Video: LG Prada phone complete interface walkthrough

We were lucky enough to get a little more extended look at LG Prada phone than your regular hands-on, and we have to say, we were actually pleasantly surprised. The smooth, glassy surface was far more reactive to our touch inputs than we might have thought, although if this is what the iPhone experience is going to be like, we might still shy away from the QWERTY input -- too messy. Still, we did a top-to-bottom interface walkthrough of this thing, so if you've ever wondered about the inner workings of the Prada phone, now's your chance to see it in action. Trust us, you won't be disappointed.

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[farukates @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:59PM]

A poor man's iPhone that actually costs more than the iPhone.

Interesting situation :-)

[Dean Lowe @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:27PM]

Yeah, no black turtle neck to excite the fanboys.

[Zak @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:18PM]

"Pretty fast boot up for a phone" ??

My computer boots faster than that!

[v_dogg @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:11PM]

actually that was a fast bootup. phones have to connect to the network and all that jazz. that was a very quick bootup

[kadajawi @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:54PM]

Awesomely fast boot up actually. My Motorola smartphone takes 1-2 minutes.

Looks pretty nice, the thing, like the design of the interface (the black and white skin is wonderful). But it would have been interesting to see how it handles bigger MP3 collections. Albums etc. The Prada interface looks very basic compared to the iPhone. I really love how you just flip through albums etc. on the iPhone.
From what I see the iPhone is still superior to this phone.

[Darnell @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:27PM]

The boot u was rather slow. The lack of qwerty sucks. That said, everything else is very nice and thought out. Can't wait for the iPhone though.

[Al @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:40PM]

yeah, now it just needs to be Quad Band!

[Tony03 @ Apr 2nd 2007 2:58PM]

Not impressed with the interface at all, the rendition of the touch screen interface reminds me of an ATM app. None of the functions seemed smooth. The only thing cool about it is that it tries to make a flattering attempt at being the first to market "touch screen phone". LG will have to do better than this to compete in the "touch screen phone" genre. I think I'll give it a pass.

[Rishard Chapoteau @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:05PM]

I was interesed for the first minute of this, but it got boring quick. I think I'll wait for the iphone.

[captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:19PM]

is it just me or did the splash screen say cingular?

[Ryan Block @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:43PM]

It may have been on a Cingular network, but it's definitely not coming to Cingular. Tri-band only, my man!

[captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:21PM]

I still rather have a iPhone but, I'm a Self-proclaimed Apple Zealot.

[Anthony @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:00PM]

This just kills me- if he would have left anything out people would've gotten upset about that.

Also, the bootup isn't that bad (consider Symbian S60 or WM5).

I just think the phone's too "black & white" for my taste.

Plus- I like buttons. Lots of buttons. Thank you Nokia E70!

[Ryan Block @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:38PM]

Haha, it's so true.

As for the colors, as you see at the end, it's just the black and white theme, you can get other skins and themes on there. It has a very iPhone-esque skin too, interestingly.

[SLP @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:44PM]

The startup sound gave me the chills.

[Kyrra @ Apr 2nd 2007 3:55PM]

I thought it was a straight-forward presentation of how the phone's interface works. Not jazzed up at all as if it was passed through the marketing department (and taking out some of the details).

It was a UI demo, and nothing more. I'm more interested to see what other skins make the phone look like. I'm also interested to see how it compares to the iPhone when it comes to interface responsiveness and features. I'm sure we'll see in 2 months.

[Ignacio @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:01PM]

Guys, your .mp4 MIME type is wrong...

[Peter Buckley @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:02PM]

At least they made it nearly impossible to use one handed, just like the iPhone.

Well, unless you bring a table with you everywhere...

[myscrnnm @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:17PM]

It wins the award for scariest boot-up sound.

[shecks @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:41PM]

The engineer that developed the boot-up sound must had a former job directing horror films. "Here's Johnny!!!"

