LG is one of the cell phone companies that up until now still hasn’t managed to gain popularity and recognition in the cell phone market, despite the fact that this vendor has been around in this industry for quite long time, even before the Apple’s iPhone was even born to this earth. But I think it’s great that LG is still on the right track by following the trend of touch screen smartphones in order to avoid of being left behind by other competitors. And apparently, the one called LG Mobile GS290 is one of its positive efforts

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LG Mobile GS290 is an affordable touch screen smartphone that is rolled out in the low-end market. And by looking at the whole spec that comes with it, then definitely the cheap price tag is definitely suitable for this phone.

Design

The design aspect of this phone is not something that looks really prominent on this phone because the entire shape of the body looks so ordinary, although it’s still a touch screen phone. Compared to other touch screen phones around the market, either Android, proprietary or any OS-based smartphones, then LG Mobile GS290 absolutely doesn’t look stand out among the crowd. The reason is simple. It’s because it looks too casual and there is nothing special on the design aspect of this phone.

Even the physical keys on the front device (i.e., Phone call, homescreen and phone end) also look so “cheap”. But fortunately, the wide touch screen that dominates the front side of device still gives a good impression to the design as a whole.

On the other hand, the back cover of this phone is wrapped up in white silver color, which makes it look little bit elegant on the back side. Still on same position, you can find the 2.0 MP camera, which is pretty mediocre for a touch screen phone. Anyway, if you look closer at the surface of the back cover, you can see that the back cover is designed in a textured surface that reflects sparkles when the light hits this phone.

Anyway, although the specs of this phone are pretty much mediocre, LG Mobile GS290 still comes with 3.5mm headphone jack, which is great for listening to music. On the left side of the phone, you will find the hot swap for microSD card, which is expandable for up to 16GB, while the micro USB port can be found on the upper right position.

Interface and Functionality

Talking about the screen of this phone could be more interesting since it’s a touch screen phone. The screen uses TFT resistive touchscreen technology and it’s built upon 256K color display and 240 by 400 pixel screen resolution. Interestingly, the user interface of this phone has been made by the vendor in a cute looking interface called Cartoon UI with Live square.

So everything on the screen looks integrated with the cartoon wallpaper/theme. For example, if you put widgets on the homescreen, they will be placed on the specific position based on the cartoon wallpaper that being used. So it looks kind of funny and attractive.

Features

LG Mobile GS290 comes with some standard features, such as: Bluetooth, 2MP camera, Stereo FM radio, Java MIDP 2.1, Social Network integration, Facebook native client and Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate.

Unfortunately, this phone doesn’t have WiFi connection, 3G and GPS, which are really important and basic elements for smart phones.

Conclusion

So in conclusion, this phone is a cheap smartphone that is rolled out specifically in the low-end market. The absence of 3G, WiFi and GPS shows that LG, the company that is responsible for this phone, doesn’t really give its best effort when producing this phone.

The fact that LG Mobile GS290 is not an Android phone (only proprietary OS) also makes it hard to recommend this phone to you. Moreover, if anytime soon, the other contenders, such as: Sony Ericsson Xperia X8, Xperia X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro arrive in the low-end market, then they will absolutely beat LG Mobile GS290 to death.