LG Prada 3.0, a luxury phone with decent specs

MANILA, Philippines - Its main job is to look good on you. That is how I would sum up the latest Prada Phone by LG, which exudes pricey Italian glamour.

I unboxed it expecting to see elegance and wasn’t disappointed. The phone shimmered and I immediately noticed my reflection on its super bright 4.3-inch screen. It’s also very thin (only 8.5 mm) and cuts a perfectly clean rectangular shape that impresses a formal, even haughty, appearance without being ostentatious. “An understated elegance,” as my gay friend would say.

I remember asking myself though if that is how high fashion is supposed to look and if style is more important than comfort because my “whoa” moment with this new high-end LG phone quickly faded as I struggled to grip it without my palm getting stabbed by its pointy edges.

I have seen lots of women limping from wearing insanely high-heeled shoes in the name of fashion and I wondered if they — fashion victims as they are — would also quietly suffer this pointy detail on the newest LG Prada phone as long as they are seen holding a device with that distinguished Prada Saffiano imprint emblazoned on it.

Vanity has its price after all. This Italian-Korean handset creation will not only set you back by P29,990 it might also make you pay a bit of time adjusting to its contour-less shape that doesn’t conform well to the natural shape of our hands.

Meanwhile, I think I have avoided naming this product properly long enough. Its official name is quite a mouthful: Prada Phone by LG 3.0. Seriously, could you imagine yourself reciting this long name when someone asks you what phone you are using? In the interest of brevity, I will just call it the LG Prada 3.0 for this review.

High-tech high fashion

Although product reviews have whined about the LG Prada 3.0’s operating system, Google Android 2.3 a.k.a. Gingerbread, being still subject for an upgrade to Android Ice Cream Sandwich promised for the first quarter of 2012, this handset has decent specs and ingenious touches going for it.

For one, it has a very gutsy Android skin in black and white that exudes class. The menus, pre-installed widgets and apps are in these neutral colors, but the rest of the Android apps are as colorful as they have always been. There is, however, an option to pick from a selection of Prada-style white icons that can be used to go with any app you wish to be part of the home screens.

LG has reason to be proud of the NOVA screens used for the LG Prada 3.0, which it says serves colors better and consumes half the power required in standard smartphone LED screens.

The LG Prada 3.0 is equipped with a 1.0GHz Dual-Core/Dual-Channel architecture for high-speed performance, and dual-band Wi-Fi for high-speed surfing. It has an eight-megapixel camera and up to 8GB internal storage, with option for a microSD-based 32GB more.

As for aesthetics, the back shell of the LG Prada 3.0 has this grainy texture that feels more like a rubbery plastic than leather. Real fashionistas might feel cheated by this but overall the phone seems robust enough.

So as not to disturb the phone’s “quiet” design, LG and Prada decided to give it just a few physical buttons and ports. There are also four virtual shortcut buttons populating the bottom of the screen but they disappear from view when not in use.

Save for the LG Prada 3.0’s distinctive look and unique Prada styled icons and interface, not much separates it from other premium smartphones around in terms of functionalities and price. But if ownership of expensive designer labels defines you, then this iconic phone gives you just that.