LG Arena Review
Phone rating: 
In a nutshell: The LG Arena is possibly the best phone to be
released in the first quarter of 2009. It's a compact touchscreen phone
with a breathtaking screen, a fantastic new user-friendly interface,
quality looks and a massive array of features: 5 megapixel camera with
autofocus & flash, 3G video calling, music player with Dolby Mobile,
FM radio, A-GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, FM transmitter, 3.5mm
headphone jack. Oh, and we nearly forgot to mention the 8GB memory,
expandable to 40GB! It really is a stunner! But beware - don't buy it
on Orange!
Review: March 2009. Last updated June 2009.
What are LG on? They are churning out touchscreen phones almost as
quickly as all other manufacturers put together. For this reason, we
are willing to forgive them for giving their latest touchscreen phone
the same name as the former NEC in Birmingham, which is now called -
you guessed it - the LG Arena!
How to review the LG Arena? It's a brilliant all-rounder. The list
of things it doesn't do is shorter than the list of things that it does
do, so here we go: it isn't a smartphone (LG have yet to enter the smartphone
market and it doesn't have an 8 megapixel camera. That's all it doesn't
do (it doesn't make the coffee or run you a bath either, but LG are
rumoured to be working on this.)
So, regular readers of Mobile Phones UK will know that we lurve LG
touchscreen phones. And we just lurve the Arena. Is it LG's best phone
so far? Possibly. It's a gorgeous phone to look at. It's quite a bit
smaller than the iPhone 3G, which
is a bonus, although this does mean that the screen is slightly smaller
- but at 3 inches it's still a whopper. The brushed metal finish is
lurvely too and radiates quality. But the best thing about the Arena
becomes apparent when you turn it on: it's the drop-dead high resolution
screen. With 480x800 pixels, it's a truly high definition display and
is absolutely at the cutting edge. Readers of our sister website, RecommendedBuys
UK, may know that LG
LCD TV's consistently get the best ratings, and it's not surprising
when you witness the quality of the Arena's display. The Arena is the
first phone to showcase LG's new S-Class touchscreen user interface.
Based on a "cube" idea, which you can see in the photo above,
the screen contains a 3D cube that you can turn around to reveal one
of 4 sides: contacts, widgets, shortcuts and a customisable home screen.
It's kind of fun, but doesn't really add anything. But the touchscreen
UI itself is first class. We've always been a fan of the LG touch phones,
from the Prada to the Renoir,
and the Arena is at least as good. Watch the youtube video below to
learn more.
The Arena may not have an 8 megapixel camera (choose the LG
Renoir for this) but it is a very well balanced multi-media device.
The camera is 5 megapixels, with autofocus and an LED flash. It's clearly
not in the same league as the 8 megapixel monsters such as the Renoir,
Samsung Pixon 12 or Sony
Ericsson Satio, but it's still a good camera. It records high quality
video too, and you can use the front-mounted camera to make video calls.
The music player can play all popular formats, including MP3, AAC and
WMA, and supports Dolby Mobile for high fidelity virtual surround sound.
A welcome addition is the 3.5mm headphone jack, which enables you to
plug in any headphone with a standard connector. An FM radio is included
too. The Arena also comes with a built-in FM transmitter, which enables
you to play music wirelessly through a car or home stereo.
When it comes to memory, the Arena delivers the goods in abundance.
Not only does it comes with 8GB of flash memory, but it also supports
microSD cards up to 40GB. This dwarfs the memory capacity of even the
iPhone! LG clearly are wanting users to make full use of all the multimedia
functionality that the Arena is capable of, so whether you have a massive
music collection, or want to watch full length movies on your phone
in high definition, this phone is eager and willing to do the job.
There are so many features available, we can't cover everything in
this review. We need to mention that the phone supports assisted GPS
with geo-tagging of photos. We also need to mention that it's connectivity
is outstanding - as well as the FM transmitter and 3.5mm headphone socket,
it supports Bluetooth, USB and WiFi. It's a 3G phone with HSDPA 7.2
Mbps for rapid downloading of data, and it's equipped with an excellent
web browser.
That's the end of our whirlwind tour of the LG Arena KM900! The touchscreen
phone market is getting very crowded in 2009, and there are some brilliant
phones competing for your attention, but we feel that the Arena is probably
the best phone to be released in the first quarter of 2009, and and
it has been a massive hit. Tech-heads will probably still prefer the
Samsung Omnia or HTC
Touch HD though.
Update [May 2009]: it has become apparent that Orange have done something
awful to this phone. They've removed Google Maps, replaced the web browser
and music player with their own contraptions, and done something to
stop you viewing youtube videos. Most of the bad user reviews below
are from Orange users. The answer's simple: don't buy this phone on
Orange, and don't upgrade to it if you're currently on Orange. Get a
new contract instead. You have been warned!!
Second update [June 2009]: We've been reading the user reviews for
the Arena with dismay, because it's apparent that many of you guys are
having real problems with this phone freezing, crashing or completely
shutting down. We don't know whether this is simply an Orange problem,
or if it happens on other networks too. Although many users report no
problems, there are too many reports of things going worng for us to
ignore, and so we've downgraded our rating from 5 stars to 4 stars.
This doesn't mean that we've changed our opinion - it just reflects
the "risk factor" that you might end up with one of the dud
Arenas.
The new LG Viewty Smart is very similar
but with an upgraded 8 megapixel camera.
Features of the LG Arena KM900 include:
- 5 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, autofocus & LED flash
- Video recording (DivX playback)
- 3G video calling
- Touch sensitive screen: TFT LCD, 262k colours, 480 x 800 pixels
(3 inches)
- Music player (MP3/AAC/AAC+/AAC++/WMA formats) with Dolby Mobile
- FM radio
- FM transmitter
- Assisted GPS with geo-tagging of photos
- Speakerphone
- Voice recording
- Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, Email
- T9 predictive text
- Document viewer (TXT, PDF, DOC, PPT, XLS)
- Ringtones: 72 voice polyphonic ringtones / MP3 ringtones
- Wallpaper
- Java 2.0 games
- Phonebook (1000 names)
- Memory: 8 Gbyte plus microSD memory card (expandable to 32 GB)
- Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth 1.2, WiFi, 3.5mm headphone socket
- Internet: WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 12, EDGE, 3G HSDPA (7.2 Mb/s)
- Vibration alert
- Triband (GSM 900/1800/1900) plus 3G HSDPA
- Size: 106 x 55 x 12 mm
- Weight: 105g
- Talktime: 3.8 hours
- Battery standby: 300 hours
LG Arena User 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!
Average rating from 101 reviews: 
Reviewed by G. Kane from Phlippines on 28th Feb
2012
I bought this phone sometime in early 2010. Yesterday, after I added
music via its proprietary USB cable, it started to hang then it completely
shut down. I've only added music to it twice. I remove the battery for
a few minutes, thinking maybe that would help. Nothing. I charged it,
it indicated a full charge then a low battery reminder flashed a few
minutes after I tried loading the music player. The screen went off,
the phone flashed its LG logo, went off again then shut down. I hope
its just the battery. I've taken good care of this phone. No scratches,
never dropped it & kept nice and dry. Are there any solutions (if the
battery problem was ruled out) on this?
