14 DAY TRIAL // After conquering the mobile market with the Chocolate concept, LG Electronics needed something completely new and revolutionary to "refresh" its handset lineup. This came in the form of LG Shine, the second mobile phone in the Black Label series, which is not black at all. The slider has been the first to feature full-metal body with mirror screen. After its successful launch on the Asian market, LG decided to bring up another 2 Shine models, each with different features compared with the original. As a result, LG ended up by launching 3 Shine models that are available at the moment on different markets: KE970 (slider), KU970 (3G slider) and KE770 (candybar).
The Shine model has been made available on the Korean market first and has been sold in more than 200,000 units since November 2006 till February 2007. Seeing 2007 as "Shine's year", LG moved the handset to Europe at the beginning of 2007 (February in UK) and at the moment it can be acquired for no more than USD $450 free of contract.
Design
It is clear that the new Shine handset brings a new glamorous look to the Black Label Series, combining an astonishing look with decent tech specifications. Designed especially for trendsetters and fashionistas the phone makes an excellent choice for those that are looking to "shine" wherever they go. Made completely from a metal compound, the phone features NOT a mirror-like display but a pure mirror that can be easily used by women for make-up. More like a phone for girls, the handset's design shines literally when exposed to light, attracting all looks just as a woman would want. Because of the full-metal body, Shine weighs approximately 118 grams (battery included) which is much less than Nokia's 8800 model (134 grams), another full-metal phone. Having "moderate" measures (99.8 x 50.6 x 13.8 mm) the phone fits perfectly in the user?s hand no matter if you use it as a mirror, camera or mobile.
The slider design hides a RAZR-like keyboard (why?!) with a nice bluish backlight. Unfortunately, you won't be able to answer any calls keeping the phone closed, because it doesn't feature any specific keys that can be set to do that. Well, you might use the camera button for that, but it's a long shot because you won't be able to end the conversation unless the other person ends the call. The innovative scroll bar helps users navigate through all menus of the phone even when this is slid down. Actually, you can only access 2 small menus (profiles and messages) which cannot be customized. While it takes a long time to get used to the scrolling bar, it's rewarding enough.
There are also 2 soft keys and 2 shortcut keys that can be set to access Contacts, Messages, Favorites or other various features. The right side of the slider is full of external buttons such as: camera button, MP3 player key, volume keys and the USB pop-port which can also be used for headsets. The back of the phone embeds the 2 Megapixel camera and is easily "scratchable". Overall, the phone has a metallic look but it is not entirely made of metal. We have the back cover and the inside keys made of metal, plus a frame on the face of the phone, but the rest seems cheap plastic.
Besides the usual stuff found in a mobile phone package, the slider comes with a remote control and some nice ear buds that sound rather mediocre, but fortunately can be replaced with better ones.
Display and Camera
LG Shine (KE970) has a nice TFT QVGA display that features 262k colors and 240 x 320 resolution. This is a brilliant, sparkling display that should've made LG include a more powerful battery (at least 1000 mAh) because it eats energy like crazy especially when you use it to play games. The brightness of the display is adjustable but this will not save too much of your battery energy. As I have stated above, when not lit up, the display can be used as a mirror with no troubles at all. It doesn't distort anything that reflects in it so if you're a make-up freak this is the right choice for you. Whenever you feel like you wanna check your face to see how you look, grab your LG Shine and stare on its display as long as you want, it will not disappoint you (unless you're really ugly). It is almost impossible to use the phone without accidentally touching the screen and that will most likely leave fingerprints on it. Even so, you will still be able to use its mirror effect with no unfortunate consequences.
Since LG decided to collaborate with the German company Schneider-Kreuznach, LG handsets started to be supplied with high quality camera lenses. The 2 Megapixel camera embedded in LG's Shine (KE970) is no exception and features Schneider-Kreuznach lenses for a clearer image. Furthermore, the camera features auto focus, 2x digital zoom, flash and macro mode. Only 4 resolutions can be used to take pictures: 320 x 240, 640 x 480, 1280 x 960 and 1600 x 1200 pixels. Depending on the quality you choose (Normal, Fine and Super fine), the picture can have a larger or a smaller size. Another bug that I discovered using the phone's camera is the fact that you cannot close it when the phone is slid down. Of course you can take pictures with it even when the phone is closed but there's no way to deactivate the camera after you're through with it unless you slide up the phone and push the End call key or the "C" key. Another possibility is to simply leave the camera open for about 1 minute after which it should be closing by itself. The camera button is somewhat hard to use and could result in blurry pictures, so a better option could be a scrolling bar which is much more comfortable to use.
