| LG M6100 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2006, January |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 89.7 X 40 X 19.9 Mm |
| Weight | 88 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 256k Colors |
| Size | 128 X 160 Pixels |
| | - Downloadable Wallpapers |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (40 Channels) |
| Customization | Download |
| Vibration | Yes |
| | - Stereo Sound |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 1000 Entries, Photo Call |
| Call Records | 10 Dialed, 10 Received, 10 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | No |
| | - 128 Mb Shared Memory |
| Data |
| Gprs | Class 10 (4+1/3+2 Slots), 32 - 48 Kbps |
| Hscsd | No |
| Edge | No |
| 3g | No |
| Wlan | No |
| Bluetooth | Yes |
| Infrared Port | No |
| Usb | Yes, Miniusb |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms, Ems, Mms |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml |
| Games | Yes, |
| Colors | Silver, Blue, Black |
| Camera | 1.3 Mp, 1280 X 960 Pixels, Video(qcif) |
| | - Java Midp 2.0
- Mp3/aac/wma/3gp Player
- T9
- Organiser
- Voice Memo |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 800 Mah |
| Stand-by | Up To 200 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 3 H |
|
LG - M6100Mini classic - LG M6100
Major features
Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz network support
1.3" 262,000 colour 128 x 160 pixel TFT display
1.3 Megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom
64 tone polyphonic ringtones, MP3 support
124MB internal memory
USB and Bluetooth wireless connectivity
SMS, EMS and MMS messaging
WAP 2.0 (xHTML) browser over GPRS
MIDP 2.0 Java games and applications
PIM and organiser functions
Problems/Issues?
No expandable memory
Thick handset
Keypad awkward to use
Mediocre battery life
Sales package (should contain):
1x LG M6100 Handset
2x 800mAh LGLP-GAIM Battery
1x Headset with MP3 remote control
1x USB data cable
1x LG M6100 Manual
1x Standard AC Charger
Introduction
Sliding form factor mobile phones have been steadily growing in popularity with the success of Samsungs D500/600 line of phones which managed to cram a full feature set into a package that was convenient and easy to use. As discussed in many previous reviews, the slider form factor does have the advantage that the phone operates like a standard phone with only one main screen but it saves the owner from having to lock the keypad every time they decide to put the phone in their pocket. The camera is also protected in this way as it is built on the inside of the phone (see photos) which is hidden when you slide the handset shut.
LG have taken a different approach to Samsungs D600 slider handset and have decided to focus on delivering a handset which is multimedia-centric and at the same time appeals to the casual fashionista. The result is a slightly flawed, but functional handset. Read on to find out all the juicy details…
New/outstanding features
The M6100 is essentially a mobile phone aimed at the fashion conscious and is the first media oriented slider form factor handset in LG’s model line up. Although there are no outstanding state of the art features in the M6100, LG have included all the typical components we have come to expect in phones these days. Included in the package is a 1.3 Megapixel camera which is neatly hidden when the slider is closed, and small 1.3" 128 x 160 TFT LCD display. LG have also included Bluetooth and USB connectivity and 128MB of internal storage space for all those photo, music and video files.
The main appeal of this phone however is that it’s thin (width-wise); making it the main draw card for people looking for a fashionable phone or something that will neatly fit into that handbag. The M6100 has made an effort to make the phone stylish and elegant by using a pleasant mix of different shades of grey, black and the typical dash of silver.
Physical aspects
The LG M6100 is a slick looking phone; it is a thin handset, although it is on the thicker side of the scale when it comes to depth. The handset has been designed to be in a sliding form factor. This is handy as it makes locking the keypad a breeze and it also hides the camera when the handset is closed. The antenna is internal; there are no protrusions sticking out from the handset.
Positioned on the front of the handset is the main 128x160 pixel screen, and just under this is the directional pad surrounded by five buttons – initiate call, hang up, two soft menu buttons and a cancel button. When slid open, the phone exposes the hidden twelve button keypad. On the back side of the slider are the 1.3 Megapixel camera, LED light and mirror for taking self portraits. On the back is the battery which can be unclipped and also doubles up as the phones back panel, and beneath that is the traditional hiding spot for the SIM card. On either side of the handset you’ll find a headset jack, multimedia keys and volume up/down control. The bottom side of the handset includes the proprietary interface for connecting the charger and connecting the phone to a PC.