Rating: 
Reply
Reviewed by Matt from UK on 19th Jun 2009
Brought on orange, great phone, still some stability issues, ie, freezes
sometimes, but its a great phone to use and hopefully they fix it in
the next firmware update :-)
Rating:
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Reviewed by Shugor from England on 19th Jun 2009
I was a Sony Eric fan for sometime until i saw the arena. I got the
phone a few weeks ago and have ben quite disappointed ever since...it
freezes...is slow to respond and hard to see in sunlight. Yes if i didn't
have these problems im sure i would be quite happy with my investment
but sadly trying to keep up with the competition meant LG simply forgot
to make the phone usable. To make matters worse im out of my 7 day return
facility, so now im stuck with a phone that doesn't work for 18 months....gggrrrrrrr
!
Rating:  Reply
Reviewed by weardalelad from uk on 18th Jun 2009
had 3 of these phones via orange upgrade, all replaced withing a 2wks
as all had faults dropping calls switching off and a nightmare to get
your phonebook to work, have had trouble with it from day one but now
sent it back and will go for the new veiwty lets hope they are as good
as the old veiwty.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by David from UK on 16th Jun 2009
On paper this phone sounds good. In practice, it has so many firmware
bugs and features that just don't work that it is just unusable. Add
to that the fact that there are no applications available for the phone
and it becomes a complete waste of money.
Rating: 
Reply
Reviewed by James Humphreys from United Kingdom on
14th Jun 2009
I got this phone to replace my trusty Nokia N95 8gig. Unfortunately
it is on orange and their gps Orange maps is sluggish upon use. It is
quote cheap to use but does take time to update. I have found the music
player difficult to use and also some videos have suddenly become corrupt
for some reason. The Dolby aspect of the phone is good when you are
wearing headphones and the speaker is actually the earpiece also so
you get mono sound when you play music externally. To boot the speaker
now distorts music and phone conversation, (a bit like when you put
too much base through a small speaker). Everything now sounds like a
kazoo. It is now enroute to LG HQ to be repaired after 6 weeks. I think
I may revert back to my Nokia as this touch phone is out of touch.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Aaron from Scotland on 12th Jun 2009
I have had this phone for around 2 months and I can see all the good
points but in my way is orange. They have completely runied this phone
and I will not be buying another orange product again. The internet
is awful, as is the fact that there is no google maps. The review by
luke further down the page is not true, even if you do download the
google maps they still do not work. The phone crahses at times when
txting and when answering a call you have no idea who is phoning because
it stay black for about 10 seconds and by that time the caller had hung
up! Yes there are some nice features and the UI is quite impressive,
this phone could have been so much more if LG had taken a bit more thought
and time. DO NOT GET ON ORANGE! very poor network! to add, if you do
not get an internet add on, they give it to you for free without telling
you for the first month and then tell you days before it finishes that
you are now going to be charged £5 a month, so when you phone up you
have to pay for a months service because you havent given then 28 days
notice to stop the service! shocking!
Rating:
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Reviewed by Richard from England on 11th Jun 2009
i would just like to say to all people on ORANGE handsets dont be put
off by the review. i have just got my lg arena from orange and was put
off by review i had the added bonus of sending back for different handset
after 7 days if i did not like it. i thought i would give it ago. Yes
orange have put there own software on it but its not that bad. also
i went on youtube and could stream every video i wanted. the battery
life is a little rubbish but what do you expect its better than the
iphones. overall dead happy dont be put off by review. P.S if your upgrading
with orange use the review to your advantage i managed to get a great
deal with all sorts of freebies. took a few calls though but make sure
you get the phone on a 7 day trial just in case you dont like it. Be
your own judge i was and couldnt be happier
Rating:
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Reviewed by mckenziehylton'x from goodmayes on
10th Jun 2009
i thought this phonee was really good when i bought it but after a week
it is truly wack,mate. it is sooo unresponsive do not buy this phone
blad!
Rating:
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Reviewed by michael from Bangladesh on 10th Jun
2009
LG is going to have us some execellent mobile using experience . :)
Rating:
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Reviewed by lynette from scotland on 9th Jun 2009
just got the lg arena 2 days ago and absolutly love it i cant stop looking
at it and playing with it 10 out of 10.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Rose from UK on 9th Jun 2009
I bought this phone a few days ago, I have to say it is a brilliant
phone; the touchscreen is very responsive to even the lightest touch
(but not so light that it presses things you dont want it to) and texting
is very simple, especially for people like me who are getting used to
the touch screen. I have only 2 problems with it - the phone has completely
froze (I had to take the battery out which I'm sure isn't good for the
phone) and also it can be quite slow on loading sometimes. Oh and I
find the 3 or 4 menu screens a little pointless and irritating at times.
But other than that.. it's worth buying if you have a lot of patience
:)
Rating:
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Reviewed by I D from UK on 9th Jun 2009
Found the phone to have a very good touchscreen and after 3 days use
have found no obvious problems. I got it on a upgrade on Orange but
through a third party so received it with Google Maps etc rather then
Orange's own software (would have done it through Orange if their Customer
Service wasn't so incompetant). The standard software is ok but I'm
hoping to download applications which I'm struggling to find. Main negative
point I found is that you can't add a reminder/alarm for tasks. It's
small things like this that can get irritating!
Rating:
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Reviewed by Howard from UK on 8th Jun 2009
Oh I am so pleased I am not alone! I bought this phone a couple of months
back. I have had it replaced twice already - sadly - like for like.
This phone crashes, re-boots, is slow to reposnd. I had the phone in
my pocket, it rang, I go to answer it, and I have to wait a couple of
seconds for the proximity sensor to realise its out of my pocket so
it can light the screen for me to see who is calling! Tip - Dont expect
to see the screen in daylight. Had a discussion with Orange who refuse
to change the phone for something else as I am outside of my 28 days.
I explained that I work abroad a lot so missed the limit. Had some sycophantic
woman on the line who told me I could replace the phone under insurance...
And that is literally all she repeated to me, I counted six times she
said it before I hung up. Absolutely terrrible phone! Like others -
if they fixed all the bugs, it might be worth keeping hold of. I now
have 16 months left of a very unreliable phone. Such a shame. Please
avoid.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Withey from UK on 8th Jun 2009
I think Steve below proved the point people were making by telling people
to install 3rd party software. Aren't phones supposed to work straight
out of the box and not crash. I've got music on my phone that I can't
delete from the phone, only my PC. Screen unreadable in daylight. Oh,
and I can't play video shot with my Viewty. What's that about? I've
had some crud phones in the past but this, after promising so much,
looks like the crudiest.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Charlie from UK on 7th Jun 2009
Looks Great - feels great and if it actually worked properly it would
be a great phone - I have updated the firmware to the latest available
- email freezes - memory menu freezes -it could do with a rest button
rather than having to remove the battery to reset it - the LG sync software
struggles in Visat but it does still sync. love to hear from anyone
who has fixed these issues.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Sarah from Glasgow on 6th Jun 2009
This phone looks good, but thats about it. I got this phone took it
home and the camera wouldn't work kept going back to the main menu when
i wanted to go on the camera. Took it back to the shop and they replaced
the phone with another arena (which i didnt want) 28 days later...I
find myself taking it back to the shop again and returning it to them
to keep! Every time i pressed the screen the phone switched itself off
then would turn itself back on?!?! It was so frustrating. I have never
had trouble with mobile phones before, and to be sold 'the best phone
on the market' was exciting at the time, but when i got it home it was
completely the opposite! I would rather have a nokia 3310 than have
this pile of rubbish! It honestly is the worst phone ever, everything
goes wrong with it. Maybe if they sorted those problems out it would
be a good phone, but I most certainly will not be buying another LG
ever again! I had the contract on o2, not orange.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Harishan from Kumarathasan on 5th
Jun 2009
Great Fone Love it, NEED sOME hELP gUYS you know ANy Sites Which Have
Free Gamez For This Fone?
