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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7WGSQ7HBlM

While waiting for my N95 to be replaced, I thought it would be nice to review the Prada phone that I bought. I want to start this off as usual by saying that I hope that the pictures taken are acceptable and that this review is just based on unbiased hands on experience.

I'm the type of person who likes style. I loved the original Chocolate phone. Sadly it's system seemed buggy, a bit slow, and the camera was not as strong as I wished it had been. Is it the same case now? I'll try to address the phone from various stand points. I hope it'll give you the information you need to make your decision.

"I want somethiing sexy", you scream. "I want something that will make me look hot", you shout. Alright.. get an 8800. "No! Everyone owns one now". Alright, I know, get the Prada phone. It's smooth, it's sexy, it has an amazing screen, some nice accessories and smells of Prada all over.

It seems that Motorola and D&G were probably one of the first that attempted to cash in on the mainstream market. Samsung had B&O, but that wasn't very successfull. Prada decided to go with LG. Why? I'd say it's most probably due to the fact that the Chocolate did so well. Why not take a bite out of that right?

LG says that this is the first fully touch screen phone. I'm unsure as to what they mean since there were others before it, but it's understandable. LG have even gone as far as saying that the iPhone copied it. I found that funny, especially since the Prada phone has an OSX like theme.

No more speaking! It's time to unpack the box. It comes in a thin cardboard box. It looks simple and unassuming. You know that when you open it up it's going to give you a nice surprise. I opened it up to see a nicely leather-like box. I took it out. After examinating it, I lifted up the top cover. I am greeted with a nice phone in a tight sleeve. I smell Prada.







I unpacked everything to see that everything was sealed and looked sterlized. It was a nice feeling. You get a Prada case, cleaning cloth, headphones, remote, battery, battery cover, cd, charger, usb cable, memory card and manuals. I was kind of hoping for a Prada strap but there was none.







I popped the phone out of the little sleeve thing and held it in my hands. As with the chocolate, it was almost completely covered with plastic. It had to be since my guess is it's prone to finger prints and light scratches as the chocolate was. I wish LG put the plastic on better though because there are too many bubbles. Nevertheless, it felt nice. The size was perfect. The screen was glorious.



So who is this phone for? It's for someone who cares about style but also wants a phone which is a bit special. The amazing screen and UI is quite simple to use and it makes you feel like you've got some power behind that fashionable device.



The Prada is quite slim, I liked it's dimensions alot. Felt nice. Looked great on the table. After all, the main reason you'll buy this phone is to turn a few heads. It's glossy surface does attract finger prints, however it seems to have a lacquer layer that the chocolate didn't have. That should protect it against scratches a bit better.

When you switch the phone on, it shows on the Prada logo and you hear a quite scary sound. I know it's supposed to sound 'sophisticated' but the sound gave me a chill.

The screen is very very nice. The images are vibrant and very smooth. The brightness is also very good and reading messages in direct sunlight is good. Font smoothing is incredible and everything looked amazing on it. I was quite surprised that it supports reading almost any language. I had an Arabic and a Chinese message on it and it looked smooth. Sadly there is no input, but hey, at least I can read the messages.

The UI is simply... genious. Take 5 minutes with the phone and you'll know how to use it instantly. Everything is easy to guess. There are a few nice touches like the clock being dragable and touching it pops out an alarm button so you can set the alarm. I'm sure that if you play with it, you'll find some neat tricks.

The phone has a 2 mega pixels. It's not that much but the Schneider lense does help. Pictures look good even in dark areas and there isn't that much noise. You have the usual special effects and frames to mess with. Pictures do look very nice on the phone. I've yet to transfer any, I hope to add some soon though. You can change shutter sound, zoom sound, frames, effects, size, etc... The usual. The best thing though is that you have such a huge view finder. It makes using the camera feel so good.

The speaker is VERY loud. Not as loud as the N95, but the trebble is nicely balanced. Ringtones sound clear and voices on the speaker phone sound very loud. I loved it. The phone could have done with better bass balance though.

The phone also has some nice short animations. Menus pop out smoothly and when looking at photos, you have a nice carousal menu that slides to the left or right. It would have been nice to flick photos like how the iPhone did. Better wait for that.

The phone is far from buttonless as they claim, there are three on the front, two on the right and three on the left. On the front you have the hang up, dial and cancel buttons. On the right you have the dedicated unlock button, and a camera/mp3 button. On the left you have the volume and the sound/profile button.

