Technology

LG Viewty 3G Mobile Phone – Black Beauty

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For the past 3 months, I have been using the LG Viewty 3G mobile phone as part of the LG Bloggers Relation Program. Gotta say that I love this 3G mobile phone, from its slick user interface to the full touchscreen capability. And it’s not just me. A few colleagues that have played around with my LG phone actually ended up buying one for themselves or their wives!

The mobile phone is mostly black, with parts of it in silver. It has an unusual rounded bottom edge too. Both men and women should find its form factor attractive. Here it is next to my gorgeous metallic LG Shine, also a 3G mobile phone.

LG Viewty and LG Shine 3G mobile phones

Not only is the mobile phone black on the outside, it has a matching black and white user interface too.

Black user interface of the LG Viewty 3G mobile phone

The white icons juxtaposed against the all-black background reminds me of the LG Prada. For those of you that do prefer having more colors on your phone, there are a couple more colorful themes other than this cool default one.

Friends fiddling with my mobile phone for the first time would automatically start looking for the numeric keypad. The thing is — there isn’t one! Other than the 3 buttons on the front and 2 by the side, you would only be pressing on the large LCD touchscreen. Apple iPhone, anyone? Come to think of it, with its black form factor and touchscreen, the Viewty does bear a certain resemblance to the iPhone!

Horizontal QWERTY keypad on the LG Viewty 3G mobile phone

For SMS addicts, besides typing messages through the numeric keypad, you also have the option of using a horizontal QWERTY keyboard (like the keyboard on your computer) for quicker typing.

Speaking of the touchscreen capability, this mobile phone does come with a stylus in the form of a dongle (there is nowhere to slot it). But I prefer not to use it. It is sensitive enough for you to use your fingers alone, or as what Steve Jobs would call the “best pointing device in the world”. You can also turn on the touch feedback, so that each time you press a key, you feel a gentle vibration.

Image gallery on the LG Viewty 3G mobile phone

Another thing that I do really like about this mobile phone is the image gallery. After taking pictures using its excellent 5-megapixel Schneider-Kreuznach camera (see photo samples here), I can view them in a nice-looking… Let’s call it the tabletop interface. It sure looks as though the photos are spread out over a table in a haphazard fashion. Touching any photo would bring it to the front. Nice!

MicroSD memory card slot on the LG Viewty 3G mobile phone

It is pretty apparent that LG has paid much attention to designing the Viewty, in terms of both form factor and user interface. I do have one major gripe though. The MicroSD memory card slot is inconveniently located within the mobile phone rather than being on the side. To access the slot, it would mean turning off the mobile phone, opening the back cover and removing the battery. Quite a big hassle for doing something so simple.

But that alone is unlikely to deter anyone. I would still continue using the Viewty. The beautiful user interface (very much improved over the LG Shine) and easy navigation are enough to keep me as a fan!

Features

5-megapixel camera certified by Schneider-Kreuznach (flash, auto/manual focus, image stabilisation)
ISO 800 and SmartLight, for low-light conditions
3-inch full LCD touchscreen
High-speed 120 fps video recording
Handwriting recognition and editing
Multimedia player (MP3, MP4, WMV, AAC, DivX)
Document viewer (DOC, XLS, PDF)
Connectability: HSDPA 3.6Mbps, EDGE, WAP 2.0, Bluetooth 1.2, USB, BPP
Vibrating feedback when screen is pressed

Also in this series

LG Shine - My First Impression LG Shine – My First Impression

For more on Sparklette:

About the Author

Veron Ang is the founder and chief editor of Sparklette. She lives in Singapore and has dined and traveled across the world. She also runs Sparklette Studio, a web design and WordPress development firm. If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to the contact page or follow her personal updates on Twitter: @VeronSG.

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16 responses

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Theresa
April 1, 2008

I have a friend using this phone too. He bought it because he thought it looks like the Apple iPhone, and it’s quite affordable too.
Reply
syafiqah
April 3, 2008

Hi Veron! I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while and i simply Love your writings. so do update regularly ya.

i bought this Viewty a month back and it really is a good phone. its worth my 1st pay. i love the touch-screen function so much dat i tend to touch the screen of other phones dat i use. hahaha

my aunt bought the silver viewty, and frankly, its not as beautiful as the black one. she sold it after a week cuz of the mulfunction motherboard.
Reply
Edmund Ng
April 4, 2008

Veron, once again your blog posts come at a good time (last time it was for my Danga Bay visit). I’ve just got a $200 phone voucher and was looking at the Viewty – and then came your post! Awesome!!

(your pics seem rather vibrant, which camera do you use? don’t tell me all your blog pics are taken using the Viewty?)

