LG KF900 Prada II review

When the original Prada phone sashayed into stores in Spring 2007, a few months ahead of the iPhone, its touchscreen fashionista flavour was something elegantly different and undeniably desirable for style-conscious phone users.

Fast forward to early 2009 and LG and fashion house Prada have renewed their mobile-crafting acquaintance with a fresh take on the Prada phone - the KF900. It may be a long time in fashion terms, but the stylish looks of the first device have been maintained, with the Prada II sporting a very similar minimalist touchscreen design.

What is distinctly different, though, is a slide-out Qwerty keyboard-packing panel on the side of the phone. It may add a few extra millimetres to the profile of the device, but it also cranks up the messaging and note taking capabilities of this luxury handset.

Onboard mobile technology has naturally been upgraded too. The touchscreen interface has had a thorough refresh with an element of multi-touch control added, while the features rundown has been seriously enhanced.

The Prada II has HSDPA-enabled 3G (offering mobile data download rates of up to 7.2Mbps) and Wi-Fi support, a 5-megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics, and includes the usual 3G multimedia capabilities, including video calling with a second front-facing camera for that minority interest function.

As you'd expect, music and video player facilities are present and correct too, with a 1GB MicroSD card in-box.

Design and handling
Of course, since the first incarnation of the minimalist Prada phone appeared there have been plenty of touchscreen devices - from Samsung, LG, HTC and others - that have followed the refined design groove, led by the Apple iPhone. Nonetheless, although minimalist-chic black casing with chrome edging may not have quite the same wow-factor impact as it once did, it still looks darn classy.

It's more of a pocketful than the original 12mm thin Prada phone. Measuring 104.5(h) x 54(w) x 16.75(d) mm, it's slightly taller as well as stouter than the original, but its metal bodywork and keyboard make it a hefty 130g compared to the relatively lightweight 85g of the Prada Mk I.

The 3-inch, 240x400 pixel, 262K-colour touchscreen is the main action on the plastic coated front panel. A discreet silver Prada logo above it is mirrored by a thin chrome panel below with three simple buttons - call, end and clear. A few buttons down the chrome sides take care of screen lockiing, camera action and multi-tasking (you can check what apps are open, and also access a favourite apps panel onscreen), plus the usual volume keys.

An in-built accelerometer switches screen orientation from portrait to landscape in some multimedia functions, including the browser, as does sliding out the keyboard. In standby, slipping out the keyboard pulls up a carousel of key function shortcuts onscreen that you can tap to select or swipe to browse through.

Thumbs up for the Qwerty keyboard - it's a substantial, well built affair, and the rectangular keys are relatively large and well-separated for easy pressing. They're responsive enough too for fine, accurate twin-thumb text typing.

The heart of the Prada II's action is based around the touchscreen set-up though. Elements of the interface recently implemented on the Renoir and Cookie appear here, though it's not completely identical. The basic look of the UI is distinctly monochrome, with two themes - uber-cool white on black or black on white keeping up the minimalist feel (though there are  colourful model shots used as screensavers when the screen lock is on).

The basic standby screen has a familiar LG set-up of four virtual quick keys along the bottom for quick access to key functions (dialling pad, contacts list, messaging and main menu). But there are plenty of fast access and hotkey options too.

Tapping the status bar on the top of the screen pulls up a list of info (memory, battery power, etc) plus quick tap options for switching on/off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the music player and changing ringtone profiles.

Most visibly though, like the Cookie, there are different standby screen 'pages' you can move between, by 'turning' the screen  with a sideways swipe of your finger. There are three of these - one with just the minimalist screen with Prada logo, another with shortcut icons onscreen ( you can select as many shortcuts as you like from function lists), and a widgets supporting screen.

Similar to other LG touch controlled phones, you can pull up a widgets toolbar to drag and drop mini apps for certain functions on to or off the display. These widgets can sit onscreen, and are opened by a press to provide info (world clock, calendar, clock and memo) or access and operate features (music player, radio and image gallery) directly on the screen. In monochrome, it's not as eye-catching as the Cookie's similar widgets, but basically, if you like your touch phone function shortcuts, you're spoilt for choice on this device.

Features
Once you tap into the main menu, touchscreen navigation is very similar to the Renoir and Cookie. A sidebar of four function category icons appears on the right of the screen, with a grid of symbols for features and apps on the main part of the screen. As you tap each of the category icons (representing Communicate, Entertainment, Utilities, and Settings), the features on the grid change accordingly, making it easy to find your way around the functions and tap into apps or settings menus.

The touchscreen control of this Prada phone may not match the iPhone's smooth and intuitive feel for swiping and stroking your way through menus and functions, but it is a serviceable, seamless set-up that has improved much over the first Prada phone. It also uses iPhone-alike pinching - moving two fingers closer or further apart - to zoom in the browser or on documents (it has a document reader inside). You can also pinch to zoom in or out of photos you've taken with the camera - all adding to the user-friendliness of this handset.

Generally, the touch interface has a similar usability to the Renoir, with mostly ample space for fingers to swipe down menu lists or tap options without mis-pressing, and while it's not the most responsive touchscreen we've tested, it generally works reliably. Adjustable levels of haptic feedback also confirm when buttons have been pressed. The menus are straightforwardly structured and options simple to select without being overelaborate.

