You may begin reading this review with a sense of dismay, that I have now obtained a Prada phone. Was it not bad enough that I wrote a review of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ after being invited to see it at its local premiere – a review well-worth reading ( hint, hint ). Well potential purchasers of this phone can be assured that my reason for getting a Prada has nothing ( very much ) to do with male chavism, brand besottedness, or petty attention seeking.
There is a much more clear reason, but you will need to read carefully through the rest of this review to discover the significant reason.
Here is a cool, considered, objective review of one of this year’s must-have phones.
1 The Basic Essentials. 888888888888888888
This is a phone which has all the vital ingredients of a great phone.
a. A Camera. **********
Those who have read my reviews on two of my camera stock, will realise that I have no need whatsoever, of a new camera, especially since it has only 2 megapixels. But it seems that any purchaser of a mobile phone today will look at the camera function before anything else. How uncool, even unthinkable, to be found walking down a major street, spot a celeb about 30 yards away, and not have a mobile phone with camera, to snap the said iconic personality. Your Granny may have been content to grab a piece of paper and a pencil stub, and plead for an autograph ‘for my wee grandson’, but it is a camera or nothing
today. ** Please note - If you stop me and want a snap of me – as a celeb – I insist on a proper camera being used. This one is not the highest number of megapixies ( as they get called in Belfast ) but it does have a Schneider lens – and you all know how good they are??? It does have a zoom, a good autofocus, a flash, multishot and camcorder functions, some filters and a timer. Your wondershots can be stored on the phone memory ( 8Mb ) or on the micro SD disk – a 256 mb is supplied and you can use one up to 2 GB.
Before buying the phone for its camera function, you should realise that you can buy a 10megapixel digital SLR cheaper than the phone !!
b. An MP3 Player. **************
Since I have acquired a number of MP3 players as free gifts, I did not rank this function high among my priorities…. But some people do.! Why, I am not sure. No phone is going to have a built-in loudspeaker that provides any decent range of tone. So you are going to have to carry a headset around with you, and the Prada’s fits in to the same slot on the phone, as the charger, the PC USB cord, and any other cord that has to be attached to the phone. It is not, therefore a standard jack plug, so your nice, small, neat, stylish MP3 player has at least one added extra to carry around. It does, none the less, function well. Music can be loaded via USB, Bluetooth, or phone connection, stored on the phone or the storage memory, and replays ( through the headphones ) with a very respectable sound. And the headphones are designer, with the Prada logo on each ear piece and a really neat control unit to attach to your pocket, tie etc.
Before buying the phone for its MP3 functions, realise that you can get 10 good MP3 players for the price of one Prada phone, and change left to buy a complete CD collection to transfer to it.
c. An FM Radio. *************
I am not just so sceptical about the need for an FM radio on a mobile phone. I have sat on a beach at night waiting for fish to consume their free meal on the end of my hook, and found that others with mobile phones could listen to the latest sports results, whereas my mediaeval mobile only let me phone a friend. Once again, I was a tad disappointed that the FM radio needs the headphone lead to be attached, because it acts as the aerial for reception purposes. Once you have that lead in place, however, you will be glad to know you can then switch over to the phone’s loudspeaker, so that mates will come over, hear the footie scores, AND admire your classy phone at the same time.
Before splashing out on this phone for its FM radio functions, you should realise that FM radios are dead cheap – look out for a freebie on your next box of breakfast cereal.!
d. Other Bits and Bobs. ******************
You all have them, so let’s not waste too much time – there is a clock, which shows as analogue or digital on the screen, an alarm clock, a calculator, a calendar, a voice recorder, and some games.
…… Oh and it also has this ability to link you into a phone network, so that you can send or receive emails, texts or even voice messages ! – wow.
But before you go mad and buy this phone, you need to ask if it really does anything more than your present one.!
2 The Prada Specials. 88888888888888888
Right, you have now reached the best bits ! This is one fabulous phone due to its unique touch-screen display. That is right. There is no physical keyboard, no fiddly little buttons, and no tiny indecipherable letters and numbers scrolling across a microscopic screen, causing the short-sighted to experience a total mental breakdown. Instead, when switched on, the Prada logo appears on a black LCD screen that virtually fills the whole front of the phone. Light finger touches on the screen bring up the displays which include all the menus necessary for adjusting settings, performing functions, composing texts and dialling numbers. The lcd display keyboard gives you numbers to tap that are highly visible, big enough for male fingers to operate with ease, and with sweet electronic noises informing you of actions taken. Having possessed a Samsung for years that operated perfectly, but had a tiny screen, I just cannot believe the difference. For years, family and others could not understand why a gadget nerd did not bother with a mobile phone. The truth is now out – I could not find a screen big enough and visible enough for me to see, and keys that were big enough for me to see and use.
The Prada has it all… I can even operate it without specs on ! – WOW.
And it is so classy – in or out of the free designer leather case that comes with it.! It is so well designed with the controls beautifully engineered and set into its slim chrome sides. It is functional, with a battery life that lasts around 3 days for me, with it being on most of the day. Of course a touch screen device will have a screen that smears from time to time, but then you whisk out the little black Prada cloth, flick it in the air so that the logo can be viewed by passers by, and clean the screen in slowly and lovingly and proudly.
So before you decide NOT to buy this phone, you need to ask yourself whether you will dare to show your phone in public, if I or some of your friends are sporting our lovely Pradas somewhere nearby.!
3 Some Considerations. 8888888888888888888
I am one of several owners who have found that a USB cable synch with the computer, just does not happen. I am still working on it, but think that the Prada supplied software cd is not recorded properly. I’ll update if I make progress.
It is not cheap. Sim-free and unlocked, they sell for about £350. They are available on a number of different tariffs. Mine came on an O2 contract for 12 months, at £25 per month, and cost me nothing. ! You will have to know how to make such a deal, as it does not come on any printed documents in the O2 shops.!!!
Like any lcd screen, bright sunlight does make life a bit more difficult, with the Prada.
Well, I think that is the lot. If you like to leave particular questions in your comments, I will gladly update in the near future.!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Excellent review, but I saw somebody with one of these yesterday and it was scratched so badly I nearly called the man a fool! It was quite shocking - surely it shouldn't scratch so easily!? -FT
Advantages: sleek, sexy, looks fantastic, touchscreen is cool, good accessories supplied Disadvantages: games suck, touchscreen is a little tricky at first, gets smudgey easily, price
Pmshack99 06.08.2007 (06.08.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of LG KE850 Prada
Advantages: stylish, touch screen, easy to navigate, Disadvantages: light/precious ,froze continuously, prada case scratched the housing, several times failed to charge
carless92 25.08.2008 (25.08.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of LG KE850 Prada
exceptional by (18%):
very helpful by (82%):
