Hands-on with the Lucky phone

John Chan | Apr 24, 2008

(Update: New pictures added!) So we finally got ourselves a set of M1's Lillian Too Lucky Dragon phone. For the uninitiated, Too is a bestselling author on the topic of Feng Shui. She hails from Malaysia and is a well-known practitioner of the ancient Chinese practice enhancing luck and is an astute businesswoman. It therefore makes a lot of sense that she conceived this idea. It's one of those things we carry around with us all the time, so having it as your lucky charm, too, is a logical step.

Just looking at pictures of this mobile phone doesn't quite prepare you to handle it for real. When we opened the box, it looked pretty standard. Screen, keypad and shortcut buttons, all in an unexciting candybar form factor. Though we know about the dragon at the back, turning it around still amused us in the office greatly. That's actually an understatement--we really burst out laughing. It doesn't help that the startup tone when you first switch on the device, with clanging cymbals and an overly enthusiastic rhythm, gives you the feeling that you are in Chinatown during Chinese New Year.

The pasted-on silver dragon is far thicker than we imagined it to be. The scales on the creature are all clearly defined, thanks to the 288 little zirconia gems (read: faux diamonds) on it. There's one big red one, too, where the dragon's eye is. A pearl is also found here, near the mouth of the dragon. Below all that is Too's seal, with her name in both Chinese and English characters.

Other design elements of the Lillian Too Lucky Dragon phone include a lanyard with a number "8" trinket (signifying wealth in Chinese). The phone comes only in red, giving it a "fire element to ensure financial success." There aren't any geomancy tools available in the software, but you can choose among 12 wallpapers which correspond to the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

As a mobile phone, this one's pretty standard. The interface is simple, but effective. The screen isn't all that fantastic, given its 176 x 220 resolution, and the camera's laggy. It has 6MB of built-in user memory, but that can be augmented thanks to its microSD card slot. Overall, we'd have to say it gets things done without hassle and should be sufficient for ordinary use.

There is nothing subtle about this phone's back portion, so unless you are really into Feng Shui, we doubt most users will be keen on its design. This model is an M1 exclusive, and is available from the Singapore operator at S$168 with a 2-year contract or S$668 without.

An explanation on the Lucky Dragon phone's box says that it was designed to "generate auspicious energy every time you hold and use it", and that you can "activate good chi every time you make or receive a phone call". I personally will be carrying this phone around for the day and will report back here with an update if I pick up any thousand-dollar notes on the street.

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isaac976

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isaac976 says...
John, come on, you can't go make a review on a OEM phone, this is not fair to lillian(yeah right), I can tell you that you would be surprise with the reaction of people when they see this phone, its a one of a kind where YOU LIKE or YOU DONT LIKE. This is actually a SE base phone and the functions are pretty mediocre, its nothing a phone fanatic would want, I felt compelled to tell you that this is a LIMITED EDITION phone also.

oh you also missed that on the top left corner of this phone has a feng shui icon which is called a Misty knot, so i have been told, it actually helps to show you the things which you have lost a long time ago.

So for all you red feng shui fanatics out there do take a look at this phone, it may look orbit to some but hey its heaven to others.

Apr 23, 2008 02:08

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yermom

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yermom says...
it's possible that a higher res pic would prove me wrong, but i'm fairly certain ms. too has employed the services of a korean dragon. not to imply a korean dragon carries any negative connotation, but i wouldn't think that to be the first choice in such a chinese driven design...

Apr 24, 2008 01:59

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