Rating:
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Reviewed by Simon from UK on 5th Jun 2009
Excellent phone. Had it a couple of months now and it's a joy to use.
The display is excellent and the clarity is amazing, it may be a bit
too reflective in bright sunlight but a lot of screens are. It has frozen
on me twice but my brother has a w910i which does this about 6 times
a day. I wouldn't say it has ever annoyed me at all. I'll agree the
texting is a little difficult at times but I love the "S-class" UI -
it's excellent. I'm on Orange too and as some people have said it doesn't
come with Google maps but instead comes with Orange maps which is a
sat-nav that actually works. OK it'll cost you £5pm (or free if you're
on a £35+ tariff) but take it over a year and you're paying £60 for
a good sat-nav. How much is a TomTom again??? Plus if you really want
google maps you can install it totally free so I think you gain by getting
the Orange version.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Den from London on 5th Jun 2009
hate it, hate it, hate it, HATE IT.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Bethany from UK on 4th Jun 2009
I think that this phone is pretty good. mine does occasionally freeze
and randomly turn off (??) but apart from that, it is easy to text and
the menus are well laid out so i found it easy to get used to.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Ally from UK on 2nd Jun 2009
Horrible, Had it two days and the phone would not let me add contacts.
Every time i went to add a contract it would freeze and restart. But
looked a nice handset, apart from the back, it looks to basic.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Emma from London, UK on 2nd Jun 2009
I use this site all the time and this is the first time I've been so
disappointed with a phone (and therefore definitely disagreed with the
main review) that I've decided to add my own review. First off - I have
owned a new phone every 2-3 months for the past 3 years, and that's
a lot of phones. I like to replace my handset every couple of months.
I have no strong preference for manufacturer, so I like to think I come
to this with no obvious bias. However, the Arena is just a terrible
own goal by LG. Mine thought I was in Russia when I tried to use google
maps (in fact, it never did find me in London despite rebooting several
times and clearing the memory); and crashed no fewer than SEVEN times
during the first 3h of use. It crashed when I tried to take a picture,
when I tried to replace the display picture, when I tried to insert
a picture to an MMS, when I used the internet - literally every application.
The screen is stunning, and the phone is an excellent size and weight,
although I agree the touchscreen is nowhere near as accurate and responsive
as the Samsungs (Tocco Ultra/Pixon, etc). On paper it has excellent
spec, but in reality this phone is so bug-ridden and unreliable it's
the first phone I've ever had to insist on returning. Am so disappointed,
and would not recommend this to my worst enemy. Very poor. I had the
LG Viewty, Renoir, Prada etc in the past and found the software on those
to be generally excellent - I would avoid anything running the new S
class software until it's on a phone you can actually use.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Linni from England on 2nd Jun 2009
I do love this phone but I'm having severe issues with it. I have had
both the handset and sim card replaced so as to try and fix my problems
but it hasn't worked. I only receive around 1/3 of all my messages and
incoming calls. It's not a signal issue as they don't arrive later either
they for some reason just never come. I have talked endlessly both with
O2 and carphone warehouse where i purchased my phone and they both say
they do not know what the problem is and have no idea as to how to fix
it. I'm extremely frustrated as I spent good money to get the handset
and am now unable to use it.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Rianne from UK on 1st Jun 2009
Love this phone. Got it on my Orange upgrade. It took me a while to
get used to the touch screen but now I'm used to it and love it. Only
minus points: 1. Freezes occasionally. 2. Is very slow when typing a
response to a relatively long email thread...which is only text. 3.
Web browser is a bit prehistoric, have to zoom in to click on anything.
Apart from that I am really happy with this phone!
Rating:
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Reviewed by steve from UK on 29th May 2009
I've had my arena a few weeks on orange as they had the best deals (£25/m
for 200 mins/unlimited texts/1gb internet and have to say it is outstanding.
OK, not everything works perfectly and instantly straight out of the
box but which of today's top phones do ? No orange maps/GPS - load amaze
on. Browser not great - load opera mini. format music lists and album
art - mediamonkey. I'm no tech expert but within a week I had this done
and loaded all 6 star wars films on as well - video player is great
and music with dolby and your own quality headphones (via 3.5mm jack)
is superb. Mine has never crashed and I get 2 days use from each charge
- make sure you do first charge for 16 hours !! 8gb internal mem + 32gb
more - lovely ! Touchscreen is easy to use and fast. An absolute belter
of a phone
Rating:
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Reviewed by flory from uk on 28th May 2009
too bad i haven't find you guys before i got my lg arena fron orange.
what a mistake
Rating:
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Reviewed by McParland from United Kingdom on 28th
May 2009
My first Arena crashed every time I tried to answer a call. This one
has some bugs too. The touch screen is impossible to use on the internet
without expanding to maximum zoom each time. Pointing devices won't
work. Sound occassionally drops to mute with headphones. The "bass"
goes missing when you try and play music via a Bluetooth device. Music
player initialises every time I run it. You can't make playlists through
the phone. I get strange, blank txt messages rather than information
regarding missed calls. Battery life is great, if you leave it on the
shelf. Want to do something and you'll be lucky to 7 hours out of it.
I've taken to carrying round my old Viewty battery as back up. The automatic
lock makes me want to smash the phone yet, and he's the irony, I've
lost track of the number of calls I've disconnected as my cheek has
activated the "hang up" button. In short this has all the features to
make it a fantastic phone but is let down by one or sixty problems.
Whilst this is being pushed as "the phone" to have I'd say avoid like
the plague. I wish I had.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Sam from United Kingdom on 26th May
2009
Where do i start with this phone?, Well it freezes a lot, dead slow
and not responsive all of the time, will not view my files which i want
to view, and when i rang up customer services, all the person could
say we can offer you "like for like", which i didn't want, so they didn't
meet customer requirements, i was very flexible in saying how id get
a lower contract, less text and minutes, even pay more so i could change
the phone, But NO!, If you want to get a new phone and your looking
at the LG Arena, don't waste your money! And don't bother getting going
with dialaphone!!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Alexis from UK on 25th May 2009
Great phone - takes a little while to get used to, but truly excellent
overall. Large internal memory, easy to transfer to a computer, 3.5
jack for headphones/speakers. Video is excellent, and camera is good,
but not for fast moving people/objects. But, as so many have said, DON'T
GET THIS ON ORANGE, if you can (Orange is the only network that works
where I live). They disable Google maps and gmail (you can put them
back on, but they don't work 100%), and to boot, Orange Maps won't work
on the phone. No idea why, but Orange now say that Orange maps does
not work with this phone (!).
Rating:
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Reviewed by Luke from Scotland on 25th May 2009
Anyone who has not yet found out how to edit contacts stored on the
phone heres how- click on a saved contact, numbers will drop down aswell
as a grey bar that will say " voice call, send message, video call".
This grey bar i have just discovered is a horizontal scroll bar!!! scroll
from right to left and the edit contact option appears!!
