In a nutshell: The LG Viewty Smart is a massively upgraded
version of the original Viewty. Its feature list includes a 480x800
hi-res 3 inch touchscreen running LG's new S-Class 3D user interface,
a brilliant 8 megapixel camera with autofocus and a quality lens,
music player, FM radio, A-GPS, 1.5GB memory, WiFi and HSDPA. All
this in a slimline and lightweight modern-looking phone makes this
a great phone, although it's not 100% reliable, so loses one star.
Review:
May 2009. Last updated October 2009.
The LG Viewty Smart (or Viewty 2) is an upgraded
version of the immensely popular LG
Viewty, and is very similar to the LG
Arena, except that the Viewty Smart has an upgraded 8 megapixel
camera. Here at Mobile Phones UK we loved the Viewty and the Arena,
so it will come as no surprise that we like the Viewty Smart too.
The Viewty Smart looks much more like the Arena
than the original Viewty. It's a slimmer, curvier form, with metallic
accents that give it a very "2009" look. And it's entirely
touchscreen driven, with just one button on the front face. But
LG's new S-Class 3D user interface, based around a rotating cube
concept, makes it very easy to use. One of the highlights of this
phone has to be the amazing LCD display, which has an ultra-high
resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and a huge 3 inch diagonal. It's
a brilliant platform for running the capacitive touch-display, and
also for viewing photos and videos.
This brings us on to the next highlight of the
device: the 8 megapixel camera. This is a stunner too. As you are
probably aware, the quality of a camera is not determined simply
by the number of megapixels, but by the quality of the optics. The
Viewty Smart delivers the optics to match the resolution, with its
Schneider Kreuznach lens, and can take photos that match the best
from Nokia, and can give Sony Ericsson a run for their money too.
The camera is equipped with autofocus and an LED flash, and also
features a new Intelligent Shot Mode that analyses the subject,
background, and lighting conditions and compares the data against
seven pre-programmed scenarios in order to take the "perfect"
picture. It's taking point-and-shoot to the next level, and does
make it easy to get great shots. It's not going to make you the
next David Bailey, but as far as point-and-shoot photography goes,
we think that this will match most dedicated digital cameras, at
least in good lighting conditions. The camera can also record video
at up to 120 frames per second, which means that you can playback
in slow motion for special effect. Video calling is also available.
The music player handles all common formats, and
the video player can play DivX/XviD formats too. Dolby Mobile provides
the best quality audio, and an FM radio is included too. But for
reasons unknown, the 3.5mm audio jack and FM transmitter that appeared
in the LG Arena have not been included in the Viewty Smart.
A-GPS is included however, as well as full connectivity
with WiFi, Bluetooth and USB.
The available user memory is a huge 1.5GB and the
phone has a microSD card clot that will accept cards up to 32GB,
so there is certainly no shortage of storage capacity.
Battery capacity is typical for this type of phone.
Heavy users will probably need to charge on a daily basis, and we
would anticipate that anyone who is lucky enough to own one of these
beauties is going to make good use of it!
The Viewty Smart is a big step up from the original
Viewty. LG have improved the camera, the screen, the user interface,
the memory and have added WiFi and A-GPS. And they've made it smaller
and lighter at the same time! The battery life may have suffered
as a result, but we can't fail to be impressed by the strides that
LG are making in the touchscreen arena. And speaking of the Arena,
the two phones are very similar: choose the Viewty Smart if the
8 megapixel camera appeals, and choose the Arena
if the the 3.5mm audio jack and FM transmitter are more important
to you.
However, as with the LG Arena, there are reliability
problems with this phone, especially on Orange-locked handsets.
Check out the user comments below. The main problem reported by
users is that the screen blanks out when a call is incoming. We
believe that this is related to the proximity sensor that detects
whether you are holding the phone. A solution
has been suggested by one of our readers - see the review below
by Geoff_W from UK on 26th Jun 2009, but beware that this may invalidate
your warranty! A safer solution is to keep returning the phone to
Orange until they fix the problem.
Features
of the LG Viewty Smart include:
8 megapixel camera with Schneider Kreuznach
lens, autofocus and LED flash
Video recording (QVGA, 120fps) & video calling
Display: TFT LCD, 480 x 800 pixels (3.0 inches)
touchscreen with accelerometer
Memory: 1.5GB plus microSD memory card slot
(up to 32GB)
Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi
Internet: WAP 2.0, GPRS Class
12, EDGE, Full web browser, Google
Mobile Service
Vibration alert
Quadband GSM plus 3G UMTS
Size: 109 x 56 x 12.4 mm
Weight: 102g
Talktime: 5 hours
Battery standby: 330 - 350 hours
LG Viewty Smart
Consumer Reviews
Love
your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review
this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a
forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear
words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Reviewed by theman from uk on
8th Oct 2009
im going to get this phone my mate has it. it looks really cool
and runs quite quick. i was going to get the iphone but to be honest
im not a big fan of apple and £250 quid more for a few apps. now
despite its name its not atually a smart phone will someone tell
me why this is because i cant see why not my brother has the old
viewty i told him he needs to upgrade but he wont. (hes getting
a palm pre.) the user face on the old one was horrible the camra
was good but the menu did they get a 10 year old to do that the
touch screen was slow to responed and to be honest it was a poor
phone. but on this updated one everything seems fine we will have
to wait and see what mines like when i can use everything all in
all seams like one of the best phones on the market. Rating:
Reviewed by bobby from UK on
7th Oct 2009
I have upgraded to this phone on Orange today, and have absolutely
no complaints. My handset software is gc900at_v10n and they seem
to have ironed out all previous problems. 1. the proximity sensor
calibration is in the settings menu, but isn't needed (no dead screen
for calls) 2. Photo editing software runs smoothly 3. Call answer
is single button instead of old slider. I have upgraded from the
Samsung Tocco, and so far the Viewty Smart spanks it in all areas,
except one...... When browsing the internet, the page is too small,
and it's very hard to click on links. I've tried zooming which helps,
but then as soon as you go to another page it reverts to original
size. Has anyone figured out a way around this? Rating:
Reviewed by Julie from Scotland on
7th Oct 2009
I too had the issues with the screen blanking out when making and
recieving a call, a complete nightmare when you need to retrieve
voicemail!!! I followed Geoff's instructions and it seems to have
worked - Thanks Geoff. The phone is good, easy to navigate menus
however if you are a guy with larger fingers then I would suggest
this may not the phone for you as it can be a bit fiddly to text.
However all in all I think it is brilliant. Rating:
Reviewed by amandarrr from englanddd
on 6th Oct 2009
Yeah this phone is amazee :) Rating:
Reviewed by karl stout from england
on 5th Oct 2009
excellent phone,best ive ever had Rating:
Reviewed by [: from yoo kay on
4th Oct 2009
wooooooooooooooooooooooo good phone aye ;) Rating:
Reviewed by Jibbie from UK on
4th Oct 2009
There is nothing wrong with this phone. I've had it for about 5
months now? And not had a single problem with it, on orange. Everybody
saying that it is a bad phone, well it's not. Either you need to
learn how to use it or you got one that's broken, every LG phone
I've had has been great. Battery life on this phone is actually
quite good, I only have to charge mine every few days, and it's
on all the time. The camera is absolutely amazing, better than my
12mp digital one by far! I have never had a problem with any part
of this phone. Get it, it's awesome! Rating:
Reviewed by Simon from England on
29th Sep 2009
I got this phone for the wife, good phone, but goes blank when dialing,
and cant answer goes blank.. Followed Geoffs instructions below,
fixed the phone, great stuff thanks Rating:
Reviewed by susan from uk on
29th Sep 2009
I hate this phone. I miss calls, and it does not respond, does its
own thing as the touch screen is temperamental. At first the photos
were great but now are pixellated so I just want rid of it. the
phone cuts out all over the place and you find yourself talking
to yourself with not even a bleep to let you know you are on your
own...a joke of a phone. then it does not even alert you to low
battery which is again a joke and you find yourself without a phone.
the touchscreen is so temperamental the slide does not always register
to get calls and you miss them. I want a cheap phone again this
is awful. Rating:
Reviewed by Pritesh from UK on
28th Sep 2009
i hate this phone....the 2nd day i got it it messed up...battery
life is a joke, i have to take the charger nearly everywhere i go!!
