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	<title>Tom Gidden &#187; Cellphone</title>
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		<title>Meditations on #Locationgate</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2011/04/26/meditations-on-locationgate/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2011/04/26/meditations-on-locationgate/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:48:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Techie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cellphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geotag]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gsm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ios]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[itunes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[location]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile-phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile-phones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[privacy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/?p=171</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the past week or so there's been a furore about location tracking in iOS. While it initially appeared to be a fresh discovery of machiavellian intrusion, the story's a bit more complicated than that.

The mainstream media caught wind of this story as a result of a blog post by Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden on April 20. They released an open-source app for grabbing the data from iTunes's iOS device backup files and displaying it on a map. It's a very neat hack, but it's really just taking a simple SQLite database called "consolidated.db" and doing some trivial queries on it.
Alex Levinson points out that this is not new information, though. Allan and Warden do get credit for producing pictures, though: without which the mainstream media would never understand or care.
Levinson also makes some other points, but I'm not sure I'm in complete agreement. For a start, the location data can be remarkably precise. The general belief is that the device is either storing the cell locations rather than the device locations -- a subtle but important distinction -- or it's storing the estimation of the device location based on the known cell location. I'm not sure. However, I've done what pretty much every geek has done this week and imported and converted the data into KML and a variety of other formats, and I've found (in the "CellLocationLocal" table) a row that is apparently the deduced location of an Orange UK Cell Tower (MCC 234, MNC 33, LAC 3103) in my front garden. (Suffice to say, it's not there.)
Will Clarke points out a response from Apple to an inquiry by Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas). I do vaguely remember something about this new location strategy last year, although I'm not sure whether it was from this or some of the developer information. At the time, I dismissed it, without considering the deeper ramifications.
To understand what's going on, you have to know a little history.
The original iPhone didn't have a GPS chip. Location services used two sources of information from the vicinity: finding nearby WiFi networks and nearby cell towers, and looking up their location with a service run by Skyhook and a separate service run by Google. Skyhook initially seeded their database by basically wardriving the USA, Europe and Japan, and then also accepted submissions from users. Google, presumably, picked up their data using their own wardrive, piggybacked on their Street View cars (and we know how that turned out for them!)
The system worked adequately for looking up nearby restaurants and the like, but not for navigation. iPhone 3G and above include a GPS chip, but even so, WiFi and GSM location is quicker, more power efficient, and better performing indoors and in urban environments. However, it requires Internet coverage to do the lookup. Caching is obviously an option, though.
When iOS 3.2 came out, the situation changed slightly: rather than using third-party databases -- one of which was run by their friend-turned-archenemy Google -- they chose to replace the lookup service with their own.
Here's the clever bit, though. Rather than wardriving the planet, they realised that they had about 40 million data collection devices already in the field: the iPhone itself. So now it's all done by crowdsourcing: the lookup goes both ways now. When your iPhone uses Apple to lookup the known location of WiFi and GSM sources, it can also supply its own GPS data back to Apple for future lookups by other users. F-Secure reports that the batches occur twice a day.
Technically, this is a fantastic idea. Unlike a wardriven service like Skyhook, this one is continually refreshed and expanded. It makes perfect sense. It's a very neat trick.
However, it's mindboggling that Apple thought this was something they could get away with without a clear opt-in by users. I'm sure in some countries, it's even a criminal act. I suspect Germany is one of those countries.
That's not to say that it's a secret: Apple did disclose the service in the updated Terms and Conditions of iOS which I'm sure everyone read(!), the Apple Privacy Policy and a misleading opt-in dialogue box talking about "anonymous diagnostic and usage information". However, it's not reasonable to expect every user to fully understand the connotations of what's going on. At no point does it say anything as obvious as "Oh, by the way, this means your device is continuously tracking its location."
So, why is this happening? It's not just the crowdsourcing, as that doesn't need to be stored once it's been done. Is it caching? It makes sense to cache the location data to an extent, but failing to clear the cache is a bit silly.
Of course, another possibility is that Steve Jobs is -- in fact -- The Dark Knight himself.

This would explain the leave of absence, I guess.
Forgetting the inevitable lawsuits and legal inquiries, did it not occur to Apple that there would be an almighty shitstorm if/when this became public knowledge? If they'd made a big deal of it and had Steve Jobs actually rave in a keynote about how their location database was constantly updated with your assistance, this wouldn't have been a big deal: a few contrarians and Android fans would have whined about it and how they'd never buy Apple again, but on the whole, it would have died down. There certainly would have been far less opportunity for legislators to bollock Apple for it.
This is Apple: a company that has meetings arguing over individual pixels on their UI designs, and yet it didn't occur to anyone to ask whether this whole scheme was morally right, legally right or diplomatically right? It didn't occur to them that it would actively turn customers against them? Are they really that boneheaded?
For me, the question is, do I care? I don't really care whether people will know roughly where I've been, and looking at previously-undiscovered maps of my Orlando vacation (Kennedy Space Center and Walt Disney World), a trip to Ahmedabad and my various jaunts around the UK has been pretty cool. I can, however, understand why others are upset about this, but I think it's mainly due to the surprise and lack of choice, rather than the actual tracking itself: if you knew it was happening, would it really be such a problem?]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>And back again:  Leaving Three for Orange</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2010/09/18/and-back-again-leaving-three-for-orange/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2010/09/18/and-back-again-leaving-three-for-orange/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:45:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cellphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cellular]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gsm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone4]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile-phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile-phones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[orange]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[payg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[three]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/?p=108</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After a couple of months with Three PAYG, I've moved to Orange PAYG.
Three was fine, with a good, cheap service.  However, I wasn't totally satisfied with their data rate.  Coverage was good, but data still seemed sluggish. While it was marginally better than O2, and substantially cheaper, I still feel it's not as good as it could be.  There's also something substantial missing from Three's PAYG offering: free WiFi.  The lack of The Cloud or BT Openwhatever on Three is particularly noticeable.  While I barely used it while on O2, there are several occasions where Three's coverage let me down and one of BT's nodes mocked me mercilessly sitting there with a strong signal in my iPhone's WiFi list.