Rating:
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Reviewed by Daniel J from UK on 25th May 2009
A great phone, great build quality and feature packed. The touch screen
is very fluid and responsive and looks fantastic and overall I'm very
happy with the LG arena........ but now the negatives. Cons: Typing
on the qwerty keyboard is impossible at full speed and it becomes a
real pain. The qwerty is just too cramped for full speed texting/typing
and very error prone. Battery life isnt great and you will need to charge
it every night. The phone locking system is badly thought out. The music
player is a real pain in the backside (although the audio output is
fantastic) its badly arranged and thought out. The cube rotate system
is nothing but a gimmick. Zooming on web pages with the pinch technique
is a real pain.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Dave from UK on 24th May 2009
WOW WOW WOW! Had this phone for a month now, took a bit of getting use
to, especially with writing text messages. Other than that cannot fault
it compared with my old N82. Picture quality outside is as good as my
pentax camera. The only thing that LG need to do is make available apps
for it like the iphone then it will make SUPERB
Rating:
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Reviewed by Mathew from Scotland on 24th May 2009
this phone is amazing, all the animations are realy smooth and work
fine. there are a few 'bugs' in the firmware but an update will sort
them out. the screen is really clear and nice and sensitive and tbh,
the web browsers not that bad, its better than any other phone iv had
lol and the textings fine aswell :D
Rating:
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Reviewed by Muffins from Ireland on 23rd May 2009
Avoid like the plague. If I could I would go back in time and batter
myself to within an inch of my life for even considering this POS. No
streaming of any kind over wifi. Youtube quality sucks, it shows the
videos in 220x176 and they look awful. No DivX over 320x240. Screen
res is 800x480 but the max it can show movies is 720x480. Music player
is a joke. It cant remember the last track played it cant read ID3 tags
properly. Massive loading time between tracks and it always goes to
the top of the list it cant remember where you were at. GPS is slow
lagging and weak. Its pc software is diabolical and doesn't work properly
on Vista. Probably will not have any app support, and if it does it
will probably not take advantage of the screen res. Phone is prone to
crashes and restarts, get friendly with your battery cover cause you
will be taking it off frequently. Email has a max limit of 1mb for D/L
and U/l. Screen is practically unreadable in sun light. And on and on
and on... I was looking at the HTC Touch Diamond 2, the only reason
I went for the Arena at the end was because it had copious amounts of
metal in it construction and a capacitive screen. My bad
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Luke from Scotland on 22nd May 2009
I am an ex-IPHONE user and for me this phone is SOOOOO much better,
even beter than the iphone 3G! I got this phone 2 days ago on Orange
£30 a month with internet browsing. I will just outline the Very small
and picky negatives as you wll be able to find the positives anywere!
#1 No Google maps to begin with but it can be download as an app for
FREE! #2 Orange maps is pre-installed and has very good gps functions.
However, BEWARE that after the first month of your contract you are
charged for this service (about £7 pm). With a bit of bargining as i
had a previous contract on orange, i got it for FREE! #3 Fantastic FM
transmitter but is lacking in Base, but tbh it does a very good job
( use a 3.5m jack to jack for better base). #4 Apparently you cant access
youtube or gmaps using wifi, well thats why you have 3G and a half decent
monthly contract that includes internet browsing!!!! #5 The texting
will be frustrating at first if your not use to touch phones, However
i have larg e fingers/hands and i can type fine. #6 there is a small
light sensor on the top of the phone that seems to cause a few prolems
for people that have phone cases. It is used to save power on the phone,
during a call when you have the phone to your ear the sensor is coverd
and the phone goes dark, when you take it away from your ear it comes
to life again allowing you to end the call! if you have a phone case
that covers this during a call then remove the phone from the case!
#7 POOR battery life YOU SAY? well if your constently browsing the net,
streaming media and watching videos then your battery life is going
to be limited to A DAY!!! this is the same for every PHONE! #8 Comes
with a mini disc so MAC users will need to download the software from
the net. #9 The interface does take awhile to get use to and navigate,
older users may struggle. #10 the browser can be anoying (fiddly) at
times but almost every time it does the job well. #11 the music player
has one FLAW, you ca nt move between parts of a song that is playing
ie i cant play a song half way through then move to the last 10 seconds
(start to finish only :( ) #12 phone autolocks durng a phone call which
can be abit irritating although it only needs to be unlocked once to
stay unlocked for the rest of the call. {{ Ok so it may seem like there
is alot of bad things here but i can promise you the good points make
tha bad seem like nothing! Also remember that it will take awhile to
get use to using the phone as it is fairly complex to begin with, give
it time and you will love it!!! Hope this had helped potential buyers
}}
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Reviewed by Emma from England on 20th May 2009
Ive got to say I absolutely love this phone, the only thing Im not too
impressed about is the instructions manual. I dont usually use them
but am finding it frustrating that I cant figure how to change the ringtone
and text tone as I can't even hear the default settings.
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Reviewed by Craig from UK on 20th May 2009
All these 'outstanding' reviews need a bit of redress, so here it goes...
Touted as a media player. DivX playback will not use the much talked-about
screen res, so mp4's are the only way to use this. Videos are stored
in a folder that doesn't even display the filename so you have to click
on each and every one to find it. The phone is very slow dealing with
large video files, expanding the memory will more than likely cripple
it. The music player will not remember what track you were last listening
to. Gaps between tunes are approx 5 seconds. The FM transmitter sounds
horiffic, no bass, and has no range. I bought it as a media player for
the above functions and it isn't 'outstanding' at any of them, just
mediocre or below average. Other niggles are no wi-fi for gmaps or youtube.
The browser is very slow (install opera mini for your own sake). The
phone has to 'think' about even the most basic of operations, i.e. phone
book. Texting takes two hands and twice the time, don't even bother
if you've had a beer. However, if a firmware upgrade comes along to
solve these issues then it will be a good looking capable phone. Don't
hold your breath though as LG are notorious for not providing updates.
Still, only 17 months left on my contract :-/
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Reviewed by Loubylou from England on 19th May
2009
Got this phone Sat evening. Got to say I love it - have never used a
touch screen before and has taken a little bit of getting used to but
i'm very happy with it overall. Have always been a Sony Ericsson fan
but i'm defo an LG convert. Great phone just need to get used to it!!
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Reviewed by Peed off from England on 18th May
2009
This has been doing my head in but at last I can answer this question.
If you are having this problem try taking the phone out of it's case.
Make a call & you will get the "End Call" option, move your thumb over
the sensor on the left of the LG logo, (looks like a very small camera),
& the screen goes blank, move it away & hey prestow the screen comes
back. I guess this is a way of locking the screen when you have it to
your ear. Very clever really when you think about it, just a bummer,
if like me, you use a case. Anth (poster below) if you try putting your
thumb over the sensor you will see what I meant, you will have NO Red
or Green button at all, thats why I couldn't press them to end a call
:-) Now where's my hole punch.......
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Reply by Tom from UK on 19th May 2009
answering your question. its a light sensor, much like one on a pocket
calculator that is generated by light. its a battery saver.
Reviewed by Anth from Newcastle, England on 18th
May 2009
Got this phone on Saturday gone. Excellent little phone, no complaints
except for that of the music player. I've been unfortunate enough to
get this phone through Orange and was unaware of the software omissions.