The phne switches itself off when i try to change the profile settings,
it freezes for about 30mins each day, the 4 slide menues merge into
a techni-colour screen, and about another 20 different things have
gone and still go wrong with it every single day!!!! and because
its contract.....i cant change it for another 12months!!! NEVER
LG AGAIN!!! NOKIA ALL THE WAY!!!! may i also add....never get vodaphone...i
only get 1-2 bars(if i'm lucky) where as my family and friend who
have a jumble of providers get full strength signals. Rating:
Reviewed by Rebecca from Australia on
28th Sep 2009
Had the same problem with a black sceen on incoming and outgoing
calls, Solution provided by Geoff worked perfectly definately recommend! Rating:
Reviewed by Alan G from UK on
27th Sep 2009
Love this phone. I've always had Sony Ericssons in the past as I've
always liked their build quality. However I do feel that they're
losing their way a little and aren't competing in the smart phone
market. This is the first I've had a touchscreen phone, and I must
say LG have done it really well. Normal style of phone key set up
when holding the phone vertically, but flip it over and it changes
to QWERTY. Camera is great, and the menu system is easy to negotiate.
Had the same problem as a lot of people with the proximity sensing,
but took the chance and used the solution provided by Geoff, and
phone is now working a treat. Really can't fault this phone at all. Rating:
Reviewed by John Etherington from UK
on 26th Sep 2009
Excellent in the Orange shop. 400m away no reception Old Viewty
works in the area where reception was lost with the new handset
- new version - its going back Monday! In this day and ISO 9001
age these phones should be perfect without fault. You would expect
far better for a handset from LG! Dear LG, We also use these things
for making telephone calls! Rating:
Reviewed by Bruce Arr from Scotland
on 22nd Sep 2009
I got this phone today. On Orange, Dare I Say! Many people say that
they have had problems with answering calls or making them. Touch
is responsive. Good for texting (: Great display quality, and a
very organised layout. I have seen the Samsung touchphones, and
tehy appear to have quite a jumbled layout. Me, my mum and dad all
just cancelled 3 contracts because of absoloutely no network coverage
in our house whatsoever! I was glad to get rid of that horrific
phone company! It looks very sleek and stylish. Very glad I bought
this phone. I think maybe the problem is buying the phones from
orange direct, because i got mine from a website over the internet
which comapres the best contracts. Oh Whell. I would've used Geoffs
advice anyway! I would totally reccomend this phone to anyone! Rating:
Reviewed by Rob M from UK on
21st Sep 2009
Had the same issue with the phone screen blanking out when making
/ receiving calls. It was really annoying as really love the phone.
However, plucked up the courage and followed Geoff W's advice (posted
26th June 2009) and the phone now works perfectly. Thanks Geoff,
saved me a lot of messing around. Rating:
Reviewed by Hayley from England on
20th Sep 2009
I had a Sony Ericsson C905 on an 18 month contract. A phone that
I loved but was sick of the speaker breaking. Phones 4u therefore
swapped it for this one. I am a touch screen virgin and was a little
afraid of it to begin with. It takes a bit of getting used to but
I do like the phone and would recommend it if you have the patients
and time to sit down and have a play with it. Only bad point, I
had the screen blank problem with incoming calls. After reading
all the helpful reviews on here I managed to fix it. Thanks Geoff,
you are a legend for providing that magic code!! Rating:
Reviewed by Martin Herbert from Wales
on 21st Sep 2009
I have now upgraded the phone to software version GC900AT_V10h.
The only difference I can see is the proximity sensor calibration
appearing in Phone Settings as mentioned by RobT below. None of
the other bugs which I detailed below have been fixed (photo editing
doesn't work, playlists don't work, phone crashes when I go into
'Album View' in the music player). What are LG playing at? Why don't
they attempt to fix the bugs reported to them? Still 1 star. Rating:
Reviewed by RobT from UK on 18th
Sep 2009
I bought an unlocked phone and had the blank screen issue. Again
Geoff_W's fix worked. My phone wouldn't connect to my PC - the phone
emulates a CD drive when connected and autoplays an exe (via autorun.inf)
from the phone itself. If autoplay is disabled, then PC suite can't
connect. Fixed with regedit - the autoplay mask on my PC was set
to 0xFF, disabling autoplay for all drives. I have now updated the
firmware to GC900AT_V10h - Proximity calibration appears as an option
in "Phone Settings" now. Knocked a star off for these issues and
the poor diagnostic info. Rating:
Reviewed by Joe from Wales on
13th Sep 2009
When I first got this phone I loved it but a few weeks on and to
be honest i'm looking at selling it and getting a new one. I brought
it because of the 8mp camera but whats the point in such a good
piece of kit when the shutter speed is soooo slow.. I've tried all
the settings and every time I try to take a picture it takes about
5-7 seconds to take the shot!! I either miss the moment or look
like a wally stood there with my finger on the button waiting for
it to take. I thought it would be handy to have a phone with a good
camera for times when I don't carry mine but I've just been to Ibiza
and I hardly used it. I also find texting a bit fiddly on it (but
it is my first touch screen) Although I have tried my friends iphones
etc and had no problems.. Also the 'turning' mechanism on it from
when you have it horizontal or vertical seems to have a bit of a
mind of its own. If I wrote this a few days after getting the phone
I would have given it 5 - I specifically waited a few weeks though.
Rating:
Reviewed by Andy Leatherbarrow from
UK on 10th Sep 2009
Amazing phone, both me and my wife now have one, both on Orange.
There is an issue with the incoming calls as other people mention,
my wife couldnt answer her phone at all because of the sensor, however
read Geoff_W's message and carried out his instructions (tentatively)
but also very easy to do, and since then the phone has been perfect.
Shame the instruction manual or Orange dont tell you how to do this
as we would of had her phone fixed sooner. But above all this phone
is a must have - the best phone me and my wife have ever owned. Rating:
Reviewed by Gareth from UK on
10th Sep 2009
Great phone, lots of fun, no problems with answering calls or texting.
Yes its alittle slow in comparason with my n86 8mp and the camera
is no where near as good. The one problem I've got is that since
the new firmware v10d, the picture editing program no longer works....
If anyone knows how to fix this it would be good :) Rating:
Reviewed by Neil from UK on 9th
Sep 2009
Had this phone a few weeks now, abit disappointed at the lack of
apps compared to previous phone (N95) but I kew it wasn't a smarthone
when I chose it so can't complain too much. Other than that, a great
phone. Re: the slider to answer a call, I did a phone software update
at the weekend and now have a standard green button to press to
accept a call and a red one to reject. My software version is GC900AT_V10d.
This may be of use. Rating:
Reviewed by Keith from England on
8th Sep 2009
Was a choice between the Viewty Smart or Samsung Jet....initially
I like the phone but a couple of minor problems. Firstly...it's
a lot slower than other phones I've had (my last was a Tocco) takes
a while to text..slow to open, slow to bring up contacts. Can get
frustrating if in a rush !! Secondly...the stupid 'Orange Button'
that you have to slide to answer a call!! Why not a simple press!!
