LG KU990 Viewty

Is the Viewty a beauty?

LG is keen to point out that the Viewty is 'the complete camera phone'. And to be fair, it's hard to argue with that. Packing a massive 5-megapixels to rival the N95 and Samsung G600 and a stack of features you're more likely to find on your common or garden point and shoot, it's more like a phone camera than a camera phone.

There's a 16x digital zoom, video recording at a mind-blowing 120 frames per second and playback at a DVD quality 30 fps. We're talking a lot of power beneath that old-school black frame.

But don't be fooled by all these high-end additions. LG's watch words are still design, style and fashion and this is pretty clear when it comes to the lacking tech side of things. A bit of a worry when they're after your gadget savings.

There are myriad niggles that caught our eye. For starters, you zoom by rotating your finger around the lens. This makes it impossible to hold steady and take quick snaps without getting your digits in the way.

Images themselves do indeed make other mobile peepers look weedy, but up against the N95, they're of the same ilk. Praise indeed, but the Viewty lacks the Nokia's multimedia powers and the solid build of Sony Ericsson's K850i.

The touchscreen itself takes its lead from LG's other trendy blower, the Prada. Similarly, it's a fairly sticky affair and you have to make sure you hit it in the right place if you want it to do as you say. Scrolling through text messages can take an eternity.

Text messages are easy enough to bash out. They use a standard mobile keyboard on the screen, so you can fire off missives in no time once you've had a bit of practice. There's no iPhone-style 'board to grapple with here.

The build is incredibly plasticky. We took off the battery cover and it felt as if it was going to snap in two between our bony fingers. If you're after a solid high end cell, then you may want to look elsewhere for something sturdier.