When closed the M6100 is operable with all the basic functions which can be achieved by using only the navigation pad and the surrounding buttons. To avoid pressing these buttons when in a pocket or bag you can lock them through the UI. To access the keypad below the phone is slid open and a satisfying click is heard. The handset can also be customised to play a sound on queue when opening and closing the slider, which is a nice addition. Using the handset in closed mode is fine, as ergonomically everything is placed within easy fingertip reach. However, the lower keypad is uncomfortable to use as the lower section is a lot more compact and requires the user to strain their fingers to get at the keypad buttons. Otherwise the M6100 is more comfortable to hold than conventional handset as is at just the right width to be held in a persons grasp.
Measuring in at 89.7mm x 40mm x 19.9mm (3.53" x 1.57" x 0.78") the phone is petite and will most likely appeal to our ever growing metro sexual demographic as well as all the ladies out there.
User interface & display
Take a closer look!
Although LG haven’t gone out on a limb to fit in the latest 240x320 screen this is forgivable because of its small size the 1.3" 128x160 pixel screen used is quite adequate for its purpose. It doesn’t disappoint - everything is clear and bright on this screen even in bright sunlight. It is possible to adjust the backlight timeout however there is no setting to change the screen’s brightness. There are four preset skins that can be used to customise all menus’ look, background screensaver etc. Up to six lines of menu items can be displayed at once, as well as nine lines of text when composing a message.
The user interface in the M6100 is clean and sharp due to its well thought out design and is fast to respond. Menu items such as the call list are sluggish to load and can be annoying when quick access to the last dialled numbers is needed. The user needs to spend a bit of time with the M6100 as some of the menu items are buried deep within numerous submenus. Thoughtfully, LG have provided the ability to set shortcuts in the favourites menu and this menu can be easily accessed by pressing up on the directional pad.
The main menu is accessible through soft key from the main desktop and is displayed as a 3x3 grid of nine icons. The menu options are Profiles, Call Register, Tools, Organiser, Messages, Multimedia, Settings, Service and Download. Number shortcuts are supported in the M6100, so it is possible to navigate through menus and options by pressing the menu key and ‘2’ to get to the Received Calls menu for instance.
Making and receiving calls
In terms of call quality the M6100 is quite capable including the ability to use the speakerphone, standard headset and the Bluetooth headset on top of the standard earpiece. The M6100 loudspeaker is adequate for conference voice calls however it lacks bass. There is a problem however with the placement of microphone. It is located on the lower keypad portion of the slider and when closed, it is obstructed by the upper screen layer. It is very hard for the receiver to hear you as a result of this and it is recommended that slider be open so that the microphone is not muffled.
Calls were tested using the Bluetooth connection and this worked well in both an in-car system as well as through a Bluetooth headset. The included headset also provided a decent call quality and the M6100 reception is reasonable even in the black spot I live in.
The phone book can store up to 1000 contacts with multiple sets of details, such as home, office, fax, email, and picture ID. LG have also included a number of preset character pictures if you don’t have a picture to assign for the contact. Contacts can be sent to other phones via MMS or Bluetooth.
LG have included 44 sound files including ring tones and theme sounds, on the M6100. Fortunately a 64-tone synthesiser has been built into the unit and the ring tones are loud and sound pretty good. It is recommended to use MP3 ring tones wherever possible as these do tend to be of better quality than MIDI files. There are five profiles: three of the profiles are customizable while the two fixed profiles are vibrate only and silent. In the customizable profiles it is possible to set different ring tones, incoming ring tone volume, message alerts, message alert volume, key tones, keypad volume, toggle warning tones, and also toggle the vibration alert between on or off. It is not possible to add any more personalized profiles over the 5 offered.
Messaging
Included in the M6100 all the standard messaging standards used these days, namely SMS, EMS and MMS. T9 is available for predictive text input and it is reasonable quick and responsive. The phone does suffer from lag, meaning that if typed too fast, the phone will miss key presses and mess up predicted words.
The main problem with messaging on the M6100 is the fact that that keypad resides on the lower layer of the slider and it rather small. This makes typing messages one handed awkward and even with two hands messaging is not very intuitive due to the physical design. This is a shame and will scare away heavy texters (or give them very sore fingers!).
