| LG P7200 |
| General |
| Network | Gsm 900 / Gsm 1800 / Gsm 1900 |
| Announced | 2005, August |
| Status | Available |
| Size |
| Dimensions | 96 X 50 X 17 Mm |
| Weight | 112 G |
| Display |
| Type | Tft, 256k Colors |
| Size | 176 X 220 Pixels |
| | - Second External Tft Display, 65k Colors, (96 X 96 Pixels)
- Downloadable Wallpapers |
| Ringtones |
| Type | Polyphonic (64 Channels), Mp3 |
| Customization | Download, |
| Vibration | Yes |
| Memory |
| Phonebook | 1000 Entries, Photocall |
| Call Records | 20 Dialed, 20 Received, 20 Missed Calls |
| Card Slot | Microsd (transflash), |
| | - 64 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, V1.2 |
| Infrared Port | No |
| Usb | Yes, V2.0 |
| Features |
| Messaging | Sms, Ems, Mms, Email |
| Browser | Wap 2.0/xhtml |
| Games | 2 - Bubble Soccer, Jetski Xxl + Downloadable, |
| Colors | |
| Camera | 2 Mp, 1600x1200 Pixels, Autofocus, Video, Flash |
| | - Java Midp 2.0
- Mp3/aac Player
- T9
- Voice Memo
- Calendar |
| Battery |
| | Standard Battery, Li-ion 800 Mah |
| Stand-by | Up To 100 H |
| Talk Time | Up To 2 H |
|
LG - P7200RAZR-like LG P7200 Imaging Phone
Introduction
Whether you are a fan of Motorola or not, you cannot deny the success of their RAZR V3; not only has it sold well, it has also helped Motorola to re-establish itself as being the 'hip' company, putting down the soap-maker image. Korean manufacturers are not shy about using the RAZR concept on their phones at all, Samsung has the Z500 series, and LG has the P7200, which we are going to look at today. The P7200 is LG's answer to the RAZR, and it is arguably the only 2.5G model LG put any effort into this holiday season.
Physical Aspects
The P7200's design is heavily RAZR inspired, but it feels a lot more ergonomic. Size wise it is only 3mm (0.11") narrower and 4mm (0.15") thicker than the RAZR (the P7200 is 96mm x 50mm x 17mm - 3.77" x 1.96" x 0.66"). Astonishingly, LG managed to squeeze a rotating display, 2 megapixel camera, and auto focus module into this 105g (3.70oz) package, just 10 grams (0.35oz) heavier than the RAZR.
The black plastic doesn't feel cheap at all, partly due to the slightly brushed finishing and the handset's overall weight. The build is extremely sturdy, and scratch resistance is above average.
The keypad is again heavily RAZR-inspired. From the blue backlight to the tactile feeling, not only does it look similar, it actually feels similar. The keys might not be soft enough for fast text messaging, but their spacing and arrangement are appropriate. Generally, I am quite pleased with the keypad.
The volume controls, TransFlash (microSD) slot, and the power/data connecters are found on the left, whereas the hands free jack and the shutter key are found on the right of the handset. The soul of the phone, the 2-megapixel camera, is found on the back of the phone. There is no lens cover, though I never managed to scratch it in my jeans pocket. On the cover of the phone there is a square sub display and three music hotkeys. They are handy for skipping tracks with the phone still in your pocket.
The main display can be swiveled and flipped down. This mechanism feels sturdier than that on Sharp 903. The flip hinge itself is unremarkable, just the usual LG spring hinge that closes a bit too strongly but should be durable - based on my past experiences.
Multimedia
The P7200 uses the same 262K color TFT main display found on LG's newer 3G phones. Measuring 2" diagonally, resolution is 176x220 pixels, which is only average. Brightness is not adjustable, yet is sufficient during use. To our disappointment, visibility under sunlight is poor.
The 96x96 pixel external display measures 1.17" diagonally. The specifications stated that it was only capable of displaying 65K colors, but I have not noticed significant difference from the main display.
The P7200 excels in the area of audio performance. The stereo speakers give excellent results in playing music, and ringtones are loud with the 64 voice polyphonic system. For a change, the gimmicky stereo effect of the speakers is actually discernible. Volume wise it is comparable to the Sony Ericsson K700i, only the treble is not as harsh and exaggerated. The audio player supports a wide range of formats that include MP3, AAC, AAC+, E-AAC, WMA, and even Real Audio files. All of these files can be set as the ringtone. Furthermore, you can make use of the music shortcut keys on the cover to start and move around your music collection. I was pleasantly surprised to find a customizable equalizer built in, and you can also choose from three flashy visual effects while playing music.
There is no ringtone editor built in, though you might be better off using your own audio files anyway.
Imaging is another selling point of this device. Although this is the first 2-megapixel CMOS handset LG has released outside of Korea, the P7200 does not disappoint. The camera can be activated from the main menu on the main display, a shortcut menu on the sub display, or by simply swiveling and flipping over the screen.
The camera is capable of taking pictures from 72x72 to 1600x1200 pixels, and you can choose to save them to the internal memory or the external TransFlash card. Different from most Japanese phones, the shutter sound can be turned off. There are three levels of image compression to choose from, and white balance can be set to auto, cloudy, incandescent, fluorescent, or sunlight. The special effects available are monochrome, sepia, and negative color. The availability of scene modes is useful at night; you can choose between macro, night, portrait, and landscape modes. To take self-portraits, you need to swivel the screen to face yourself - I find the angle a bit awkward, as the screen only opens only up to 150 degrees. Shutter lag can be as long as 4 seconds, depending on the speed of focusing (ambient light dependent). Saving pictures is blissful; at the highest resolution and highest quality (approximately 300Kb) it takes only 2 seconds.