I understand it gives the option of answering or sending a 'can't
answer message' but I think people would have much preferred a faster
way to answer calls. Overall, it isn't a really bad phone...but
I will keep wondering if I made the right choice. The blank screen
on mine was caused by a screen cover I put on...Phones 4 U advised
me about this, so I took it off and all is well. Rating:
Reviewed by bijan from england on
6th Sep 2009
i got this phone a month or two ago and have to say that there have
been no real problems so far. i tried using a screen protector,
but this caused the screen to go blank for incoming calls, so i
just removed the screen cover - sorted. the only negatives with
the phone are minor ones that i can definitely overlook. these include
automatically using T9 predictive text every time you compose a
new message (not really a problem though - just deselect it), fiddly
qwerty keypad for texting (the regular keypad is very easy to use),
lack of apps, and you have to use a slider to answer calls (a bit
annoying but you get used to it). The main problems people have
been having are to do with orange and blank screens, but both are
pretty easily avoidable. overall, i am extremely happy with the
phone and would definitely recommend it. Rating:
Reviewed by Lisa N from uk on
4th Sep 2009
Thank you Geoff W! You are ACE! I love my phone even more since
the 'blank screen' prob has been solved! Rating:
Reviewed by kealy from leeds on
4th Sep 2009
absolutely useless phone, have been back to phones 4 u four times
now, given me three of these phones so far, problems are battery
doesnt last half a day, download music and it freezes and says no
music when you come to looking at it once downloaded. Rating:
Reviewed by han from netherland on
1st Sep 2009
hi is it just about orange? mine is vodafone and it is working without
problem. Rating:
Reviewed by Heather from UK on
31st Aug 2009
I loved this phone when i first got it two months ago but now i
am plagued with nothing but problems especially cutting out or the
screen completely going blank meaning i cant answer incoming calls.
And oh this is the third LG Viewty Smart i have had in two months,
all with the same problems! Rating:
Reviewed by Lucinda from UK on
28th Aug 2009
Hey I have this phone and its amazing! The texting is really easy
to get used to and the touch screen is really responsive, the camera
is amazing! Just to say to all those people who complained about
the screen going blank when making and receiving calls - its MEANT
to do that - thats part of the proximity sensor so that you dont
accidentally press buttons while your on the phone. You just press
the button on the front to end it. I would fully recommnd this phone
it is amazing!!! A great buy. Rating:
Reviewed by swit from UK on 28th
Aug 2009
I have had this phone for about 4 weeks. I must say that I am very
pleased with it, have not had any major problems with it.. I think
it's common for all touch screen phones to freeze once in a while
as I used to own Samsung tocco and tocco lite. You can forward messages,
you just have to slide on the option bar on the bottom... Rating:
Reviewed by James from England on
26th Aug 2009
GEOFF... ABSOLUTE LEGEND, WAS ANNOYING THE HELL OUT OF ME BUT THANKS
TO YOU ITS SORTED CHEERS MATE Rating:
Reviewed by ryan from scotland on
26th Aug 2009
i have allready written a rewiew about this phone and how amazing
it is , well i am now begining to have second thoughts abot it beacuse
it is getting to be very slow and it keeps on cutting out randomly-
even on full battery i am on the verge of taking it back to phones
4 u !!! Rating:
Reviewed by Dawn from UK on 24th
Aug 2009
Read all the reviews on here (as always, great site guys!) and decided
to go for it after having a touch screen Samsung Tocco. The Viewty
Smart is so much better! I stil haven't worked my way through the
instruction manual but I love it already. I had the blank screen
problem when making and recieving calls and used the fix suggested
by Geoff_W and it works a treat - thanks mate! Rating:
Reviewed by Hein Delport from UK on
23rd Aug 2009
You must be joking! This phone has everything apart from one HUGE
piece of simple functionality, the slide function to simply answer
a call is very unreliable! I now miss about 7/10 calls plus looking
like a complete peanut trying to answer it sliding till you go blue
in the face with no result. LG still has miles to go to catch up
with touch screens! And why the call answer function is a slide
action on a touch screen makes no sense - it should be a simple
press button!! Tried my 1st LG and never again! They should stick
to making TV's - Wasted an upgrade over here. Rating:
Reviewed by Owen from England on
22nd Aug 2009
I have had this phone on O2 for just over a month now. I have found
most functions to be ok, however, at one point I did have a blank
screen on recieving and placing a call? so I took the battery out
for 5 mins, put it back, switched on and it was ok again? so this
might work for you? The phone overall is great for me. The only
gripes I have so far are: I can't find how to forward a message?
and there are no maps, information, or software to support the stand
alone GPS it's suppose to have, the Google maps which are supplied
only work through the internet, costing you money? But having said
that, 9 out of 10 for everything else that works 100% Rating:
Reviewed by Marti from Scotland on
18th Aug 2009
Word of warning. Upgraded from the old Viewty which was the best
5MP handset I've had. Got my Smart from Orange but had an issue
with the proximty sensor. Got my hands on the factory reset code
but may have entered someting incorrectly. Phone doing all sorts
of strange stuff. Took it back to Orange to be told that having
used the reset code that it has totally void my warranty. I would
avoid using this code in the future. Rating:
Reviewed by Darren from England on
17th Aug 2009
Upgraded from viewity... Had it 2 weeks now... fidgety touch screen!
takes a lot longer to txt.. cannot seem to find how to frward messages...
not good if you want to pass on jokes!! WI-FI doenst want to connect
to Host!!! constant falinures... If you go to quick the phone freezes...
have to remove the battery to restart it Rating:
Reviewed by adam davies from UK on
16th Aug 2009
A very short review for the LG Vewty smart...I have had 4 handsets
and all 4 handsets turned off when the battery was half way down
and this happened when they was a phone call My network is Orange
, My office bud has the same handset but he is on Vodafone and his
is doing the same thing but with a full battery but the same thing..when
some one calls it cuts them off then the phone switches of....avoide...now
have a nokia N97..reliable enough Rating:
Reviewed by Ella from England on
8th Aug 2009
The phone is looks really good and I cna't believe how much better
it is than the orginal one. The phone has a great camera and it
is a touch screen phone which makes it all the more better. I want
it for my birhtday!! Xx Rating:
Reviewed by May from England on
8th Aug 2009
I loved my LG renoir and previously my viewty so when the viewty
smart came out i upgraded to this fone. I was very disappointed.
I had problems with texting especially on T9 text. It didnt even
have word "it" saved on the dictionary. The internet although was
fast to load i couldnt even use it as the writing was so small it
would not zoom in so i couldnt go on any site. When someone foned
you had to slide the screen to the left to answer it and half time
it wouldnt do it so i ended up missing the call. Very frustrating.
So ive now got SE w995 and love it. Rating:
Reviewed by K_Hamed from England on
5th Aug 2009
Having read all the reviews about the LG Viewty Smart I certainly
had my doubts! And after having many problems with the original
Viewty I still had doubts! But I am so glad that I went ahead and
got this phone! A fantastic touch screen with a really quick response,
a great camera (but when will they learn to put a shutter over the
lens?!) and an overall top phone! I certainly do not have any complaints!
My fiance however also renewed his contract at the same time and
got this phone and experienced the same problem as may others, blank
screen, phone turning off and on randomly. After talking to Orange
customer services they managed to help him restore it to the factory
settings to eliminate the phone turning off and on which seems to
have worked a treat! And with the help from Geoff_W there really
are no more problems of the screen going blank! The phone is now
perfect despite a few hic-ups along the way! Great phone! Certainly
recommended!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Dan from UK on 5th
Aug 2009
This phone is amazing!! i got it on Saturday on the 1st of august.
all the apps work, apart from the camera! when i prees the camera
icon, the whole phone freezes (it's a faulty system). phones 4u
(ordered off the internet) are sending me a package which will take
3-4 working days, then once they get that they'll send me a new
one (hopefully everything will works, including the camera!) apart
from that it's a graet phone, nothing will beat it! (in my opinion) Rating:
Reviewed by CB from Scotland on
5th Aug 2009
Hey there, I just got my LG viewty smart in June. To begin with
it was an amazing phone...yes even better than the iphone..with
a better camera and more storage capacity...i thought it was great...but
problems began to develop within the first 2 weeks which were apparently
software realted so i got it all fixed. Now I have one that is up
and running its brilliant.The 2 let downs are the fact i have to
charge it like every night and how LG havent released anymore M-Toy
games yet which are touch and motion activated games...although
there is a good chance that some new games will proabably be released
in future.It5 sticks sometimes though....but that happens alot with
touchscreens though. Rating:
Reviewed by Vicky from England on
3rd Aug 2009
Ive Had This Phone For A Few Hours And I Lovee It!! I Took A Contract
Out With Vodafone After 3 Messed Me About. One Thing I Would Recommend
Is Getting Unlimited Internet Added On To Your Contract, There Really
Is No Point Having It With Out :) x Rating:
Reviewed by Caroline from Hungary on
1st Aug 2009
Just got as a pressie, major upgrade phonewise and 1st touchscreen.