Can the Viewty type an sms using predictive text on the numeric touch-screen keyboard? ie, like what the old Nokia phones did. one thing that annoys me is using the stylus to tap onto the QWERTY keyboard- kinda hard to get the exact letter you want when texting on the move..
~also, does the phone have Wi-fi?

cheers

Ed :)
Reply
mervkwok
April 4, 2008

Tried this phone and rather liked it. Not too shabby I say! But am waiting for the new Sony-Ericssons. Those look promising hehe
Reply
Veron
April 5, 2008

Theresa: This phone certainly is quite affordable given its impressive full touchscreen capability!

syafiqah: Wow, I have yet to see the silver Viewty for myself but I can imagine a silver version should be quite promising, judging from the gorgeous Shine phone! Did your aunt try to get a one-to-one exchange? Some mobile phone stores allow that if their phones break down within a week. P.S. Thanks for your compliments!

Edmund Ng: It’s always good hearing from you! I’m still using my trusty Minolta DiMaGe X50 after 3-4 years. Unless stated otherwise, all my pictures here are taken with this camera and have been processed in Photoshop to improve the vibrancy.

Yup, the Viewty uses predictive text input. For me, that’s probably the most crucial SMS feature! If you noticed from the SMS screenshot I posted above, each time you press a letter on the QWERTY keyboard, it would be enlarged and sort of “floated” above to indicate that that particular letter has been pressed. Nope this phone doesn’t support wi-fi, one of its few drawbacks really.

mervkwok: Hehe I haven’t used a Sony-Ericsson before, but one thing I do hear a lot about their mobile phones is that the camera is superior to most other mobile phone brands.
Reply
Edmund Ng
April 5, 2008

Thanks for the updated feedback!
For me (and probably most people).. i use the phone mostly for texting messages. So for the Viewty to allow BOTH predictive text via the numeric keyboard, and finger-typing the QWERTY keyboard, its a BIG advantage!

~Pity it doesn’t have wi-fi, considering S’pore is a wi-fi hotspot. Looks like its GPRS for now to get online on the go..
(reason i ask about wifi, is that you can use the phone & surf the net when overseas, no need to rely on internet cafes, hehe)

For the LG bloggers relation program, do you get to keep the phone for free? or at least keep it at a discounted price?

~Nice photoshop work. I notice you put the Copyright watermark on your images too! Smart move.. too many leechers online.
Reply
Veron
April 5, 2008

It sure is nice to have more than one option for finger-typing. For me I am still more inclined to using the numeric keypad as I am already used to typing with just my right thumb. Haha!

Yup it’s too bad that this phone doesn’t have wi-fi. Though if it does, the price would be much higher than what it currently is!

For the first phone that LG sent me (the LG Shine), I got to keep it for free. This time round, they have yet to ask me to give back the Viewty. I have a feeling they might just let me have it!
Reply
Edmund Ng
April 5, 2008

i’m planning to get the Viewty this weekend, but undecided because the O2 Atom has wi-fi…decisions decisions

wow! The perks of being an online superstar blogger :P
With your large readership, you could definitely monetize your blog via banner ads, Google Adsense or affiliate marketing… but then again, you get to keep the latest phones so that’s a good trade-off!
Reply
Veron
April 5, 2008

Hey I am using the O2 Atom too! It was my main phone before I started getting these phones from LG. Just read today’s papers with all the mobile phone adverts. There’s this new LG phone that looks pretty much like the Viewty, with wi-fi! It has a lower-res camera though. You might wanna check it out.
Reply
syafiqah
April 7, 2008

i think the Shine looks better. cuz the silver viewty is matt. so doesnt look dat elegant.

she called the dealer and they offer to change her motherboard but she didnt want to as she is scared more problems might occur later. so she trade it at $350 for a Nokia. (the trade in price is even higher den the price i bought the phone at. haizzzz….)
Reply
Edmund Ng
April 7, 2008

Hey Veron, i saw the mobile phone ads in the papers too! Went to the St*rhub (edited to avoid blatant corporate advertising, haha) Roadshow and got the new LG KS20 phone – for free! Used my $200 voucher. Its the one you mentioned – looks like a cross between Viewty and Prada phone but with the wi-fi.

However, the KS20 doesn’t have the QWERTY keyboard to allow finger-typing for sms, so i found a 3rd party download. Its called TouchPal: http://www.cootek.com/
Really cool in my opinion since it can be downloaded free and installed on most PDA phones.
Reply
Samantha =]
December 14, 2008

My dad bought me that phone today but im not having it until christmas. Everyone says there good but they break really easily is this true ? Im very careless with phones and i tend to go through about 8 a year because I either break them, lose them or have them stolen. please get back to me xx
Reply
sarah
December 24, 2008

does it not annoy people with this phone how when your inbox is full and you write a message it wont sent and wont let you delete messages you have to go out of the message delete messages an re-write it i know you can copy the text but you can never highlight it all :(:( and if your writing a message and you recieve a message which makes your inbox full and have the same problem is there any way to increase the message memory??
Reply
- Veron
  December 25, 2008
  
  I don’t remember encountering the same problems you do, but it’s probably because I clear my inbox and particularly my sent items every once in a while. I do know that when these are full new messages can’t be read, but that happens with every phone. Have you tried to see if the messages can be saved on a microSD card? I don’t use one so I can’t verify.
  Reply
amy x
May 30, 2009

I like this phone but am worried that it is too old and will go out of date quickly as it was first out in 2007 do you think it is still ok to buy? silver is new out isnt it?
Reply