Meanwhile, Orange and T-Mobile are doing the dirty in a new enterprise called "Everything Everywhere".  It looks like the two nets will merge, and so data coverage should be second-to-none.  In my opinion, Orange have always been the most technically competent UK network, and it's just their marketing and customer services I had a problem with.
Back then, I was really just using my phone as a phone, so there wasn't much technical reason to stick about; their poor CS was far more of a problem.  Nowadays, I use my phone much more for data than for phoning, so data coverage and performance is more important: what's the point in having a smartphone to check facts in the pub if the net is so slow that it's closing time before Wikipedia starts to appear.
So, I was eager to give Orange another go.  This time, it would be PAYG.  However, if you remember from my last post on this subject, Orange was stupidly not offering PAYG SIMs to existing iPhone 4 users, even though Apple sold record numbers of unlocked handsets.
They finally got their act together earlier this month, and started selling iPhone 4 PAYG SIMs.  I ordered one over the phone: £25, which was explained as £15 for the SIM, plus £10 top-up credit. A little excessive I feel, and I realised after ordering that I could have just ordered their standard £25/month rolling one-month SIM-only plan and got a better deal, switching to PAYG after the first month.
Anyway, the SIM arrived, and I promptly ordered my PAC code from Three, which arrived soon afterwards by text.  I added £5 of credit just in case, and then called Orange on Monday and gave them the PAC code.  I expected some form of confirmation via text or something, but... nothing.
I called back the next day and it turns out they hadn't submitted it.  Ugh.  This is, apparently, how it's going to go from now one.  So, I gave them the code again. This time, they confirmed the port for Thursday: two days later.  Fine.  Whatever.
Now, credit.  I paid for £10 of credit when I ordered the SIM.  I also was expecting £10 extra for porting my number, and they said something about giving me £10 of extra credit per month if I topped up with £10... I'm not sure about that last bit, though.  I was also, of course, expecting the promised free 250MB mobile data package.  This was all confirmed to me when I gave the PAC code on Tuesday, and I was assured that the data package was on the account and the credit was coming.
Anyway, on Thursday throughout the porting transition, I was checking "Your Account" on Orange.  My number had transferred, and yet my £5 of credit had dwindled to nothing even though I hadn't used it.  It turned out that 900kb of mobile data had used it up!  Hang on a sec... I thought I was getting free data?!  I distinctly remember being told on Tuesday that my account had the 250MB free data package...
A shouty call to Orange, and I was assured this was a mistake. The billing team was notified, but I was told that they could not guarantee I'd be reimbursed for the erroneously-used credit.  Oh well, it's only £5.
However, after this point I couldn't even call Orange because my account didn't have the requisite 25p to call them to tell them about their cock-ups.  As I was expecting at least £20 of credit to appear any moment, I was loathe to top-up... for a start, I think I have to top-up every month to get the promised benefits, so I don't really want to build up excess credit that'll never get used.
I did, however, get a text to say the 250MB package had finally been added.
Friday: still no credit.  A stern email to Orange demanding the £20 I was due plus the £5 their cock-up had wasted.  I was forced to add £10 of credit manually, just so I could make a call.
Saturday: I've just got a text saying I've been credited £20.  Still not right -- where's that £5, plus the 25p's I've been forking out to call Customer Services! -- but I have a feeling that's all I'm going to get out of them.
The problem here is that while the sales blurb says the account "comes with" free credit, free mobile data, etc., it all seems to be applied piecemeal with five-working-day turnarounds.  The number port really confused things too. It's pathetic. They clearly treat their PAYG customers far worse than their Contract customers, especially with this insult of a 25p Customer Services charge, when I'm calling about their mistakes.
Orange CS is very polite, and their agents seem genuinely eager to help.  However, they're stuck in a byzantine system of teams and systems and account details and scripts, and it just means things don't get fixed.  I hark back to the olden days when a single twenty-something in Patchway (or Glasgow?) would be able to sort everything out after spending 30 seconds listening and comprehending the customer's problem.  Now it's effectively a bunch of electronic note- and buck-passing between departments.
...I mean, even the fact that they couldn't offer SIMs to Apple unlocked-iPhone 4 customers on launch day or even for months afterwards shows how clueless they are.  I still maintain that was a massive missed opportunity for the network to steal a slew of affluent but irritated O2 customers.
If it wasn't for the much-vaunted Orange network, I'd hightail straight back to Three right now, and sign up for a proper contract with them.  I'm now going to use Orange for a few weeks and see how I get on.  If it isn't as good as it's supposed to be, I'll be off.  I know this isn't the biggest catastrophe in the world, but this kind of poor customer service just bugs the crap out of me.
A few years ago, I wrote about Orange and how they just weren't as good as they used to be.  I was hoping after a few years in the wilderness, I'd be pleasantly surprised.  I'm not.  Their service seems worse than ever.
...
Anyway. The next thing stuck in my craw is international data.  I'm off on holiday to WDW in November, and try as I may, I just can't find any economic or legit way to get two weeks of data access on either my iPad or my iPhone.  I just want a bit of email and limited web access just so we can organise things.  However, AT&#038;T seem hellbent in NOT offering service to non-residents.
I could just roam with my new Orange account, but apparently that will cost more than the holiday.  If I were paranoid, I'd suspect that the networks are colluding internationally to encourage their customers to give up and just fork out ~£5/MB.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
	
		<series:name><![CDATA[Leaving mobile phone company "X" for "Y"]]></series:name>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>O2 Cocoon: Review, Part 3: Wrapping Up</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/09/01/o2-cocoon-review-3/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/09/01/o2-cocoon-review-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Sep 2007 11:50:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3g]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[camera-phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cameraphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cellphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cellular]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cocoon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gsm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hands-On]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[isync]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile-phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile-phones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music-phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[musicphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[O2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[O2 Cocoon: in-depth Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Review]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/2007/09/01/o2-cocoon-review-3/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I've been using the O2 Cocoon as my main phone for a few weeks now, and I'm fairly happy with it.  After covering the design of the phone and the music features previously, I'll wrap up by covering the rest of the features.

As I said before, it's a good phone.  In particular, the One Big Distinguishing Feature -- the external display -- does work quite well.  I do, however, with they'd put a "clock" button on the outside.  I haven't worn a watch in about ten years, since I got a mobile with a built-in clock (yes, those used to exist).  As a result, I use my mobile like a pocket watch.  In fact, I probably use my phone more as a watch than as a phone.
On the plus side, the nice big external display works well... except in sunlight as mentioned in Part 1.  However, it's not always on:  it only stays lit for a few seconds, unless it's externally powered.  So, to check the time you have to open the phone, which defeats the purpose of the external display.  The alternative is to fiddle with the music controls, which almost works:  the clock appears after scrolling messages like, "HELLO, I LOVE YOU - THE DOORS - PAUSED".  A simple "check time" button would be more useful.
The firmware is fairly nondescript.  The user interface is basic but clean.  It's not quite as well laid out as the Nokia or Sony Ericsson firmware, but I didn't find any major blunders.
I was discussing the LG Shine with my sister the other day.  One thing she mentioned was the number of button presses to send a text message.  With her old Sony Ericsson, it was just a few presses (plus the message itself), whereas the LG Shine had a minimum of eight or so.  This was a sign of poor UI design, I guess.  I remember that one of the reasons Boo.com failed in the old days was the ridiculously long and confusing path to a successful purchase.  Same with the Shine.
I'm not sure what procedural criteria she used for testing this, but the Cocoon seems to be slightly better than the Shine in this regard.  There were a few bloopers, such as the slightly silly configuration of the shortcut bar.  Like many other new phones, the Cocoon allows you to set up a few shortcuts on the main screen to commonly used functions.  In my opinion, a well laid-out UI shouldn't need this capability, but hey.  Well, in their wisdom, O2 have chosen an odd choice of shortcuts to start with, such as another link to the music player, as if the four buttons down the side weren't enough.
There's also no easy link to the camera.  Some phones, such as my old Nokia 6680, have an external lens cover, which activates the camera function when opened.  Others, such as the Shine and the Nokia 6280 I was using before the Cocoon, have an external shutter button which activates when held down.
The Cocoon has no such button.  Instead, it's five or six clicks through the main menu.
Suffice to say, one of the first things I did was to change the shortcuts.
On the subject of the camera, I must say I think the Cocoon's 2MP camera is not too shabby at all.  It's still just a tiny little chip like other normal phone cameras, but it doesn't seem to suffer from the "stripey graininess" that seemed to affect most mobile phone cameras I've used.  There's some chromatic aberration, the camera controls are a bit clunky, the shutter is a bit slow, and it's all a little bit soft and blurry, but other than that it does the job.
That sums up the Cocoon quite well.  It does the job.  It could do the job better, but it doesn't make me want to violently turn it into little white and black pieces, and believe me, some phones will do that to you.
So, what's the big thing I really don't like about it?
Mac compatibility
The Getting Started guide that comes with the Cocoon is quite upbeat:  "O2 Cocoon is also Mac friendly", it says.  Bollocks.
What they mean is that you can mount the phone as a USB drive, and then use the Finder to drag music files to/from it.  Later on in the book, they reveal that you need third-party software to use iTunes to manage it, and "Unfortunately it is not possible to synchronise calendar or contacts."
This is a big problem for me.   I damned the LG Shine for lack of Mac support, and I must do the same for Cocoon.  Both of these phones are oriented towards posers, especially the white and curvy Cocoon.  So why alienate the biggest gadget posers of all, us Mac users?
You see, one very nice feature of Mac OS X is that it comes with iSync:  a framework for data syncronisation between the Mac and devices such as mobile phones.  Out of the box it supports a fairly wide range of phones, and although Apple can be quite slow at updating that list, when it works, it really does work.
With a few clicks, I can have my address book and iCal calendar synched with my phone, and vice versa.  No software installation is necessary, and all it requires is pairing the phone over Bluetooth.
This capability alone has brought sales to Apple, as more than one person has seen me sync my phone and iPod and wanted that ease-of-use enough to go down to Apple Regent Street and buy an iBook.
For PC users, an third-party utility is necessary.  In my experience, the quality of this software ranges from terrible to bearable, but never quite as good as iSync.  I've had the embarrassing misfortune of wrecking a client's Windows installation trying to get such software running on their PC.
The Cocoon allegedly comes with its own software suite which includes this functionality.  I'm not really in a position to test or evaluate Windows software, so I can't tell you how good it is.
What I can tell you is that a manufacturer can add support for their phone to iSync merely by creating a configuration file or two.  They just need to specify the particular oddities and specifics of their firmware to iSync, and then it takes care of the rest.
This means that when a new Nokia, Motorola or Sony Ericsson phone is released, there's a good chance that an enterprising hacker can whip together a usable config file in a few minutes, just by finding a similar supported phone and tweaking the file.
Since iSync doesn't support any LG or Pantech phones, this quick hack route isn't possible for the phones I've reviewed.  However, with enough technical information on the Cocoon, I reckon a fully functional driver could be put together in a week or so.  Certainly far less time than was spent on the PC Suite.
I contacted O2 about this issue, and got the following response:

Although O2 are committed to Mac support we are unable to support iSync at this moment in time. However it is possible for Mac users to still update and change their music by dragging and dropping files to and from the phone.
We are actively investigating iSync support for both Cocoon and all future O2 branded devices.