[Deezee @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:21PM]

Can somebody tell me if this is gonna be available in the US? I called LG and they said it was Europe only.

[Ignacio @ Apr 2nd 2007 4:27PM]

Two comments, judging from the video:
1. The scrollbar doesn't compare with the "drag anywhere" method of scrolling of that "other" phone in that it seems to be easy to miss (happened several times in the video)
2. The blue theme looks WAY better than the default black skin!

[myscrnnm @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:06PM]

"The engineer that developed the boot-up sound must had a former job directing horror films. "Here's Johnny!!!""

lmao. But jokes aside, the LG Prada phone looks surprisingly good. Personally, I still think the iPhone's interface looks superior from what I've seen, but the Prada will give it a run for its money. But then again, it's a Prada, so who knows what the price will be.

[Elias C. @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:34PM]

And guess what? The price is out and its FREE on an 18 month contract.

[Steven @ Apr 2nd 2007 5:33PM]

The little "ding" sound when you touch anything would get annoying REAL quick.

[mike @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:13PM]

"But then again, it's a Prada, so who knows what the price will be."

That and.. they announced it's 800 bucks.

Again, enough of this 'everyone copies one another' ...Let's cut that shit out right now. Or you may have to start pointing out things that the Prada phone innovates in....*gasp*
The iPhone is way beyond this piece for almost half the price.

It ain't even close. Way to rip off the Apple background...

[Polo @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:17PM]

does it actually have WiFi?
besides that, i actually think it looks better than the iphone. nonetheless it's still just a mobile phone with mp3 possibility. what i like about the iphone is, that it combines completely and (most important) in therms of usability, the two most important devices i carry with me all the time.

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:03PM]

"i actually think it looks better than the iphone"

Well I studied design in college, and I personally think you need to get some new glasses. Wow this device can so monochrome! Wow?
/shakes head.

[Nick R @ Apr 3rd 2007 8:32AM]

excellent marketing material for apple here - after seeing this who would take it over the iphone?

[Tom @ Apr 3rd 2007 4:32AM]

I've been playing around with one of these for the last week. You don't have to use the scroll bar at the side which is nice, as it does have an Apple-esque scroll feature, albeit it's missing the rubber band effect. You can also switch off the opening horror sound effect, plus the button press tone too. And yes, the blue "Apple" theme is brilliant. The standard Prada theme gets boring very quickly.

Oh, the video player is brilliant, it's fullscreen, and you can scroll through videos using your finger. Very fun.

[rdas7 @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:37PM]

Here's the thing: it's just a phone. For all the cool design and software, all that thing does is make calls and send text messages (plus the standard apps like calc, alarm, etc.).

The iPhone is a complete device: iPod, full internet (mail + web).

Compared to all the phones out there, this is a slick device. Compared to a pocket-internet-coffee-making-iPod, it's lacking. As lacking as any other phone out there, when compared to the iPhone.

[kadajawi @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:54PM]

And if you compare the iPhone to a full featured smartphone with everything including satnav, VoIP etc. the iPhone looks a bit poor. ;) Though I've never seen a better MP3 player than the iPhone... what we've seen of that interface so far was very impressive). Nevertheless, there are phones which do much, much more than the iPhone can.

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:52PM]

Why is it people have trouble admitting that iPhone is absolutely kick ass. It just wipes the floor with this device, and this device is more expensive!!

[Ben @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:54PM]

I don't see why anyone would compare the iPhone to the Prada. Yeah they both have big touch screens, but Apple wants to sell 10 million iPhones, and I doubt that is Prada and LG's goal. This is a luxury item. I think it is a bargain at $800, when a pair of flip flops go for $150 a pop...

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:00PM]

"I don't see why anyone would compare the iPhone to the Prada. Yeah they both have big touch screens.."

Stop right there, asked and answered, next question?