Picture quality from the camera is very good, and auto focus is generally accurate. Macro shots look very appealing. Digital noise control indoors is comparable to the Panasonic VS7, and pictures taken under night scene mode are very usable. In terms of color reproduction, it is not as vivid as the K750i, and occasionally there is a red tint to the captured image.
Personally, I feel that the video recording capability on the P7200 beats all other phones, apart from the Nokia Nseries and Sharp 900 series. Resolution can be set from 128x96 to 208x160 in H.263 MPEG4 format. The best part is that the video length is only limited by the amount of free memory. Videos taken flow very smoothly and are not jerky at all, even when moving the camera, as opposed to the Nokia N90. All the scenes and special effects mentioned above for still pictures can also be applied to videos.
Pictures and videos can be accessed either under 'My Stuff' as a list of files, or 'Multimedia' as thumbnails. Saving files is fast, but loading files is on the slow side. Typically, a 300Kb photo takes about 5 seconds to display in full screen, though it does not take more than a second to open up a video. As a multimedia phone, the P7200 provides 64MB of internal memory; about 52MB of which is allocated for multimedia files, 3MB for PIM files, and the rest is left for the system firmware. A free 128MB TransFlash card comes in the box, but unfortunately there is no official word on what is the maximum size of external memory card that the phone can support. In addition, the phone can act as a USB Mass Storage device once connected via USB, just like a USB thumb drive.
User Interface
The GUI is essentially the same as that found on the LG handsets manufactured for Hutchison 3G: the usual 3x4 icon grid main menu with a list based second level. As you would expect, LG has still not resolved the most criticized aspects of their UI - the clumsy arrangement of menu options and slow response times. As you would expect from the number of icons, categorizing can be confusing and redundant, Bluetooth, for example, is found under 'Tools' instead of 'Settings'. Display settings are found in a standalone icon separate from the rest of the phone settings.
The three built in themes all look quite attractive, and the built in wallpaper images are not bad either.
Keypad response is on the slow side - it will not frustrate you like a K700i, but it can get annoying. The four directional keys act as shortcut keys from the standby screen. They bring you to the contact list, sound profile management, message inbox, and your 'Favorite' menu. The favorite menu is nothing ground breaking, it is just a list of shortcuts to the most used functions of your choice (like that found on the Sony Ericsson K750). Below the two soft keys are the calendar and multimedia shortcut keys.
A number of functions can be accessed with the phone closed, making use of the external display menu. A press on the camera shortcut key will bring you to a list consisting of MP3, camera, slideshow, and torch. The menu can be scrolled using the volume keys on the side of the handset. The music hotkeys directly below the external screen are used to control the MP3 functions: play/pause and selection of tracks. All these buttons are very sturdy and it is difficult to push them by mistake.
Phone functions
The P7200 is a tri-band GSM phone supporting 900/1800/1900Mhz. In terms of reception, the P7200 is a mixed bag. Compared to Motorola phones, it is not as competent in picking up weak network signals. However, when it is able to detect the network properly, audio quality is top notch. Voice through the earpiece is loud and clear. The speaker phone function is quite useful thanks to the excellent speakers.
There are five ring profiles supported, out of them only 'Silent' and 'Vibrate Only' are not editable. There is no support for timed profiles.
The P7200 is capable of holding 1000 contacts in its internal memory. It is a shame that the handset has to display contacts in both the SIM and the internal memory at once, as repetition is inevitable and processing speed is greatly sacrificed. Speed dial keys can be linked to individual contacts, though voice commands and voice dial are not supported.
The 800mAh battery lets the phone run no more than 2 days under normal usage, which is slightly below average.
Connectivity
Just like the RAZR V3, the LG P7200 has shunned the Infrared port in favor of Bluetooth 1.2 support. There is no word from LG on Bluetooth PC synchronization, though this can be done via USB anyway. The OBEX file exchange protocol is supported. Compared to the earlier Bluetooth devices from LG, stability issues have been resolved.
Getting online using GPRS is straightforward, the configuration menu is logical, and there isn't really much more to say about it.
Messaging
The LG P7200 supports all of the most common messaging protocols, namely SMS, EMS, MMS, and SMTP/POP email. Configuration, again, is simple.
The slowness of the UI is especially evident when typing a message using T9, as there are situations in which you are typing faster than the phone can recognize. Since the P7200 we are reviewing is a European prototype, the T9 languages supported are English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, and Turkish. A user dictionary is also available for you to add your own slang.
Applications
The P7200 only gives the most basic PIM functions. Calendar, schedule alarm, and memo are the only three tools in this category. However, it does support vCard and vCalendar files. These can be sent via USB or Bluetooth.
Other miscellaneous applications include a voice recorder, multiple alarms, unit converter, calculator, and world time. The LG P7200 supports Java MIDP 2.0 and the two built in games are only average, and hardly worth a mention.
Conclusion
I don't know how Motorola designers will react to seeing the LG P7200. I am not too impressed personally. At least Samsung and NEC put some thought into making their handsets look less like a RAZR, LG clearly has not put much effort into personalizing the design.
Apart from the slow UI and long shutter lag, I do not have much to complain about really. The still image, video, and music quality are all very good. Telephony performance is well above average. The LG P7200 is a strong addition to LG's portfolio, the only thing left for LG to do is design something more original.
Forgetting about plagiarism, the LG P7200 is a well rounded phone that I would recommend. Other handsets to consider would be Motorola V3i, Panasonic VS7, NEC L1, Samsung Z510, and Sanyo MM-A900
Please take note that the P7200 reviewed was a European prototype. |
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