LG Crystal GD900

LG was one of the first mobile manufacturers to promote the importance of design as a selling point for the latest phones, and it continues to diversify its collection of fashion-focused handsets.  The LG GD900 really stands out thanks to a sliding keyboard which is entirely transparent and touch-sensitive.  It also offers direct access to your favourite applications and handwriting recognition.  Despite this pared-down exterior, though, the Crystal GD900 is still a multimedia phone in its own right.



Stylish

When it's closed, the GD900 looks like an ordinary phone that won't attract that much attention.  It's only when you slide out the transparent numeric keypad that the Crystal Touchpad catches your key, with the individual keys themselves outlined in a gentle blue light.  It's very surprising, but to really push the concept, LG should have gone for something that felt a little less plasticky.  Nevertheless, the phone is still well-built.


Being transparent isn't the only new feature on the keypad though: it also includes shortcuts to your favourite apps and an easy way to switch from one program to the other, as the Crystal is a multitask device.  To launch an app, all you have to do is draw a symbol that you've pre-defined to the feature you're after.  It works well once you get used to it, and it's certainly an intriguing gadget, but after a while, we found ourselves returning to the traditional menus.  For writing texts or dialling numbers, the keypad is perfectly reasonable, and the error rate is pretty limited, though it's better to gently brush across the keys.  You can also go for a virtual keyboard which shows up when you turn the phone round to landscape mode.



The 3'' screen, which we would have preferred to be a little bigger, has a reasonable display, although it's hard to see in bright sunlight, and is reasonably accurate overall.  It's responsive, even if we sometimes found ourselves tapping on the same icon twice.  That's something you might like to consider alongside the interface (S Class, also found on the Arena and the Viewty Smart) which sometimes drags when loading a feature or scrolling though your photos, for instance.  It's nothing major, but sometimes it's annoying. 

Not just a pretty face ...

The Crystal GD900 isn't stingy when it comes to features.  If you're desperate for a multimedia phone that's ready out of the box, this could well be the one for you.  But be careful, though, as the phone can't be extended with new apps, as LG doesn't have a platform for third-party downloads.


The menus are clear, with a new look for the home screen to coincide with the transparent look, although they're not always entirely clear: some features could easily have been grouped into a single icon for instance.  The four-sided cube is a fun way to switch between four different homescreens, including one for your contacts and another for multimedia content.

Multimedia

The four multimedia features that we'd expect on a phone like this are all available on the GD900: a camera, a music player, video and Internet access.

Despite coming with an 8 Megapixel sensor, the Crystal's photos are very uneven and tricky to get right.  It almost gets away with it in natural light, but as soon as it begins to get dark, things get complicated and the sensor begins to struggle.  The result is fairly average photos lacking in detail and often blurry, too; electronic noise is visible in the darkest photos.  Once again, we've seen that the number of pixels on the sensor isn't the only key to a successful camera.  The same is true for shooting video: while you can film short clips on the fly with no zoom, this phone will never replace even a pocket camcorder if you're looking for quality results.

The sound quality produced is around average for telephones in this segment, and the music player interface has been stripped back so it's easy to use.  Unfortunately, the audio output, which is also used for charging the phone, is proprietary, but we were glad to see room for an FM tuner.

Browsing the web is still nothing to write home about.  The browser itself is useful if you occasionally need to check a site, but it's a long way behind the best examples in the market like the iPhone, N900, Hero or Player HD.  It's difficult to read pages without zooming in, which is a problem, and the multitouch interface to take a closer look is shaky; scrolling through pages is even worse.



Finally, there's no GPS app as the GD900 doesn't have a GPS chip.

For battery life, you'll get around two days on average with a little bit of WiFi, web surfing, calls, music and e-mails/texting.