LG Mini GD880 Preview

Interface and functionality:

Let´s just get down to brass tacks – the LG Mini GD880 is a feature phone running S-Class interface. As far as we know the lack of 3D cube means the interface is not worthy of the “3D” in its name. However, it brings some pleasing improvements and novelties alongside of the versions of models like the LG ARENA KM900 and LG Crystal GD900. The home screen consists of three pages instead of four, but you are free to place whatever you want on any of them, including widgets, shortcuts to websites and more or less all available phone functions, plus we are happy to see the device allows for downloads of additional widgets.



The main menu is divided into relevant categories, something typical of LG´s latest cell phones equipped with touch-sensitive screens. We are slightly surprised to find out there is no landscape mode that enables visualization of all icons at once. Fortunately, the landscape QWERTY is present and we must say it looks cool indeed, although we would rather wait until we have had the chance to test a retail unit before sharing our impressions.



The service LG Air Sync makes its debut on the LG Mini GD880 and is still in beta testing stage. As a whole, it will allow users to transfer data between their computer and cell phone as well as store files on remote servers over the Internet. We have already seen the SNS function - it provides access to Facebook and Twitter clients and lets people integrate information about their online buddies registered with social networking services into the phone book.



The browser (LGE WebKit developed by Azingo) managed to surprise us pleasingly. First off, it supports double taps and multitouch controls. Second, you are able to take advantage of partial Flash support and watch YouTube videos. You can see more test results and a thorough comparison of the application to other modern browsers… in our full review, of course.




Camera and multimedia:

The LG Mini GD880 sports 5-megapixel camera (without flash) and captures video at VGA resolution. In other words definitely not something to write home about, but at least LG has equipped the camera interface with a number of options. You can also edit your clips and pictures, which is pretty cool really.





The music player of the LG Mini GD880 is an odd bird, but it has been replaced with a more standard piece of software that comes with cover-flow style landscape mode. We are glad to see the handset plays Xvid files, because its display is awesome for that, not to mention the retail units should feature DivX support out of the box as well.

There are several games and applications dedicated to entertainment on the go that have found their place on the LG Mini GD880.





Expectations:

We do like the LG Mini GD880 and all its aspects. The handset comes with design that stands out, really good build quality and rich functionality, so the cell phone seems to have what it takes to become a worthy replacement of the now aging, last-year´s market hit of LG, the ARENA KM900. Actually, the rumor has it that the real successor to the ARENA will be another, high-end device. The only troubling thing we encountered was the sluggish operational speed of the prototype, but we hope the issue gets fixed before the retail units hit the shelves. If this happens, the LG Mini GD880 does stand a fair chance of becoming a truly successful and desired cell phone.

LG Mini GD880 Video Preview:]