The LG Viewty Smart GC900 is the LG Viewty’s successor. Boasting an 8-megapixel camera and a 3-inch touchscreen, the Viewty Smart certainly looks better than its predecessor but does it deliver more?
What we like
The Viewty Smart’s camera is easy to use and offers a wide range of features. You can switch between normal and macro mode easily, adjust white balance for different lighting conditions and set the camera to take a burst of shots.
There’s a slow-motion video mode, similar to the original Viewty’s, that we found fun to use. Once you’ve taken a video on the Viewty Smart you can upload it YouTube wirelessly using HSDPA (3.5G) or Wi-Fi.
LG has added one of its most sensitive touchscreens (capacitive) to the Viewty Smart, which makes a big difference. Rather than having to push down on the screen using a finger or stylus, you simply have to stroke it lightly with a finger and it will register it.
Looks-wise, the Viewty Smart is one of LG’s most attractive touchscreen phones and manages to cram in Wi-Fi, GPS and HSDPA into a relatively slim package. The interface looks polished too, displaying a plethora of finger-friendly icons.
What we don’t like
Browsing the web on the LG Viewty Smart is a patience-testing affair at times. To zoom in on pages you pull and pinch as you would do on an iPhone but it’s a jerky and sluggish experience. We recommend downloading Opera Mini instead.
The camera’s picture quality is as disappointing as the browser, which is a shame considering it’s the Smart’s main feature. Pictures came out blurry due to shutter lag and in low light we weren’t impressed by the LED photo light.
As on-screen keypads go, the Smart’s may annoy you. There’s a standard alphanumeric option and a full Qwerty mode, both of which we found frustrating at times due to a lag between the moment you tap a key and a letter appearing.
Finally, there’s no standard 3.5mm headphone jack, which we consider incredibly annoying for a high-end phone with music playing capabilities.
Conclusion
The LG Viewty Smart looks great and boasts plenty of features, including one of LG’s best touchscreens yet. We would like to say it’s fantastic but we can’t, because the LG Viewty Smart doesn’t deliver the user experience we expected. We can forgive some of its issues but LG should have tried harder with the Smart’s camera.
Specification
| OS | Proprietary |
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