Tom Gidden

Now that I've had a bit more of a play with the pre-release LG Shine that arrived on Saturday, I can now start to make a few conclusions. The first is that this really is a nice piece of kit.

Right from the start, it's got a feeling of quality about it. It arrived in a very nice box, with a neat magnetic latch. As this is a pre-release unit, I was warned not to expect software or a manual. The phone nestles in its own cubby, with the main part of the box filled with a slew of plastic baggies packed with cables and toys.

I couldn't wait for it to charge, so the first thing I did was look for the power button, and it wasn't immediately obvious. Unlike most phones I've used, it's the "end call" button, inside the slide. There was enough juice in the battery to tell me to insert a SIM, so I went hunting for my Pay-As-You-Go SIM. Taking the stainless steel back cover off is straightforward.

Underneath the SIM holder, there's a small slot which I assume is a microSD slot for additional storage. Even though my current mobile also has such a slot, I've never had the need to buy one of these cards. I was under the impression that the Shine included 1GB of built-in storage, but it doesn't look like it: "Memory Status" shows 45732K total, ie. 45MB... definitely not enough for me to think about junking my iPod. As I understand it, the 3G version does have 1GB of built-in, with just over half of that available to the user.

Build quality

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's well-engineered on the whole. It just feels "right". This is in comparison to the past few phones I've had: the Nokia 6680, Nokia 6280, Sony Ericsson T610, Nokia 8310, Nokia 7650, and the Motorola Timeport something-or-other. Come to think of it, all the mobiles I had before those, too. All of them seemed to be slightly flimsy, loose or delicate... in short, cheap.

With the Shine, LG have created something more solid. The case of the phone is made from a mix of silver-ish plastic and what seems to be stainless steel. This gives is a certain weight that is substantial, but not too heavy. Even the plastic parts are firm and fixed down well, so the whole thing feels engineered.

It's solid enough that you could probably use it as a rudimentary hammer if necessary. If trapped in a dark alleyway, take off a sock, slip in the phone, and you've got a workable cosh to fight your way out with. I can almost imagine Hercule Poirot declaring that it was Colonel Mustard in the Library with the LG Shine.

It's a slide-phone, like my usual Nokia 6280, but on that matter, the two are worlds apart. The 6280 has a lot of play in the slide mechanism, meaning that the two halves of the phone seem to be independent. It feels like it might break off if I drop it. Since the sprung-loaded slide for my Matrix-style Nokia 7110 kapwinged across the room after one too many accidents, I've always been suspicious of moving parts on mobiles.

Not so much with the Shine. Its mechanism feels secure, and seems to be more like a cross between a German luxury car door and a James Bond "Q" gadget. It's not going to open accidentally, and it has a hefty, satisfying "clunk" action... optionally accompanied by a chorus of session singers chanting "dum-dum-dum-dum-DAAH" in true "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" style, but that's another story.

Buttons, Ports and Rollers

This is one thing the Shine's hardware falls down on a bit. Firstly, the keypad.

It's a flat plate of brushed metal backlit in blue, which while attractive, doesn't give much tactile differentiation between keys. It's relatively easy to press the wrong button, especially with big fat fingers like mine. There is, however, a definite "click" when a button is pressed, and the keypad area is quite large which should be enough. I wasn't sure I'd get used to this, but after a bit more use, it doesn't bother me that much.

Along the right-hand-side, there's four more buttons: Volume Up/Down; "MP3", which launches the music player; and the Camera shutter button. It turns out this button is a half-push arrangement like a "proper" camera, activating the auto-focus mode. However, I do have a problem or two with the camera functions, and they might be related to that button. I'll be covering that in a later post. In the meantime, these buttons are functional, and fairly solid.

The final set of controls is on the front of the phone directly under the screen. There are two multi-function buttons as usual, which in one of the included games are referred to as "LSK" and "RSK", which I assume mean "Left Selection Key" and "Right Selection Key". More brushed metal, with illuminated blue highlights along with the keypad. Both keys are a little cramped, and take a firm press to activate. Even so, they do the job.

In between the selection keys, is the scroller. This is a shiny rolling bar, and is obviously used for navigating... well, just about everything. Both ends of the bar double as left and right buttons, and the bar itself acts at the phone's primary activation button.

I've got a few grievances with this bar. Firstly, the left and right buttons are a little cramped and take a firm press: the same as the selection keys. The centre bar press also takes a firm press. This is all fine, apart from when you combine it with the scrolling action of the bar, which has very little resistance. This makes it just feel a bit weird: too easy to scroll up and down, and too hard to move left and right. The final straw is that the up/down motion, while easy to roll physically, is actually not sensitive enough for my taste. To traverse the main menu, for example, takes about four or five full "thumb rolls", making such navigation a little bit slow.

