Mobile phone review: LG Shine KE970



RRP - $199

Pros
-Mirror Screen
-Sturdy, 100% Stainless Steel Body
-Useful side buttons
-Looks more expensive than it is
-50mb internal memory

Cons
-Quiet speaker (and I mean quiet)
-Does not come with USB cable
-Does not come with MicroSD card
-Supports only up to 2gb MicroSD
-Slow bluetooth
-Scrollbar takes a while to get used to
-No custom SMS tones, only 4 default to choose from
-Lack of photo or video editing software
-And more...


Don’t be fooled by the good looks and the gimmicky mirror screen, the LG Shine KE970 is a disappointing excuse for a phone.

Holding in my hand right now is my last birthday present, the LG Shine KE970. It looks about ten times the price it cost me ($250, it now costs only $199 through telstra prepaid), with its 100% stainless steel body and mirror screen. Down the right side of the phone you will find buttons for the camera, MP3 player and, strangely, buttons that adjust keypad noise volume. There’s also a spot to plug in the charger or USB cable, although you will have to buy the USB cable separately as it did not come with one in the box.

Press and hold the camera button and turn the phone on its side and you now have a pretty good camera in your hands. The phone features a 2.0 megapixel ‘Schneider – KREUZNACH’ camera (which I assume is German, which must mean something good) with flash (If you could call it that. It’s just a white LED light that you can turn on and off.), and autofocus. The picture quality is what you’d expect from a camera phone. Slow shutter speeds, slightly blurred images, but its great if you’ve forgotten your Canon IXUS and just need to take a quick pic.

The MP3 player is easily accessed by pressing the MP3 button on the side of the phone. Scroll down the list of your music collection using your magical scrollbar. The speaker on the LG KE970 is one of the worst I’ve ever heard. You can barely hear the music outdoors (as compared to my friend’s phone – a Sony Ericsson S500i).
Navigating the phone’s menus and such is hard to get use to, but its super-fast after you’ve mastered the scrollbar. You may also want to change the grid-style menu to a list, an option found buried in the phones settings.

Sending files over Bluetooth is extremely slow, I’m not sure if this happens with all LG phones or just the KE970, but sending a single song may take up to 2 or 3 minutes. (I tried to receive a song from my friend’s LG Chocolate. Ten minutes had passed, and we were up to 50% until someone rang me, and it cancelled it!)

There is no photo or video editing software like there is on the Nokia 6300 and Sony Ericsson S500i, so you’ll have to stick with editing your photos and videos on your computer.
You cannot watch widescreen videos by turning the phone on its side, it just shrinks the video so it can fit the width of the screen.

Apparently the phone can play MP4 videos, but I’ve tried but it won’t work. It might just be the way I’m converting the videos, but never mind.


In conclusion, the LG Shine KE970 Slide phone may be a good-looking and sturdy phone, but the lack of features, slow Bluetooth and quiet speaker makes this a phone I recommend you stay away from.



Edited by dascooby: 22/12/2008 06:53:48 PM

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