Exactly the same blank screen problem for incoming calls, making
it impossible to answer. I used the fix suggested by Geoff_W from
UK, and followed it step by step and it worked!!! (phew!) Thank
god for internet and clever peeps like Geoff :) Would have given
it 5 stars had it not been for this problem. Also the documentation
could be better. Otherwise it's super cool! Rating:
Reviewed by Ian_C from UK on
1st Aug 2009
Having read all about the problems listed here by users of Orange-locked
Viewty Smarts, I made a point of buying a SIM free version. However,
after installing my pay-as-you-go Orange SIM, I experienced exactly
the same problem with a blank screen on incoming screens. However
I followed Geoff_W's excellent advice and it works fine now. Geoff
- you're a star ! Thanks muchley. Rating:
Reviewed by Martin from Wales on
1st Aug 2009
Have had this phone for a couple of weeks... enough time to find
a few problems - I still don't know whether they are software bugs
or memory faults in my unit... 1) the music player randomly hangs
or reboots the entire phone whenever I enter the 'Album' view -
I have to remove the battery to reset. 2) Playlists don't work at
all - I can create a new list and add tracks, but when I try to
save the list, nothing happens. 3) I cannot edit photos - I open
a photo, pull down the menu and select 'Edit', and get an error
message saying 'Cannot open file'. I updated to the latest software
version (V10d) and all the problems are still there (in fact the
3rd one I didn't even find until after the upgrade...). Sent various
bug reports and messages to LG customer service (on their main website)
and have received no acknowledgement whatsoever. I did manage to
get through to someone in tech. support in the UK who informed me
that they can't do anything to investigate since they haven't even
been sent a handset of their own yet, and they are supposed to be
calling me back when it arrives. I'm not holding my breath. I note
that the code posted by Geoff_W below gets me into a test menu which
includes a selection for 'Factory Reset'. Am tempted to give this
a go and start again.... Oh - and the PC software is pretty rubbish
as well ... especially the music manager, which, like the phone,
crashed when I went into 'Album view' - except I see they have removed
that view in the latest version! I suppose that's a fix of sorts...
Also, although it can recognise and play .m4a (iTunes) tracks, it
can't read the Album and Artist tags, so I can't tell what is by
who.... A pity - the phone is very good overall, but they need to
be fixing the software bugs NOW, and actually communicating with
their customers. Rating:
Reviewed by ryan from scotland on
31st Jul 2009
i had the lg viewty and i hated it so i was a bit aprehensive about
getting the viewty smart but i got it after being told that the
phone i wanted... the lg arena had been discontinued because of
all of its problems!!! i think that the lg viewty smart is amazing
and that it is the best of lg's range Rating:
Reviewed by Mark Compton from England
on 31st Jul 2009
I love this phone, it has a great camera and a very nice interface,
the only problem I had was teh blank screen issue during a phone
call. I've sorted that now though following the advice from Geoff_W
here, many thanks :) Missing some nice touch apps, but I'm just
getting my head around the sdk, fingers crossed there will be some
soon lol Rating:
Reviewed by Joe from Wales, Uk on
31st Jul 2009
Had this phone a few days now and am really happy with it. I wanted
a decent phone with a good camera and that's what i've got. My first
touch screen but haven't had too many problems adjusting. Saved
a packet getting this instead of an Iphone and maybe its missing
the Apps but I'd rather save the cash. The camera on this is superb
too. Rating:
Reviewed by Carolyn from Australia on
29th Jul 2009
Well first thing i would like to say is i love this phone...i had
the veiwty KU990 previously and loved that one too!! I have only
had 2 problems with the this phone, one being i cannot save any
contacts to the handset either manually or through the pcsuite -
but i can save them onto the sim. But that means i can't set up
the contacts screen. The other issue i have had is the same as 99%
of you and that is the screen going blank with sending and recieving
calls.......sssssoooooo i tried what this person "Reviewed by Geoff_W
from UK on 26th Jun 2009" suggested below and recalibrated proximity
sensor. And all is fine and working as he said the way it should
be. I am not worried about saving contacts to the handset - that
is not a major issue for me. Thank you very BIG Geoff_W from UK
for posting this fix - has worked a treat for me too. But peeps
please read his post and beware that this fix comes without any
warranty and you do this at your own risk as he mentioned. Wonderful
phone and fantastic to use!!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Matty from England on
28th Jul 2009
Stunning phone for me excellent touch screen i can't see why so
many are complaining over it, love the new S-Class menu looks well
impressive, texting is a dream and can really speed them out where
as on the old viewty it always needed a heavy touch. The camera
is great in fact i can't say a bad thing about the phone. Rating:
Reviewed by Bobby from England on
27th Jul 2009
Where to start? A tough one really, but i will do my best. Firstly
the phone works fine on orange, ive been with them for around 8
years and get treated pretty well. I rang them and asked about problems
with the handset as id heard that some people were having trouble
with orange maps for example. I was informed that issues that had
been reported of that nature generally came from people who were
porting over numbers from other networks (not exclusively though).
That went someway to allaying any worries of that nature. CAMERA
- Fantastic for a phone. If i was going to a function were my intention
was to take pictures then id probably take a designated camera because
id be happier doing that. However, to capture that unexpected moment
or for happy snapping it more than does the job producing very good
quality photos. A-GPS(Sat Nav) - Another very good feature. Easy
to use and definitely works. With maps being held on a server its
more up to date than conventional sat nav devices that have pre-installed
maps that cost a tidy sum to update. Again not a replacement for
one but as a function on a phone its great. Music & Videos - Excellent.
I was very surprised to hear the sound quality. It comes with a
number of options such as dolby stereo. I can safely say that this
rivals my high end mp3 player. When playing through the phones speakers
i was very impressed as it handled various styles of music admirably.
Listening through headphones absolutely fantastic. As for those
who moan about no 3.5mm jack all i can say is whats the problem
as the supplied headphone lead has an adapter that allows you to
plug in your own headphones. Its actually a bonus as the supplied
headphone cable now acts as an extension lead that still allows
you to make and receive calls whilst listening through headphones
of your choice. Video quality is excellent. The better the quality
video you put on it then the better the video you will see, its
that simple. Connectivity - Has it all. Wi - fi, bluetooth fast
internet access. no need to worry on that score. Speaking of the
internet, i found pages loaded quickly and navigation was quite
smooth although there were times a little frustration crept in at
trying to tap the screen to get onto the links to other webpages,
however the more adept you become at altering the screen size then
the easier navigating some pages can be. I am just a casual user
of my phone for internet purposes, therefore i can live with this
feature being the way it is, however i could understand that heavy
users of the phone for internet purposes would not be so tolerent
in this area. Texting - Very easy to text and there are a number
of options to suit various tastes. ie querty keyboard or traditional
pad, predictive text etc. Its just a matter of finding what suits
you. The phone is feature rich with some very nice touches to it
and it certainly looks the part and all in a thin piece of kit that
can be discreetely kept in a pocket and forgotten about. If i had
to criticise the phone it would be the lack of a lens cover for
the camera as its a magnet for fingure prints and possible scratches.
All in all i think its an outstanding phone. Ive tried to give an
objective review and only touched on some of the features. There
is a wealth of choice that comes with the purchase of this phone
and i doubt that many people will use the phone to its full capabilities.