This is admittedly better than the lack of reply to a similar query I sent to LG, but until I see working iSync support, I'm not completely convinced.
In the meantime, I'm stuck with transferring my contacts via the USIM from my old phone, so they're all truncated, divided and generally munged.
I've made purchase decisions based solely on iSync compatibility (or lack thereof) before.  I didn't buy my Nokia 6680 until there was iSync support for it.  Looking at the web stats for my LG Shine review I can tell you that I'm not alone in thinking this is important.  There are enough hits coming from Google searches such as "LG Shine isync", "LG Shine Mac" and "shine phone isync doesn't work" for me to assume that someone would be fairly popular if they hacked such a file together for the Shine, and I reckon the same would be true for the Cocoon.
So, hurry up, O2.  Demand iSync compatibility from your OEM, or at least demand the technical information necessary for third-parties to add it.  Talk to Apple and see how they can help.
Anyway, on that note, I'll wrap up.
I'm going to carry on using the Cocoon.  All things considered, it's an above average phone with some very useful features.  I still don't think it's as good as they think it is, but it's a darn sight better than some of the other phones I've used in recent years.  When I get around to it, I'll try shoehorning my contacts into it, using one-by-one Bluetooth if necessary.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
	
		<series:name><![CDATA[O2 Cocoon: in-depth Review]]></series:name>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>O2 Cocoon: Review, Part 2: Music</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/08/23/o2-cocoon-review-2/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/08/23/o2-cocoon-review-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:34:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3g]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[camera-phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cameraphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cellphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cellular]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cocoon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gsm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hands-On]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile-phone]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[music-phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[musicphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[O2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[O2 Cocoon: in-depth Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Review]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/2007/08/23/o2-cocoon-review-2/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The first part of my review of the O2 Cocoon was mainly about the hardware: the look and feel of the thing you hold.  This time, I'm going to look more at the phone's music features.

When it comes down to it, the Cocoon is really just a normal mobile phone.  It's not a smartphone, but it will do the normal things a modern phone does.  It's got Java, calculator, calendar, notepad, voice recorder, and so on.  It's got a browser, which seems to be fairly functional.  It's got a camera... two, in fact, as is common with 3G phones.
It also has music player functionality.  O2 seem to be positioning the Cocoon as a music-oriented device, with external player buttons, stereo speakers, halfway-decent earphones, and so forth.
This is nothing new, though.  We've had music-oriented mobile phones for years now, and none of them have really worked too well.  As far as I'm concerned, I always end up thinking, "Hmmm... nice try, but I think I'll stick with my iPod."
Considering my personality type, I was fairly late to the game when it came to iPods.  I've been a Mac user since 1999, and I've had a reasonably large MP3 collection since 1997.  Even so, I didn't own an iPod until 2004, partly because I was working either at home, or living very close to work.  With the lack of a long commuter journey, I never really needed anything to keep me entertained.
Nowadays, I swear by my iPod, and sometimes at my iPod.  I'm onto my seventh now, thanks to AppleCare warranty and my negative aura towards hardware, plus the proximity of Apple Store Regent Street and a fully-functioning credit card.
I'm also now consigned to a lifetime of going to the gym regularly so my bad back doesn't seize up.  I'm one of those people who would never exercise voluntarily, so I have to have something to listen to to keep me from getting bored.  I went through a stage of listening to music at the gym, and then stand-up comedy... I have pretty much everything Audible.com has when it comes to Robin Williams, for example.  Then the Ricky Gervais podcasts.  Now it's "Real Time with Bill Maher", and the weekly SModcast from Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier.
So, the real test of the Cocoon was to see if it could manage to replace my iPod at the gym.
I usually have my iPod in one of those silicone cases clipped to my waist, and an Apple iPod remote snaked up under my tee-shirt with my Shure E2Cs plugged in.  The Cocoon doesn't come with a proper case, and there isn't a mad rush on eBay to start churning them out.  Never mind:  that's what pockets are for.  For the music player to work, the hands-free kit needs to be plugged in.  This is a fairly basic one-button + microphone affair, all modelled in curvy rubberised plastic, with a standard stereo jack socket on the end.  As mentioned last time, it comes with a matching jack splitter, which is a neat addition.  However, I'd rather they'd spent the money on better earphones.  They're of the in-canal kind, with three differently-sized pairs of ultra-soft sleeves.  The cable is short so the headset blob including microphone sits at roughly mouth height.  The problem is that the sound quality is grotty for the short time they stay in my ears before falling out.  This might not be their fault, however... the insides of my ears seem to be made of teflon.
Unlike the Apple iPod remote, the headset is basically controls-free... one button for play/pause (and answering incoming calls).  This means I have to reach in and get the Cocoon out to change tracks.  The external controls are basic:  forward, reverse, play/pause and Radio on/off.  They're quite slow to react, and the external LED display is a little limiting when it comes to navigation to say the least.  Instead, I flip open the phone so I can see what I'm doing.
The 'Now Playing' interface is not laid out particularly well.  Many of the functions use the normal phone menus, but the actual playing interface uses the main navigation keys.  Left and right on the main pad give previous/next track.  Up and down control volume, which is an odd choice, since the main volume knob is less than an inch above.  Centre is play/pause.
What's odd is that the tracks are listed in the display vertically, but selected using the left/right keys.  I've accidentally increased/decreased the volume a few times when I meant to change track.  On the other hand, the side buttons are arranged vertically and are equally accessible at this point.  In other words, I'm slightly annoyed by the pointless duplication, especially since it's unintuitively implemented.  This redundancy means we don't have control over track rating, shuffle, repeat, and so forth from the main interface, and have to faff around with menus instead.
The menus do contain a few bits and pieces, though.  Along with the more mundane sleep timer and 7-band equaliser, there's the choice of "Solid Sound", "Super Bass", "Super Surround", "Extreme Surround" and "X-Treme Ultra Surround To The Max". Okay, I made up that last one.  There's also "Stage Sound", offering "Studio", "Concert Hall" and "Stadium" modes, which translate to various levels of echo and distortion if you think your music is just a little bit too high-quality for your tastes.
For podcast listeners, such as myself, there are a few major problems:  Firstly, it's very easy to quit Music Player while paused -- for example, by closing the phone -- and thus "Pause" becomes "Stop".  Secondly, if you do "Stop" the track, the Cocoon won't remember where you were.  The iPod treats podcasts and audiobooks differently from music tracks, and stores your last position in the track before stopping.  So, if you need to stop for a while and return later, you can pick up where you left off.  Thirdly, the fast forward is sloooooow.  So, if you do stop a podcast half-an-hour in, it'll take two or three minutes of holding down the button to get back to where you were.  To compare, the iPod uses the click-wheel to scrub through a track, and the scrubbing speed accelerates with use.  I can scrub through half an hour of SModcast in less than five seconds.  With the Cocoon, I'd managed to walk home from the gym in the time it took to pick up where I was.
This is because, unlike the Cocoon, the iPod is a dedicated media player.  It's also because phone firmware tends to be designed by people who aren't really thinking about how the device is actually used in real life by real people.
What we want a proper convergence device:  something that manages to be a camera, a music player, a PDA and a phone, without actually compromising any of those.  If you want good pictures, buy a camera instead.  If you want a good GPS unit, buy a Garmin instead.  If you want a good music experience, buy an iPod, a Zen, a Zune, or an Archos instead.
Every single attempt to converge these things ends up being a disappointment.  The only thing that's come close seems to be the iPhone, and even that seems to be a whole slew of compromises at the moment.
The Cocoon is stuck in the same kind of mud.  The music player works, but it's just not really quite right.  All the boxes are ticked, but it's just not an iPod replacement.
One thing it does have over the iPod, though, is external speakers.  They're pretty tinny, but they're good enough for listening to spoken voice in a quiet place.  Unfortunately, not good enough for Radio 4, though:  the FM radio only works when the headset's plugged in, or the Cocoon's in the Nest, for some reason.  As I've mentioned before, when "nested", the phone can act as a clock radio.  Unfortunately, it's fairly quiet compared to the average &#163;10 Alba standalone unit from Argos.  It would wake me up, but I can't speak for heavier sleepers than myself.
It also has removable storage:  the internal 2GB of storage is supplemented by a microSD slot capable of taking another 2GB.  Dumping music on the Cocoon from my iBook was okay: when you plug the Cocoon in via USB, it asks whether to connect to "Sync", "Music Player" or "Transfer Files".  Both "Music Player" and "Transfer Files" work, but the upshot is that a new drive appeared called "Cocoon", on which I could dump my music files.  Not as easy as the dedicated iTunes/iPod sync, but understandable, I guess.  I can't say how well it works on a PC with Windows Music Player, because as you know by now, my hands start burning whenever I touch a PC.
Did it pass the gym test?  Not really.  It certainly didn't make me stand up and shout "Why have I been putting up with carrying two gadgets around with me all the time?!?  I must leave now to dispose of my iPod in a suitable manner!"
The bottom line is that if you don't have an iPod, or you really don't want to carry around two devices, then the Cocoon will suffice as a music player / phone combo.  I'm not going to say any more than that, because I don't think the features are significantly better than the other music-capable phones I've had.  The Cocoon accessories are less plasticky, except for the earphones, and the external controls are sometimes useful... but it's just not quite there yet.
Since the Cocoon's firmware is nothing too special (as I'll cover later), I assume it's just a standard firmware Pantech use on their other phones, with a few tweaks mandated by O2.  In my opinion, O2's tame scandinavian designers should pay just as much attention to the interface of the phone as they spent on the outside.  It's this kind of HCI attention-to-detail that makes the iPhone such a big deal, and something the other phone manufacturers will have to figure out if they don't want to get thoroughly shown up by Apple.  Apple doesn't need multi-touch to trounce phones like the Cocoon... they just needed common-sense.
My review might sound quite damning, but it's really just a comment on pretty much all current phones.  They all suck in different ways, but when it comes to music playing, they all seem to suck in similar ways.  As I mentioned last time, the Cocoon is quite a nice phone... but the software is nothing special.
Incidentally, after using it for over a week, on the whole I still prefer the Cocoon to any of the phones I've used in the past few years, including the LG Shine.  I'm just not totally nuts about it.  It's certainly better than the hated Nokia 6280 I bought on contract, but I must say, the 6280 still has one feature that the Cocoon (and the Shine) don't, and I'm still missing it.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
		<series:name><![CDATA[O2 Cocoon: in-depth Review]]></series:name>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>O2 Cocoon: Review, Part 1</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/08/21/o2-cocoon-review-1/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/08/21/o2-cocoon-review-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:02:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[O2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[O2 Cocoon: in-depth Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Review]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/2007/08/21/o2-cocoon-review-1/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As you might have gathered from some of my previous posts, I do enjoy playing with new mobile phones, and I really enjoy ranting about them at length on the internet.  So, I was stoked to receive an email on behalf of O2 offering to let me try out their new "Cocoon" music phone.

