TechGazing

The GW620 is LG’s first Android phone and after using it for a few days, we must confess to being more than a little impressed by it. It may not have the high jinks or style quotient that the iPhone 3GS or the Motorola Milestone have, but delivers something that is equally important - value for the consumer’s money. So in a nutshell, here are six reasons why we think the GW620 is an outstanding phone

1. It combines a 3inch touchscreen with a relatively spacious QWERTY keypad, and still manages to look rather presentable.

2. In terms of camera, this is one of the best we have seen on an Android device. It is better than the one on the HTC Hero, the Samsung Galaxy and Spica, and the HTC Tattoo, matches the one on the Milestone and comes second only to the terrific shooter on the 8 megapixel powered Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.

3. It offers two interfaces from the word go - the traditional Android interface and one customised by LG. No, it is not classic “dual-booting” as some LG PRs are claiming (dual booting involves two operating systems, and the GW620 for all its goodness, has just one), but it is always nice to see customers get a choice out of the box.

4. The phone offers classic Android features like live updates from Gmail, Facebook, Google Talk and the like, as well as Web browsing -  all at a decent rate of knots, without too many lags.

5. Most new touchscreen devices these days come with notoriously low battery lives. The GW620, however, lasted us for more than a day of constant mails and updates - very impressive by modern touchscreen standards.

6. We saved the best for last - the GW620 comes with just about every connectivity option ranging from Wi-Fi to Bluetooth to AGPS and a very decent spec sheet, for just about Rs 16,000. Honestly, this has got to be one of the best value for money propositions we have seen in smartphones in recent times.

Mind you, it is not all roses and honey with the device. It does have a few shortcomings, three of which are:

1. It uses a resistive rather than capacitive touchscreen and this can affect the touch experience at times, especially while pulling down the notification bar on top of the homescreen to get information about the latest mails and messages.

2. It runs on Android 1.5, which is a tad dated when one considers that there is already an Android 2.1 device in the market. Newcomers will not notice the difference between the two versions, but to the experienced eye, it does jar. One just hopes LG will update the version soon.

3. Quite surprisingly, we found the call quality on the phone to be less than satisfactory, with calls being dropped and those we called complaining of not being able to hear us clearly. We just hope this was an aberration, although such problems have afflicted LG handsets in the past.

Still, all said and done, we must admit that the LG GW620 is right up there with the best value value for money smartphones in the country. After all, which other device offers you a touchscreen with a full QWERTY keyboard, backed up by a 5 MP camera, lots of connectivity and topped off by a good operating system, for something in the vicinity of Rs 16,000? An excellent option for those wanting to try Android for the first time, although we would recommend trying out call quality before purchasing the unit!