I for 1 wont be its just great to have a phone that is capable of
doing so much if i wanted it to. You can even customise the phone
so that you have quick and convenient access to the features that
you use most. If you wanted to find fault with it then im sure you
could, but it's important to understand that having this phone empowers
you. There is no need to carry a seperate mp3/mp4 player, camera,
sat nav to name 3 things. This phone does the job of all 3 to an
admirably high standard and is very easy on the eye. Battery life
seems to be good given the specifications of the phone. Heavy usage
of various features returned around a day to a day and a half between
charges, but i would advise an in car charger as being a valuable
addition to the kit. Rating:
Reviewed by khoyas Ahmed from England
on 27th Jul 2009
i think it is a very nice looking phone Rating:
Reviewed by rik from england on
26th Jul 2009
love my old viewty ku990 and now have my new viewty smart really
looked forward to recieving it!!! but now i have it and it does
not live up to the hype and its going on ebay !!!! touch screen
doent work as good ! phone book not set out as good ! vid not as
good !! in all phone sucks and iv gone back to my old one !!!!!
flipping screens do not make a great phone what a dissapointment
to the viewty upgrade could and should have been so much more !!!
shame LG Rating:
Reviewed by SHIV from UK on 24th
Jul 2009
had the phone 1 week before took back to shop. blank screen when
trying to make or receive calls and very slow menus. wouldnt recommend
this phone Rating:
Reviewed by Genette from england on
24th Jul 2009
i decided to upgrade my old viewty for the new one as i loved my
old one so much, at first the phone was great everything worked
fine and i was happy with all of its features, but then my screen
kept going blank when i was trying to make or recieve calls. orange
sent me a new one and it did the same. now im deciding weather to
try another new one or go for a completely different model its a
shame because all of the other features are wicked and the phone
itself is really good. Rating:
Reviewed by adam from england on
19th Jul 2009
the phone is a good phone to have the only downside i have is when
i a get a phone call my screen goes blank and i can't answer the
call. i am gonna take it to an orange shop during the week to see
if i can get a replacement bcos I'm getting annoyed with it just
bcos of that Rating:
Reviewed by sean from england on
19th Jul 2009
i have had this phone a few days sending it back great features
but try ansewering a call nightmare you have to slide a square on
the touchscreen you basicaly need two hands never had so many missed
calls the touch screen is just not sensitive Rating:
Reviewed by Simon from England on
16th Jul 2009
had this phon for 3 weeks no . . not a single problem . then touch
screen is great texting is a dream even for me as i have chunky
fingers . love the 8mp camera its amazing. putting music and videos
on it is very simple and the soun quality is great . Love answering
phone call with the slide function. And all in all i would say if
your due an upgrade any time soon then choose the Viewty Smart you
will not be dissapointed Rating:
Reviewed by Katie from England on
15th Jul 2009
I thought I should update this again...I phoned Orange because I
had the blank screen problem on calls like so many others. They
diagnosed a fault with the phone (no way!) However, to be fair to
them they told me to take it into an Orange shop for a swap, which
I did and they did it with no problem. The first phone they brought
out in the shop had the same problem - blank on outgoing and incoming
calls but the second phone (so my third phone) worked perfectly!
I don't know what it is about some of them that means they don't
work but now I have a working one, I definitely award the phone
five stars. This one is quick, responsive, searching the phonebook
actually works (which it didn't on my old one) and I can make and
receive calls - plus the camera is awesome! So, I would say...if
you can get one that works, it's brilliant! Don't give up on the
phone - because when it works, it works really well! Rating:
Reviewed by leakazoid from uk on
14th Jul 2009
Received the hand set as a contract upgrade. Had the phone for a
week now ands its going back in the box. Was impressed at first
by the hi tech screen lay out and slim design, but when actually
using the phone for its primary job, a phone, found it very frustrating.
It was taking far to long to locate the details of a contact before
finally being able to call them. Accepting in-coming calls is slow
with the slide function, and then impossible to see any screen keys
as it turns black. Simple events such as a mms message received
again took far to much time to read as the view button failed to
open the text even though it was highlighting showing it had been
touched. This lead to a frustrating trawl through the various sliding
screen faces to try and locate its destination folder. The isync
software and music programme is not user friendly. The initial install
was a success until it tried to up date to a newer version. It then
failed to recognise any form of connection. The Help files proved
not to. Attempts to unistall a nd reinstall have all been failures.
Applications availible are minimal, if not none existant, and don't
even open the games folder! shocking. The camera, however, is very
good, a high quality picture with plenty of functions to play with.
Now that LG have mastered the camera, maybe they could go back and
work out how to create a mobile phone. This is a camera with a poor
phone function attached. Stay away. Rating:
Reviewed by Frankie from England on
14th Jul 2009
Upgraded from LG Viewy but not off to a good start. Straight out
of the box and I discover I have the fault of black screen when
dialling or calling. Now playing with my second phone. But getting
frustrated, entering new contact I cannot find the way in which
you can assign the number as mobile, office, home etc. Now I can't
find the way to edit my existing contact information. Nothing in
the manual about either of these. Am I going mad or have I got another
duff phone. Disappointed that the address book is one long list
and not as the viewty was condensed into tabs. The keypad is a different
layout as is the functionality of texting and spelling - not got
use to it yet, did love the old way but things move on. Happy though
with the look and feel very slim and stylish looking. The screen
is very sharp and the text very clear. Yet to play with the camera
and all the other apps. Rating:
Reviewed by Darron from England on
9th Jul 2009
I've had the phone for over a week now, and I would highly recommend
this to anybody. The touchscreen is a joy to use, texting is great
even with chunky fingers like mine. I have an unlocked phone and
using a Vodafone SIM in it, Googlemaps and GPS work great. Rating:
Reviewed by jack from England, Birmingham
on 8th Jul 2009
This is my first ever review, i never really write reviews but i
felt that as some comments bellow arn't brilliant i would post a
review to express how impressed i am. I Got the phone the other
day from phones4u, it came quite quick to be fair. So far i am very
pleased and impressed with it. I thought the phone was very responsive
and easy to use and the style was beautiful. I would recomend this
to everyone. The only disapiontment was of the lack of apps but
other than that it is such a outstanding design, 4.5, nothink is
perfect though! Rating:
Reviewed by Darren from Scotland on
7th Jul 2009
I think this phone is amazing, being a previous owener of the original
viewty i just upgraded 2 days ago and i cant believe the stuff you
get on it, out of this world. Although 1 major downpoint for me
being a young man and texting fast is the fact that you cannot turn
the T9 Predictive texting off, i think this is a major fault and
if it wasnt for this then i would have nothing to moan about Rating:
Reviewed by sy from uk on 7th
Jul 2009
that ryan bloke needs a life, i upgraded on orange had phone nearly
4 weeks and have had not one problem, its the best phone I have
ever had Rating:
Reviewed by AB from England on
6th Jul 2009
Had the Viewty Smart for about 4 weeks now - pretty happy with it
but it’s my first touchscreen and you need to get used to
them. It takes more “presses” to get things done than
on a phone with a conventional keypad, so less convenient to make
calls using the handsfree in the car (don’t know if it has
voice control but I haven’t found it) . The response of the
phone generally is noticeably slower than my old Sony Ericsson.
Instructions are poor and some functions just aren’t covered
– like adding words to the T9 dictionary or setting the MP3
player to shuffle. The search facility for contacts is limited and
takes time – though you can put shortcuts to your common numbers
on the dedicated contacts screen. The games aren’t much good
and I haven’t downloaded any new ones yet do don’t know
how successful this is! On the plus side, I’m on Orange but
have had no technical problems at all and can use Google maps successfully.
It’s also plenty loud enough for me and I have a significant
hearing loss. Its compact, light, looks fantastic and the screen
is great. The camera in both still and video mode is excellent,
texting is much quicker and easier and everything else about it
seems fine. The other great thing is that it’s NOT an iPhone! Rating:
Reviewed by Julia from England on
6th Jul 2009
I've never written a phone review before but this phone is SO annoying
I feel compelled to warn people not to get it! It's such a shame
as the graphics and features are lovely, but there's no point in
that if you can't take any calls! As many people have already said,
the screen goes blank when a call comes in, and when you dial out.