I've been playing with it for a few days now, and I must say I like it.  I don't love it, though, as it does have some flaws.  It's got one massive flaw -- which you might be able to predict from my other posts -- but one feature which might just swing it for me.  More on that later, though.
O2 have commissioned this phone themselves, rather than just branding an existing OEM model.  They've handed it to a goatee-growing, polo-neck-wearing Swedish design agency, who have obviously put together a bunch of unfeasible design sketches and then passed it on to manufacture by Pantech, a huge Korean phone maker who we've barely heard of here in the UK.
I'm not sure where the name "Cocoon" came from, though.  It reminds me of an old Dilbert cartoon where it turns out the only two codenames left for new projects are "PHLEGM" and "PLACENTA". 
The phone is a curvy white semi-minimalist design, reminiscent of Marvin in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or the shagging robots in that Björk video by Chris Cunningham.  You might think it matches the Apple iPod/iBook white aesthetic, but it doesn't really.  Apple go more for rectangular rounded glossy white plastic, while the Cocoon goes for smooth curves with crisp edges and a more "satin" finish.
The whole thing's really built around a single distinguishing feature: the five-character 16-segment blue LED display on the front.  Invisible when off, but bordered by a few inset symbols, it glows behind the white surface rather pleasantly with a relatively deep blue.  I'm in two minds about the blue:  would it look simpler and better if white LEDs had been used instead?
So, to start with, we get a minimalist white cardboard box, with the word HELLO embossed in the same sixteen-segment font across the front.  The lid flap is neatly held down by a rare-earth magnet hidden somewhere in the box, and then reinforced for good luck by a nasty VOID sticker.  Opening the flap reveals a panoramic picture of something-blossoms which I totally ignore in favour of the phone itself sitting nestled there.  A small plastic tab on the side marked "PULL" reveals the side tray, full of accessories.
The phone itself is a clamshell phone, with a comfortable spring to it, and a thick hinge.  It closes with a solid "thunk", rather than a "snap" thanks to the rubber buffers inside.  The outside is white plastic, and fairly featureless, until you notice a few fiddly details, like the camera, flash/"lantern", black volume wheel, battery panel, lanyard post, and inset indicator symbols.
The sides and the inside of the phone are black and covered in buttons and widgets, such as the stereo speakers either side, the do-everything "port", a slider to release the battery/SIM panel, a microSD slot, and control buttons for the music features.
Inside, we see the standard arrangement of screen, earpiece and video-call camera on the upper half, and keys and microphone on the lower half.  In between, there's a little-used volume wheel built into the hinge which works well from either side.
The main phone and navigation keys are flat but with slight ridges and dimples in places for touch.  The keys are very slightly backlit in a pale sickly green.   The main navigation device is a flat four-way clicker with centre button, along with two multi-function keys and the two hook buttons:  in all, a very standard layout.
When the phone is open, it forms a graceful curve which the Swedes obviously spent long nights sketching with markers.  Unfortunately, this leaves the phone a little uncomfortable to make calls with:  the flat edge and face of the earpiece doesn't contact the ear at a good angle, leaving the call either tinny, or the phone pressed close against the cheek.  Score one for design -v- practicality.  However, this isn't really a big deal.  I've had a three-hour conversation using the Cocoon and it only bothered me to start with.
So, now onto the elephant in the room... the LED display.
To me, this just looked like a gimmick.  We've seen phones with external displays before, and they're just nothing to write home about.  Okay, this one's got a neat docking station (the "Nest", as they refer to it), but I had a desk charging station for my Nokia in 1996.  Whoop-de-doo.
The Cocoon fits sideways into the Nest in what seems to me to be a thoroughly mixed metaphor.  The designers have taken a leaf out of the iPod's book when it comes to connectivity.  There's a single port on the side of the phone, akin to the iPod's "Dock Connector", which acts as a connector for the headset, charging, docking, and even FM radio antenna.  The USB cable plugs either into this port, or into the identical connector on the back of the Nest, with the Nest plugging into the phone with the same type of plug.  The other end of the cable is a standard USB plug that either goes into the computer or into a mains-plug charger.
They've even taken the idea of removable plug pins from the iPod charger, including an oddly-hinged UK three-pin adaptor, and a similarly-bendable European two-pin adaptor.  I don't blame them for copying the iPod, because the iPod did it right, and anyway Apple probably weren't the first to do it either.  Anyway, the arrangement is pretty much identical in topology to the iPod setup.
This brings up the issue of overcharging the battery:  the Cocoon's manual points out that full charge/discharge cycles are far more conducive to battery lifetime than quick top-ups, and yet the Nest encourages this bad behaviour.  While the Nest is plugged into the mains, it will charge the phone, regardless of the point in the discharge cycle.  And, if you're using this thing as an alarm clock, you want it to remain charged.  Unsurprisingly, the manual doesn't cover the issue to this depth, so I'm a little at a loss on what to recommend.
Along with a headphone jack socket, the Nest has two of the multi-function ports on the back: one for the power/USB cable, and one for the FM radio antenna.
Annoyingly, the Nest is lightweight and a bit too small.  If you lift the phone, the Nest invariably comes with it.  You have to hold down the Nest to remove the Cocoon, and since it's so slim, you end up pushing sideways on the cable plug.  I think including a hefty lump of depleted uranium in the base might've made it easier.  Failing that, they should've made it bigger to give something to push against, and made the Nest's docking plug fit looser.  Instead, I'll probably end up Blu-Tacking the whole thing down.  (Incidentally, as I discovered while taking an abortive set of pictures of the Nest, Silly Putty sticks like glue to the rubberised base of the Nest... I ended up having to break out a range of solvents to get rid of it all.)
So, while the Cocoon is nestled in its... Nest... it sits there blinking the clock, just like a blue-hued alarm clock.  While the Nest is powered, the Cocoon will keep the clock showing, so it functions perfectly as a bedside or desk clock.  In fact, it's better than my existing alarm clock, a PURE Sonus-1XT DAB Radio which, while designed with accessibility for the visually-impaired in mind, manages to have an illegibly low-contrast screen. The Cocoon also hasn't crashed yet, unlike the Sonus.
[NOTE: I'm not visually impaired; I just got it for the sexy female voice-synthesis.  I also seem to have a disturbing tendency to buy alarm clocks that end up crashing.]
The big deal -- and I really do mean Big Deal -- about the LED display, is that it's also used for other things.  Okay, this is no great surprise, but until you use it, it's not clear how staggeringly cool this is.
When I get an incoming call or text, I hear the ringtone, look over, and see the name of the caller scroll across the screen.  I can happily ignore the call without having to go across the room, pick up the phone, open it and start pressing buttons.  Incoming messages are partially read out across the screen, which I suppose could be a little embarrassing in a public place...
I can walk into the room and notice the little blue LED above the clock backlighting the debossed "missed call" light.  A meeting reminder will display the subject of the meeting.  The possibilities abound.
For years I've been wondering why combined cable television and phone companies (ie. all of them?) don't integrate Caller-ID into the TV STB.  If I'm watching a show, it would be handy for the name and/or number of the caller to come up on screen with the "Busy" option on the cable remote, rather than having to get up and check the phone, or, heaven forbid, answer it.  This Cocoon/Nest layout isn't quite that, but it's a start.  I don't have to get quite so distracted by my mobile phone as usual.
Of course, this functionality also happens while the Cocoon is away from the Nest, but then it's just like every other mobile's external display, and not quite as big a deal.  Fatally, the LED display is totally invisible outdoors in daylight, even when overcast.  The white plastic is just far brighter than the subtle blue LEDs could ever be.  I wonder if the same form factor and concept could be better utilised with a reflective display technology like electronic ink...
O2 have been fairly generous with the accessories.  We get a headset cable as usual, with a plug for that multi-function port, and a standard stereo jack socket with tiny microphone hole and a single button.  Since this is meant to be a music-oriented phone, and therefore a potential iPod replacement, I would have preferred a stereo jack socket built-in to the phone itself, rather than having to drag more cables around.
Considerately, they've also thrown in a stereo jack doubler to allow two people to share the phone.  Nice touch.  I also notice that when these accessories are all finished in the same black faux-rubber and also curved in the same way so they form a willowy shape when used together.  Again: nice touch.
Along with all of this comes the earphones.  Rather than the grotty fall-out-of-ear types that came with the LG Shine, they've included in-ear-canal ones with three sizes of ultra-soft sleeve.  The cable is very short to keep the headset microphone high, and the separate earpiece cables are asymmetric so the weight of the headset only tugs on one of your ears.
I'm going to cover the other aspects of this phone in a day or two, but so far, I'm fairly happy with the hardware.  Most of it is nothing special, and it does seem a little over-designed at times.  However, I can't stress enough how neat the Cocoon is while "nested".  Such a simple idea, and not a particularly new one at that.  However, they gone done it right.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>-5</slash:comments>
	
