| LG F1200 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2005, 1q |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 95 X 49 X 24 Mm |
| Weight | 101 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 256k Colors |
| Size | 128 X 160 Pixels, 12 Lines |
| | - Second External Tft Display 65k Colors (96 X 96 Pixels)
- Downloadable Wallpapers |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (64 Channels), Mp3 |
| Customization | Download |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 250 X 7 Fields, Photo Call, 7 Groups |
| Call Records | 10 Dialed, 10 Received, 10 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | No |
| | - 64 Mb Shared Memory
- 100 Short Messages |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 10 (4+1/3+2 Slots), 32 - 48 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | No |
| Infrared Port | Yes |
| Usb | Yes |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms, Ems |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml |
| Games | Yes, |
| Colors | |
| Camera | Vga, 640x480 Pixels |
| | - Java Midp 2.0
- Mp3 Player
- T9
- Organiser
- Calendar
- Voice Memo |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 1050 Mah |
| Stand-by | Up To 200 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 3 H 30 Min |
|
LG - F12003D with the LG F1200
Major features
Internal 262,144 colour TFT LCD @ 128 x 160 pixels
External 65,526 colour TFT LCD @ 96 x 96 pixels
SMS/EMS, MMS messaging
WAP 2.0 browser
GPRS Class 10
Tri-band GSM network connectivity
VGA camera with 2x digital zoom
MP3 player function with external MP3 keys
3D sound effect speakers
64mB internal shared memory
64-chord polyphonic ring tones
USB and infrared connectivity
Problems/Issues?
Unable to accept via IrDA from PC
Unable to send files via IrDA
Some lag in the user interface
No speakerphone!
Sales package (should contain):
1x LG F1200 handset
1x Standard BSL-59G battery
1x Travel charger
1x USB data-cable
1x Headset with MP3 remote control
1x Data CD
Introduction
LG Electronics are probably most well known for their kitchen appliances or televisions and other house appliances. However, if you’ve got anything to do with 3G telecommunications you will know that this company is one of the leading manufacturers for 3G handsets on our Australian 3G Hutchison network. LG are also the manufacturers of GSM and CDMA handsets. Such a handset is the LG F1200, their latest GSM handset.
The F1200 is from the “F” series of handsets, which are all clam-shells. They all seem to have one main aim, to bring rich multimedia features to the end-user. The F1200 accomplishes this with features like an MP3 player with dedicated keys, 3D surround sound speakers and a digital camera.
New/outstanding features
This was my first experience with an LG handset since I reviewed one of their 3G handsets a while back – therefore making this my first LG GSM handset. As I just mentioned the LG “F” series handsets are mainly multimedia handsets, with this one being aimed at digital mobile audio. To accommodate for this the creators have thrown in a large internal memory, dual 3D speakers, high-speed USB connectivity, and a high quality internal LCD.
The MP3 playback of the F1200 is enhanced by the external keys on the handset. On the outer section of the flip, underneath the external LCD are three MP3 functionality keys. These are (from left to right) rewind, play/pause, and fast forward. You can activate the MP3 player without opening the handset using these keys, move between tracks and even change the volume with one of the other external keys on the handset.
Dual 3D speakers are much more effective at producing sound like you would experience from a stereo or home PC on the F1200. Instead of the audio only coming from one speaker, the audio is routed to a left and right speaker for much higher quality output. This is a great advantage to the user as the MP3’s sound great and are much more audible especially when ringing – you’ll never miss it!
High speed USB connectivity allows you to quickly and effectively transfer MP3’s (and other file formats) from a PC to the handset and vice versa. A USB data-cable comes as standard in the sales package along with a software CD-rom. You can also use infrared as the handset has a port on the right hand side. The F1200 has 64mB of internal memory for you to stock up with some MP3’s – you can almost fit a whole CD on there!
The internal display on this handset is a 262,144 colour TFT. At 128 x 160 it’s not the biggest we’ve seen but it certainly does the job well and doesn’t overwhelm the handset making it big & bulky. The display is bright, colourful, and viewable in any conditions. Colour themes are offered with wallpapers & schemes. The external LCD on the F1200 is a 65,536 colour LCD.
Physical aspects
The LG F1200 handset is a compact clam-shell handset. With the internal antenna design the handset is much smaller than most clam-shells. The handset is slightly rounded on both ends and looks very smart with the simple blue & silver design. The handset has no interchangeable covers and the only removable section is the battery cover, held into place by a small button lock.
The front of the F1200 houses the VGA camera, MP3 keys, and external sub-LCD. The middle panel of the front is all dark blue, with the outsides & rest of the handset being silver. This isn’t chrome so there is no chance of finger prints being left behind! The LCD is placed smack-bang in the centre with the three MP3 keys below it. The VGA camera is cantered just below this. Two logo’s can be found on the F1200’s front – LG above the display and the MP3 compatibility logo to the top of the handset. To keep with the blue design, where you can see some of the hinge this is also coloured blue. Beside the VGA camera lens are two speakers.
