LG Secret Review

Interface:

The Secret’s interface is not something, which will inspire you. Overall, it is easy to use and it is evident that we are dealing with a newer model than the Chocolate. However, the WOW effect is not present here at all. Moreover, since there are two color schemes with two visualizations each (grid and a vertical list for the white one; grid and a horizontal 3D list for the black one), there’s nothing you can do to change that. Other themes cannot be added, which is a pity, considering that other phones (Samsung Soul), let you even create such.


The submenus appear as a text list, which although not beautiful, is convenient, because you can clearly see the options. Personally, we’d prefer “jumping” to the selected field, by pressing the corresponding button on the numeric keypad (there is a number corresponding to button before each submenu) instead of move to the destination, by using the slow navigational keys. We are happy that the function to move to the next submenu, we know from other LG phones, is now visualized with a text, indicating, which menus are they.

LG tends to include multi-tasking features in its devices and naturally, we have such in this model as well. Here, the shortcut to switch between the separate applications is on the right and it opens a small menu in the bottom of the screen. You cannot terminate a program from it, but you’ll have to switch to the application and close it from there, which we think is absurd.

Overall, even if the phone is not loaded, you will experience extreme lag and frequent delays, which are rarely met in a non-smartphone. This is easily noticed when changing the display orientation (vertical- horizontal and vise versa). Often, the process is far from smooth but choppy.

The good news is that it is controlled by the accelerometer, which unfortunately, is not of the highest quality either. Sometimes, it will not react at all and you’ll have to return the phone in its previous state and try again.


Phonebook:

We don’t think anyone would be surprised with the options offered by the phonebook, which are very standard. The names are visualized in a vertical list, and for faster results, you can search by any word of a contact. From the options, you are able to choose the order in which the names appear (First Name/Family Name or Family Name/First Name) as well as whether the attached picture (if any) should appear when a contact is selected. Each entry can have up to 5 numbers, 2 emails, web and physical address, business info and notes. Naturally, a contact can be added to one of five groups and have own video/ringtone or a picture. As in previous models of the manufacturer, an avatar can be added. That’s a small character, which you create by using the set of clothes and scenes provided, similar to the game TheSims.


When numbers are entered at the homescreen, the phone will visualize the matches found in the phonebook. However, unlike the models of the competition, here you cannot search for matches in the names.


Organizer:

Apparently, the Korean company didn’t have enough items to feel the main menu with so they divided the PIM functionality in two groups, named Organizer and Tools. The calendar can be viewed by month or week, and when you select a specific day, you will see the events added (if any). Those can be three types (Appointment, Anniversary, Birthday) and have the typical options: duration, theme, location, alarm and repetition (with many options). In addition, you can add To-Do tasks, including only a short note and a level of priority (high, normal, low). There are regular notes as well and such protected by a security code. Date finder simply tells you what date it will be after a user specified number of days. This is not a typical function and will be rarely used.


You can add up to 100 tasks in the calendar, the To-Do’s and the notes each, which could be insufficient for a really busy businessman, but we think it’s going to be more than enough for the people who would buy Secret. However, everybody would like to be able to backup the calendar and the To-Do tasks straight to the memory card or send them to another device via Bluetooth.

The rest of the options are in the Tools menu. Here we have 5 alarms, a simple calculator, timer, unit converter and a world clock where you could easily add a few cities. There’s also a link to the Fast Menu, which is accessible from the homescreen by pressing “up”. It’s nice that you are able to set the ten links to lead to not only basic menus but to functions such as “Add contact”.