LG GW620 Preview

Interface:

The LG GW620 runs Android version 1.5 (Cupcake) that lags behind version 2.0 the Motorola DROID is equipped with, but there is neither information nor rumors on possible OS updates for the device. Still, we need to congratulate LG on providing their first handset with this operating system with personalized interface, unlike Samsung and the Galaxy and Galaxy Spica and their standard software. With its S-CLASS personalization pack, the GW620 reminds us of the other LG models utilizing the proprietary interface of the company. By the way, you can always turn it off if you don’t like it. So, what elements have been personalized?

The home screen has been beautified with four icons located at the bottom that allow access to the main and dialling menu, the phone contacts and messaging. LG´s team has decided to group overused applications by relevant function and place them on the three pages of the home screen, so programs appear under general, social, multimedia, internet related (YouTube, Google Maps, email etc) categories. Moreover, there´s a phone theme that transforms icons into something that reminds of the characters of the kid´s TV Show “Sesame Street”. The theme is also functional in the main menu, where icons are grouped by relevant categories, plus you can create your own categories. As a whole, the main menu looks much more orderly than the utter chaos of the standard Android menu, especially when you´ve installed additional applications.



SNS is an interesting application that allows quick access to your Facebook, Twitter and Bebo accounts. The Twitter client looks useable, but the one dedicated to Facebook is not good enough to replace the official program that´s available at Android Market, because it doesn’t show the relevant profile updates of your buddies on the popular social network. Instead, you´ve got access to a list of all contacts with status information, but you never know when something was written. Finally, you can link your phone contacts to their corresponding profiles on the social networks available via SNS. Actually, there are several smartphones that already support the same option.



It´s a cool thing that the phone book sports a dedicated tab for your various groups of contacts, meaning you can quickly filter entries by the relevant social network people are registered with or see your favourite contacts. The email client has been slightly redesigned as well and you now have the option to fast write letters. There´s also push notification support and our unit is equipped with applications developed by Moxier that allow for synchronization via Microsoft Exchange Server. The screen keyboard works in landscape mode only and has standard, alpha-numeric layout.



The web browser is the standard, WebKit-based application of Android, but LG has added a menu for quick access to options like reloading pages, going back, saving bookmarks etc. Navigation itself feels a bit sluggish due to the lack of zoom via multitouch and double taps.