Nevertheless, the quality of the pictures is above average even when shooting moving subjects. The clarity of the images due to the high quality Schneider-Kreuznach lenses is surprisingly good and will satisfy most of the users. You don't have any time limit for shooting clips and you can record as much as the storage space of your phone allows you to. Unfortunately, the maximum resolution used for recording clips is 176 x 144 pixels which is very annoying. The clips are saved in .3gp format while the pictures use the .jpg format. Camera menu and functions is almost identical when using it in both modes: camera or video camera. As you can see from the pictures, the camera performance is pretty satisfactory and makes a fine addition to the handset's features.
Menu and Software
The menu of the phone is pretty much the same as in all other LG handsets, featuring the same bugs or lacking some important functions that should've been included in the phone's software. The colorful interface is intuitive and easy to use/learn even for new LG phone owners.
There are some issues that weren't patched and which are present in this model too. For example there's no way that you can change the alarm sounds with the ones you want. Actually, you are stuck to 10 pre-installed alarm sounds that you won't want to wake you up. The same goes for messages alarm that only features 4 sounds to choose from. The phone also lacks voice dialing, but instead features 2 clocks on the main display. This is strange and while there are people that think that this is a bug and that it looks "nerdish", it still helps users to see the time even when they are "delved" in the various menus of the phone, playing games or running compatible applications.
The phonebook can record up to 1000 contacts, each having multiple slots to fill. You are limited to use Java compatible applications if you want other third-party applications. There are 2 nice games (BubbleSoccer and Fishing Mania) that will deplete your energy battery fast as they are very addictive.
The phone is compatible with .pdf, .doc, .xls, .ppt and .txt files, so you basically can read any document in one of the above listed formats.
Furthermore, you can also take notes with the help of an included Memo which looks like a standard Notepad. Overall, the interface represents an updated version of Chocolate's software and thus it offers more functionality to users.
Communication
While LG KE970 Shine lacks 3G connectivity, fans of the model will still be able to get the 3G version phone which has been codenamed KU970. The basic model features EDGE, GPRS, Bluetooth and USB 1.1 connectivity. Unfortunately, this is not a communication tool and for users that are addicted to data transfers, LG Shine has little to offer. EDGE connectivity was much lower than expected and after many tests that only reached little above 40 Kbps, I barely managed to attain a little bit over 100 kbps for download. I did some Bluetooth transfers with the PC with speeds up to 38 KB/s which is acceptable.
The USB connection was a total disappointment with only 500 KB/s when copying from the PC to the phone and with no more than 50 KB/s when accessing the phone's memory. Bear in mind that if you want to use the phone as a mass storage device you have to choose this option before connecting the phone. If you want to synchronize your contacts, calendar and other stuff you have to choose the Data service option. The latter takes a very long time to actually read the entire memory of the phone, regardless of the size of information found onto the handset. Moreover, you won't be able to use the phone in any other way or receive calls in the meantime, thus every call you receive will be rejected and you'll be able to discover the missing call after disconnecting the phone. You can't even recharge your battery while the phone is connected.
The tri-band's (GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900) signal reception was excellent with no losses, while the sound was a little bit muffled.
Processor and Memory
The CPU estimator showed that the phone embeds an ARM9 processor running at 115 MHz speeds. This is a mid level processor and one that is mostly used by LG in their handsets. Moreover, the slider also features Ahead Of Time Java compiler. This type of compiler performs the compilation before execution rather than during execution, thus resulting in higher boot-up speeds.
Even if the phone was listed on some websites as having around 1GB of internal memory, in truth the phone only features 50 MB that can be used. Fortunately, you can expand that through the microSD slot card (up to 2 GB) which is found right under the SIM slot. This is a standard equipment for a mid-level phone that only stands out through its design and less through tech specs. I had no problems in navigating through the menus, and minor lags encountered were exclusively due to the scroll bar.
