LG Viewty Review

Interface:

LG Viewty’s software is identical to the one of the Prada phone in some aspects, but there also are a significant amount of changes. Many things are improved to match the increased functionality yet the good look of the menus remains.

The home screen is almost empty by default. There is a line with service information on the top and in the bottom are four shortcuts: Menu, Dialing pad, Messaging and Phonebook. An option in the menu allows you to put a Clock, Calendar or both in the center of the screen. Tap anywhere in the empty space, and two animated arrows (left and right) will appear above the shortcuts; touch one of them and a menu with 9 more shortcuts will appear.

The main menu is in four tabs (Phone functions, Multimedia, Organizer, Settings). Everything is arranged logically here, and even first-time users will easily find what they need. The icons’ appearance is animated, but not slow. They look well (at least in the three preloaded themes) and one can easily get an idea of their purpose (even without reading the label below) unlike the Croix interface of Samsung. The menu system is not only modern and looks good, but is also pleasure to use.

When we did our preview of the prototype, we noted that the Black theme is almost 100% copy of the Prada phone, with the background of the icons being only slightly green. This has changed in the final version we have here, and all icons in this B&W theme are with a new, solid design. Compared to the prototype, here we also see a slight rearrangement of the fields.


Viewty has four predefined profiles and three for user customization. All they can be changed, allowing for different ringing types and tones, as well as vibration (haptic feedback) types (3) and level (up to 7).


Phonebook:

The contacts system is very good, which has really left some positive feelings in us. The names are displayed, filtered by their first letter (A-D, E-H, I-L, etc), in order to avoid lots of scrolling. The symbols are large, and we only wish the caller ID image was displayed when the contact is selected. By selecting the Lupa in the upper right corner, searching can be performed, by any word of the name.

Adding a contact offers you fields for names, up to five numbers (no matter their type), two emails and a full address. Of course each phonebook entry can have a personal image and ringtone, as well as being added to a group.


Dialer:

Input of a number that is not in your phonebook is just as simple as in other phones. Open the dialpad (one of the shortcuts on the homescreen) and press the large numeric keys. Unfortunately, results matching the number do not show up automatically, but in the options “Search contact” you will open a menu where you can search by phone number.



Organizer:

The third tab in the main menu houses all the organizer tools. Total of five alarms can be added, each with a separate time, recurrence options, name and tone. A few clicks are required to add an event (Appointment, Anniversary, or Birthday) to the calendar. Optional fields include subject/name, location, alarm and recurrence options. You are also able to search for text in the events added. Tasks can be added with three priority levels, while memos are just plain notes without any options. There also are a simple calculator, a world clock and a currency converter.



The voice recorder can be set without limitation (depending only on the memory availabe) but it is usable only when you hold the phone at very small distance from your mouth. Don’t expect it to replace a stand-alone dictaphone.

The phone lacks real File Manager, which allows you to preview all files stored in the integrated memory or the card. It is replaced with the more typical for non-smart phones, browser that filters the files by their type (Pictures, Audio, Video, Applications, Documents, Flash, Others). Every time any of the filters is selected, it searches the available content, which takes some time to load.

Viewty has 100MB of internal memory, but it can be expanded up to 2GB with a microSD card,. It is strange that in such high-class phone, there is no support for microSD HC (high capacity), which allows for bigger cards (4, 8, 16, 32GB). Another inconvenience is that the card slot is accessible only after the battery is removed, which is definitely not the easiest task.