start and end a call or step back to the previous menu. The other physical buttons -- the camera shutter release, the screen and key unlocker, the volume control and the profile selector -- are all perfectly flushed with the chrome-look band that wraps all the four sides.

So, how do we make a call or send a message? Here is where the software brightly shines. Prada played a major role in determining how the user interface should look, and they did a stellar job.

The capacitive, touch-sensitive LCD panel has a resolution of 240 by 400 and it can display 256 thousand color shades. The home screen fills the large LCD all the way to the edges. At the bottom of the screen there are four icons for general menu, call-making, messaging and contacts management. Tap on the general menu with the tip of your finger, and you'll have the second tier menu. LG has done an excellent job in programming the software. There is hardly any delay in the phone's response to our finger tapping.

On the home screen we can place an analog or a digital clock. This clock literally floats on the screen. We just use our fingertip to drag it around the screen. When we tap on it, an icon for alarm setting will appear. If you choose the Fish theme, you'll have a koi that will swim to the spot where your finger touches the screen. Choose the Butterfly theme, and you'll see a butterfly that will flutter its way to the contact spot.

In the second level menu, we'll have all the icons for making calls, for handling multimedia (including the 2MP camera), for accessing the accessories (calculator, converter, memo pad) and for changing some settings. There is not much we can do in terms of personalization, though. We cannot change the icon view into a list, for example, or replace the look of the icons. We only have four themes for the home screens and we cannot modify them in any way except by replacing the wallpaper. Customization is not a strong point of this cell phone.

However, entering text using the screen keypad is surprisingly easy, although you won't be able to do it as fast as you can with a Nokia E70 or a BlackBerry. Still, the user interface is excellent. Even for someone with large fingers like mine, pressing the right date on the calendar can be done without excessive effort.

The LG Prada phone is a tri-band GSM with GPRS and EDGE capabilities. It supports mobile browsing and e-mail. The digital camera, which uses a Schneider-Kreuznach lens, can also function as a camcorder with the LCD screen as a large viewfinder. There is a LED flash at the back. The cell phone only comes with 8 MB of memory. If you want more storage capacity for your photos and music, just insert a Micro SD card.

While Bluetooth 2.0 is supported, Wi-fi is not. On the up side, it is an MP3 player with good audio quality. It is even an FM radio. The good thing about it is that it has a decent battery life given its slim form factor.

The box in which the unit comes was also designed by Prada. Unfortunately, the use of cardboard does not really produce the expensive image that this product is meant to project. But, we don't lug this box around, do we? On the other hand, the leather pouch is impressive. I was told that it was made in Italy with its superior Italian leather craftsmanship. The pouch fits the cell phone like a glove. Even when you hang the cell phone on your neck with a strap, the leather pouch will never slide down and fall.

Prada has very stringent requirements on how the cell phone is marketed and sold. You will not find it in any Prada store -- definitely not in Jakarta.

The Prada phone, or the LG KE850, is a great mid-range phone if you're not too techie and you have a lot of extra cash to spend. There are just enough setting options to keep you busy or pretending to be busy while sitting at Starbucks waiting for your date to show up.

The software, I must reiterate out of admiration, is very responsive. It really makes using this cell phone a joy. The icons on the screen are pretty precise, which is no small feat either. After some practice, I had no problem navigating the menus and entering numbers and characters. Its price, at around Rp 7 million, is quite steep. But, hey, it's a Prada! And it is a head turner, for sure.

Source : www.thejakartapost.com