LG Shine KE970 review.

LG Shine KE970, I had checked out this phone when it was just released, but had not the time to do a full review. Here it is, better late than never.

At 99.8 x 50.6 x 13.7 mm and 118 grams weight, LG's KE970 "Shine" does indeed, err... shine. With full metal body, the phone is slightly on the heavier side, but fits in my pants pockets without much bulge either. Sporting a clean face with minimal buttons, the first thing that strikes you that the mirror display is indeed very... errr... shiny (geez, pun is intended). With the phone not active, you will use it for checking your hairdo frequently, if you are as vain as I am.

The face is completed with two buttons and a roller bar at the bottom, with two touch sensitive buttons on its side. Sliding up the phone proves simple as the slide is very firm, but you will find that you may smudge the mirror face very easily. The keypad hidden underneath is a Razr inspired metal etched type, which are big enuff to accomodate larger male fingers. Scrolling is achieved via the roller bar, but its a one line per roll and not auto scroll if u hold down the roller bar, strange.

With 2.2 inches, the native of 320x240 is brilliant indoors, but can be a little difficult to see under the sun, with the screen being under the brilliant but smudge and oil magnet of the faceplate. Colors are lively, and the screen make taking pictures using the onboard 2MP camera a breeze.

Pictures taken on this phone is of acceptable quality for a 2MP camera phone. It uses a Schneider Kreuznach lens, autofocus, an LED photo light and a very small portrait mirror all at the back. Some of the camera's more advanced settings include the ability to adjust the focus mode, set a timer, add a color effect, adjust the white balance and even take multiple pictures in quick succession. You can also use the camera to shoot videos with digital zoom only available on this mode (no zoom in photo mode). Strange.

Shine has a built in music player supports MP3, WAV, AAC, AAC+ and AAC++ files, with an equaliser and even shuffle mode. Shine has 48MB built in memory and is also shipped with a 1GB micro SD card for more storage space for your photos and music. LG has provided an inline remote with a 3.5mm jack adapter should you prefer to use your expensive headsets for your listening pleasure. Very well thought of LG. But no A2DP stereo bluetooh support. This tri-band EDGE (no 3G) phone also has flight mode, document viewer, as well as a cool world clock that displays a globe. Battery talk time is at 3 hours, and 280 hours standby period.

Summary: Cool phone to show off to, but smudges way too easy to maintain its pristine look. Has very standard phone feature, but at RM1399, its a very cool phone to show off to.

Rating: 8/10