One touch element that we're not happy with is the texting set-up when using the phone-like virtual numberpad rather than the Qwerty keyboard. LG has again made the onscreen numberpad buttons unnecessarily squashed up and small, with option buttons down the right of the alphanumeric keys allowing too much scope for accidental mispressing when trying to text quickly.

We'd like to see the full width reserved for the numberpad, like on a conventional phone - we reckon it would make texting easier when you're not inclined to use the keyboard. After all, texting is a basic function that should be dead easy out of the box, like on any regular handset.  Still, the keyboard provides a good, sensible tapping alternative for messaging if you're having finger trouble on the numberpad.

Camera action
This Prada phone has plenty of tick-list functionality for a mid-range LG handset, but its 5-megapixel camera is one highlight. The Schneider-Kreuznach-cerified shooter has an easy to use touch interface that's become familiar with LG's higher grade cameraphones.

There are plenty of settings adjustments you can make to the auto system, shooting modes to choose or effects to add, listed in easy to follow menus onscreen at the press of a button. It dosn't have all the shooting gadgets and gimmicks that the Renoir does, but that large screen real estate provides enough room for the controls to be manageable, and the settings tweaking is easy to follow.

Its autofocus system has a typical 2-step set-up action, so there is a momentary lag while a shot's being focused and captured, but it works well. A macro mode also enables sharp shots of close up subjects. We were impressed by the Prada II's shots in the great outdoors - images were crisp and finely detailed, with vivid colour rendition and good auto exposure control.

Lower light shooting is aided by the LED flash, so you do get some extra illumination in dimmer conditions. Results aren't fabulous though, as the LED flash has limited impact beyond short distances; we'd have preferred the extra power and precision of the type of xenon flash used on some top end cameraphones.

Capturing video at VGA resolution (6540x480 pixels) and widescreen VGA (720x480 pixels) at 30 frames per second, the Prada II does better than most mobiles at producing watchable video clips, and you can also record in slow motion mode for smooth slo-mo flow playback. Unsurprisingly, clips are better in decent light conditions. DivX recording and playback is supported too, so you can enjoy good quality downloaded or sideloaded video playback on the large screen space.

Fashionistas needn't worry about tune-playing on this phone. It carries a decently performing MP3 player plus an FM radio. MP3, WAV, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, RA and AMR file formats are supported on the device, and although there's a so-so 60MB of internal memory, a 1GB MicroSD card is supplied in-box to give a bit of leg-room for adding sounds. Cards up to 8GB can be slotted into the side panel, should you wish to bump up the memory.

The user interface is a typically functional  LG functional music player set up, which may not delight visually, but is easy enough to scroll thorough to select tracks and control onscreen - and also when it's playing in the background, using the standby screen widgets.

Our review sample didn't come with regular Prada phone earphones, so we can't give an opinion on these, but the sound came through very decently on a set of higher grade LG earphones we tried, and sounded terrific using our reference Sennheisers via an adapter lead. Note though, LG hasn't stuck a 3.5mm standard headphone socket on this handset, which is frustrating if you want to use your classy phone with quality headphones to get better sound - instead you get the regular LG multi-connector charger/USB/earphone port on top of the phone. The phone does support Bluetooth headphones, should you wish to go wireless. The loudspeaker though is disappointingly tinny.

We're pleased to say that the online functionality of the Prada II did the job. Its browser isn't quite as slick to use as the iPhone's bar-setting user interface, but the iPhone-style multi-touch pinch-zooming does add to the usability of the browser. It's also quick to load up, thanks to the easy-to-set-up Wi-Fi or HSDPA connectivity, and you can easily switch between two browser tabs you can have open at the same time.

Of course, with a flashy phone like this LG doesn't skimp on the basics. All the standard organiser functionality and communication tools are in place, including email support with attachments, with an excellent touch-zoom document reader for PDFs, word documents, excel files and so on, included too. Calendar, to do lists, date finder, world clock, calculator, convertor, voice recorder and stopwatch are all present. Three games using touch or motion control are pre-loaded - a golf game plus the wheel spinning and basic dice throwing games seen on previous LG touch phones.

Battery life could be an issue if you have Wi-Fi switched on full time, or tune into music non-stop, but LG reckons on an optimum standby time of up to 400 hours or 3 hours of talktime. In practice, we didn't find it particularly power hungry for a 3G, Wi-Fi enabled touchsceen handset, delivering us a comfortable two days-plus of power with sustained usage.

Summary
Practicality isn't often the priority with fashion industry, but here the combination of LG and Prada ensure a device that delivers on functionality as well as on style. The Qwerty keyboard certainly adds to the more businesslike feel of this phone, although it also adds a undeniable chunkiness that may put off some potential Prada purchasers who prefer more svelte lines on their mobiles.

There are other touch phones out there that offer alternative high-end headline features, and at this sort of price tag some will prefer the sleek iPhone or 8-megapixel-packing Renoir to the Prada II's Qwerty keyboard and ultra fashionable label. But while minimalist chic isn't quite so rare on mobiles as it once was, the Prada cachet is still bound to grab plenty of attention from the style conscious mobile phone buyer.