How ironic then that my Orange delivery note instructs me to ring
and select option 1 then 4 then 1 to return it - how on earth am
I supposed to be able to do that when everytime I try and get the
numbers to reappear I end the call instead! Never returned a phone
before but this one is definitely going back. Completely cheesed
off. Rating:
Reviewed by john from england on
4th Jul 2009
got phone today and so far it great. ive upgraded from original
viewty and it is much better. i aint got any problems with it and
the design is great and has every function u need. after reading
the views about the problems with orange and the lg viewty smart
i went to phones4u and asked them. they said that they would give
me a factory setting phone instead of one locked to orange with
orange software on. so i still have google maps etc. but still have
contract with orange. so maybe thats why i aint got no problems
Rating:
Reviewed by Ryan from Manchester on
4th Jul 2009
Bought an LG Viewty Smart off eBay and was hoping it would eliminate
all my fears gained from the past few touchscreens i have tried
in the last 12 months or so , it didnt. Slow Poor touch response
, a nightmare to add ringtones to contacts , volume rocker goes
to level 7 and its still too quiet and the phone feels plasticky
as plastic !!!! After an hour of scratching my head and i know a
lot about mobiles i returned it too its box , plonked it on eBay
and made £55 profit....it had some uses then. Rating:
Reviewed by lee from england on
4th Jul 2009
This is my first review I have ever written, It seems to me that
the people that have written bad reviews dont really have a life
and are slightly geekish and over obbsessed with what they want
from a phone, I have had my phone 3 weeks and not had one problem,
the screen never goes blank, its easy to txt. I suggest that some
people need to get a life they are more important things to worry
a bout a phone that has a screen that goes blank on a incoming call.
Why in gods name do you need to look at a screen to answer a call,
after all the screen is by your ear. I am also on a oranage upgrade.
[Reply by Katie from UK on 6th Jul 2009: Hahaha..Lee from England
- I can't tell if your review was a joke or not. Given that you
actually called people 'geeky', I hope it was. However, just incase
you were infact serious - you need to be able to see the screen
when someone is ringing so 1) you can actually see who is ringing
and 2) you can actually press the button to answer the call. I hope
that clears up for you why all us 'geeks' are finding it quite so
annoying :)] Rating:
Reviewed by Stuart Menzies from England
on 3rd Jul 2009
I am having the same problems but I aint no protector and its costing
me a fortune calling people back..Katie your spot on going back
to Nokia I like the phone but my bank balance cant take it blank
screen and hangs up as well when placed to my ear. I love the Phone,
cant believe I thought it was the settings thanks Rating:
Reviewed by Jordan miller from england
on 3rd Jul 2009
i just got the lg viewty smart and i love it. i cant find much wrong
with it. i was going to buy the nokia 5800 but that is known for
its music. if u want a phone for bieng a phone get this Rating:
Reviewed by ralph from uk on
3rd Jul 2009
I brought this phone a week ago and after a few days the screen
failed to light up when reciving an incoming call or after dailing
an out going call. I thought, after reding several reviews on the
internet, that the software was at fault and arranged for a replacement.
It turns out that the generic screen protector I fitted to the screen
was causeing the problem by affecting a sensor on the top RHS of
the screen that shuts power to the screen off when you put the phone
to your ear. Removed the screen protector and trimmed the corner
off - problem sloved. I am pleased becauese I really like the phone,
very easy to use and excellent interface. Rating:
Reviewed by Katie from UK on
2nd Jul 2009
Never written a review before because I've never really had any
major problems with a phone before...clearly the LG Viewty Smart
is going to be the exception. I'm on orange and, as many others
have now said, I can't answer a call because the screen goes blank.
People I have spoken to on it have also been struggling to hear
me as the noise is apparently 'crackly'. The phone is a pain in
the backside to txt on, although to be fair to it, this is my first
touchscreen phone so it may be as much my fault as the phones...I'd
be amazed if anyone can use the Qwerty keyboard with fingers though.
The camera takes fantastic pictures so I can't fault it there -
its just not always responsive..I often have to press the button
to take the picture a number of times before it will do anything.
I'm going to see if I can take this phone back and swap it for something
else - it's a shame bcos I love the pictures the camera takes but
that is pretty much it's only positive I think. Bye bye LG, I think
I'll stick with Sony Ericsson! Rating:
Reviewed by Donna Smith from UK on
2nd Jul 2009
Love this phone, my first touchscreen phone but it's easy to work
your way around, however I am having the same problem with the screen
going black when I receive an incoming call, anyone know how I can
get around this? I don't use a screen protector so this isn't the
cause. Rating:
Reviewed by Giles from UK on
30th Jun 2009
Was having that same problem with the screen going blank on an incoming
call, i dont use a screen protector but did keep my phone in a case,
consequently as someone said seems to be something with proximity
however,it works for me if i just give the phone a little shake
and the screen pops back on dunno if this is gonna work for neone
else but thought id let u guys no.... other wise a really good phone
am happy with it Rating:
Reviewed by Furqan from UK on
29th Jun 2009
Iv had the lg phone for about a week and i really love it. The camera
is the best and the whole UI is so easy to use and responsive. Thank
god, so far i havnt had any problems with the phone answering and
recieving calls, problems. Its unlocked to all netowrks so that
could be the reason. I understand about the t9 when texting but
im already used to that and can text quite fast and it doesnt seem
to bother me that much, even though i reply quite often. The battery
life is ok even when im constantly texting and making calls here
and there, it only seems to go down when im always using the camera
and video, which im sure most people wont be using constantly. The
internet use and the entertainment side of things are really good,
and im hoping theres going to be some good apps coming out.....i
could go on and on but im not. Its not better than the iphone 3gs
but its not far from being just as good. Overall i think the phone
is fantastic!! Rating:
Reviewed by Marylin C from UK on
29th Jun 2009
I just got this phone 2 1/2 days ago and having had a chance to
play with it for a couple of days I’m simply too unhappy with
it and as the sim is untouched and as new I’m going to try
and return under the 7 day right to cancel. I previously had the
Sony Ericsson K800i followed by the K850i and although I loved those
phones, now that my contract has run out, I’ve decided to
look around at alternative makes because I wasn’t happy with
the reliability problems I had with the K850i. Good points of this
LG Viewty Smart so far is that physically the hardware seems to
work fine and do all the things it’s supposed to almost perfectly
although at only 2 days old it’s a little early to reach any
real judgement about reliability. This is my first touch screen
phone and I like the idea of a large screen for showing off photo’s
I’ve taken to my friends. The screen seems pretty nice and
responsive almost all the time although I’ve had a small number
of occasions where I got no response when touching the screen and
I had to try a few times to get it to work. All in all that’s
not really a biggy and provided it didn’t get too bad I could
have lived with that. I also like the reassuring vibration it gives
every time I touch the screen so I know the phone is doing what
it’s supposed to. The camera also seems excellent for a mobile
and is easy to use which is a big plus. The sound quality when playing
music is good and is a little louder than my old phones which I’m
pleased about. I also like the qwerty keyboard that appears when
you hold the phone sideways to compose a text although you have
to be accurate to make sure you press the right keys. LG also appear
to have dealt with the problem some people reported about the ring
volume being very quiet on the original Viewty. This phone has a
setting under ‘Profiles’ to increase the ring volume
so you can make it quite loud if you want to which I always do.
In fact it has preset ‘normal’ and ‘outdoor’
profiles and the outdoor one has the ring volume set to max by default.
The first bad point seems to be the battery life which seems pretty
poor compared to my previous phones. Because it was new I left it
on charge for the first 24 hours as instructed. It then only lasted
just over a day before I had to charge it again today. I always
keep my mobile switched on and to be fair I used it a fair bit yesterday
but I haven’t used it so much today and since I fully charged
it early this afternoon it’s already gone down from 3 bars
to 2 in a matter of a few hours. My old Sony’s also gave a
much more accurate percentage figure to say how much battery life
was left whereas this just has a tiny indicator with 3 bars on it
which is poor. However the really bad points are the software. Considering
this is supposed to be LG’s top of the range 8MP phone I’m
quite frankly really taken aback at how poor the software is. All
the programs I’ve tried appear to be really basic and have
very poor functionality for a top of the range phone. I would have
expected to find software like this on a low to medium range phone
rather than their top of the range brand leader. Considering this
is supposed to be LG’s challenger to iPhone or the new Nokia
N97 which is being billed as being like a little handheld computer
the Viewty Smart’s software is like kiddie software by comparison
and is quite frankly pathetic. In fact compared to my old Sony Ericsson
K800i in terms of functionality that was actually superior to this
phone and I got that 2 1/2 years ago so I would have expected software
to have improved since then rather than taking a major step backwards
as this phone appears to have do ne. As well as using the camera
I also use my mobile a lot to play MP3 tracks and the software is
so basic that when trying to create a playlist it’s almost
impossible to sort my songs into the order I want them to play.
