LG GW620 Android Smartphone

LG's affordable slide-out QWERTY phone with Android doesn't live up to its spec-sheet
Decent hardware QWERTY keyboard, Android OS, decent camera, value for money

Unsatisfactory display sunlight legibility, phone hanged on a few occasions, slightly laggy interface, call quality not up to the mark, resistive touch-screen not as responsive as capacitive ones on competitors, low battery life on heavy use

Google Android OS is picking up steam in the smartphone race. The fairly competent OS is tempting all major manufacturers to churn out Android-based smartphones of their own. While HTC has a few good phones in the Rs. 20k+ tier, Samsung is dominating the sub. Rs. 20k range with their Galaxy and Spica models. Joining this clan is LG's GW620. The USP of this product is its slide-out hardware QWERTY keyboard, which is not seen till date in any model in the under Rs. 20,000 range.

The spec sheet of this phone is appealing with Wi-fi, 3G (HSDPA) support, the 5 mega-pixel autofocus camera. But a good spec sheet doesn't necessarily translate into the phone being good as well, right? We put the GW620 through its paces to find out if its actually worth your time and money.

Design and Build If it were for looks, LG's GW620 would be rated as satisfactory. It's not jaw-dropping, nor is it super-sleek. The metallic border surrounding the phone and the grey-black color combo at the back adds some character to this otherwise typical-looking phone. The build quality is good; the phone feels fairly solid and should survive quite a few drops. The sliding mechanism is pretty smooth as well. The phone does feel a little bulky in the pocket because of its thickness. But the overall dimensions are acceptable -- at least it doesn't feel like a brick when placed to the ear!

The front is covered by a 3-inch touchscreen. Unlike most Android phones that have the finger-friendly capacitive screen, the GW620 rather implements the older resistive type. The picture quality is good and the maximum brightness is adequate. The touch response, to me, was a mixed bag. At first, it seems OK to use. The surface covering the screen isn't super-smooth, which obstructs finger-swiping maneuvers at times. One soon realizes the considerable difference between this and the capacitive screens on phones like the HTC Legend. You'll see how you have to press the screen a little harder to register an input on the GW620's resistive screen. On a capacitive screen though, touch input is smooth.

Bottom line: I didn't really walk away satisfied. Second, the readability of this display under bright sunlight is bad. I could barely make out what was on the screen when standing out on a sunny day. There are touch-sensitive buttons for Home and Back underneath the screen -- which are actually nice to operate. The Menu button at the center oddly, is a typical push-button. We have a microUSB slot (now found on most cell-phones) and volume control buttons to the left. A power/keylock button and 3.5mm headphone jack lies on top. The microSD card slot, a camera shutter key and a music-player shortcut button lie to the right. The camera sensor is paired with a single LED photo assist light at the back. There's also an ambient light and proximity sensor right next to the earpiece.

Coming to the slide-out QWERTY, the five-row keyboard has well-sized keys. Their tactility is pretty decent. With some practice, I was able to type at a decent pace. The hardware QWERTY is good for people who aren't still comfortable typing on a touchscreen.