		<series:name><![CDATA[O2 Cocoon: in-depth Review]]></series:name>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>LG Shine KU970: The 3G Shine</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/07/20/lg-shine-ku970-3g/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/07/20/lg-shine-ku970-3g/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:08:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[vodafone]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/2007/07/20/lg-shine-ku970-3g/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Thanks again to the LG Shine Blog, I received an LG Shine KU970 mobile phone to review.  This is the newer 3G version of the KE970 I reviewed earlier this year.

I've been eager to have a play with the 3G Shine since I received the 2G one six months ago.  As luck wouldn't have it, I had just switched from Orange to the 3G-only Three network a month or so before.  So, I couldn't use the Shine I received as my primary phone.  Instead, it's had an Orange PAYG SIM installed which I must admit I've mainly used for getting cheap cinema tickets.
As I said in my previous review, the Shine is -- for the most part -- a great phone.  It's physically attractive and pleasant to use; the software is clean and well-designed; and overall it's an unassuming little unit.
Receiving the Shine coincided with my growing realisation that, gadget freak as I am, I'm actually happier with a "dumbphone" than a smartphone.  Writing blog entries and playing Texas Hold-Em while walking across a tightrope over the river Amazon might sound appealing, but making and receiving calls is far more important to me.  In my experience, smartphones tend to be slow and more prone to crashes, while also being large and unwieldly.  I started to miss the old days of the tiny little Nokia 8310, and firmware that actually responds to keypresses instantly.  For a while it seems that the more advanced (esp. Symbian-based) phones I've had are completely incapable of reacting to the red button when you've accidentally conferenced your ex-girlfriend with 999, for example.
So, the 2G Shine was a breath of fresh air.
Here comes the 3G version
To be honest, there's very little I can say about the 3G Shine.  Physically, it's almost identical.  There's the addition of the secondary video-call camera, neatly done.  Inside the back case, there's a small reconfiguration of the layout, including the removal of the external memory slot, replacing it with hardwired memory instead.  A few manufacturing tweaks and a little bit of subtle network partner branding, but otherwise it's the same.  Same size, same shape, and from what I can tell, same weight.  This is not a bad thing... the Shine was a neat enough package as it was, so the fact that they've managed to cram the 3G kit into the same form factor is impressive, and a testament to how close 2G and 3G technology are finally coming.
So, what about the other differences?  This is where I drop the clanger:  I don't know.  This is solely down to one thing... the firmware.  The 2G Shine I received in January was a pre-release unit with generic firmware.  Nice, simple and clean.  The 3G Shine I received seems to be a release unit, utterly crudded up with Vodafone customisations.
(It's externally branded with the "Proximus" logo, so I'm assuming this one's got Benelux firmware, but knowing Vodafone, it's probably the case everywhere.  I don't know for a fact what the release firmware is or will be like on other networks in other countries, but I'm just going on what I've got here)
I'm always disliked vendor's custom firmware.  I've never used custom firmware that's any better than the generic, and it's usually slower, crashier and far more limiting.
While I've bitched about Orange screwing with the firmware before, I've always appreciated that it's nowhere near as bad as the massacre Vodafone regularly perpetrates on everything they get near.  They tend to rip out handy features, mess with the UI, and then scatter a liberal helping of "Vodafone Live!" nonsense everywhere.  On some phones, they even go to the extent of excluding the "Live!" button from the keylock, which is just plain stupid, and at worst, a machiavellian way of ramping up bills through accidental data usage.
So, in my opinion, the Vodafone customisations on this Shine have destroyed any usability plus-points I've mentioned before.  They've cut out the nice, clean anti-aliased fonts in favour of a hideous jagged console font.  They've added a tonne of crap to the main menu, making it harder to navigate quickly.  They've reassigned action buttons to illogical places.  They've removed a lot of the customisation functions.  Least importantly, but perhaps most disappointingly: they've removed all the ludicrous but fun tunes and other nonsense.  And with all that, it seems that the only thing they've added to the mix is the excretable forementioned "Live!".
This has annoyed me to the point that I just don't want to use this thing.  I was fully intending to use it as my primary phone for a week or so, but I just couldn't do it.  It's too damn disappointing.  I actually prefer my Nokia 6280, which is truly surprising.
In conclusion...
I'm sure that if I was comparing the two units with generic firmware, I'd be raving about the 3G Shine, while still bemoaning the lack of Apple iSync and a couple of the other points I mentioned last time.
Instead, I'm putting this thing back in the box.  It may be harsh, but it's what I would be doing if I'd bought it for real.
Shame on you, yet again, Vodafone.  SHAME!!!  With your heavy-handed alterations, you've ruined a lovely product.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
		<series:name><![CDATA[LG Shine: in-depth Review]]></series:name>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>LG Shine KE970: Everything Else</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/25/lg-shine-ke970-everything-else/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/25/lg-shine-ke970-everything-else/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:47:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/25/lg-shine-ke970-everything-else/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Okay, I've covered the the physical aspects and the audio aspects, so now it's time to wrap it up by looking at the camera, the software and finally the phone-call-making bits of the LG Shine.

