A slim and shapely clamshell form factor, 3G connectivity with video calling and dedicated music keys; LG's U890 talks the talk, but does it walk the walk? A review by Jørgen Sundgot.
Review summary of the LG U890:
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 The U890's appeal lies in its achievement of getting the basics right - with the exception of its poorly designed numerical keypad, which presents something of a bump in the road. Nevertheless, this clamshell packs a good amount of features into a slim form factor with 3G capabilities including snappy transfer speeds and video calls among the main selling points along with a nice display. Compared to higher-end models, the handset's browser, integrated music player and camera are of the mediocre sort - but as matched with its closest competitors, the U890 does quite well for itself. Price: $1.
Pros: Slim clamshell design; good battery life; excellent 3G and video call performance
Cons: Poor keypad and navigational array; mediocre music and camera performance
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Full review of the LG U890:
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It's easy to see why LG wanted to build on the success of its popular U880 clamshell, but we have an inkling that the U890 - which, at 99 x 49 x 18 mm and 99 g, is the spitting image of its predecessor - might have been a rush job. Granted, the handset is both attractive and slim, and the size of its decent screen has been upped slightly - even though its resolution remains at a medium 176 x 220 pixels. The external display also remains, complete with dedicated buttons for music management; a usable setup, but nothing more.
Innovate, don't imitate
Unfortunately, LG has fallen for the temptation to go the faux-RAZR route with the U890, and swapped the excellent keypad of its predecessor for a distinctly worse setup. Although keys remain large and with good tactile feedback, buttons are separated by extruding, back-lit rubber lines which cause visual disorientation through zig-zagging across rows. In addition, not only are the numerical keys themselves not backlit, but their dark blue markings can be severely difficult to distinguish due to the contrast created by the aforementioned lines. The similarly-constructed navigational array performs slightly better, yet is at best mediocre.
Fortunately, several positive traits have been retained from the U880, such as the medium-resolution 1.3 Megapixel swivel camera which enables the shooting of crisp stills as well as video calling when used in tandem with 3G connectivity. User interfaces for both picture taking and video calls proved quite intuitive, while hardware shortcut buttons to rapidly access each of these three functions represented another positive trait. Unfortunately, blur and poor colour reproduction lowered our initial impression by a couple of notches.
Not exactly an iPod killer
Propelled by a microSD card slot for memory expansion and dedicated buttons for music control on its front cover, the U890 has all the trappings os a music phone. After experiencing slow music transfer, poor sound output by otherwise comfortable earbuds, limited music player features and an internal memory of only 75 MB, however, the LG U890 proved wholly unable to measure up to dedicated music phones. Browsing is an equally sore point; the integrated browser isn't much to speak of, and fails to exploit the otherwise excellent, UMTS-based 3G capabilities of a handset which is also equipped with tri-band GSM and GPRS.
For local connectivity, the U890 serves up USB and Bluetooth, while EDGE and Infrared have been left out. The feature slate also includes SMS, MMS and e-mail for messaging; polyphonic and MP3 ringtones; Java MIDP 2.0; stereo speakers and synchronization of calendar and contacts. Reception and voice quality proved excellent, while battery life - unsurprisingly - proved identical to its predecessor with 3 hours of talk time, 6 days of standby and one hour of video calling.
Price and availability
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