Why is it, if I'm playing a track, I can't skip through it? Being a
DJ I like to record mixes in a single file format and upload them to
my phone, but I'm finding it quite frustrating not being able to skip
through the file! Is this just a problem with Orange phones? Otherwise,
no real gripes as of yet. Unlike the comment below I have no problem
hanging up at the end of a call. There's a green button to commence
a call, a red one to terminate it. Simplesssh
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Reviewed by Peed off from England on 15th May
2009
In a word to directly answer this thread I would have to say NO. I have
just received this phone & at first I loved it although coming from
using SE's for years I was finding it very difficult to get used to.
The screen get greasy very quickly but i guess this will be the same
with all touch screen phones. I love the FM transmitter it's more useful
than you think. But & this is a REALLY BIG but when I us it to actually
use it as a phone the screen blanks out & is completely unresponsive.
Infact the only way I can termminate the call is to turn the phone off?????
nice try LG very swishing looking but remember first & formost it's
a phone & people want to make calls with it (& end them). I alos purchased
the phone from Gomobile via the web, I have tried to Email them using
the Email addresses from their website but both the general enquires
& the local branch Email address have been bounced back. Also not very
encouraging. If anybody out there does know how to rectify this problem
let me know & when (or if) I here anythin I will post a followup.
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Reviewed by Beverley from UK on 14th May 2009
I've had mine for 3 or 4 days and am changing it tomorrow. It is impossible
to text without errors, and suddenly you find yourself texting in German
as the little world symbol is directly below the XYZ or you have a Cap
instead of pqrs.Don't even think of using the Qwerty unless you are
an unfeasibly teeny tiny person. Have to use finger to tap, not a nail,
and sometimes it's too responsive and goes somewhere you don't want
to be in the menu, yet in the browser it takes several taps to register.
I find the browser slow and even your contacts list takes time to load
to load up. Despite the rather awkward 'favourites' fan display, scrolling
through contacts is tedious, and even typing them in to the search box
is awkward and time consuming and then touch tapping them is hit and
miss. The battery life is poor, but we do understand there are a lot
of pixels to service. I did charge for over 14 hours as suggested for
first charge, but still. Navigating the different screens is hug ely
confusing. Nothing is where you think it might be. The automatic lock
is utterly infuriating if you have to tap in a number while you're on
a call, say, to delete or save in Voicemail. The mini disc is no use
to a mac user like myself, so to get Div X Converter for my computer
was going to cost me an extra £13 or so I didn't see why I should pay.
The LG website might still be in Korean for its ease of navigation,
and it didn't recognise KM900 as one of its products when I tried to
download a manual in the hope it might tell me how to just scroll back
while writing a message instead of only backspace/delete. (I discovered
you just tap where you need to be, but it's not easy to get to the right
place in your script with the small text.I made the text bigger in one
menu then had no idea how to find that menu again!). I tried to bookmark
a website, but couldn't get it accepted as a bookmark. The only thing
I liked was the very easy to use and excellent quality camera, with
i ts additional internal camera for those cheeky self-portraits. Oh,
and the actual sound reception of phone calls was poor too, not to mention
the weedy ringtones. Thank goodness I can return it. When I went back
to my old lovely Sony Ericsson tonight with simple one-handed operation
I knew I was right to insist on a return.
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Reviewed by Sam from England on 13th May 2009
Great phone once you get used to it. The touch screen is very responsive
and the camera is quite good. However DO NOT get it from phones 4 u.
I have been sent 2 LG Arenas so far and both have been damaged. The
first had a dent at the bottom and the second had scratches on the screen.
As l write this l am now awaiting a 3rd phone to be delivered and l
have only been a customer since the end of April. Be warned. Customer
service is also poor as l have lodged an official complaint and no one
has responded.
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Reviewed by Chris from Guernsey on 12th May 2009
This phone is great. I have had it 4 days and have just got used to
using it properly. No problems at all yet and Battery life has been
good so far, especialy as I have been playing with it a lot, still on
it's first charge. The manual suggests you leave it on charge overnight
for up to 14 hours for the first charge, I did this so maybe it makes
a difference. It is easy to navigate (with a bit of practice) and the
touchscreen is responsive. I just need to get some video downloaded
and a couple of decent games now to show it off! All in all I am really
pleased with this phone.
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Reviewed by Mark K from UK on 11th May 2009
Potentially grate phone, but battery life - Noooooo. Lucky if it lasts
a day!!
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Reviewed by Dav from UK on 11th May 2009
In my experience, Orange have a habit of spoiling good phones by replacing
the manufacturers original software with their own buggy sw. Look at
the poor Sony Ericsson W910i a few years ago.... Anyway, looks like
they've done it again. As for the phone, it is fantastic. Easy to use
and navigate - just a shame the camera is isn't as good as the Renoir.
Still, I'd pick this over the Renoir any day.
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Reviewed by Nathan Thomas from Wales on 11th May
2009
Really good phone, hard to text as the screen is small but all onsidered
alot better than my n96(disaster) Problamatic software is my only real
concern
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Reviewed by Martin from England on 10th May 2009
Dont worry orange users, if you want this phone just get it from carphone
warehouse, they will do the same deals as orange direct and they use
unlocked unbranded lg arenas. Its a quality phone, and dosent have any
glitches or software issues,maps work fine, best phone in the world
by far.
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Reviewed by Amy from Wiltshire on 8th May 2009
Got the Lg Arena over a week ago on T mobile. Love it but just wish
there was a software update so it would stop freezing. I had the G1
before and find this handset much more fun to use and easy. I tried
the Iphone too but this is a cheaper alternative, thats nearly as good.
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Reviewed by Dave from Wales on 7th May 2009
Ok, this is probably the best looking phone on the market, even above
the iphone. And it does have a range of really good points, such as
the very responsive touchscreen, the pretty decent camera (i had the
k850i before and this camera is easily as equivalent to that), video
playback is excellent, music quality great, loudspeaker is very useful...etc
BUT, there are several not so good points. The phone does have a tendancy
to crash, and the only way to restart it is to remove the battery. The
lock function which automatically kicks in during a call is very irritating,
especially if you need to press numbers on the touch keypad during that
call! The phone really needs a stylus, fast texting with your finger
tips is possible but only with mistakes. and the battery life is pretty
terrible! You have to charge every night or the battery dies! All in
all, despite the issues with this phone i am persevering because i do
like it.The crashing is a concern and no fixes have yet resolved it,
but i guess this happens with most new phones today. If you are looking
at buying this handset then i would say go for it, but be prepaired
for a few problems.
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Reviewed by andi_mir from romania on 7th May 2009
i bought the phone 2 weeks ago! these are my pro and cons: pro: nice
screen, nice appearance, good camera,nice touchscreen, con: batery is
poor max 2 days, software is of own design and is poor quality+ you
can not replace it with another software, player(original Vodafone user)
is flawed for mp3 (jumps only 5 sec and u have to keep touching the
screen), video player accepts mp4 and mpeg and divx(max rez 240x320
poor), my headphones broke today after i listened to them for only 3
days(very poor quality)(nice design and sound quality while they lasted),
google maps can't find my location in any config: it is annoying, the
fm transmitter works in close proximity but it lacks the base( sound
is of a poor quality,it's like u hear it from the neighbor from the
opposite side of the street) MORE TO FALLOW if u want to contact fore
more info: ANDI_MIR@YAHOO.COM
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Reviewed by Dan gordan from Uk on 5th May 2009
Its a great phone and brilliant every day use and a very sleak and sexy
modle for a phone but do not think it is as gd as the lg cookie
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Reviewed by Rakesh from England on 5th May 2009
This phone is Great. At start i wasnt too sure about it... but i love
it now. Im not sure what Edward is on about I find the phone is flawless,
its quick and all the features Edward said.. work for me! Plus I hear
that LG are making an App store. Great phone would reccomend!