The Camera
In my experience, phone cameras are universally crap.  However, it looks like 2007 is the year that the manufacturers get their act together and start creating some decent picture-taking kit.
The Nokia N95 seems to be leading the field with a 5MP camera, and a gajillion other features such as GPS.  The LG Shine doesn't try to compete at this level, but they've managed to cram in a "Schneider Kreuznach certified" 2MP camera.
This doesn't immediately impress me, though.  My existing Nokia 6280 comes with two cameras:  one on the front for video calls, and a 2MP unit on the back for photos.  The Nokia 6680 I had before then used the same two-camera arrangement, with a 1.3MP camera on the back.  It also had the added bonus of a sliding lens cover to keep the dust out.  All four cameras were terrible... to the point that I just gave up trying to take photos with them, as I just got angry when I saw the results.  No matter how cool the impromptu subject was, I couldn't look past the streaky, grainy, unfocussed, blown-out images.  I ended up taping closed the 6680's lens cover so it would stop unlocking accidentally whenever I put the damn thing in my pocket.
So, how good is the Shine?  Much better.  Much, much better.
For a start, the camera actually focusses.  It's got manual focus, auto focus and macro.  A half-press on the shutter button triggers the auto-focus:  just like a "real" digital camera!
So, to get into the camera functions, you can either go through the Multimedia menu, or you can just hold down the shutter button on the side.  Once you're there, the live image appears, full-screen, and the whole interface turns sideways.
"Options" pulls up an overlay of settings menus as expected.  Using the scroll bar to navigate lets you adjust:

Shot mode: Macro, On, Off
Resolution: 320x240, 640x480, 1280x960, 1600x1200
Quality: Super fine, Fine, Normal
Flash: On, Off
Self timer: 10 seconds, 5 seconds, 3 seconds, Off
Save to: External, Phone
Multi shot: 6shot, 3shot, 1shot
Metering: Centred, Combined
Colour effect: Negation, Mono, Sepia, Colour
White balance: Fluorescent, Cloudy, Incandescent, Daylight, Auto
Shutter tone: Off, Tone 3, Tone 2, Tone 1
Reset settings: Yes, No

In addition, the exposure can be changed with the scroll bar from -2.0 to 2.0 in 1.0 increments, and zoomed gradually from x1 to x2 with the ends of the bar.
When ready, a half-press of the shutter button will focus and hopefully lock focus, and then a full-press will take the picture...
...a second later.  That's the Achilles Heel of this camera.  The shutter lag is baaad.  Disabling auto focus has no effect, and it's not an exposure thing either:  even in bright sunlight, it lags.  I tried reducing quality, resolution, changing metering, and everything else I could find.  No luck.
What makes this even worse is that compared to a dedicated digital camera, such as my Canon Powershot A75 or my Canon EOS 300D, it's a pretty lightweight unit, and with the positioning of the shutter, you don't get a particularly solid grip on the thing.  As a result, the picture you frame and the picture you take could be significantly different.
Now, shutter lag isn't a new thing.  All cameraphones I've used suffer from it.  Hell, most consumer digital cameras seem to suffer from it, or at least, used to suffer from it.  It's just a shame they didn't manage to fix it for this one.  I don't (particularly) mind if a camera takes a while to dump the image to storage after the shot has been taken, as long as it does actually take the shot when I want it to.
For now, I'd switch it to "Multi shot", which takes three or six photos in quick succession.  It still takes a second to get going, but once it does, it rattles through them at a fair rate.  Unfortunately, to do so, it reduces resolution to 640x480 (0.3 MP).
Moving on... image quality.
The pictures produced by the Shine are good.  Of course, not up to the quality of a good consumer dedicated camera with a proper big lens, but as good as those slimline units with small lenses you can get for about £100, I think.  It utterly thrashes the Nokia 6280 (and by implication, the even-worse 6680), as you can see from the pictures below.  There's only so much that can be done with a small lens as the light-gathering capability is limited.  So, a well-lit room or natural sunlight makes a big difference.


Nokia 6280
LG Shine


However, as far as I can tell from the photos my old boss used to get me to download from his phone for him, these things are often used to take pictures of drunken boobs (in more than one sense) in darkly-lit bars.  I haven't had the opportunity to take the Shine out to a bar to snap boobs, but I did test it in darker conditions.
Now, with the other cameraphones I've mentioned, this just results in technicolor streaking (of the bad kind).  Noise is rife, and the picture is barely visible.  Even in a relatively low-lit room at night, the streaks ruin it all.  It looks to me like the Shine doesn't suffer from this.  Sure, it has image noise at low light conditions, but with a lens small enough to fit in a phone this thin, it's a damn good effort.  Plus, the image noise isn't that unattractive.  It's more like blurry grain than typical multicolour digital speckles.
The thing I'm really pumped to see on this thing is the Macro (close-up) mode.  It's sad to admit, but I want to use my cameraphone mainly for taking pictures of whiteboards before I rub them out, and documenting things like where screws go before I take them out of the thing I'm disassembling.  I'd also use it to take pictures of business cards, serial numbers and other things that absolutely require Macro focussing.  The LG Shine brings it.  The Macro mode works.  It can focus within two inches before it starts getting blurry.
The flash is an odd one.  It actually operates more like a lamp, in that it doesn't actually flash.  Like other camera phones, it's actually just a dazzling white LED.  When the flash setting is on, the LED stays lit.  While this would run the battery down faster, I'd imagine, it does obviate the need for a red-eye mode.  It also means it'd come in handy in the event of a power cut.
I didn't really test the video camera capabilities, but I note that it can record clips at 176x144 resolution, with a subset of the still camera options.  You can also use it as a voice recorder.
One other minor issue which shouldn't make a blind bit of difference to anyone but a geek like me is the fact that the Shine doesn't include EXIF metadata with photos taken by it.  What this means is that on, say, Flickr, you can't see what photographic settings were used for the photo, or even what kind of camera took it.  This is a bit sloppy on the part of LG, as far as I'm concerned.
To conclude, I think they've done a great job on the camera, especially considering the size of the phone.  It doesn't compare too badly to a dedicated digital camera of a similar size and weight, and it has the added bonus of actually being a phone too.
There are two major flaws, though:  firstly, the shutter lag I mentioned, which they may be able to correct in software.  Secondly, the camera function suffers a great deal from the screen visibility problems I mentioned in my previous post.  In outdoor daylight conditions, the screen is barely legible, and without an optical viewfinder, it's impossible to frame the shot.  By sheer luck, I managed to take the picture on the right, in bright sunlight using macro mode, but I haven't shown you the many other shots that didn't turn out purely because I couldn't see what was being taken.  Unfortunately, they can't fix this problem.  The mirror-like screen is one of the key selling points of this phone, and is admittedly beautiful.  However, it's got disadvantages, and this is one of them.
Finally, the rest of the features
I've put off reviewing the more mundane parts of the LG Shine, such as actually making calls, even though they're the most critical parts of it.  I think this is because making calls on a mobile is no longer a big deal.  Most phones are much of a muchness, with similar call quality and adequate battery life.
To be honest, I can't really judge battery life too well on this thing.  I'm used to power-hungry 3G phones, and I also haven't been using this phone to make more than a couple of test calls.  On the other hand, I've been playing with a lot of features.  As a result, the fact that I've charged it three times in the past five days is of absolutely no value at all.  What I can tell you is that the unit comes with a Lithium Ion 800mAh battery.
Call quality is fine.  Meh.  I just can't think of anything else to say on that subject.  Sorry.
The software, on the other hand, I can rabbit on about for ages.
The user interface is good, with very well-designed graphics and exceptionally clear text.  I don't feel the aching need to install some wacky theme or skin on this unit, as the graphics are neat and pretty.  It comes with some stock wallpapers and animations (Flash SWF files, no less!), but they're not incredibly inspiring.  It's interesting to note that most of them are stereotypically "girly" with flowers and petals and things, reflecting what seems to be the target market of the Shine.  There is, however, a manly "car" animation, including sparkly highlights for those of us macho men who still appreciate good design.
The menus are well laid out, with a better overall organisation than that on recent Nokia phones.  However, it's still fairly conservative, with the standard hierarchies in place, such as "Profiles" (activate / personalise), "Settings" and "Call History".  It's just not a big deal.  As well as being able to navigate with the scroll bar, almost all options have a digit next to them for navigating with the keypad.  Even with the smooth keypad, I still find this nicer and faster to use than the scroll bar.
The whole phone interface is fairly responsive, with no major lags involved.  It's not instant, but it's a lot better than the second-long pauses some of the Series 60 Nokias suffer from.
The call-making interface is fairly standard, but still well thought out.  Manually dialling is neat, with big colourful digits appearing in one of four different animated styles.  I've chosen "digital style", giving me seven-segment "LCD" style digits.  Accidental calling is quick to cancel, which is better than the Nokias.  On the occasion that I've misdialled, or accidentally pressed Green on a contact, the Nokias have failed to drop the call until the line starts ringing.  If that was an accidental emergency call, I'd be in trouble.  The Shine drops the call as soon as the "drop call" button is pressed.
Text messaging is organised and although it's let down, again, by the lack of tactility of the flat keypad, it's still quick to type stuff.  The predictive text is done right, and I must highlight the good choice of symbol selection they've gone with:  pressing "*" brings up a list of symbols, each with an assigned keypad button.  So, by pressing *9 and then "OK", I get "@".  Using the scroll bar reveals more symbols, including currency, and for some odd reason, some (but not all) Greek letters.  This interface is far better than the painful repeated button-pushes mechanism used by Nokia, which often results in overshooting the one you want.
The contact management function is well done, with ringtone choice and photo for all contacts.  I haven't found any Voice Tagging feature yet, but I never use them anyway.  The phone also includes the ubiquitous Calendar, Alarm Clock and Calculator, along with Stop Watch, Memo, Unit Converter and World Clock.  These are clean and well-implemented, including a full scientific mode for the Calculator.  As I mentioned the other day, the Alarm Clock is a little limited, with no capability to use an MP3 for the alert sound.  Instead, a set of MIDI-esque instrumental tunes are offered.
It looks like they've really gone to town on the World Clock, though.  A full animated 3D Planet Earth is shown, pointing to the various cities.  It's very cute, but a little cumbersome to use, and there doesn't seem to be an option to remember more than one city.  Instead, you can select your "Home City", which has the side-effect of reinterpreting the phone's current time zone.  This means you can't keep local time, while still keeping track of whether it's the middle of the night back home.  I think if I needed this function, I'd start looking for a downloadable application to do the same thing in a more straightforward way.
As I mentioned the other day, the UI is improved by jaunty little sound effects, which haven't become annoying yet.  It's a fine line, but they've leaned marginally on the side of taste, which is good to see.
The Shine includes Java capability, and includes a couple of games.  One is a fairly mediocre "Puzzle Bobble" clone, called "Bubble Soccer".  I'm a huge fan of Puzzle Bobble, so I was very pleased to find it included.  Sadly, using the scroll bar for controlling it just isn't good enough.  The other game is "Fishing".  Since the tutorial is about thirty pages long, and ridiculously complex, I got bored and just gave it a go, and got absolutely nowhere.  These games aren't really going to win any awards, and I hope LG will ship better games on release.
Connectivity is fairly simple.  The Shine includes Bluetooth and also an included USB cable.  When connected via USB, the phone ceases to function as a phone (shutting off all wireless connectivity), starts charging the battery, and just becomes a removable drive.  Since this pre-release phone didn't come with any software I could only use it as a dumb drive, so no interesting syncing capabilities to report.  As expected, the Shine is not supported by Apple's iSync software on the Mac, so I couldn't sync my contacts or calendars over.  This isn't unexpected, though.  Apple aren't particularly good at supporting phones even when they've been on sale for months, so failing to support a pre-release phone is par for the course.
I'm not particularly happy with the charging mechanism.  It involves plugging the cable into that flimsy little port, with no option for a cradle or desk stand.  I can't see any way that an in-car kit would work, either.  A good thing I don't drive, I guess!
So, to sum up...
This phone isn't perfect, but it's the best I've come across so far.  There's only one reason I wouldn't buy this phone right now, and it's that it's a 2G phone.  I'm subscribed to Three UK, which is a 3G-only network.  If I'd got this phone three months ago while I was still on contract with Orange UK, it wouldn't have been an issue.  I've been told that the 3G version of this phone is due out shortly, and I'd love to get my hands on one.  It would almost certainly become my main mobile... that is, assuming I don't get given a pre-release 3G-supporting unlocked Apple iPhone, which I don't think is likely.  I wouldn't even give my old crappy Nokia to a family member: I love them too much.
So, what don't I like about this phone?

