LG ARENA Preview

Camera and Multimedia:

The LG ARENA features 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash which is rather mid-range as per today´s mainstream standards. What goes over big with us is the camera interface, it´s a whole lot better than the previous versions and is far easier to use and looks like the interface of a real digital camera. All settings are visualized as a wheel and the phone features rich options like face recognition, geographical location tagging, a multitude of different photo effects and white balance. Of course, you can easily capture videos as well. We won´t pass any judgment on the capture quality, but you can take a look at the test shots to get a rough idea. Just bear in mind that picture quality of the retail units may turn out to be quite different.





The maximum video capture resolution is 720x480 pixels at 30 frames per second. Nothing coming out of left field here, since this resolution has been dominant on all LG phones since the Secret came out. You can also choose slow or fast motion video shooting, but either case videos are captured at a QVGA resolution.

You can quickly navigate to the Gallery, which, thank God, has been through some major changes when compared to its implementation on the Renoir. It unifies all pictures and videos and the can be easily sorted by date, file type or name or depending on whether you´d like to take a look at pictures only, or rather videos, or your favorites, the ones saved onto the memory card etc. We got carried away by starting the gallery in a landscape mode, it turns into something quite similar to the iPhone´s Cover Flow with the images pouring out downwards. You better take a look at our video review to relish the effects in all their beauty. Aside from all this, zooming in is implemented through image spanning thanks to the multi-touch technology.







What an all the rage phone would be like without extensive codec support? The answer is, well, take it back to 2007. Congratulations, you´ve just got a winning answer that might come handy on “Who wants to be a millionaire”. LG ARENA features DivX/Xvid support, but unfortunately we were unable to play an HD video file which makes the phone look below par alongside of the monster that the OMNIA HD is. Well, fingers crossed for an S-CLASS 3D phone that features HD.


The music player feels a bit weird and we can´t really say whether or not we really dig it. In portrait mode, the player appears right in between the song list and scrolling down leads to the album cover and effects dropping out of your sight. However, you can stop or switch over between songs with the controls located below. In landscape mode the players takes up about a third of the screen and somehow doesn´t go with the rest of the interface at all. Browsing the albums is something we do dig though, they visualize as a list with its rows grouped by artists, with their art turning up as separate CDs. We do like such small, beautiful things. Well, keep in mind that the ARENA has got an FM transmitter, aside from the standard built-in radio, so you can listen to your favorite on-the-phone music, say, in your car.






Expectations:

In one word – HUGE! The S-CLASS 3D interface is a huge improvement over the LG´s previous attempts and quite a thorn in their competitor´s sides. It´s the main reason that makes us believe that the ARENA will handle the growing competition on the touch screen phone market. We can´t wait to get our hands on a retail unit and come up with a final review. We are indeed really pleased with the LG´s product as of now.