EDIT: LONGEVITY?!?!?!?
After just TWO MONTHS of LIGHT use, three of the blue lights on this phone touchpad have failed (one at a time, not all at once). I have been with O2 for NINE (yes, 9) years now, who have always replaced faulty products, but on phoning them this time, they claim that "do no replace products anymore and that I should go to my
local store" even though I ordered this mobile over the phone. HOW RIDICULOUS. If I had a local store, I would have gone there in the first place!!!! Please watch this space. If, after I trek all the way to my local O2 store, they do not resolve the problem of supplying me with a faulty
phone, I shall release my full wrath on O2 (I have a spooky premonition that they might think it is not their business...hope I am wrong) . I know my consumer rights and am not afraid to use them. May I say how disappointed I am, both in this phone's longevity, and the change in O2's
customer services approach... I have been a good customer - usually spending £60+ per month... I wonder if it is worth a change in network provider... any recommendations??? I plan to take ALL my friends and family with me if this poor customer service level continues...
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This is the third release by LG in the Black Label series - a series designed for style and substance. It builds upon the successes of its predecessors, the LG Chocolate and the LG Shine. It also borrows some of the best features from the Viewty. However it is a unique design in its own right and in this handset, LG are leading the way for high-end stylish well-engineered designs.
The LG Secret fuses stylish design and high quality engineering with a range of great features. It is a high-end slider, and is the slimmest mobile on the market with a phone with a
5 megapixel camera.Materials
- It might seem bizarre to choose a mobile based on its materials, but it was just this that swung this phone for me in the end! Obviously I was already interested in its style, functions, and camera too but the materials clinched the deal.
- The Secret feels hefty and solid, like it is actually built to last me through my 18 month contract.
- The front screen has touch screen capabilities and is made from tempered glass, which should resist unsightly scratches and keep it looking newer for longer. (Tempered glass is glass that has been processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments. It has increased strength compared with normal glass. It is used for vehicle windows and cooking vessels). The glass also makes it look shiny, as long as you wipe any finger marks off (this has already become a compulsion for me!)
- The back panel is made from carbon fibre. Carbon fibre is tough and lightweight, and looks pretty too! It is widely used in watches, aerospace and automotive industries.
- There are touches of faux-leather to add a degree of refinement to the overall look.
- Unfortunately, I cannot afford to test the phone's ruggedness and durability to destruction on purpose, so only time will reveal this phone's true longevity! Watch this space to see how it passes the splash test, the keys-in-handbag test, the drop test etc…
- The main design flaw is the little fiddly rubber coverings to the connectors, like the battery charger connector. These look like they will fall off pretty quickly, and really let down what would otherwise seem to be a good piece of engineering.
Navigation
- LG deliver a four-pronged approach to navigation:
- Firstly, the slider will reveal a traditional numeric keypad which has reasonably large buttons, suitable for even the most clumsy of texters.
- Then at the bottom of the screen are there are four buttons - a central raised select button and three buttons running flush along the bottom of the screen for your cll, cancel and hang-up functions.
- Your navigation is controlled by touch-sensitive soft keys. These can be a bit tricky at first if you are not used to them (I subjected my phone to the "father test" - after the initial rages at hitting the keys accidentally or for too long so that they start scrolling, he came to like them) but being haptic, you get a reassuring slight vibration when you have touched the key.
- Finally, the main screen area can be touch-sensitive in five of the multimedia applications (music, photos, games, documents, and FM radio). For some people, not having this screen touch sensitive all the time will seem restrictive. However, I really like this as it prevents me perpetually leaving fingerprints all over the screen and having to wipe it frequently.
FEATURES:Camera
- At just 11.8 mm thick, this is currently the slimmest mobile phone on the market to feature a 5 megapixel camera.
- The flash is a bright LED, though this is not as effective as the modern xenon bulb flashes.
- The response time is characteristically slow, which precludes spontaneous photographs the LED warns people they're on camera way before the photo gets taken.
- The phone has an auto-rotating display due to an internal accelerometer. This ensures that the images are always upright when you look back through them, whichever way up you hold the phone (which is great unless you weren't holding the phone upright to begin with - in which case there is a rotate function).
- The phone also adjusts its brightness depending on lighting conditions, which can fool you into thinking your image is brighter or darker than it actually is.
- There is photo editing software included with a multitude of functions - brightness, contrast, and colour adjust, cropping, resizing etc. My little sister likes the fact you can superimpose devils horns and crazy eyes on people's heads.
- With either the USB or Bluetooth connectivity you can easily whiz these photos onto your computer if you would rather play around with them on a bigger screen.
Video
- The camera can be used to record at up to 120 fps (frames per second), which is DivX quality.
- There is video editing software - very useful for clipping out boring parts of a video.
Google suite
- Google provides the browser, maps and Gmail webmail access
- Software to view and edit Microsoft Word documents.
Touch Sensitive Multimedia Applications
- Music player
- photos
- games
- documents
- FM radio
Connectivity
- Everything you could want from a mobile phone
- Bluetooth allows you to interface wirelessly with other phones, your computer and any other Bluetooth-enabled gadgetry.
- USB ports for traditional connection via a hard wire (included)
- HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) 3.6Mbps - think of this as mobile broadband - it's an upgrade to 3G.
Voice clarity technology* Apparently the Secret comes with voice clarity technology. It seems to work very well so far - haven't done the
train station test yet!
Neon Touch
- Basically this means that whenever you touch one of the soft keys, you get a slight vibration and a blue light ripple effect.
- This works well and lets you know you have presses the key.
Accelerometer
- Ok it is a bit gimmicky, but it doesn't detract from the phone.
- This allows the photos to be viewed right-way-up at all times.
Some of the games use the accelerometer, a bit like a Wii controller - there's a magic 8 ball, fishing, a wobble maze and others to keep you amused for a while. - The magic 8 ball is a great feature if you can't make your mind up, however it does tend to give the reply "ask again later" rather a lot!
Memory
- The LG Secret comes with 100 MB (megabytes) of built-in memory
- It is expandable with the MicroSD memory card slot to hold all you music, videos and photos - up to 4 GB (gigabytes)
Comes with:
- Handset
- Battery
- Car charger
- Mains charger
- USB cable
- Lots and lots of little black boxes - stylish but very wasteful!
Summary
It's one of those phones that when you see it, you just have to have it. And it has the seal of approval of my little sister, which tells me I'm on to a winner here as she has very high phone standards! This is a beautiful handset, one that looks like it is designed to last.
I think I'm in love, and hopefully this will be a long-term relationship, not a quick fling.
Thank you for reading, I hope this has been useful to you. Please let me know if I have made any errors and please share your own experiences if they differ to mine.