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:57PM]

Hey Ryan, you think that's a cool mp3 player app, you should check out this one; http://www.apple.com/iphone/ipod/

[LordFarkward @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:41PM]

so by studying it it makes you a strong critic for how things look and so you 'must have good taste'? wow

wot I'VE learned, on the other hand, is that taste is absolutely subjective and one shall never be so arrogant to think that 'wotever i think is nice must be nice. if u don't agree, u're stupid. my d1ck is also therefore longer than urs'.

oh but no, i didn't learn that from a 'design class'. so i must be wrong...

[kadajawi @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:58PM]

Hm. Ok, so those designers over at Bang & Olufsen are terrible, right?

[thomas @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:00PM]

Newsflash Brendan, we all have different taste. And you do know that it has a color screen right ?

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:02PM]

"And you do know that it has a color screen right ?"

Well in that case (the Prada) it's still an uglier device. Sure there's no right and wrong when it comes to taste, that's right, but you would be hard pressed to find a lot of people who agree with your point that the the Prada looks better than the iPhone, not to mention the look of the software. In my mind it's not even a competition, it's a joke.

[thomas @ Apr 3rd 2007 7:33AM]

Yeah i agree that it does'nt exactly compete with the iPhone, but it was'nt meant to either, it is supposed to be a pretty regular cellphone with a nice design and a touch screen interface.

[Ben @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:44PM]

A KIA Rio and a Rolls Royce Phantom both have 4 doors, 4 wheels and an engine under their respective hoods, but would you compare those two to each other? No, because they serve totally different purposes, with very different potential customers. The KIA costs less and may do some things better than the Rolls Royce but the KIA is everywhere. The Rolls Royce, on the other hand, is something special; something you don't encounter everyday, and something that can not be compared to a KIA. The iPhone is a good phone, but the Prada is special.

[jayman16 @ Apr 2nd 2007 9:20PM]

I want that ring tone, "fairy palaces". Anyone have it? Or does that come with the phone?

[sandra @ Oct 4th 2007 8:03AM]

hi,
have you found where i can download the fairy palaces rintone?

thanks

[Neo @ Apr 3rd 2007 12:19AM]

This thing doesn't even have QWERTY input display, only by T9. It also only responds to one finger, unlike iPhone which has multi-touch. I think it's pretty safe to see from this video and the iPhone video that this is no threat to the iPhone.

[cheersevans @ Apr 2nd 2007 10:35PM]

whats the deal with reviewers from Engadget having the most Fugly hands in the world. It was the same with the PMA, I couldn't watch as the horrific slab of nail biten meat this guy calls fingers touched the sleek new toys.

[mrsalty @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:17PM]

I've watched this movie twice and it really changed my mind about trying to get one of these. It just seems like nothing is polished and there really isn't anything useful just eyecandy. Really dissapointed me. That scroll bar is terrible I am so glad that apple figured a better way to do that. The one thing that really suprised me is that after using it for 15 minutes couldn't see any smudges.

[Ollie @ Apr 3rd 2007 12:11AM]

Hey, i just watched this whole review thing and i like this phone a lot. Im not really interested in the iPhone, im a bit sick of Steve Jobs being a nerd who thinks he's cool and I dont buy into this whole "it has an i before it, therefore it's cool" stuff.. I'll be buying one of these when they come out in Australia!

I do have a question though, possibly for the guy who reviewed it or anyone who has the answer: What's the message storage capacity like? I have had phones in the past with LOADS of space and expandable memory but still limit the amount of messages the phone stores, does anyone know if this phone does that?

Thanks
Ollie

[sflex @ Apr 3rd 2007 10:42AM]

I can pretty much agree with both sides here, as I think both are sleek devices..

But it's people like brendan that make me absolutely NOT want the iPhone. Your fanboy arrogance pretty much kills it for me.

[Tom Wiggins @ Apr 3rd 2007 7:11AM]

Check out our video of the Prada phone launch by logging on to www.stuff.tv. Let us know what you think in the forums and you could bag yourself a cool Nikon S7c digi cam.