While most camera phones place emphasis on telephony functions — with the camera playing second fiddle — LG’s new Viewty handset blurs this line by being equal parts mobile phone and digital camera.
After making a sensational debut in Europe last August, the LG Viewty (a.k.a. model KU990) now makes a splash with its Philippine introduction.
The Viewty boasts a number of “world first” features never seen before on a mobile phone.
Combining sleek styling with superb functionality, this handset boasts a five-megapixel Schneider-Kreuznach-certified camera that’s enhanced by manual focus for greater control, the first time this feature is launched globally.
With a manual option (it also has auto-focus capability), the camera focus can be set on any point at the users’ convenience giving a perfect picture every time.
When taking photos in poor light or with shaky hands, the Viewty compensates with its ISO 800, its SmartLight feature, and its one-touch Image Stabilizer for bright and clear pictures. It even has a xenon flash.
The world’s first TFT (262k-color) LCD full touch-screen, first introduced by LG in its Prada phone, has been further advanced in the LG Viewty by adding a touch signal to allow the user to confirm proper functioning of the touch-screen.
Once a picture has been taken, users can instantly view and edit the image on the three-inch WQVGA LCD screen with its handwriting editing function. The full screen enables users to enjoy high-quality DivX video files with its wide-screen format. The Viewty also has a TV Out to let you watch your videos on TV.
For those looking to bring their captured moments to life, the Viewty brings another world’s first on a mobile with its 120-frame-per-second (fps) video recording function.
Sharing videos is so easy thanks to the Bluetooth-, WAP 2.0- and EDGE-enabled Viewty’s single-click connection through HSDPA 3.6Mbps high-speed Internet capability to YouTube. It also has USB 2.0 and PictBridge connectivity.
A jog wheel placed at the back of the handset allows for quick scrolling and searching, and when playing music or videos, it can turn the volume up and down, fast-forward or rewind, and zoom in and out. Users can easily select modes (Camera, Video, Album) with the three-step module key.
The KU990 also plays music in a variety of formats: MP3, AAC/AAC+/AAC+Enhanced, Midi, XMF, SMAF. It has 100MB of internal memory, expandable via microSD card up to 2GB.
It’s compact, too, measuring a svelte 103.5 x 54.4 x 14.8 mm and weighing just 112 grams. Now who says that Viewty is just skin-deep?