The left hand side of the F1200 has the headset port (covered by plastic to prevent anything getting caught inside), the dedicated camera key, and the infrared port. The headset has its own port as in the sales package is a headset with MP3 keys, allowing you to change and pause your songs at any time without pulling out the handset. The right handset simply has the volume up and down key. The bottom of the F1200 has the single interface port. The entire port is used for charging, as it is when you connect the USB data-cable (supplied).
On opening the MP3 you will first be struck with the bright blue keypad backlight and LCD display. There are several “logos” inside the F1200, all of which have a special effect when viewed at different lighting angles. They will change colours from red, green, yellow, and blue as you look at them differently. The MP3, Music Communication, and LG logos are the ones with this effect, all located around the display. The F1200 test handset I received was a European model with Russian characters and English characters printed onto the keys. The handsets released here will not have these Russian characters but other than that will look exactly the same.
The keys are evenly spaced apart and easy to press. The top section has navigational & special function keys with the bottom section housing the numerical keys. The navigational circle has its special shortcut function icon printed into it – which can be used when the handset is idle.
Six small rubber pads located around the handset ensure that the top flip does not come into harsh contact with the bottom flip. When closing the handset the two pieces will not come in contact with each other preventing the display from being scratched by the keys or the rest of the handset.
The battery cover of the F1200 is removed by pressing the button that says “PUSH” (it’s not hard to miss) and sliding the back cover off. Underneath there is the battery (in all of its hologram glory). The battery needs to be removed before you can access the SIM card slot. I personally do not like this style of SIM slot as it tends to scratch away at your SIM card (especially if you’re like me and am constantly changing SIM cards). It’s not hard to insert and remove the SIM card or battery; they only fit in one way.
User Interface & display
Take a closer look!
I wasn’t very impressed by the user interface of the F1200, and it made me wonder if all other LG handsets ran the same sort of interface. My main disappointment of the user interface was the style of the main menu icons. All of them are, in my personal opinion, “cheesy” for lack of a better world. The icons look like they haven’t had any major thought put into them for something different and are too simple. The menu is certainly still operational, but it just didn’t give me the joy that some other manufacturers give from their handsets & interfaces. Once you’ve gone past the main menu everything is in lists with numbers to the left, basically the same as the LG U8110 handset I reviewed a while ago.
Other than the style of the icons, the main menu is animated and this did give a little bit of extra spice. You operate the user interface mainly with the directional pad, which consists of a circular “border” key and a centre OK key. The border key has four possible presses; left, right, up, and down. You also use two soft keys are some times which have their labels on the bottom of the display.
The F1200 has a 262,144 colour internal LCD display measuring 128 x 160 pixels. This is large enough for this handset and any larger would have blown all the proportions out of whack. The display is bright and can be viewed under any lighting conditions, including in the bright sun thanks to TFT technology. When idle, the basics can be viewed on the display; time, date, battery level, GPRS status, profile, and reception quality. Your own personal wallpaper can be applied to this display and user interface colour schemes give the F1200 a little bit of personalization.
The external LCD measures only 96 x 96 pixels but has some special functions. For the most part, external LCD’s are only there to show you what the idle internal screen shows at idle. However, the F1200’s display is used for the MP3 player function of the handset as well as the stereotypical function of displaying vital stats. With thanks to three keys below the display you can launch the MP3 player and play your music quickly & easily without opening the handset. The volume key on the left side of the F1200 is also used in the MP3 player.
Another issue I had with the F1200 was that the menu lagged when pressing buttons quickly, this was especially noticeable when messaging although evident when moving around the menu too. The handset will sometimes not respond to a key press and you may have to press it two or three more times for it to perform the function. This may have been a firmware error as the LG F1200 handset I received was a test model – this issue may be ironed out when the handset is fully released on the market.
Just a little note – next to each menu item is a number. You will also find numbers on the main menu items. If, at any time, you don’t want to browse down with the navigational key to the function you want, press the number next to the associated function. This will jump straight to that function without having to move the cursor around. Pressing the left soft key, ‘5’, ‘1’, then ‘1’ for example will start a new text message.
Making and receiving calls
The F1200 only has the ability to conduct voice calls using the normal phone-to-ear method, and with a wired headset like the one included in the sales package. There is, unfortunately, no speakerphone capability! The F1200 could have really gone with this feature, as most of its competitors on the market do have this feature – it’s become standard really!
The F1200 has an external volume key to alter the volume during a call. When a call comes through, the name of the caller is shown on the sub-LCD display. The F1200 doesn’t allow you to answer the phone by just flipping the handset open, which in some ways is good and in others is a bit of a negative. Firstly, by not enabling flip-answer, you can reject the call a lot easier by opening the handset and pushing the red hang-up button. The bad side of this is if you forget that you have to press the green button and put the handset up to your ear when the ring tone is playing at full blast!
The F1200 has a fully featured multi-entry phonebook supporting up to 255 contacts. These can have several extra phone numbers, notes, addresses, and thanks to the VGA digital camera they can have photos too! The photos will be displayed on the main or mini LCD when a call comes through depending if the handset is open or not.
The quality of audio was normal and I experienced no problems. The microphone is in the centre of the handset (horizontally) just on the inside of the handset near the interface port at the bottom.
Messaging
I found messaging on the LG F1200 to be quite tedious, only because sometimes the F1200 wouldn’t respond to my key presses and all of my words would end up jumbled. I found the method of predictive text input adopted by LG to be easy to learn and get used to in a flash. As you type in letters, the most common word combination will be shown. If you wish to change, simply press the up or down navigational key. When you’re ready to go onto the next word, the ‘0’ key acts as the space bar. Pressing the ‘*’ button will open the symbol list, although pressing the ‘1’ key shows common symbols like full stops and commas. The ‘#’ key changes between case/numerical input and also T9 or non-T9 predictive input. The large keys make messaging even easier.
The messaging icon is selected first when you open the main menu and is just like any other handset – your options are listed as text messages, multimedia messages, voice messages, info services, templates, and memory status. Inside the 1st two options are an inbox, outbox, sent items box, drafts, settings, and delete all function. Not to mention the new message function too! The messaging window is a simple window with character count at the top left, number of SMS’s at the top right, and input function on the bottom right.
The F1200 supports SMS, EMS, and MMS messages. MMS messages with video aren’t supported which is a pity, considering the handset has such a nice 262,144 colour display! Images can be captured with the VGA camera and used for MMS messages. There is no e-mail support on this handset.
Connectivity
The F1200 offers GPRS, Infrared, and USB connectivity. The sales pack comes with a USB data-cable and software suite CD, which can be used with both infrared and the USB data-cable. The GPRS capabilities also enable the F1200 to be used as a modem for a computer or laptop to connect to the internet.
Infrared on the F1200 got on my nerves – when trying to transfer a file from a PC (Windows XP) to the F1200, I kept getting the error that said the device was rejecting the file transfers. Then, the F1200 doesn’t even give the user the ability to send a file from the file browser via infrared. Personally I didn’t even see the use of installing an infrared port of the handset if these two functions aren’t supported!
The USB data-cable connects to the port at the bottom of the handset. A small yellow arrow shows which way it should be inserted; the arrow must be facing upwards. With the included CD you will find drivers to install so your computer can communicate with the F1200, and software for transfer files and performing syncs among other functions. As I only received the test unit of the F1200, I didn’t get the software and was unable to test the functionality of the software.
The GPRS Class 10 protocol works in conjunction with the WAP 2.0 browser to bring multimedia-based pages directly to your handset. This class can connect at up to 48kbp/s in ideal conditions, fast for image and text downloading, although ring tones, games, and MP3’s may take longer.
Battery life
The LG F1200 comes with a BSL-59G battery, at 950mAh. This battery is expected to give the handset enough oomph for 210 minutes of talk time and up to 200 hours standby time.
Major features...
Internal 262,144 colour TFT LCD @ 128 x 160 pixels
Inside the F1200 is a beautiful 262,144 colour TFT LCD display. This is the highest quality displays on offer at the moment, so you’re bound to be impressed. At 128 x 160 pixels, the display isn’t huge but it is definitely large. When used as the viewfinder for the VGA camera or displaying the graphic equalizer in the MP3 player application you’ll be amazed at the quality.
External 65,526 colour TFT LCD @ 96 x 96 pixels
The external sub-LCD is there for mainly displaying the basic information about the state of the handset, but on the F1200 it also displays your MP3’s stored on the handset and even lets you play, pause, skip, and rewind them. The display has the ability to have a personally defined wallpaper from your internally stored collection.
SMS/EMS, MMS messaging
Keep in contact with your friends and loved ones with MMS messaging. MMS messages allow you to incorporate text, video, images, animation and sound into a single message that can be sent to a compatible mobile phone or an e-mail address. MMS technology has totally revolutionized the way people communicate.
SMS and EMS messaging is simple and easy. With predictive text and long-message support your messages are inputted without hassle. EMS messaging is basically SMS messaging with small black and white images and monophonic sounds. They’re the MMS of yesteryear!
GPRS Class 10
GPRS Class 10 enables you to connect to wireless data services from your mobile handset. This means the ability to send and receive MMS messages, and also browse WAP websites as described below. GPRS Class 10 has support for connections from anywhere between 32-48kbp/s.
