If you could level one criticism at the leading touch phones like the Apple iPhone 3G, T-Mobile G1 and BlackBerry Storm, it’s their camera and video offering is pretty woeful. The same can’t be said of LG’s KU990 Viewty, with its sharp five-megapixel snapper and Hollywood slick video capturing chops. But, if that’s impressive wait until you tickle its follow-up, the KC910 Renoir.
Continuing LG’s track record for snigger-inducing monikered phones, the HSDPA enabled Renoir not only ups the megapixel count to eight but also weighs in with built-in GPS for sat nav, rapido Wi-Fi connectivity and some Dolby audio magic to brighten up the audio.
Along with the serious feature upgrade, the Renoir also receives a redesign, softening the Viewty’s rigid chassis into a more streamlined form. Considering the power lurking within, this phone is surprisingly compact.
The Viewty’s erratic touch dynamics have also been slightly improved upon, although the Renoir is still way off emulating the iPhone’s light of touch and responsiveness. Elsewhere, the sizeable three-inch homescreen accommodates widget customisation while LG has also handily included a full virtual QWERTY for longer message drafting.
While it may impressively shoot VGA-quality at 30fps video dallies and slow mo footage, the Renoir’s eight megapixel shutterbug is most definitely the show stopper, delivering detailed and colourful snaps. The sliding lens cap, illuminating Xenon flash and keen autofocus hint at its leading photographic prowess but photo mods like face, smile and blink detection give the Renoir a real dedicated camera sheen.
The Renoir is also the first ever mobile to showcase Dolby Mobile audio booster. Like the original noise-reducing technology, it effectively cleans up the default sound and beefs up the bass. Unfortunately, the music set-up is diluted a tad by the lack of integrated 3.5mm headphone jack.
Verdict
If you can master its fitful touch performance, the Renoir serves up a mouth-watering feature set, especially on the camera and video front.
Best features
Awesome camera set up
Slick video recording capabilities
High connectivity options
Music player audio brilliantly boosted by Dolby Mobile
Not so good
Improved, but still erratic touch-sensitive performance
Lack of integrated 3.5mm headphone jack
Closest rivals
Sony Ericsson C902 Cyber-shot
If you don’t fancy a touch phone, this slimline Cyber-shot candybar camphone sports a cool slide-out lens and a five-megapixel snapper that delivers printable photos.
LG KU990 Viewty
It may have been usurped by the Renoir but the Viewty touch phone still serves-up a great Xenon-fuelled five-megapixel performance and an equally impressive video recording show.
Samsung F480 Tocco
The Tocco is one of the sleekest and stylish touch phones on the scene but still cheekily finds room in its slim torso for a five-megapixel snapper and speedy HSDPA download speeds.
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i got the fone and it is just awesome … people underestimate those using LG nut this fone is just amazing in every aspect