Multimedia
LG's Shine features MP3 Player functions, support for Multi Codec (MP3, MPEG4, WAV, 3GP, AAC/AAC+/AAC++) as well as support for Multi sound codec. There is also a nice equalizer with 10 different modes (General, 3D, Concert, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Dance, Live, Bass, Country) which may improve the music quality. Unfortunately, the 40 polyphonic sounds don't offer a very high quality and the music played is deprived of any sense of bass. Even using other headphones (Sennheiser HD200) didn't improved the sound too much. You will definitely need a dedicated MP3 player as the phone only offers a basic multimedia experience. Moreover, the volume of the sounds is low compared with other handsets in its class because the phone doesn't really feature a loudspeaker, and the vibration is rather weak.
There are also two bugs already known to Shine's owners (and obviously to LG) that are pretty annoying. The first regards the MP3 player which lacks the playlist functions for the music files stored on the memory card. To actually use the playlist you should put your music files in the Sounds folder so you won't be forced to click Next every time a song ends. The second regards the ringtones pre-installed in the phone's memory and found in the MP3 playlist. Well, if accidentally (more or less) you delete one or all of them from the playlist you won't be able to use them anymore even if they are still on the phone's memory. You can't even use the equalizer for the music stored on the memory card, but only for those files that are copied in the phone's memory. Basically, the multimedia part is full of bugs that should be patched in a future firmware update (let's hope so).
Battery
The 800 mAh Li-Ion battery has a rather low capacity compared to the requirements of the phone. There are some users that will probably manage to use the phone for about 3-4 days without recharging it and with a standard use, but LG's official numbers are 280 hours (that's more than 11 days) in standby mode and about 3 hours of talk time. In truth, I have used the phone's EDGE and USB connectivity, made some pictures and talked about 15 minutes per day and was forced to recharge the phone after 3 days. Not too good but also not too bad. In fact, I noticed that the battery is a little better than Nokia's 6300, even if that is a little bit more powerful (860 mAh).
There's also another well-known bug that LG didn't manage to correct until now and which has to do with the battery of the phone. If you power off your phone even with you battery at full, there are times when your phone won't power up again unless you pull out the battery completely and then insert it again. This could happen randomly at any time on any LG KE970 Shine terminal, or it may not happen at all (consider yourself lucky if that is your case). Oh, I was about to forget about another bug which is also battery-related. Let's say you fully charge your battery and then use it to surf on the Internet for 1-2 minutes or simply play one or two games included. Well, if you check your battery indicator you'll notice that it has decreased at about half, but after you close (NOT power off) the phone for about 5-6 seconds the battery indicator will revert to full energy. This is a strange bug mostly met onto the photo cameras.
Impressions
Well, this an impressive handset with a stylish and innovative design that we should've expected from LG. It looks even better than the Chocolate and offers more functionality, but unfortunately has the same bugs and even more. Just like its predecessor, LG KE970 will probably "Shine" this year raising the Korean company's revenues until a new Black Label series' handset will be born.
The Good
This is the rightful disciple of LG's Chocolate, therefore it has a classy look and average functionality. People that choose to buy LG Shine are mostly thrilled by its marvelous design and less interested by its technical specifications. Besides the great look of the device, LG made a good choice in signing a partnership with Schneider-Kreuznach, as its 2-megapixel camera performs very well under any conditions (except dark environments of course). I should also mention the bright and vivid display which will have no "remorse" in eating your battery energy.
The Bad
Most of the "baddies" of the phone are software-related and were described above. I could not care less that LG made one of the best-looking devices on the market as long as its firmware has so many bugs (minor and major). Anyway, if we get past these, we are left with a low capacity battery and low functionality of the USB and EDGE connectivity. Also the multimedia part is somewhat tricky to use and doesn't comply to the standards required nowadays. The phone will not disappoint buyers as these problems of the phone are not so easy to discover and only a full user of the device will be able to find them. There's a big chance that the handset might have other problems that were not mentioned here, but after only 1 week of testing, this is what I could find.
Sales package
LG KE970 Shine Battery Li-Ion 800mAh Charger 230V/EU Cleaner Headset with remote control USB Cable CD ROM with software User Guide
Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com