Only 2G, but the 3G version should be out quite soon.
Only 50MB of memory.  3G version has 1GB.
Screen is illegible in daylight.
Ringtone/Message tone volume too low:  allegedly fixed in release.
No real choice of message or alarm tones, or sound-effect theme.
Flat, non-tactile keypad: easy to miskey.
Scrollbar is sluggish and fiddly.
Flimsy side port cover.
No standard headphone socket.
Included headset/remote is crummy.
Basic music-playing UI.
Shutter lag.
No EXIF data on photos.
No calling while on USB.
No iSync support... yet.

What do I like about this phone?  Everything else.
The bold entries are things that are significant enough for me to think twice about buying one, but to tell the truth, they wouldn't stop me.  I'd even spend a day or so either hacking up a perl script to sync my contacts, or do it the hard way by individually Bluetoothing the contacts across.
This phone is just that good.
The rest of you lot can get it when it launches in the UK on February 7th, but you're not having this one.  It's my precious.  I wuv this phone.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
	
		<series:name><![CDATA[LG Shine: in-depth Review]]></series:name>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>LG Shine KE970: Sound and Music</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/24/lg-shine-ke970-sound-and-music/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/24/lg-shine-ke970-sound-and-music/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:12:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/24/lg-shine-ke970-sound-and-music/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On Monday, I covered the external hardware aspects of the LG Shine I've been loaned.  For the time being, I'm going to skip the actual phone features, and play with the sound effects, ringtones and music features it offers instead.

MP3 Playback
First thing to do is get some music onto the phone.  My track of choice for this test is "Indra" by Thievery Corporation.  While this particular model only includes about 45MB of usable space for music, photos and other stuff, it does include a microSD slot for adding more memory.  An extra 2GB will set you back about &#163;30 right now.
Transferring by Bluetooth wasn't such a great idea: probably thanks to my wimpy little Bluetooth 1.1 dongle, it was taking far too long to transfer the 9MB MP3 file.  So, I hoiked out the USB cable that came with the phone.  When connected, the phone shuts off its GSM functions, thereby ceasing to be a functioning mobile phone.  It then appears as a removable drive on my Mac, presenting a list of folders, such as "Documents", "Images", "Videos" and "Sounds".
Over USB, the transfer is significantly quicker, although still not instant.  If I was using a microSD card rather than the phone's built-in memory, I'd probably want to use a proper USB card reader, rather than connecting to the phone itself.  This isn't particularly unusual for flash-based peripherals: my big, expensive dSLR camera takes hours to transfer files over USB.
The file played just fine.  It sounds exactly how you'd expect for a mobile phone loudspeaker... a little bit tinny.  My recent Nokia phones have slightly better loudspeaker sound, but it's a close call.  Regardless, it's still a small mono speaker designed for playing ringtones, so I wouldn't expect audio excellence.  It's not clear if it's the same speaker that's used for the in-call earpiece, but I don't think so.
What really matters when it comes to music playback is how it sounds on earphones.  Like the majority of MP3 phones, the Shine doesn't have a headphone stereo jack socket.  Instead, you have to plug the headset/remote into the side port.  This means you can't charge the phone and listen to music at the same time, as you may want to do at work, for example.
For the purposes of this test, I'm going to compare the Shine against my iPod, using both the included earphones and my Shure E2Cs.  The included earphones that came with this pre-release Shine are branded "Cyon", which I understand is the brand name LG use to sell the phone in Korea.  I'd be surprised if they kept that branding in Europe, but whether they just rebadge the same earphones or include new ones is anyone's guess.
The earphones are sturdier than average freebie earphones, with long metal stalks, thin cables, and a gold-plated jack.  As with all standard earbuds, they fall out of my ears at the slightest provocation.  I'm starting to think my ears are Teflon-coated.  As far as the sound's concerned, they're about the same as the white ones that came with my iPod, so easily good enough for most people.  I must point out that while my hearing's not bad, I'm not a discerning audiophile.  However, I can tell the difference between the Shine earphones and my E2Cs, which is why I spent 50 quid on the E2Cs:  freebie earphones can only be so good.
So, for a fair test of the phone itself, I'm using the E2Cs, jammed deep into my ear canals.  Comparing the quality between the Shine and my iPod 60GB, I just can't tell the difference.  It's too close for me to distinguish between them.  The sound quality is fine.
Of course, the Shine isn't a dedicated music player, so the iPod beats it on a number of other counts:  for a start, the user interface is basic.  You select a track, and you click to play it.  It's got shuffle, repeat, and a load of equaliser presets, but there's no artist/album categorisation, or even any form of hierarchical organisation, and you can forget about playlists, album art, and ratings, too.  It's a phone, damnit!
Using the headset for calls
Next thing to try is using this headset to talk to people... you know... like as a phone.  For no particular reason, I'm leaving all the principal capabilities of this gadget, such as its capacity as a telecommunications device, until the end.
Anyway, here I am, listening to music, and my friend Steve calls.  Rather than pausing the music, it just takes it off the headset, and plays is quietly through the phone's normal earpiece.  (Note, it's not as loud as just listening to music on speakerphone, which is what makes me think there are two loudspeakers in there: one for ringtones and speakerphone, and one for normal phone-like use.)
I accept the call by pressing the "SEND/END" button on the remote.  The music is pauses, and Hey presto, Steve says "Hello".  The wonders of modern technology.  I yabber on with Steve for a minute, while he complains about just waking up and the lack of coffee in his system.  The call ends, and I press "SEND/END" again.  I was hoping the music would automatically resume, but no such luck.  It is, however, only one click to get it going again, though.
Steve says that the call quality is fine, and I can hear him perfectly well too.  No problems with the headset at all.
Sound Effects
The Shine likes to make noise.  By default, every button press yields a different "bip", "bop", "prang", "click" or "kachunk".  On occasion, you even get a musical gurgle of some description.  My favourite, as I've mentioned before, is the "dum-dum-dum-dum-DAAH" you get when sliding the phone open and closed.  It can be replaced by a "water drippy click", or switched off entirely.
I've recorded the slide-open sound, dialling a number and then a slide-close:  SlideAndDiallingANumber.mp3.
There isn't a wide range of choice when it comes to these effects, though.  I would like to see some sort of "audio theme" functionality, where a sound effect scheme can be set up.  I can guarantee that the sound of Kirk opening his communicator on Star Trek would be a bestseller.
Another neat little feature is the musical sound of the keypad.  Rather than using the standard DTMF effects typical of dialling a phone, all the keypad buttons have a different note.  So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you... The Star-Spangled Banner:
531358*98345 55*9876788531 531358*98345 55*9876788531 ***0##0*9*00 0*987678345 55888766690*9875 5589*0# 89*098.
Ringtones
You think that's ridiculous?  Wait until you hear some of the tunes that came with this thing.
On the good side, most of the tracks here aren't too bad as ringtones go.  "Above the Sky" is pleasant, and there are some pretty basic sound effects like "Vintage Telephone", if you don't feel like torturing your colleagues, friends and family.  All ringtones are stored as MP3s, rather than MIDI-style polyphonics.
It's when you come to "Acappella Beatbox" that things start to get silly.  The very name fills me with dread, and it sounds like this: AcappellaBeatbox.mp3.  Oh, the humanity.
Further down the list is "Good Morning":  GoodMorning.mp3. While being woken up by this every morning would quickly lead to the Shine being embedded in a Shine-shaped cavity in my bedroom wall one morning, this insipid song is not actually intended as a sound effect for the phone's alarm clock.  For that, you have to choose from a separate collection of MIDI-style tunes, featuring instrumental versions of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "Fly Me To The Moon".
"Life is Good" (LifeIsGood.mp3) is a true masterpiece.  The lyrics are just insane:

