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Specification

Model		LGKU990 Viewty
Dimensions		103 x 54 x 14 (HxWxD)
Weight		112 g
Talk time		min
Standby time		hr
Display		Colour (256k colours)
Display resolution		240 x 400 (WxH)
Form
Band		Tri
Ringtones		MP3
Camera		5.0 MP
Wi-Fi		Bluetooth
Infra-red		Cable
WAP		xHtml
MMS		GPRS
Java		Play MP3
FM radio		Change facia
Dual display		Play video
Vibrate		Voice dial

Review

The Apple iPhone hype has been so strong that it is easy to forget that there are other phones which are darn good out there at the moment.

The LG KU990 called Viewty, is a recent favorite of ours. In the same way that Apple iPhone is immediately appealing, the LG Viewty is beautiful to watch and one of the best phones of the research that we have seen. It has an impressive 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and xenon flash.

The real star of the show is the 3-inch LCD touch screen that lets you enter text and e-mails, display images, browse the web, video and more. The touch screen is incredibly sensitive and it is also set to vibrate when you enter a command. This gives you a greater sensitivity to touch than in the standard touch displays.

The vibration feature is also useful when you type a text message SMS or a phone number. The alphabetic or numeric keyboard on the touch screen works the same way as a standard keyboard mobile phone, but without the traditional mechanical buttons.

There is also an option of handwriting recognition that can be used for typing e-mails and text messages. We found this feature although slow and fiddly - it was much faster just tap on the touch screen, keyboard.

The rear of the unit looks much like any compact digital camera. The main feature, the lens of 5 megapixels, is seated at one end. We would have preferred that the lens was actually covered when not in use because it is not protected from dust. The xenon flash auto-focus and the light is next to the lens.

As for the shooting, the LG Viewty camera has the same features and modes as a compact digital cameras. You can adjust the image size, image quality, ISO and white balance, as well as using the digital stabilization to reduce blur.

When you are done shooting, you can view your photos in the viewer that displays pictures as if you have put them on a table. You can browse through them with your finger - a bit like if you use the Cover Flow in iTunes - or seen in the standard mode, all lined up next to each other. You can zoom in, or begin, a photo by resting your finger on the image for a couple of seconds.

The real draw is the LG Viewty's photo-editing features, which is one of the best we have seen on a phone. You can quickly add text, music and morphing effects to your photos. Our photos gave good results when viewing on a computer screen, and looked much as good during printing.

The camera lens is surrounded by a sliding disk that allows you to scroll through menus, zoom in and out on Web pages, adjust the volume of the call, as well as zoom in and out in camera mode. This is a useful function, but feels a bit fiddly and sometimes did not work as well as we would have liked.

The LG Viewty video also shoots at 120 frames per second, allowing you to slow it down and watch it in slow motion when you read it. The videos can be downloaded directly to the Internet through a single button. Switching between the photo and video mode is easily done via the dedicated button on the side of the handset.

The huge screen also makes web browsing ideal; Viewty by LG is one of the best Web-enabled devices, we saw. You can see the size of Web pages and zoom in on sections of the same way you can with the Apple iPhone. The LG Viewty HSDPA offers connectivity to Web browsing and downloading is quick and easy. A five-minute music track downloaded in about 20 seconds, for example.

The LG Viewty is well-designed, it is required to exercise its stylish looks, but would suit any fashionista. The touch screen does get annoying fingerprints, and could potentially have been scratched if kept in a bag with your key and other essentials.

There is nothing to complain about when it comes to audio quality - it was clear during testing. We also liked the functionality of the video call, which really comes to life thanks to the big screen. The feature is also involved in the reading of good songs in the built-in MP3 player.

Battery life is good - an average user could easily make the battery last more than two days, but if you have a tendency to take a lot of pictures and surf the web a lot, and then a daily charge is probably recommended.

We believe that this is one of the best phones around at the moment and a final challenger to the Apple iPhone. The impressive camera, adapted and easy to use the touch screen and high-speed internet connection, all crammed into a very elegant body, make it one of the best ever LG phones, as well as the phone LG Prada .

If you are not convinced, why not check rival 5-megapixel cameraphones such as GPS / Wi-Fi-enabled Nokia N95, Samsung slimline G600, or the Sony Ericsson K850i?

The LG KU990 Viewty is now available on all major networks, free on certain contracts monthly.