CES 2009
LG didn't announce much at the show, but it did have two phones announced back in the fall of 2008 on hand, the Cookie and the Renoir. Neither phone is specifically slated to be released in the U.S., but it is possible that variants of them may be configured for the U.S. market.
Both are touch devices that have three physical buttons along the bottom for controlling some of the menus. They also have nearly identical user interfaces, which are versions of the touch-based user interface on phones such as the Voyager or Dare.
The KC500 "Cookie" is very thin and light. It is a nice weight and fits snugly into your hand. There is a volume toggle on the left side and other buttons on the right side for the camera. All of the physical keys on the Cookie worked well and had good travel and feedback.
One thing we noticed is that the Cookie was very responsive to touch. Its touch screen uses resistive technology, and this is one of the best implementations that we've come across. The menu was snappy and quick to load applications and jump from screen to screen.
LG says the KP500 will be an affordable touch screen with quad-band GSM/EDGE radios. It comes with a stylus and has messaging and photo editing features, as well as an accelerometer that auto-rotates the display when the phone is moved. You can also use the accelerometer to organize widgets on the home screen. If you've made a mess of it by dragging them around and want to tidy things up, simply shake the Cookie and it will separate all the widgets into neat little rows.
Here is a short video tour of the Cookie:
The KC910 Renoir is a bit more feature rich. It is a successor to the Viewty and has an 8 megapixel camera and advanced camera features. It is heavier and bulkier than the Cookie, but the menus and controls are pretty much identical.
Some of the camera features include: Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics, a Xenon flash, auto and manual focus, sensitivity up to ISO 1600 and geo-tagging. The Renoir lets users focus on anything in the viewfinder by simply touching where they want the phone to focus. The camera will focus on that spot and fire off a shot when the user lifts his/her finger. It can record video from 5 to 120 frames per second.
Other camera features include Beauty Shot, which lets users remove blemishes from subjects' faces. The Renoir also has Dolby Mobile for Music, Wi-Fi, a-GPS and support for HSDPA 3G networks. We tested these features out and they work pretty well. They were a little bit slow to react in my opinion, but they do what LG promises they will do.
The lens on the back of the Renoir has a protective cover that, when opened, automatically starts up the camera.
Both phones are solid additions to LG's touch-based lineup. We hope to see them in the U.S. at some point.
Here's a short video of the Renoir:
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