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Reviewed by Mark from UK on 4th May 2009
Have recently got this phone, my first experience with a touch screen
- i have had sony ericsson for the past few years. It is undoubtedly
a very clever phone with amazing graphics and features, however, to
my annoyance i don't seem to be able to edit existing entries in my
contact list - does anyone have any suggestions or am i missing the
obvious?
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Reviewed by Jo from UK on 2nd May 2009
Absolutely Brilliant!! Had it a day so far and LOVE IT!! What an amazing
phone!! Endless features! I had the Samsung Pixon and then the Samsung
Tocco Ultra and they were both 8mp cameras - this Arena has a 5mp camera
and it takes much much better photos than the two Samsung 8mp phones!!
Texting is a little bit harder but its just a case of getting used to
it! I'm a fast texter and I haven't found it tooo much of a bind! It
the screen quality is amazing so sharp! I would highly recommended this
phone!!!
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Reviewed by sina from iran on 2nd May 2009
very good
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Reviewed by Tom (Wolves) from England on 1st May
2009
Had this phone just over a week now and despite the negative comments
below it is a great phone. Very easy to use, smooth touch screen and
great applications on there also. In comparison, this is much better
than the iPhone.
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Reviewed by Edward from England on 1st May 2009
This phone has so many bugs it should never have been released. Advertised
features simply do not work, like wifi, video streaming, gps, album
artwork etc etc. Plus, there are virtually no apps available for use
with this phone. Avoid.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Dom from England on 29th Apr 2009
I have had this phone nearly 2 weeks and i have to say it is fantastic!
It was my first touch screen phone and it only took me about 2 hours
to get used to it. I like the idea that you can use standard text keys
or QWERTY keys to text with. The camera has 5mp but still produces brilliant
results. The locking system is also good because you can go on the phone
whilst it is in you pocket. You can easily transfer images and videos
to and from the phone to your PC. It is also very small and light. So
i give the LG Arena 5 stars
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Reviewed by John James Peat from Scotland on 27th
Apr 2009
Had the phone for 3 weeks now hated it to start with as I had a Sony
Ericsson always had (SE) never had any other make so this is a big leap
for me and I must say a bit of getting used to. Allot of people say
this phone is rubbish. I don’t think so I have now installed Opera
as the browser and got DivX and MP4 movies to work also got Skype to
install without any problems and work over my WiFi "Orange wont be happy",
now this all was very easy. I also got Google Maps and GPS software
to work. I don’t see what the low stars are about obviously some
people just don’t have patience. Please take some time to read
the manual and get to know the phone like I did 2 to 3 days is not enough
time to get used to something new and this is new. I give it Five Stars.
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Reply by Tan from UK on 29th Apr 2009
John, Could you please let us know how you got DivX movies working on
Arena? I am still not able to figure it out!! Also would love to know
how did you use Skype on it? Cheers Tan
Reviewed by Nigel (Reading) from uk on 27th Apr
2009
Dont believe the hype. If I'd have known that it can only play divx/xvid
files after converting the file on my PC I would not have bought this
phone. Unless LG do some real work on fixing video playback and also
the ability for people to create apps/widgets for the KM900 like those
available for Iphone this phone will be dust within 6 months. I bought
this phone because Im not a big fan of Apple products although I congratulate
LG for making me think twice.
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Reviewed by Andy from UK on 26th Apr 2009
After my post below about the positives i will now mention a couple
of the downsides to the phone. What i have found with mine is that sometimes
the phone will seem to crash where the phone doesnt do anything but
just constantly vibrates. The way to fix this is to reboot your phone.
Which does sometimes get annoying. Also the files on your phone (ie
movies and songs) do not show the full name, so basically you cannot
tell what the video or song is unless you open it. As mentioned before
the way you cannot put your own picture on a background is really something
i would expect to be standard. Another slight problem is when vieweing
photos, sometimes when you turn your phone to view landscape it doesnt
do it and the only way to get it to work is to exit to the home screen
and do it again. This is another thing that is annoying However i wouldnlt
let these negative put you off buying the phone. It really is a good
phone and i cannot seeing anybody bringing anything out that is far
superior to this phone for at least a couple of years.
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Reviewed by Alan from UK on 24th Apr 2009
I received this phone as an upgrade 3 days ago and really wanted to
like it but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Texting is fine as i'm used
to a touch screen but the web browser is pretty bad, very fiddly trying
to tap on links and even when you zoom in it sometimes takes 3 or 4
taps to click on what you want. I found that when i scrolled through
contacts from the button at the bottom of the screen it was very jerky.
Wi-fi worked well but as others have said you can't watch youtube on
wi-fi and tried watching using 3g and it was terrible! Not for me this
phone although there are some good features on it. Sent mine back and
opted for 5800 instead.
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Reviewed by Andy from uk on 23rd Apr 2009
Just got this phone on 02. This phone is probably the best out there
at the moment. excellent user interface and so easy to use! It has 8gb
storage which comes in handy. I have loaded half a dozen movies on mine,
excellent quality with the option to view full screen. Wifi is spot
on and when you connect to the net it asks whether you want to connect
via 3g or wifi. camera is decent quality only 5 meagapixels though.
phone performs like the i-phone, very responsive. Useful feature on
phone if FM transmitter, where you can tune your home hifi or car radio
& play your MP3,s wirelessly! The only thing i would like to see on
this phone is that it would be great if you could set your own wallpaper
on one of the 4 interfaces. If you want to try the phone out prior to
purchasing there is a clever Arena emulator at lgmobile.com
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Reviewed by Louise from UK on 23rd Apr 2009
I've had this phone 2 weeks now, took a new contract out with 02 after
being with Orange for 18 months. Very pleased with this phone, would
recommend it to anyone, might be a bit difficult to use if your male
when texing as the touchscreen buttons are close together and with bigger
fingers this might be an issue, other than that no problems at all,
best phone i've owned so far!!
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Reviewed by Paul from UK on 22nd Apr 2009
Dont believe the hype about this phone. Its dreadful. Nothing works.
Wifi - Can't use youtube. Divx - Wont play, need a special conversion
first apparantly. Orange Maps - not working yet with this phone. Email,
GPS etc - similar story. LG Customer Service - simply dreadful. Believe
me, you will be disappointed.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Ray from UK on 22nd Apr 2009
Good interface but fiddly. can't tap with nail,has to be pinger so easy
to select wrong item. Browser is AWFUL !
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Reviewed by rob s from leeds on 21st Apr 2009
jus gt this phone nd i am thoroughly impressd altho the orange branding
on mine ruins most of it! orange maps cost to use nd thers no google
maps usin the gps.... th phone freezes when i open th orange music player...
nt gd, am guna get the firmware upgraded to th one without branding
as i kno this cud b a gd phone. i only bought this phone cos my mate
sed it was good n i had a play around with his nd i loved it. i am willing
to look past this silliness of orange branding - i agree with most of
th ppl on here, i dont think they quite get th concept of customisation...
just tryin to squeeze as much money out of us customers as poss! wifi
is pretty gd, nt much to say bout tht altho cnt access youtube ovr wifi
which i hope th next firmware will allow! i think its a major sellin
point to hv youtube stream over wifi. im a lil bit confused as to whether
u can set bkgrounds on the homescreens? im assumin no but jus wonderin
if its another one of orange's silly branding? overall amazin phone
but major let down frm orange!!
