he mobile phone market is divided in three, well for, ranges. You get the classic range, with normal mobile phones, average spec list and a price tag of under $230. You have the business range, with all sort of mobile launched recently or not on the market, which offer the ultimate business experience, but only in direct relation with the price you pay (Nokia E series, with all sort of business phone models, but their specs list vary just like their price tags).
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The most marketed range, the high multimedia mobile phone range which brings so many phone models from all the manufacturers (also the price tags vary from one manufacturer to another manufacturer, because you can pay for the same spec list phone different prices depending on the brand logo). And last, but far from the least, is the style mobile phone range. Over the last five years we all have seen, fashion phones with only the manufacturers logo, or with both manufacturer logo and a fashion industry brand. From D&G Motorola, to Armani Samsung, Prada with LG, and now Aura luxury phone ($2000), it seems that this range is far for being closed. Another LG style phone, this time without a fashion industry brand attached, is the LG GD 900 Crystal.
This phone is until now, unique with its see through sliding keyboard. LG brought to the market not just another good looking phone, but also a full features high end gadget. It's not exactly LG flagship model but it does sports enough features to be considered a high end multimedia device. The only feature lacking is the GPS. However, the GD 900 includes some main disadvantages, such as the bad screen legibility in day broad light, only average camera photo quality, no 3.5 mm audio jack, bad video recording, lacks full support for DivX and XviD video. The main attraction of the GD 900 design is the see through (or transparent if you like) sliding keyboard. If you keep the phone closed, you are not going to find something special about it. The GD 900 body is made entirely out of plastic.
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The most marketed range, the high multimedia mobile phone range which brings so many phone models from all the manufacturers (also the price tags vary from one manufacturer to another manufacturer, because you can pay for the same spec list phone different prices depending on the brand logo). And last, but far from the least, is the style mobile phone range. Over the last five years we all have seen, fashion phones with only the manufacturers logo, or with both manufacturer logo and a fashion industry brand. From D&G Motorola, to Armani Samsung, Prada with LG, and now Aura luxury phone ($2000), it seems that this range is far for being closed. Another LG style phone, this time without a fashion industry brand attached, is the LG GD 900 Crystal.
This phone is until now, unique with its see through sliding keyboard. LG brought to the market not just another good looking phone, but also a full features high end gadget. It's not exactly LG flagship model but it does sports enough features to be considered a high end multimedia device. The only feature lacking is the GPS. However, the GD 900 includes some main disadvantages, such as the bad screen legibility in day broad light, only average camera photo quality, no 3.5 mm audio jack, bad video recording, lacks full support for DivX and XviD video. The main attraction of the GD 900 design is the see through (or transparent if you like) sliding keyboard. If you keep the phone closed, you are not going to find something special about it. The GD 900 body is made entirely out of plastic.
No metal finish anywhere on the case. The only thing it makes this design somewhat stylish is the white glow look of the unique keypad. In terms of dimension, the phone is stands in the average line. With a height of 105 mm, wide of 52.5 mm, deep of 13.5 mm, the GD 900 weights about 127 g, making the LG model not the lightest phone on the market. on the front side above the display and surrounded by a grey frame, you get the earpiece, proximity sensor and the second camera for video calling. Below the display you get the call key, end call key and the shortcut to the cube menu (or interface, which is basically another way to present the menu, something similar with what Samsung Omnia II has to offer). Once you slide the phone, you get the transparent key pad. This keypad doesn't actually sports real keys. It is just a single touch screen layer with numeric letters attached to the "keys".
As you can imagine no flex or bad usability is a matter here. Everything works nice and there is nothing bad you can say about the keypad. Once the phone illuminates the keypad you will understand why LG named GD 900 "Crystal". All keys offer good feedback, helping GD 900 improve its usability. On the left side you can find a micro USB port (covered), while on the right side GD 900 sports the dedicated camera key and the volume control keys. Just like the LG arena, LG GD 900 Crystal has on the top side the Power On and Off button, also used as a switch for the touch screen. When closed the GD900 doesn't sport anything on the back side; however, once opened you will find on the upper left corner the 8 megapixel camera lens with the LED flash. On the opened slider you will also find on the back (almost in the left side of the phone) the micro SD card slot. Overall, the GD 900 provides a solid build. It lacks, however, of nice to touch and look materials, but overall LG provides GD 900 Crystal a nice, somewhat stylish look. Also the phone is stable enough; you are not going to get any flex or squeaks when pressing the case a little too much.
LG GD 900 Crystal comes with the S Class user interface, which is one of the best interfaces found on mobile phones nowadays. Beside the excellent iPhone's user interface and the new Touch Wiz 2.0, S Class provides a great user interface experience. The GD 900 sports the same user interface with the new BL 40 Chocolate. Also this is the refreshed version found on the LG Arena. The best feature onboard this interface is the 3D cube menu, providing instant access to four home screens fully customizable (just customize a screen for work, one for home, one for camera, and if you are a music fan, one for audio experience). It is very similar to what you get from the Touch Wiz 2.0 and doesn't bring actual features. The new version improves some issues found on the previous S Class interface. Also you get to customize your GD 900 with any widgets you might want, calendar, world time, weather, memo, calculator and so many other you already get with the phone, or others that could be downloaded. The interface also brings an excellent organizer, and provides good short message function, beside the good call function. The LG's music player, Dolby Mobile, is pretty good. Not the best found on the market, but enough to be included in a high end mobile phone. You get all sort of settings and options, and the sound offered is good to excellent, because of the preset EQ.
If you were planning to use GD 900 as a movie player, you should revise your plans. LG GD 900 Crystal is not the best choice for watching video. Music videos are watchable but that about it, because of the lack of video support. LG GD 900 runs in 2G network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1900 / 1800) and in 3G network (HSDPA 900 / 2100, and HSDPA 850 / 2100). Also the phone features an excellent 3 inches TFT capacitive touch screen with a 480 x 800 pixels resolution, capable of rendering up to 16 million colors. Special features complete the multimedia package, gesture shortcut, handwriting recognition, multi touch input method, accelerometer sensor for auto rotate feature. LG ships the GD 900 with 1.5 GB internal memory, value that is expandable by using a micro SD memory card (Trans Flash memory card), up to 32 GB supported. The connectivity is ensured by the Class 10 GPRS (with the common by now 4+1 / 3+2 slots) with 32 Kb per seconds to 48 Kb per second, HSCSD, Wi-Fi with 802.11 g/g profile, EDGE Class 10 with 236.8 Kb per second, HSDPA with 7.2 MB per second, 2.0 micro USB, and Bluetooth version 2.1 with A2DP. Another excellent feature packed in the LG GD 900 Crystal is the 8 megapixel digital camera, with a resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels, auto focus, and LED flash. Also the built in camera can record videos at 720 x 480 pixels with 30 frames per second, in VGA mode with 30 frames per second, and in QVGA and slow motion video recording. LG included in the GD 900 a 1000 mAh standard Lithium Ion battery with a reported standby time of 300 hours and a talk time in 2G networks of 6 hours and in 3G networks of 4 hours.
Overall, the LG GD 900 Crystal brings good features (2009 spec list indeed) into a somewhat stylish package. The best feature of this phone that includes it in the fashion phone line is the transparent sliding keypad. If you are looking for a special stylish mobile
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