The M6100 is capable of composing large SMS messages, meaning multiple linked SMS messages can be sent. There is also MMS support included however the M6100 does not support sending video over MMS, which is a bit of a shame. MMS messages can have a variety of different media attached through slides with a maximum message limit of 100 kilobytes in size. Included is a custom dictionary and the phone will prompt to enter a word that it doesn’t know when using predictive text.
Connectivity
The LG M6100 is a tri-band GSM device. The handset network capabilities covers most GSM/UTMS frequencies so there shouldn’t be any trouble connecting to most GSM networks around the world, provided the operator has roaming available. The M6100 supports the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands, and has GPRS Class 10 support for internet access between 32 - 48 kbps.
In terms of connectivity LG offers the choice of USB or Bluetooth; both of which have become the standard these days. The phone comes with its own USB connector which is plugged into the proprietary socket at the bottom of the phone and this allows the handset to be connected to a PCs USB port. To transfer files between the PC and phone, the M6100 support the USB Mass Storage Driver which means that it is possible to use the handset in Windows XP without any driver installation. LG does include its mobile connectivity suite PC software however, which gives more features like a media library and internet connection utility. Like most mobile phone software, it is buggy but is good enough to do the job. One nice feature of the software is that it is able to synchronise contacts in Microsoft Outlook.
The Bluetooth connectivity was tested to make phone calls with a Motorola wireless headset and transfer data between the phone and a computer and no problems were encountered. The Bluetooth support seems to be reliable and can also be used to send pictures or documents to Bluetooth enabled printers.
Build quality
In my previous experience with LG phones, I have found that the build quality is okay but never fantastic. It is the same story here with the M6100. For the most part the phone is built well and there are no noticeably loose parts .However, the handset does feel a tad on the flimsy side especially the slider which although is okay, does have a bit of movement laterally. The battery cover is firmly fastened so that it is difficult to remove requiring two hands to pry it open.
The buttons in particular feel very cheap and nasty to press, and tend to be on the less tactile side. I think for a phone with emphasis on looks, the M6100 build quality is its main drawback.
Battery life
The M6100 ships with two 800 mAh batteries. The official claim from LG is that the battery life should last 155 hours on standby and allow 4hours and 45 minutes of talk time on a full charge. In practice tests the phone lasted for about three days with mixed usage (short phone calls, messaging etc.) but the battery life halves when the playing music files. The phone takes roughly about two hours to recharge.
The battery life for the M6100 is fairly mediocre considering it does have the feature set of top of the line phones. Fortunately LG supply a second battery to compensate for the low battery life. Not exactly the best option as it’s a pain to have to carry around another batter everywhere you go.
Major features...
Tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900MHz network support
This handset includes coverage for most GSM networks and should be able to be connected in most places around the world. It is also possible to tell the phone to manually switch between 900/1800 or 1900 MHz bands, as well as force it to connect to a particular network.
1.3" 262,000 colour 128 x 160 pixel TFT display
Located on the outside of the slider phone is the 128 x 160 pixel display which is clear and adequate for its purpose. While it is not possible to adjust the brightness of the screen, it does stay readable even in bright sunlight. Colour reproduction is good, with photos taken by the device displayed brilliantly on the screen. Up to six lines of menu text can be displayed at once, while between four and twelve lines of text are showed while writing a message, depending on the selected font size.
1.3 Megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom
Tucked away behind the slider is the 1.3 Megapixel camera. This means that the phone needs to be opened to access the camera which is a good thing as it protects the lens from being damaged. All the essential settings and features are included and photos are improved by an LED flash light for low-light conditions. Video recording is also supported up to 176x144 pixels and there’s no time limit for recording a video, although it is not possible to attach video to a MMS message in the M6100. See the camera section for more information.
64 tone polyphonic ring tones, MP3 support
There are 44 sound files included with the M6100 and these ring tones sound good due to the 64 tone synthesiser. It is also possible to use MP3 songs as ring tones and LG have included plenty of space to load these onto the phone. Ring tones can be set as per profiles, added to message alerts and assigned to the alarm clock.