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Reviewed by rob from uk on 20th Apr 2009
nice phone but alas no good for me with my larger than average fingers!!!!
used it for a day but found texting neigh on impossable but thats my
fingers fault not the phones!! some nice features and impressive screen
so would recommend to people with small/normal size fingers
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Reviewed by RAS from England on 19th Apr 2009
Great phone, clear crisp screen, fits in the pocket, not to heavy, nice
clean look to it, camera does the job, responsive touch and crisp GUI
- its my first touch screen and I am not missing the buttons at all
:)
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Reviewed by Richard from UK on 18th Apr 2009
I'm a fan of Nokia (easy to use,) but on this occasion thought I would
go for something different and upgraded to the LG ARENA. What's great
about this phone is the picture quality, wi fi and it's overall style.
However I've grown to expect the basics, to make a clear sounding call,
strong reception and to write a quick text without messing about. These
things in my opinion were lacking and for that reason returned my LG
ARENA to T Mobile (who are ALWAYS GREAT to me!) I am now on the look
out for another Nokia, I find Nokia get the basics right, but yet to
be wow'ed ...
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Reviewed by niyamayth khan from india on 18th
Apr 2009
it's a nice phone
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Reviewed by Agi from United Kingdom on 17th Apr
2009
Bought this phone because it looked great and had wifi capability. Will
be returning it shortly as the wifi browsing is dreadful. LG have made
youtube incompatible with the wifi setting so to use youtube, and I
suspect many other sites, you have to use your networks 3G connection
(at huge expense). Should haveknown better really - if you want an iPhone,
buy an iPhone.
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Reviewed by Robert from America on 17th Apr 2009
A truely amazing piece of work a 5 star phone with a spectacular breath
taking easy way to use. And thats why i recomend this phone to every
1.
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Reviewed by Jane from Scotland on 16th Apr 2009
Just returned mine after 6 days! Didn't like the orange branding ie.
orange maps etc and it needed charged every day, which was useless.
Camera wasn't great either and music - didn't pick up album covers.
Found it not that easy to use or customise either - given my previous
phone was a LG Viewty came as a bit of a surprise. Wouldn't recommend
- definately not a contender for the iphone. Have a good look at it
before you buy~!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by al from uk on 16th Apr 2009
This Phone is Brilliant, the 3D menu is so cool, & easy to use touch
screen, This mobile blows iphone out if the water. 5 Stars.
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Reviewed by Matt from UK on 16th Apr 2009
Great phone, though it does lag when using the keyboard and anything
that's not part of the main UI.
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Reviewed by Phil from UK on 15th Apr 2009
A great phone - crippled by Orange. The KM900 is not as intuitive as
the iPhone, suffers fairly regular freezes (battery off to fix), and
is hard to input text on. However I can can forgive all that for some
decent media functionality and a very good camera. Hopefully the bugs
and freezes will all be fixed by firmware updates down the line. What
is totally unacceptable is the way Orange have seen fit to hijack the
browser, music and worst of all - the GPS. The only way to use GPS is
to use their Orange Maps app they expect you to pay £7.50 a month for.
Download Google maps, and the GPS integration is disabled. This is ludicrous
and completely out of touch with what customers expect when buying a
phone with a GPS chip. In addition the browser home page is set to orange
world and can't be changed, Orange world which won't load over wifi.
So you have to abort the home page loading then redirect it where you
want it to go. You also can't get rid of all the useless orange links
cluttering up your bookmarks. I completely agree with David below -
a decent phone ruined by Orange's outdated insistence on you using their
awful products. Am hoping I can wipe the thing and reload with an unadulterated
OS, otherwise this will be a tiresome 12 months.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by David from UK on 15th Apr 2009
Just got this phone and am absolutely gutted. Orange have seen fit to
remove all the google applications from the phone, which means no access
to google maps, search or youtube. Instead I have Orange maps, which
I will have to pay an extra monthly subscription for and a dreadful
Orange browser. A decent phone completely ruined. Buyers beware, if
you want this phone, avoid the Orange version.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by zowie from england on 14th Apr 2009
after purchasing my lg arena todaii i can say i am in love with this
phone.. it does everythng a standard phone would but comliments with
the 4 style widgets on the fast menu.. lve the fact i can flick through
music and photos which i can customise on my lg.. bit annoying to figure
out how to sne da text and adding contacks was a litle slow but all
in all a great phone.. bit too many icons to deal with but as this phoen
immitates the iphone i can not agree more this phone has amazing features
looks great.. feels light.. i also like the fact you can customise your
own font and text symbols to keep the phone personal..the movie maker
is fab adding live or your own music comes in handy.. the camera is
ofgood quality but an 8 mega pixel would have been great.. just like
the iphone it has many apps on it and everything is clealry placed...
it was easy enough putting music on it jsut take out the memor card
and put in an adaptor! simple!.. really happy with this lets just see
how orange doo!!=] .. would recommend this to anyone who wants a fast
stylish phone !
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Reviewed by eva from United Kingdom on 14th Apr
2009
this phone is amazin, i havent seen anything like it. the iphone sucks
you get vruses on it i had to put up wiv it for 6months nd in the end
i just gave up nd sent it back to apple nd changed to t-mobile. anyway
back to the Arena it is the best touchscreen on the market in my opinion
nd its really fuun
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Reviewed by Mark from England on 14th Apr 2009
I had this phone for a few days and have returned it, this is due to
the fact that the text funcion was dificult and a bit slow. All saying
it's quite stylish and very light(felt a bit cheap) but i just don't
think i can get away with touch screen phones.i think i'll stick to
a candybar style phone, but if you love toucj screen abd thing iphone
is a bit pricey then this is the phone for you.
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Reviewed by mari from United Kingdom on 14th Apr
2009
Completely and totally FED UP with Orange's need to brand the phone.
They have completely lost the plot of what user's want from their mobile
phone. We all have different need and habits and be able to customise
your phone as YOU like it and NOT as Orange think you like it. It is
completely silly and old fashion approach Orange is taken and they WILL
see their customers seek other mobile providers. Also the text facilities
- the first text page is 160 characters, then the following 4 are only
146 characters, and if you write more than a 5 pages long text, then
it registered as mms and you are charged a completely different rate
- which again must suit Orange very well. I cannot recommend buying
this phone on Orange.co.uk network.. They live in the past and don't
see the potential of allowing people to customise their own phone as
they want - without orange branding - orange music player - orange browser
- which you only can access through 3G paid Orange server, Orange map
which doesn't work on my phone. and this they except their customers
to be thrilled to pay for a contract of 18 months. complaints are being
made weekly from me to them.. regarding this issue, but still I haven't
managed to get to speak to someone who actually don't read up from a
script and know what they are talking about. the phone is okay - but
difficult to judge due to Orange self-imposed promotion..
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Reviewed by T from England on 12th Apr 2009
Really responsive phone, just got it today. I thought i'd have trouble
with the UI because i had trouble with my friend's viewty, but i was
definately pleasantly surprised. I would 100% reccommend this phone!