Life is good!
Bah-duh-ba-duh-buh-buy-da-bup,
Bah-duh-ba-duh-buh-buy-da-bup,
Bah-duh-ba-duh-buh-buy-da-bup,
Bah-duh-ba-buh-buuuh-duh-buh-duh-buh...
Life is good in the neighbourhood!
It's anything you wish, anything you desire.
Life is good and it's understood
If you're smart, you can start by listening to your heart,
Take part in a journey, exploring a dream,
where Liyee-liyee-life is good!

Some of LG's efforts are more successful.  While Pop rock isn't really my taste, the track "This Time" is far less cheesy, and is a good effort: ThisTime.mp3.
Regardless, I'm going to stick with my normal idiosyncratic ringtone:  old-school modem tones.  There are a few reasons I use this ringtone, other than geek bravado.  Firstly, no-one else seems to use it so it's recognisable to me, and secondly, it's specifically designed to test the accoustic properties of the medium by testing different frequencies and patterns.  This means that it's the most universally audible ringtone I've ever found.  It goes through walls; it cuts through background noise; and it goes "pertwang-pertwang" in a funny way.
It also makes it a good test of the Shine and how well it can be heard from around the house.  The result?  Not great, at the moment.  From the kitchen, I only noticed it was going at all when it started twanging.  The reason is that the Shine starts off quiet and increases the volume slowly, by which time, voicemail kicks in.  I've been told by LG that this has been fixed for the release version.
The range of text message alert tones is a little disappointing.  On my Nokia, I use my own track: a full recording of T&#225;rrega's Gran Vals, made famous the world over by the thirteen-note section now known as "Nokia Tune".  On the Shine, you're limited to four short preset tones, including another opus, "Tone 4".  You can hear them all here:  MessageTones.mp3.
Conclusion
The LG Shine sounds nice in many ways, but it does have some limitations which could (and in some cases, will) be fixed with a firmware upgrade.  In particular, I'm afraid the message tone limitation could turn out to be a major flaw.  Even with my loud and configurable Nokia, I sometimes miss text messages when they arrive, especially when I'm on headphones.  That's going to happen a lot more unless that problem's solved.
As a music player, it's good enough for casual use.  Better than an iPod Shuffle, but not as good as an iPod Nano.  The lack of a standard headphone socket means that to use it you'll have to carry the headset/remote too, but since you'll be carrying the earphones anyway, that's no big deal.
While this phone has all the main features it should, its main design goal has obviously not been features and capabilities, but aesthetics and physical desirability.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, it's a beautiful piece of kit and a pleasure to hold.  When it comes down to it, the music and sound-effect capabilities aren't outstanding, but they're good enough.  LG have chosen a fairly lighthearted and fun set of sounds to put on this thing, even if some of the tones are unintentionally hilarious.
I like this phone, and I still haven't found anything with this phone that would put me off buying it.  True, there are a few quirks and bugs, and being the irascible pedant that I am, I mention them all.  Considering this is a pre-release unit though, I'm very impressed by the overall software quality.  No phone is perfect, and this one has better than the release software quality of most phones I've used, and in most cases better than the most recent firmware upgrades available.
The Shine launches in the UK on February 7th, 2007.  In the meantime, you can marvel at the photographic genius of myself, and my fellow Shine guinea pigs at the Flickr LG Shine User Group.
Follow-up: The Great Outdoors
In Monday's post, I admitted that I hadn't tried this phone outside yet.  In Portishead this morning, it was sunny and freezing cold, so I spent some time shivering in the garden for you.  The answer to the big question of whether that gorgeous mirror-like screen works in the sunshine... is a resounding "NO!"  As expected.  Very few mobiles with colour backlit screens are legible in the daylight anyway, but can sometimes be viewed by shading the screen with your hand.  That technique doesn't seem to work quite as well for the Shine.  You still end up looking at a reflection of yourself.
Continue on to the final part of my review: "LG Shine KE970: Everything Else".]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>27</slash:comments>
	
		<series:name><![CDATA[LG Shine: in-depth Review]]></series:name>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>LG Shine KE970: The Hardware</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/22/lg-shine-ke970-hardware/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/22/lg-shine-ke970-hardware/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jan 2007 20:41:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/22/lg-shine-ke970-hardware/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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.]]></description>
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		<series:name><![CDATA[LG Shine: in-depth Review]]></series:name>
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		<title>LG Shine KE970: First Impressions</title>
		<link>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/20/lg-shine-ke970-first-impressions/</link>
		<comments>http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/20/lg-shine-ke970-first-impressions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:23:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tom Gidden</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://gidden.net/tom/2007/01/20/lg-shine-ke970-first-impressions/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This morning I received a pre-release LG Shine KE970 courtesy of the LG Shine Blog, as a lead-in to the product launch in early February.  I've spent a couple of hours using it, and I must say I'm impressed so far.  I've got about five pages of notes, niggles and thoughts that I'm going to write up over the next few days.  In the meantime, I took some pictures of it, my old Nokia 6280, and some fruit.  Not exactly art, I'll admit.

Until the renowned LG Chocolate came out, I'd never considered getting an LG mobile.  I was a Nokia user for years right up until the Sony Ericsson T610 came out, and then onto a Motorola Timeport for a beta test (yick), and then back to Nokia using newer Symbian-based phones.  After switching to Three from Orange, I'm now limited to 3G phones, which unfortunately means I can't use the Shine as my main phone as this specific model is 2G-only. So instead, I'm using the Orange Pay-As-You-Go SIM I got for emergencies (and more importantly, free cinema tickets)
My first impression is that this is an attractive, satisfying, solid, well-engineered unit physically, with software that, on the whole, is fairly conservative but smooth and simple, and default ringtones that really must win an award for unashamed cheesiness.  I can tell straight away that I'm going to enjoy testing it.
Continue on to Part 2 of my review: "LG Shine KE970: The Hardware".]]></description>
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		<series:name><![CDATA[LG Shine: in-depth Review]]></series:name>
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