Prada phone by LG 3.0

The Prada phone by LG 3.0 is the third handset from the Korean chaebol's collaboration with the Italian fashion house. Targeted at fashion-conscious consumers, this handset comes designed with Prada's signature Saffiano pattern. Besides its pretty looks, the smartphone packs formidable specs such as an 8-megapixel camera and a dual-core 1GHz processor.

Design

From the first glance, you'll know that this is a Prada device thanks to the Prada imprint on both the front and the back of the handset. It's not ostentatious, but rather, feels like this classy smartphone was meant to be Prada-branded device. Furthermore, located at the rear cover is where you'll find the famed Saffiano pattern, which incidentally, gives the handset a very good grip.

The Prada 3.0 also keeps to a very uniform flat design--no irregular bumps distort the clean finish of the smartphone. While the handset does not have the biggest screen, at 4.3 inches, the WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) display is similar to the one you'll find on the Samsung Galaxy S II.

One thing the smartphone has going for it is its slim 8.5 mm profile--and mind you, this is not just at the thinnest point.

The only thing we didn't like about Prada 3.0 is that the four touch-sensitive Android buttons are hidden when not in used, and there's no option to toggle it to remain on permanently. This means you have to tap somewhere on the screen to get the buttons to light up, unless you've already memorized the position of the keys, of course.

Located on the top of the smartphone are the 3.5-mm audio jack, the power button, the dedicated camera button as well as a micro-USB port. The port features a very stylish cover that you can slide to open (which also helps to keep annoying lint and dust out of the port). Hitting the camera button activates the front 1.3-megapixel camera instead of the rear's 8-megapixel camera. We're guessing it's meant for fashionistas to quickly use the phone as a mirror to see if their makeup needs touching up. However, it would be nice to have an option to switch the button to activate the rear camera instead, as we doubt every Prada aficionado will want to check their facial warpaint on a phone.

At the back is the Prada phone's aforementioned 8-megapixel camera with an LED flash, and opening the Saffiano-textured cover reveals a 1,500mAh battery and a microSD card slot that allows hot-swapping. Bear in mind that the LG handset only has 8GB onboard storage, so you'll probably have to use a microSD card if you need more space.

Lastly, while it's not really that much of a downside, we think that the smartphone suffers from a ridiculous naming convention. You're likely to just call it the LG Prada 3.0 as opposed to the longer (and more cumbersome) moniker of Prada phone by LG 3.0. Of course, that's how the fashion industry works these days. There's even a spoof made by designer Marc Jacobs to highlight just how silly this can get.

Features

Keeping with its dark looks is the user interface, which sports a classy gray and white theme that we quite like. It's similar to LG's S-Class UI, albeit with a different skin. We also found using our review unit to be a smooth affair--screens scrolled fluidly, while apps opened instantly. The unit definitely feels responsive even though it only has a dual-core 1GHz processor running the show.

While the theme's black and gray color scheme makes the phone a looker, the immersion ends when you start downloading apps from the Android Market (or use Google Apps). These apps will not be skinned and therefore look out of place.

The smartphone runs Gingerbread (Android 2.3) with a promised Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) update to come by Q2 2012. Given LG's track record with updating sets in Asia to Gingerbread (it can take a long while and really depends on your country), users may only see the update very late. This means it's likely there will be a flood of ICS handsets to pick from by then, especially with the Mobile World Congress tradeshow due at the end of the month.

As expected from a high-end smartphone, the Prada handset comes with the full-range of connectivity options, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, HSDPA as well as an FM radio.

When it comes to the handset's camera, we found ourselves less than impressed--taking a picture was quite the slow affair. Where most newer smartphones are touting a faster capture process, the LG Prada handset takes its time. However, we can't fault the image quality and color reproduction in the pictures. Those who care about image capture speeds may want to consider smartphones like the iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Performance

We've mentioned earlier that the Prada phone is only using a 1GHz dual-core processor and we note that it's using the tri-dual architecture that's similar to the one found LG Optimus 3D. We found performance to be responsive, though there were the occasional odd moments where it felt a little laggy.

The Prada smartphone will last you about a day on light to moderate usage. Our test was done with our usual review settings where Facebook is set on a two-hour refresh interval while Twitter and two email accounts were set on push. If you're a heavy user, be sure to bring along a spare battery.

As for call quality, we had no issues with reception and voice clarity.

Conclusion

The LG Prada partnership seems to have spawned a very pretty and capable smartphone, but whether you should get this phone will be dependent on how much you like the Prada brand and whether you are patient enough to wait for LG's promised updates. If you are, then the S$1,088 (US$841) non-contract price of the smartphone (in Singapore) will not faze you one bit.