I am very good when it comes to organising my music and all of my
tracks have the correct song information and album art attached
and have all been loaded onto the phone in different folders according
to artist and album name. Nevertheless when I tried to set up a
playlist it just presented me with a big long list of all the songs
I’ve put on the phone which I then had to keep scrolling through
in order to pick out the songs I wanted to add to the playlist.
Not good if you have a few hundred songs on the phone. Once you’ve
chosen the songs you want in your playlist it will only play them
either alphabetically or by date order. You also can’t edit
the track names. The phone will sort tracks according to artist
or album provided the ID3 tags are correctly set and the phone reads
them correctly when you load the songs onto the phone but with several
of my tracks it hasn’t read the album or artist information
so short of going back and checking all the tracks ID3 tags on my
PC and trying to put them on the phone again they just end up as
a massive long list of unknown and unsorted tracks to play. When
sending SMS texts there is no way to permanently turn off T9 predictive
texting so every time I start composing a new text it automatically
defaults back on again so if you don’t like using it you have
to keep switching it off every time. It also does not display emoticans
as proper images in texts so you can only see emots in text form.
As regards contacts (which I have a lot of) I bluetoothed all mine
over from my old phone so you can imagine how disappointing it was
to find that I cannot edit any of them. Many of them had things
like birthdays set which aren’t recognised on this phone.
I don’t believe in synchronising my PC and phone contacts
because I won’t take the risk of my friends home addresses
falling into the wrong hands if my phone gets stolen so now I have
to manually re-create a new entry for every person individually
if I want to add extra information or amend someone’s number.
To be fair as I’m going over to a new phone manufacturer perhaps
this is a normal thing with all phones but I can’t say I’m
terribly impressed by it. I haven’t spent much time trying
to use the internet so I’m not sure if there’s a way
to sort out this problem but so far the web browser by default tries
to fit a complete web page onto the little 3inch screen so everything
appears so tiny that you can’t read anything and you have
to keep trying to zoom in to actually read the page. The organiser
program which acts as the phones calendar I found really unhelpful
and a real pain to try and set up appointments although to be fair
I haven’t spent a lot of time persevering with it. The phone
also doesn’t have any of the helpful little information tips
that my old Sony’s had in order to give you a hint of what
the different features are or how to use them. It also is not possible
to set your own phone name to make it easy to recognise if anyone
wants to send something to you by bluetooth. Although I’ve
had a look at all the software programs I’ve only reviewed
the features I really use the most so in 2 days I haven’t
had a chance to really test out all the other software programs
properly but it all looks really basic and the only software program
I’ve noticed so far that’s a genuine improvement from
my old K800i is the calculator. I know nowadays there’s apparently
other free software programs you’re supposed to be able to
download which could improve things but considering it’s price
tag I would have expected something far better than this to get
me started. In summery I would say reliability appears to be fine
but unless you are prepared to part with a lot of money for a phone
with very basic software stay away from this phone. I’m now
about to plump for the Nokia 5800. The camera on that isn’t
as good as this phone but having read the reviews on this web site
in terms of reliability and features it’s reviews are outstanding
and, apart from the camera, the rest of the features on it look
far better than the Viewty Smart. Rating:
Reviewed by Rick from UK on 28th
Jun 2009
Got this phone on the 25th June 2009 at Phone4u shop as Orange would
not upgrade my contract to this phone for free... reduced my contract
payments and got he phone for FREE. Well done Phones4u... Similar
problem to "weardalelad" comments below. I could dialout text, internet....
But I could not answer an incoming calls, screen goes blank (blackout)
but keeps ringing only when you reject the call does the sceen come
back to show you the missed call. This must be a common fault. I
went back to the shop for a exchange (28th June) same thing happened
with another brand new phone out of the box had exactly the same
problem.... to give credit the girl in the shop was willing to go
through all the stock in the phoneshop to find me a phone that worked.
As soon as she tried my Orange sim in an unlocked any network viewty
smart GC900 all was well. But the first 3 phones she tried with
Orange locked phones the same problem... the 4th was OK... at the
moment. I think it is a fantastic phone.. love the camera and the
touch screen... keypad takes a little getting used to, but still
easy to use. I think the Orange Maps are a rip off.... Got the exchanged
phone today lets see how it goes.. Oh when you link it to your PC
via the usb cable it wants to upgade the software on the phone not
sure if this was the cause..probably not. lets see what happens.
I'll wait a week or so see if the phone works fine then i;ll upgrade
the software from the LG website ... I'll make sure that the phone
is still in its 28 day warrenty period so I can get another exchange.
Rating:
Reviewed by Saj from uk on 27th
Jun 2009
I had the orginal lg viewty which was great but very disappointed
with this handset, ok on paper this phone looks great with all its
features however once you use it you will find the problems. In
a matter of 6 days i have had 3 handsets, First mass storage didnt
work and touch screen had a very slow responce 2nd the same problem
again touch screen and mass storage and third when i made out bound
calls or received any incoming calls the screen went blank so you
could accept the calls or access your menu or keypad, this is even
without the screen protector (lee turner's comment). This was on
an orange upgrade. I was even offered a fourth replacement LOL!
Ive decide to return the phone and get a replacement seriously guys
dont make this mistake. Dont know how you guys have given it 5 out
of 5. Gutted as was really hyped up for this phone. Rating:
Reviewed by Geoff_W from UK on
26th Jun 2009
A GREAT PHONE - spoiled for many by the screen blanking problem
on making or attempting to receive calls. Some seem to have solved
the problem by removing screen protectors, but this didn't work
for me. I sent the first phone back for a replacement - but this
was just as bad. The problem seems to be the result of a poorly
calibrated proximity sensor - but you can re-calibrate it. The following
procedure worked for me, but it's potentially dangerous, and could
ruin your phone if you're not careful - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! 1.
On the phone keypad enter the following code: 1809#*900# to bring
up the engineering settings menu. 2. Scroll down to the entry called
OTHERS and select it. 3. Scroll down this menu to the entry called
PROXIMITY and select it. 4. You should see three options: Enable,
Disable & Start Calibration 5. Select Start Calibration - after
a few seconds it will return a new figure (mine was 3627) 6. BACK
right out of the menu system, and make a test call - it should blank
the screen when you hold it to your ear (or when you hold a finger
near the sensor), but come back on again when you remove it. It
worked for me - so now my Viewty Smart works just as it was supposed
to. This information is offered without warranty - Good luck if
you try it! 4 stars for the phone design - loses one for the delivery
set-up, and lack of documentation of a fix. Rating:
Reviewed by weardalelad from uk on
24th Jun 2009
i had this phone 1day i could not answer calls at all with it! making
calls is fine sending texts is ok i also had 4 lg arena's via orange
they were diabolical with faults, shame that the new viewty is the
same layout as the arena, why change a great phone and spoil it
is my gripe! another on its way so will advise in due course but
seems like lg are poor now! Rating:
Reviewed by Steve from UK on
24th Jun 2009
Well I am amazed at all the positive reviews here because I have
had this phone for around an hour now & hate it! This is my 1st
touch screen phone but my son has a Nokia 5800 touchscreen & I have
no problem with that. To date I've always been a Nokia bod, from
the N73 through to the N91, N93 & the the fantastic N95. Texting.
Turn the phone sideways, wait for 2 - 3 seconds & the phone will
figure it out & rotate the screen... A qwerty keyboard appears that
is so damm small & fiddly, I have so far found it impossible to
type a correct text, plus everytime you make a mistake & thus hit
delete you instead hit the enter key. Grr Contacts If you regularly
keep your phone in sync with outlook you'll find the LG rubbish
here too. All the information you can save with a contact under
Outlook, adresses, emails, information, none of this come over.