124MB internal memory
LG have built in 124 megabytes of memory that can be used for photos, recorded videos, the MP3 music player and text files. Curiously there is only as small 3.5 megabytes of memory shared across all the other functions of the phone – text and multimedia messages, voice recordings, images, sounds and Java applications. There is no reason why this memory segregation should exist, but unfortunately it’s there. Probably due to size constraints, LG have chosen not to include an expandable memory slot, which is a shame, as 128 megabytes only allows a collection of about 30 songs. So much for it being a MP3 orientated mobile phone.
USB and Bluetooth wireless connectivity
The M6100 includes the two most common forms of connectivity – USB and Bluetooth. USB is connected through the proprietary socket situated on the bottom of the handset and can be used to connect it to a PC for transfering data and to synchronise contacts and calendar data using the included software. Bluetooth support is also there for use with wireless headsets, to transfer data between phones and also send pictures to compatible printers.
SMS, EMS and MMS messaging
The M6100 allows long SMS messages, slideshows of pictures and sounds through MMS. Unfortunately sending video MMS messages is not supported by the handset. Predictive text is supported through the standard T9 system and although this is intuitive LG’s implementation tends to be a little frustrating due to the lag. This is not helped by the fact that the keypad is located in an awkward position.
WAP 2.0 (xHTML) browser over GPRS
The web browser included with the M6100 can view xHTML and WML web pages thanks to its support of WAP 2.0. The browser is accessed through the main menu, although Telstra and Optus versions have a shortcut through the right soft key. The browser works quickly and efficiently, although getting connected in the first place can take some time to happen.
MIDP 2.0 Java games and applications
The M6100 has support for all the latest Java games and applications through its Java 2.0 support. There are two games “Action In Life” and “Halloween Fever” included with the handset with the options of downloading further games and applications from providers networks. As the M6100 is not a great Java performer (see benchmark results), graphically intensive games may have trouble running smoothly on this phone.
JBenchmark 1.0 1433
JBenchmark 2.0 48
PIM and organiser functions
Included with this handset is the standard set of organiser functions including an alarm clock, calculator, unit converter and world time program. On top of this is the calendar, diary and a memo program and the calendar can provide alerts through the alarm system.
Problems/Issues?
No expandable memory
Even though LG have included 124MB of internal memory to store all photos, recorded videos, music and text files, there is no external memory card slot. It would be nice to have this option considering that LG are marketing this handset as a media-centric phone while only being able to store around 30 songs at any one time.
Thick handset
The LG6100 is a classy looking phone due to its thinness width wise. However for a phone that doesn’t have the feature set of the higher end phones available currently it tends to be on the thicker side when taking into consideration its depth. It will be a bit chunky and stick out of some peoples pockets.
Keypad awkward to use
Due to its slider form factor, the M6100 hides the keypad on the lower section of the phone. This generally is not such a big problem however the thickness of the two separate sliding modules make it awkward when typing due to the change in height from the lower (keypad) section to the upper (soft key/directional key) section. Also, the keypad is rather small at the bottom right of the phone results in having to hold the phone awkwardly when typing messages.
Mediocre Battery Life
One of the main problems of the M6100 is that it does suffer from a short battery life. In practice tests the phone lasted for about three days with mixed usage (short phone calls, messaging etc.) but the battery life halved when playing music files. The inclusion of the extended battery in the retail package is a quick fix to the problem; however LG should have taken the effort in making their phone less power hungry. It doesn’t have such a large feature set or a high resolution screen so it is puzzling why this phone should suffer from a short battery life.
In Summary
For the most part the LG M6100 is quite an elegant phone. In physical appearance it is petite and fashionable. But apart from the aesthetics there is little about the M6100 to get overly excited about. It’s just pain ordinary. It does have all the necessary features like a nice 128 x 160 pixel display which is clear and bright, the 1.3 Megapixel camera and the standard USB and Bluetooth connection options.
The phone does have some significant flaws including the mediocre battery life, the ill-placed and ill-sized keypad and it is a pretty thick phone. In addition to this, for a phone that is marketed for its multimedia playback capabilities LG has only included 128MB of internal memory with no option for expandability.
The M6100 is aimed squarely for more fashion oriented users over having the latest technical features. If you swing that way, and you can live with the average feature set offered then this could be the phone for you. |
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