Are you a tech geek or really close to being one? Do you also keep up to date on the latest fashion in town? Then we have the best of both worlds for you in the form of LG Prada 3.0. LG Prada has had a history of sorts as it gained a lot of popularity with its original LG Prada phone since it was one of the first phones to sport a capacitive touch screen but then didn’t woo the crowd with Prada II which lacked new features. However, now in our hands we have the third generation of the LG Prada line and it comes as good news that it’s not a phone that’s going to cost you big bucks but is rather a high end phone that is aptly priced. Sporting a neat design and some good specs, let’s find out what the LG Prada 3.0 has to offer.
Design
When something is related to Prada, luxury is the word that comes to mind. However, this time around, the LG and Prada pairing have taken a different approach that is to provide a high end phone with some good looks. However we are not too sure they managed to pull that one off. At 0.33 inches, the phone manages to stay very slim but it does a have a plastic casing much like the Samsung Galaxy S II which gives it a cheap feeling. Also, you don’t get Saffiano leather on the phone, but the LG Prada 3.0 only has Saffiano pattern on its plastic casing. Well apart from the plastic casing we must say it does have some good looks to go with it. However, as a whole you will be left disappointed with the design as you would expect much more in terms of both quality and as well as class from a Prada device. As you get pass those design disappointments, you might like the nice rectangular shaped body of the LG Prada 3.0.
On the top of the phone, there is a sliding cover that will reveal the standard audio jack as well as the microUSB port once opened. Opening this well-made sliding cover also reveals the power/lock key. On the top of the front facing camera, there is a button meant to launch the camera app with the front-facing camera active. Click this button with the camera app open and the front facing camera will take a picture of whatever it is you are pointing at. The volume rocker sits on the left side of the phone. Under the 4.3 inch TFT screen is your touch-sensitive navigation keys. The screen on the LG Prada 3.0 doesn’t stand out with its 480 x 800 resolution especially since it’s the TFT kind rather than the more modern kinds like the AMOLED or IPS-LCD screens. Flip the phone and on the back of the LG Prada 3.0 is an 8MP camera with flash.
Features
A dual-core TI OMAP 4430 CPU that runs at 1GHz is there to power this phone. The 1GB of RAM onboard the LG Prada 3.0 also helps make things work smoothly with no visible signs of lag.
LG Prada 3.0 runs on the Android v2.3. Gingerbread and we like how LG has made changes to the interface so that it goes hand in hand with the phone’s design. For instance the default theme sports simple white icons that go really well on the dark background it sits on. The widgets are also designed to be in similar fashion. Adding to that, you can pick from three different “Scenes” namely “Travel”, “Play” and “Work” that are in essence different homescreen configurations to suit your needs better. There’s been a lot of customization done to the Android apps’ icons but the Google’s services have remained the same. So LG’s idea of keeping these two different types of apps on separate sections in the LG Prada 3.0’s main menu keeps the interface neat and stylish in one go. With the 4.3 inch screen, the landscape on-screen display was big and we could get our texts out quickly and with almost no errors as the keys are well spaced out.
You would think LG would focus more on style rather than substance with the Prada phone, but it does try to match the big players of the smartphone industry by giving the LG Prada 3.0 with a 4.3 inch screen. However, seeing that it’s only a TFT screen, it does lose out on areas like contrast to the AMOLED screens for instance. Its low resolution of 480 x 800 was also not great. However colors were on the natural side and you get decent viewing angles with this screen. We also liked the fact that the screen was clear even under direct sunlight.
Before we look at how the 8MP camera on the LG Prada 3.0 performs, let’s first look at the camera interface. It was really easy to use and in terms of time taken to focus on the subject, it isn’t the fastest out there but it’s no slouch either. We liked the results that came from this camera as the pictures had good details and well saturated colors. Noise was however quite visible. Indoors the camera didn’t do as well but the LED flash was in hand to improve things. Video recording is done at 1080p and for most parts it produced some well detailed and smooth recordings.
The browser on the phone also got the trademark customization that LG does to almost all of the Android stuff. The performance of the browser on the LG Prada 3.0 was nothing short of amazing thanks probably to its impressive specs onboard. Flash is also supported and we loved the smooth browsing experience. In terms of connectivity options, you have the usual suspects like Wi-Fi and GPS. The GPS on this phone was able to identify our location within minutes without having to use Wi-Fi.
Call quality on the LG Prada 3.0 is pretty good as voices on both ends were loud and noise free. This was thanks to the noise cancellation microphone that’s built in on this phone. There is a 1540mAh battery to provide all the juice that this phone is going to need. It was rated to give 5 hours of talk-time, about the average battery life you get with most of the competition out there.
Pros and Cons
The LG Prada 3.0 stays true to its brand name by being one good looking phone. However, Prada isn’t banking on good looks alone to sell this phone as there are some good specs onboard. The user interface is nicely customized to blend in well with the phone’s exterior design.
The plastic casing does make it feel very cheap and the camera isn’t the best either.
Conclusion
If style is of utmost importance to you, then you have to the right place. LG Prada 3.0 is a stylish phone but at the same time stays functionally relevant in the competitive smartphone industry. So if there’s money in your pocket, spend it on this one.