Plus copying over my contacts from Outlook 2003 via the LG PC Suite
3 gave me approx 4 of each contact? You hit a wrong icon on the
menu screens (which is so easy to do) & you have to wait for the
phone to load up whatever application you hit by mistake, then you
can back out of it, back to the menu & hopefully hit the correct
icon. I didn't even try the camera side of things, with the phone
this unusable their was no point. As said I have moved from a N95
to this phone & I am now taking the sim back out of the phone &
back into my N95, sending this phone back to the carphone warehouse
& will wait for a N97. Rating:
Reviewed by vimal from united kingdam
on 22nd Jun 2009
had my phone one week and i can say this phone is brilliant,i had
a lg secret and it kicks it arse.i would recommend it !!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by noff from bedford crew on
18th Jun 2009
bra bra bra wicked phone big up LG in da house Rating:
Reviewed by Shay from United Kingdom
on 17th Jun 2009
First things first - I've never ever written a review for a mobile
phone on the net, or anything for that matter! But, having unsuccessfully
searched around for reviews of this phone for a week I thought I
better add my bit. So here goes. 1. My first LG having been a 'nokia
retard' for years. 1st impressions - Great, even if LG do also make
washing machines... then again I'm "migrating" (immigrating? seeking
asylum?) from a Nokia 6500 Classic. 2. My first Touchscreen phone.
Ok, wanted to throw it from a great height at first, but am now
getting used to it and it's probably the way forward so better off
not getting lost behind. Mr. Chunky Fingers. I;ve found it tooo
responsive - sometimes things seem to happen before my finger actually
touches the screen!?! 3. ORANGE (AB)USERS: I'm one and the big news
is that the Orange Maps thingy won't be working on this phone for,
I quote, "about 14 days". So, being one of the main reasons I bought
this phone I'm still in the dark about Orange Maps...Semms crazy
to release a phone before the software for the apps. is ready -
Mr. Orange agreed. 4. Using a MAC. No iSync, though iSync comes
up when I USB it to my Notebook (maybes some more 'future software'?
But easy to upload music / download photos from iTunes & iPhoto
via the 'Mass Storage' option when I connect LG to Mac. PC Suite
seems to work with Parallels on Mac also. 5. Camera: First quality
texts seem v. good. though - can't seem to turn off the annoying
35mm 'click' - just more bloody 'click' options. Lots of manual
options but they all reset when you exit camera, so don't think
I'll be using this for quick-fire shots. Probably fine for holiday
stuff. The video seems to be decent also. 6. ORANGE "WORLD"... New
World Orange Order... call it what you like. But I've managed to
get away from it by connecting via Wi-Fi at home to regular internet
(still can't view videos - though that could be me vs. technology.
So, after two days...I think I'll keep it. I'd give it 5/5 if I
could even try out the Orange Maps (which, by the way, goes all
francais when you essayer de ouvrir, mes amis...) An iPhone was
tempting, but £300+ for a machine that can make fart sounds? Rating:
Reviewed by Lee Turner from South Yorkshire
on 17th Jun 2009
Before I begin just a word of warning,Dont use a screen protector!!!...For
some reason with one fitted the screen goes blank on incoming calls
and when you dial out!!!So anyone out there having this problem
just remove your screen protector,it took us ages to figure out
the problem and even sent one phone back thinking it was faulty,so
I thought id add a comment to save anyone else the trouble...Other
than this I love this phone,very responsive,excellent screen,nice
and slim,looks good and feels well made and has Wi-Fi.Mines on Vodafone
and the call quality is outstanding.The new menu system is easy
to use and is very quick.Web surfing is quick and painless,and the
wi-fi was a doddle to setup. Rating:
Reviewed by abdul wahid from united
kingdom on 13th Jun 2009
well im a big fan of nokia but have been usin lg for over a year...
ive got the iewty which i love to bits n yesterday i got my viewty
smart on contract... i previously wanted either the htc pro2 or
n97 but hearin on that n97 going to be a big dissapointment.. i
wanted htc.. but still no out.. so i went for this skinny litlle
badboy... n i get stares off business elderly type people with there
suits on starin at my phone.. obviously you no what there thinkin
hahaha.. ima show off. lol.. but over a day it has grown over e
n i love it... but 1 thing is that wen ur movin the screen keep
rotatin side to side lmao.. funny.,,,, can u believ it with a 8
megapixel camera they could have added a cover to protect it.. its
like soo precious!!!!!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by martinrathbone from uk on
12th Jun 2009
due an upgrade so checked out the market new to the mobile world
was the new lg viewty smart got it after much hassle with o2 no
up grade in the car house, a new contract with 4u cool. no loyalty
from the house o2 boys. going back in the morning. when i put music
on the phone took an age then switched its self off when i selected
music. reformatted the card again same problem , pictures not as
good/easy as on my old g600 5mp .pixon for me on orange samsung
all the way will let you know how orange and the pixon do .the lg
has alot of stuff on it and may be ok for some but i found it fiddly
poss new phone gremlins try and see for yourself not a bitter man
but lg not for me had nokia se k800 and 850 g600 samsung have been
the most natural to use hope the pixon keeps up the good work Rating:
Reviewed by Steph from UK on
12th Jun 2009
After having this phone for 2 days, I am extremeley impressed with
the camera and the video camera. All of the features are top notch,
however one of the main reasons I got this phone was for web browsing-social
networking sites in particular and I find the touch screen to be
quite un-responsive! I also have tiny hands so getting around the
screen should be a breeze but it is quite tempremental, so I'm sending
it back. Rating:
Reviewed by kevin from uk on
11th Jun 2009
had my phone one week and i can say this phone is brilliant,i had
a lg secret and it kicks it arse.i would recommend it !!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from UK on
9th Jun 2009
Got this phone 3 days ago and it is my first touch screen phone.
At first I didnt really know how to use it but after about 5 minutes
playing with it, it became so natural. The colour of the screen
is amazing, the menu's are amazing, the camera is amazing, the specs
are amazing etc. etc. I have been comparing this to the iphone 3gs
which isn't even out yet and this phone blows it out of the water.
LG have really outdone themselves with this phone and Apple now
have real competition against their beloved iphone. Aswell as it
being a better spec phone you can get them on cheaper contracts
than the iphone and are getting alot more for your money. in summary:
GET THIS PHONE! Rating:
Reviewed by :) from UK on 7th
Jun 2009
I did have the Sony Ericsson W910i which I was very disappointed
with. I upgraded to the LG Viewty Smart Silver and I am please with
its performance. I only purchased the phone yesterday and I am still
trying to find my way around it as its set up is very different
from phones I have had in the past. The camera is by far the best
phone camera I have seen and the flash just tops it off. I am sure
I will be happy with this phone for the duration of my contract
if it continues to perform as well as it does now. I would recommend
this phone to anyone who is looking for a slim, lightweight touch
screen. Rating:
Reviewed by tikka from uk on
4th Jun 2009
this phone is damn godd but i think it lacks a flash thank you sweet
heart tikka jee Rating:
Reviewed by Lawtie from UK on
4th Jun 2009
LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! Rating:
Reviewed by Chris Knox from Northern
Ireland on 4th Jun 2009
recently bought this phone (3/6/2009) and think that it is by far
the best phone i have had to date. Unlike many touchscreen phones
out there at the minute, the LG Viewty Smart is very easy to use,
with all the features any mobile phone user would be looking for.
It looks good, feels good and is a brilliant all-round phone. Music
player is great, camera is flawless (so far) and would recommend
it to anybody looking to purchase a new phone. Definately one to
rival the iPhone. Rating:
Reviewed by england from uk on
31st May 2009
well i bought it about 3 days ago it was great for a day then a
day after i tried to play some muysic the speaker blew up it has
completely broken then later after that the camera broke good but
not good enough Rating:
Reviewed by Biscuitz from United States
of England on 26th May 2009
Well, my friend has this and its probably the best phone out there
for LG, i'm probably gonna get this phone soon because of all the
features it has. the touchscreen is great, the shape of the phone,
the things you can do with it (No dirty thoughts please), and i
personally think its a great all-around phone, but the Camera is
BRILLIANT! Rating:
