By Damian Koh
16/01/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39051199,44196679p,00.htm

The Prada II retains the simple and elegant design of the first-gen Prada phone, but packs a bunch of welcomed features, including the ability to sync with a companion Prada Link Bluetooth digital watch. Unfortunately, the matching pair don't come cheap--especially when we are in the throes of an economic recession.

Design

Design-wise, the Prada II doesn't break new grounds. It's almost a clone of its predecessor, aside from a QWERTY keyboard that adds to the overall heft and a front-facing camera for video calls. Fortunately, even with the extra girth, the phone remains pocket-friendly.

Features

The first Prada phone wasn't the most practical handset due to its lack of features. So it's good news that LG has added a few notable functions in the Prada II to stay in the competition. At the top of our list are HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, 3G video call capability, camera autofocus and a bump up in resolution to 5 megapixels. The latter doesn't necessarily mean it will be a better shooter, though you will have more pixels at your disposal for cropping.

We found the keys on the QWERTY a tad flush, but the individual buttons are large enough with good spacing between So while the keyboard doesn't have the best ergonomics, it didn't raise irk us either. When you pull out the keyboard, the screen switches to landscape mode automatically. At the same time, a custom shortcut menu to commonly used functions appears. The implementation of this interface is similar to the ones we've seen on HTC models like the Touch Pro and S740.

The rest of the user interface are also well-thought out and most people will be able to get up to speed with the phone right away. The widgets-enabled Home screen has three different pages (shortcuts, widgets, or nothing) and you can switch between them by swiping your finger across the display which is flush with the chassis. The fancy 3D cube transitions add a nifty touch to the overall experience.

Vibrating haptic feedback may not be everyone's cup of tea, so there's an option to switch it off. The Prada II is also one of the few phones in the market that supports multitouch, a la the iPhone style. This means you can "pinch" your photos to resize it and it also works for the Web browser so you can easily zoom in and out of Web pages.

Prada Link

We welcome the added features on the Prada II, but it's the optional Prada Link (LBA-T950) that got us a little more interested. Don't confuse this with the GD910 Watch Phone which LG showed off at the recently concluded CES. The Prada Link is still primarily a watch that doubles as a matching accessory for the Prada II. Aside from displaying time, you can use it to read incoming text messages (it truncates the message if it is longer than 160 characters), access the call log, mute and reject calls. The two devices sync wirelessly via Bluetooth.

There are a few things we like about the Prada Link. It has a stylish design that comes across as metrosexual, so this should sit well with both genders. When paired, the timepiece beeps and vibrates whenever a text message or call comes in. Bear in mind that the Prada Link is ultimately a "slave" device that "listens" (via Bluetooth) to commands from the "master device" (the phone). So you can't initiate actions from the watch. You have to manually delete messages and the call log from the handset. The good thing is, changes on the device are almost instantly reflected on the watch.

The Prada Link maintained good connection within an approximate radius of 3-4m when unobstructed. Your experience may vary, but if the phone is in a pocket or hand-carry bag, you shouldn't encounter any problems. The 1-inch 120 x 56-pixel screen may look tiny, but we found the text display to be sharp and large enough. So you won't go blind reading SMS messages on the timepiece.

Our only nitpick with the Prada Link is that when the watch goes into standby, the time display goes off too. So you can't simply lift your wrist and read the time, but instead you'll have to press any of the press buttons to activate the screen again.

According to LG, the Prada Link is compatible with only selected LG Bluetooth-enabled phones. Although we could pair it with a Nokia E71 and Sony Ericsson K850i Cyber-shot, we couldn't use it to read messages or access the call log. We've been using the Prada Link for the past three days and we're surprised it's still showing two of three battery bars. At this rate, the built-in cell should last for a good week without the need to recharge.

Performance

As far as touchscreen experiences go, the iPhone is still cream of the crop. The Prada II can hold its own, too, but we felt the scrolling wasn't as polished. There's still a split second lag before the screen responded to the finger's movement. Switching between the various menus was snappy though.

Call audio quality was fine throughout use and we didn't notice any significant muffling during calls. Bass sounded a little flat on our test tracks, but we've heard worse on other handsets. Even though the onboard speakers were moderately loud and we could stream music via A2DP, the Prada II doesn't have a 3.5mm audio jack. So you're stuck with the uncomfortable bundled stock earbuds.

The 5-megapixel camera was run-of-the-mill, but capable of handling your everyday snapshots. Our Lab test pictures with flash enabled tended to be on the cooler side, so we ended up with a blue tinge in our shots. Shutter lag was 0.7 second, while it took, on average, 1 second for the autofocus mechanism to get a lock.

LG rates the 950mAh lithium-polymer battery for up to 3 hours of talktime and approximately 17 days on standby.

Conclusion

As far as fashion phones go, the Prada II is one of the few models that has managed to strike a balance between design and functionality. The Prada Link is an unnecessary indulgence, though if you can afford the S$1,288 handset, this S$688 timepiece makes a neat accessory.