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Reviewed by Rob from Merseyside on 10th Apr 2009
I recieved my Arena a week ago now, and I have to say it has lived up
to my expectations and more! The UI is remarkably responsive and is
precise when navigating or texting, I prefer the qerty style when texting
and my speed is picking up due to the precision of the touch. The phone
looks great and feels light, which is a bonus when keeping in my pocket.
The Wi-fi connection is lightening fast, and surfs through the internet
quicker than my laptop!! The picture gallery is fun with lots of viewing
styles. I just keep finding little surprises as I toddle along happily
with this phone. I did my research on a lot of mobiles before committing
to this phone, and I can honestly say I made the right choice.
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Reviewed by Adam from England on 9th Apr 2009
I had this phone for a few days but have since returned it. The main
reasons are probably due more to the custom orange firmware than the
phone itself but it was a little misleading. The Orange version comes
without the Google pack so no Maps,Mail or You tube. Now you can download
these but the google maps does not at the time of writing pick up the
internal GPS. Orange also customises the web and takes over the music
player. I found it very hard to text on and you have to aim above the
letters you want, not directly on them. There is also no option to calibrate
the touchscreen like you can on other phones. The User interface is
great and very fluid indeed. The cube is a little gimmicky and not really
needed but it is fun for a while. I found the bundled software hard
to work with as the Music software kept crashing on my Vista machine.
It is also extremely difficult (or annoying) to add album art as it
would not pick up the stuff from itunes, nor from media player. Web
Browsing was ok and the pinch multi touch works well if a little slow.
All in all it is a good phone but i could not have put up with it for
18 months.
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Reviewed by ibzy from uk on 9th Apr 2009
quite a good phone itz pretty much like da iphone. or the closest 2
bein da same. border is good steel.
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Reviewed by Dominic from England on 9th Apr 2009
So.. after placing my order almost a month ago I have finally received
and begun using my LG Arena. My first impressions were not great.. coming
from a Motorola Razr2 the build quiality seemed a little tinny and cheap,
but then again living up to the Razr2's build quality was always going
to be hard. That was the end of any disappointment as since then I have
fallen in love with this phone. Now I am no techhead, and I cant give
a review on the intricate technical details of this phone versus other
phones, BUT... for someone like me who is looking for a phone that also
does music, camera, radio, email, browsing and is easy to use - this
has to be a 5 star phone. For someone who does not want to mess about
with Windows Mobile, or run their office from their phone, or program
the phone to the nth degree... the Arena is perfect. It works, has great
features (has ALL the features), is easy to learn and operate and looks
really really smart. I found the operating system fast and intuiative
and the touchscreen very easy to use. I also have yet to misskey when
typing even fairly lenghty emails. I turned the keying sounds off almost
immediately as they are irritating and the keying vibration is all I
need. I really do feel connected to the UI. I love the size of the phone.
Its not the monster that the iPhone is so fits nicely into my pocket
but the screen is still big enough for me. Sound quality seems excellent
and the camera with flash is excellent for the amateur on-the-spot snaps
its designed for. The screen is also beautiful. All in all, I have to
say this is the quickest I have learnt my way around any phone and without
a doubt the best phone I have personally owned. Time will tell if any
bugs or other issues arise.
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Reviewed by Scott C from uk on 8th Apr 2009
I have just received this phone and i can honestly say that i like it
very much. The touch screen is very responsive and the animations flow
very fluidly with very little lag. The little revolving cube is a pointless
feature though, (maybe for gimmick purposes?? maybe some people will
like it, some will not...). Build quality is superb as always with lg
phones, and its surprisingly quite light without feeling cheap. Overall
I am already impressed and I haven't used this phone for long! Lets
hope it doesnt let me down!
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Reviewed by AN from London on 8th Apr 2009
I got this phone from T-Mobile as an upgrade from the viewty. I opened
the box to find a black coloured phone instead of the silver one shown
in the media. Quite similar looking to viewty at first but much slimmer.
After charging it, my intial reaction was one of disappoinment. I found
it quite difficult to use and confusing. The texting was a bit slow.
I felt like sending it back to be honest. But then I remembered that
I felt like this about the viewty at the start. After a few days I got
used to it and I have to say this a brilliant phone. The menu is great.
I like the fact that you can get a full menu by tilting it to the side.
This also applies to other features like text messaging and the camera.
The camera itself is very good quality. Just a shame its not 8 megapixel.
The sound is amazing for a mobile. I also like the S-Class interface,
it adds a nice touch. There are so many other things about this phone
but it would take ages to list them all. Only bad point I would say
is sometimes some buttons are hard to touchscreen as they are small
(like the favourite option on the contacts list). Texting is a bit tricky.
But I am certain these will get fixed in firmware upgrades. Higly recommend
this phone.
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Reviewed by Matt from UK on 8th Apr 2009
I bought this phone on release day, and I have to say I'm bowled over
by the S-Class UI. To suggest that the user interface is a copy of the
IPhone is a travesty! The 3-D, four sided cube that displays the 4 customizable
screens for contacts, shortcuts, widgets & multimedia is original and
entertaining. Just because the one single menu screen (out of a total
of five) displays square icons in a grid does not make it a copy of
the IPhone - that's like suggesting that every car with four wheels
and a chassis is a copy of the Morris Minor. Despite the fact that LG
are not looking at putting the KM900 in direct competition with the
IPhone, this phone beats the IPhone for me in several ways: - Better
camera (5MP + professional optical lens) - Much more fun and interesting
customizable UI - Palm-sized handset allows for easy usage It has the
same features in some departments: - LG and 3rd parties can make applications
for download, like Travel-TV! - Nice high definition screen! It falls
down on: - The fact it's hard to see the screen in direct sunlight.
All in all, this phone is a 5/5 for me
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Reviewed by Isabella from UK on 8th Apr 2009
This phone is amazing!!!UI is very easy to use.and Thouching feeling
is great!
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Reviewed by nick from UK on 5th Apr 2009
This could be the phone to challenge the iphone although i think you
will agree, they seem to have copied the UI from the iphone from some
of the screens and video's that i've seen. As robin from sweden says,
hopefully they will allow third party apps in the futue.
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Reviewed by dave from edinburgh on 5th Apr 2009
i think that these are great phones but the call quality is no where
as good as the sony's and so i have a sony as whats more important than
being able to hear someone on the phone
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Reviewed by Iby from England on 2nd Apr 2009
The only phone to offer a UI that comes close to the iPhone's, while
offering the functionality of any 'smartphone' on the market
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Reviewed by Dave from uk on 27th Mar 2009
Good phone, but to me it has not risen above some of the other high
spec touch screen phones. I have just traded in my Viewty, and i find
that all the new LG`s are just slightly higher spec than that. I dont
see what all the fuss is about with this phones UI, to me it takes longer
to get to certain areas and it is made for looks more than practicality.
Yes the Iphone sucks, but the UI on it is STILL the best.
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Reviewed by BT from United Kingdom on 24th Mar
2009
Lg are coming into action - IPHONE SUCKS!!!
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Reviewed by Katie from England on 21st Mar 2009
This phone sucks! :) dont buy.
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Reviewed by Robin from Sweden on 20th Mar 2009
It does indeed have a nice UI, I am definitely going to purchase this.
Hopefully they will allow third party programs later too. However, LG
probably have a customer in Sweden at least. ;-) Keep it coming, LG!
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