The F1200 also acts as a modem for a PC or laptop with the appropriate local connection and software.
WAP 2.0 browser
With GPRS Class 10 wireless connectivity, one can use the integrated WAP 2.0 compliant browser installed on the F1200 to browse websites for information and fun downloads for their handset. From images, video clips, MP3s, and more you can find anything on WAP websites.
Tri-band GSM network connectivity
Stay connected on many continents wherever you travel with Tri-band GSM coverage. The F1200 operates natively on the GSM 900, 1800, and 1900MHz networks (not at the same time though!). Trot around the globe without the trouble of having to rent a new handset or even buy one simply for your travels. The F1200 automatically selects the appropriate network band too, saving you the hassle.
VGA camera with 2x digital zoom
The F1200’s VGA camera is located on the front of the handset. Therefore, it can be used with the sub-LCD for portrait shots as well as the main LCD. The VGA camera can capture images at a 640 x 480 pixel resolution. The camera application has many special effects (all detailed in the Camera Performance page of this review) like frames, resolution changes, and 2x digital zoom.
MP3 player function with external MP3 keys
This is probably one of the biggest selling points of the LG F1200. The handset has MP3 playback capabilities, some thing that even some high-end handsets lack. The MP3 playback support also includes MP3 ring tones, and above all keeps you entertained when you’re bored or need some music to lighten up your day.
External MP3 keys below the sub-LCD give you the option to start the MP3 player and get your tunes going without opening up the handset and browsing to the MP3 player application.
3D sound effect speakers
Operating hand-in-hand with the MP3 playback support, the F1200 incorporated dual speakers for 3D effects. Rather than a single speaker doing all the work at playing back sounds, it is split between the two and this means much higher quality audio. Especially with MP3’s (which are usually encoded at 192kbp/s) at high quality, you need high quality speakers to cope with them. The F1200’s audio sounded awesome and I even had a hard time convincing some that the music was actually coming from a mobile phone and not an MP3 player.
64mB internal shared memory
64mB of internal memory would be counted as a large amount of memory for a medium-range handset like the LG F1200. The 64mb is distributed between the camera application, MP3’s, animations, ring tones, messages, and the phone book entries. MP3’s will take up the most space but if you have the ability to encode your own MP3’s you may be able to fit a 10-12 track audio CD onto the handset with space to spare.
With infrared and USB connectivity anything you store on the F1200 can be transferred to another device or a PC/laptop. There is no external memory support on this handset.
64-chord polyphonic ring tones
Impress all your friends (and yourself!) with amazing 64-chord polyphonic ring tones. With the dual 3D speakers thrown in the mix too, you can’t get much better than this in terms of polyphonic ring tones. Some 64-chord tones are installed on the handset and a whole galaxy of others available from WAP and internet sites.
USB and infrared connectivity
Connect to your PC or Laptop with one of these two connectivity options. The first is the easiest as you will find a USB data-cable in the sales package along with a CD supplying all the necessary software. A small infrared window can be found on the right hand side of the handset.
Problems/Issues?
Unable to accept via IrDA from PC
On most handsets, enabling their infrared function and connecting them to a Windows XP computer allows you to send files from the PC to the handset no troubles. Not the case with the F1200 though, it refuses any transfers over infrared from a PC. I tried different file formats and all to no avail.
Unable to send files via IrDA
As I couldn’t send files TO the handset, I tried sending a file from the F1200. To my shock, there was no option to send any file format via infrared. What’s the use of even having infrared if you can’t send files! It seems that the handset is only going to transfer files with the software from LG (in the sales package).
Some lag in the user interface
As mentioned in the User Interface section of this article, the F1200 has some lag when it comes to operating the main menu and messaging in particular. The navigational key is the worst offender for lag; the soft keys were quite fine.
No speakerphone!
LG seem to have forgotten one of the most important features for some users – an inbuilt speakerphone! The speakerphone makes it easier for group conversations and also safe conversations when holding a handset to your ear is prohibited or not functional.
In Summary
The F1200 is a great entry to mid-level handset. It has almost everything a handset needs for the basic mobile telecommunication features, with extra features like a VGA camera, WAP browser, and superb MP3 compatibility & 3D-effect speakers.
The camera phone-come-MP3 player hybrid does have one major downside – the memory capacity. Sure, 64mB is great, but what if LG were planning on having people throw away their MP3 players for the F1200, they were going to have to give the handset some sort of external memory support first.
The LG F1200 will be released on our markets in the very near future. Pricing is not known as yet, but it is a fair guess to say some of the major providers will have this handset available with their services.
*Note: The F1200 handset I received may differ from that released here in Australia in terms of appearance & some minor features. This article will be updated if need be when the handset is properly released. |
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