Yes there is loud speaker.
Yes you can choose vibrate and ring and the same time.
Yes you can select custom ringtones.

The touch screen is very responsible. it's heat sensitive not pressure sensitive. It's also solid and not soft. I was quite surprised because it's easy to choose what you want to choose and you just need to tap it lightly.

The buttons however are quite hard to press. You need to deeply press them. This is annoying when it comes to the unlock button. The phone automatically locks to avoid any touches to the screen, so when you go to unlock it, it becomes tedious because you need to use two hands to press the button firmly.

Oh this isn't something that's important but I love the case. it doesn't cover the phone completely. Actually the top bit of the phone sticks out. That way you can show off the prada logo. Yes it leaves it open so it can get scratched, but it's still nice.

Now I've covered the basics, I'll mention a few of the specs.


Specs:
16 MB internal memory, micro SD support. (comes with 256mb card)
Quadband
Features: mp3 player, bluetooth, PC Sync, Sound recording.
2MP Camera
Screen: 262K internal screen (240X400 3 inches)
System: Generic LG
Sound: one speaker.
Main feature: touch screen
Battery Life Talk: 3.50 hours
Standby: 300 hours

Extra information:

The phone's UI is black and white and designed by Prada. It's nice but for those who love color, there are three are themes. As mentioned, one of them is OSX like.

The MP3 function on the phone was really nice and smooth. Probably one of the best there is.

Video:
Video was actually pretty good. It was smooth and didn't show much pixelation. Good thing it has a high frame rate. 29fps I think.

Calling:
Calling was great. People always heard me clearly, there was no cutting. I even tried it with low signal and people sounded perfect.


Organizer.
Calendar, tasks, notes, secret memo, alarms, timer, stopwatch, record sound, calculator and world times, and a few games.

Phonebook
The phone book is nice and simple. A few taps and you're away.

Settings
Also known as the Control Panel. Anything is accessible. From brightness of the screen to sound quality.
You are able to change skins, wallpapers, ring tones, and even the sound the phone makes when you dial a number, switch the phone on, or cycle through menus.

Pros
Slim
HUGE screen
Very fast menu system.
Design


Cons
Buttons a bit hard to press
No screen protector provided (I'm being picky)

My verdict? Looks sexy, has a nice UI, great large wide screen, head turner, and it has some pretty solid features. I say buy it if you don't need to have the best features or want a fashion phone.


the best place to get a great deal is Fluid Mobile
http://www.fluidmobile.com

or Compare a Deal
http://www.widgx.net


Here's a bunch of pics.











































http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7WGSQ7HBlM
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[ This Message was edited by: amnesia on 2007-04-13 16:46 ]
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Posted: 2007-04-13 07:51:15
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couple of things i wanna ask:
1- does it only have one theme, doesnt that black-white become monotonous after a while?
2- does it support java?
3- does it web browser support HTML?

please post pics of the music player aswell and how's the sound quality.
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Posted: 2007-04-13 09:06:08
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Yes it supports Java,

Java Version

CLDC 1.1
MIDP 2.0

The browser supports WAP 2.0

David



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Posted: 2007-04-13 10:11:19
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No 1 is answered in the review methinks...
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Posted: 2007-04-13 10:14:42
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Can you get full (real) internet access like the N95? Or is it just WAP?

Cheers
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Posted: 2007-04-13 10:45:41
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@Anuj, just wap.

@QVGA, yes indeed, I mentioned that in the review. The youtube video I posted shows the mp3 player and the various skins too
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Posted: 2007-04-13 17:12:38
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Can you confirm that you can't have an mp3 as a ringtone?
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Posted: 2007-04-13 18:50:08
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who said that? You can have mp3 as ringtone..
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Posted: 2007-04-13 21:48:07
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Oh, some sites just say it supports Polyphonic ringtones and doesn't mention MP3, thanks for confirming it does!
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Posted: 2007-04-13 23:20:57
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I've been having a little try out of hte prada tonight which I am transporting from one member here in UK to another in Aus as I head back this weekend

I have to say that just the name gave me total dis-interest but now I've charged it up and had looky around I do like the feel of it and a device with a full size screen on the outside is something I have always wanted.

The black and white theme works well and the touchscreen works great, even through the screen protection.

the screen also is a great size for a viewfinder for the camera but to be honest I see this whole package more for my wife than myself, though she would never let me spend this much on a phone for her...
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Posted: 2007-04-17 21:49:58
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