Anyway, I've complained quite a bit, but none of these niggles are actually a big deal. I've used far worse, and they're easily good enough. While they're not as ergonomic as they could be, they're certainly not flimsy or plasticy. The bar isn't as nice as the big chunky roller on the Nokia 7110, but it's a darn sight better than the flimsy joystick on the 7650 or the Sony Ericsson T610. I do think I'd prefer a four-way directional pad with centre button though, like my Nokia 6280, albeit without the flimsy, wobbly plastic. I think it is a step up from the tiny little D-pad on my recently-replaced Nokia 6680, and I put up with that thing for a year.

Suffice to say, these buttons aren't by any means a deal-breaker, but I'd personally want them on the tweak list for future revisions. Hell, maybe it's just me and my big fat fingers.

Peripherals

The last thing to mention when it comes to the physical interface is the side port. This little slot acts as the peripheral connector for headphones, headsets, etc.; and as a USB connector; and as the phone's charger.

The port is covered by a flimsy captive plastic cover that hangs off the phone when open, and I think'll break off far too quickly. If it was just for occasional use, then I can understand, but since that thing's for regular charging, it's going to get a lot of wear-and-tear. On the other hand, even if it did break off, it'd be the same as nearly every other phone that exposes its peripheral contacts (read: "naughty bits") for all to see. Such a gaping wound would really only be an aesthetic issue.

I guess the ideal situation would be to get rid of that port entirely. Connectivity and music can be done via Bluetooth, and I'd like charging to happen by induction instead.

The phone itself came with a few bits and pieces: an in-line headset/remote, some bud earphones, a USB cable and the ubiquitous charger.

The earphones look like every other bundled pair of earphones. I haven't tried them yet, as I'm going to cover audio in a later post, but I can't see myself ditching my well-used Shure e2c's for these.

The headset/remote is fairly unremarkable. It's cheap silver-coated plastic, with the standard music player controls. It feels a little crummy, but it does have a nice metal clip, so it's unlikely to snap off like some other inline controllers I could mention. Now, to be honest, the only in-line remote I've had that doesn't suck is the old Apple iPod remote. The three or so I've had from Sony have been cheap silver-coated plastic and have broken far too quickly. This one looks like more of the same. It doubles as a headset: rather than the earphones having a microphone like other phones, the remote has the microphone and uses normal stereo earphones . This does seem nicer: a wired headset with the option to use decent earphones for a change.

Since the unit I received is pre-release, I didn't get any software with it. Even if I did, I doubt I'd be able to use it on my Mac anyway. Even so, the phone connected to my iBook and mounted itself as a mass storage device, ready to transfer files onto it. It also started charging off my USB port, which is a very neat touch. Unfortunately, it disables phone functionality while connected, which scuppers the plan of charging your phone off your work PC, except in an emergency.

I'll cover connectivity in a later post, as this one's becoming long enough as it is!

The Screen

This is the biggie. How good is that mirror-like screen? Bloody good. Deep and crisp and even. If you take a good look at it, you notice that the screen itself isn't actually much bigger than a normal phone. However, the mirror effect hides the edges and makes it feel like it covers the whole front of the unit.

Size, on the other hand, isn't everything. Resolution's just as important, if not moreso. It's QVGA (240x320), and the software uses it well. The anti-aliasing (while not sub-pixel in nature) is excellent, increasing the perceived resolution to the extent that you can't spot the pixels easily.

The software, which I'll cover later, uses the screen well.

The final judgement on the screen comes down to how it behaves in outdoor lighting, and specifically sunlight. Unfortunately, I've been too much of a wuss to go outside in the cold and try this. I promise to do so tomorrow, and I'll get photos as well.

Anyway, that just about sums up the LG Shine when it comes to the hardware. It's good. It's probably the best quality mobile phone hardware I've ever used. While there are a few issues, such as the flimsy side port cover, the whole thing feels like one of those secure entry keypads you'd find at CTU. It also manages to be one of the more alluring designs I've seen. It just looks... cool.

Continue on to Part 3 of my review: "LG Shine KE970: Sound and Music".

In the meantime, you can go "Ooo! Aaah!" at photos of the Shine by myself, and other bloggers at the Flickr LG Shine User Group.

(Just to reiterate: The phone is being loaned to me by LG’s representatives at the LG Shine Blog. However, I have absolutely no obligation to write anything nice about their product, or even write anything at all. They want an unbiased opinion, and I'm happy to give it to them, and to you.)