| 06 JUNE 2005 |
| LG F9100
Mobile Phone |
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If you are an American Idol fan, you
might have seen this phone being advertised by Cingular in a
show or two. Cingular couldn't have chosen a better
audience. If you aren't familiar with American Idol, the
fans vote on their favourite singers by text messaging their
responses with their phone. If you are the person who does
a lot of text messaging, then this phone is for you. LG's
unique phone makes it easier to send larger quantities of text
with its built in keyboard.
Although this phone is designed for
text messaging, it doesn't mean that this phone is perfectly
flawless in that area. Unfortunately, you won't be able to
use the keyboard with all the applications. The other
features of the phone aren't particularly outstanding either,
but they still do hold their ground.
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The LG F9100 is a solid black mobile phone which has a notable
rectangular shape. When looking at the phone, it does have
a nice black and silver design. The screen has a 65k color
display which is 128 x 160 pixels. |
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When turning the phone on its side,
you will find few buttons. The left side of the phone has
your typical up and down buttons used to control the volume of
the phone. The other side of the phone has a jack which is
used for a headset. Once you have a glance at the side,
you will immediately notice the bulkiness of the phone.
The phone is rather thick and it does feel slightly heavy as
well.
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The main attraction and feature of the phone is
the keyboard. The phone is held together in two pieces.
The keyboard is revealed by sliding the bottom-half of the phone
out. The sliding keyboard gives more insight into the
reason why the phone is thicker than most phones. When
holding the keyboard in your hands, the thickness of the
bottom-half of the phone allows your fingers to grip onto the
keyboard.
The keyboard has your typical
QWERTY layout, therefore finding letters should not be difficult
if you are used to a computer keyboard. One thing I
noticed about the keyboard is that the keys were placed to lean
toward the right of the device. This is because it will
give a better sense that you are aligned with the screen which
is also slightly to the right.
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With the
keyboard slid out, the screen automatically rotates
automatically to allow you to use the phone horizontally.
This is the reason why there are two buttons placed on the right
hand side of the screen. They allow you to select menu
items when using the phone horizontally. You are presented
with two options: you can do instant messaging or send a text
message.
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Just like the recently reviewed LG L1400, the overall interface
and menu system of the phone is very similar. The menu on
this phone is slightly more animated, but is generally the same.
The menu is presented with a series of icons. Once you
choose an option, most of the menus are presented in a list
which is fairly easy to navigate. If you are used to a
phone of a different brand, it shouldn't take long to find the
settings that you need to change when using this phone.
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This phone has a rated 4 minimum
hours of talk time and up to 330 hours of standby time. I
was able to get close to it in terms of talk time, but the
standby time was signifcantly less. I had to charge the
device after approximately 2 days of use.
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The basic features of this phone
allow you hold up to 255 entries in the address book including
multiple phone numbers and text with the entries. In
addition you can speed-dial up to 9 numbers or Voice dial up to
10 numbers. Other features are a basic organizer which
includes a calendar, schedular, notepad, calculator, and
organizer. There is also an alarm clock and voice
recorder.
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As expected, the advanced features
may involve additional costs depending on your usage and service
plan. Advanced features include instant messaging,
Internet Express, Multimedia Messaging Server (MMS), Java
enabled games, and ring tones. The instant messaging
supports AOL instant messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ and CW.
As is expected with text messaging, this phone includes the T9
predictive text input to make it easier to type out large
quantities of text.
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I went to Cingular's website to look
up the price of the phone if it was included in a service plan.
This phone retails for $249.99 and is approximately $149.99 if
it is bought with a service plan. When comparing this
price tag with comparable phones, it is a bit disappointing that
this phone lacks additional features such as a built-in camera,
Bluetooth technology, or even an infrared port. |
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| Conclusion |
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The LG F9100 is a phone which seems
to be suited best for those who truly place a priority on
instant messaging over other features. If you text
message, I mean a lot, then this phone would be justifiable for
your needs. If you would like a more well-rounded phone
packed with more features, then you may want to consider other
ones.
Reviewed by
ronald@digitalreviews.net
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