LG B2100

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With the barrage of high-end phones and 3G handsets out every month, its always interesting to see how manufacturers can up the ante with their mainstream models. In particular, the ones that cater to the bulk of casual handphone users out there with more mobile needs than wants. Unfortunately, LG's latest attempt doesn't offer anything new nor do much right.

Design
The first signs are promising. One of the few candy-bar phones that can actually be called wafer-thin, its reduced size is matched by its 74g featherweight. A sleek silver-and-black combination dresses the phone and gives it a clean look. Build quality is decent as well.

Sadly, that's where the promise ends. With the keypad slightly sloped downwards, the middle two rows of keys are too close for comfort and we found ourselves accidentally pressing extra buttons. The four-way navigational pad below the display is outdated considering the usual five-way variant for most other phones these days. While the two pairs of softkeys on either side are easy to use, the clear key above the numerics is hard to press.

The display on the LG phone is bright, but its passive STN screen throws up "ghosting" images reminiscent of models some years back. On a nicer note, you can set a clock face with large digits as wallpaper. The handset's VGA camera can be activated through the softkey on the right side, while the earphone jack is covered by a rubber bung. We didn't find any external volume controls on the handset, though.

Features
The aesthetics weren't the only gripes we had with the phone. Take SMS messaging. When you receive a new incoming message, all you see is a small message icon on the display, and not a popup notification box of any kind. There is also no instant access to the new text. Furthermore, inbox messages are not sorted by date, so you need to scroll through the SMS list to the new SMS, a feature we found rather silly. When typing a message, unlike most mobiles where you can hold onto a button for a short while to input a solitary digit in predictive text mode, you will have to scroll for it as well on the LG. In addition, text inputting and word switching are painstakingly slow.

While the usual phone features such as Java applications and basic organizational functions are present, the menu and operating interface are generally laggy. The LG comes with an option to preset up to three recurring alarms.

The VGA camera is comparable to similar variants in the market, with additional shooting modes like preset picture framing, 4x digital zoom and color settings. Commendably, shutter lag is almost negligible on the LG.

We find the handsfree kit included in the bundle a tad too plasticky to our liking. The handsfree worked fine in most of our tests, though. Ringtones are also loud and clearly audible. The B2100 packs around 1.4MB of internal memory and no expansion options, but you'd hardly need any, considering its basic feature set.

Performance
Battery life is decent. We managed three days of continuous usage on a full charge of the 780mAh Lithium-ion battery. We had no problems making calls or receiving them through the entire period of testing.

Conclusion
It suffices to say that the LG B2100's price tag is probably its strongest selling point. At S$98 (US$70.80) with a two-year plan and S$298 (US$215.30) without contract, it will certainly appeal to those who just need a phone mainly for making calls. Otherwise, minor design issues, a flawed messaging system and mediocre feature set make this handset hard to recommend.