LG KM900 Arena
We love
Oozes style and that touchscreen’s the best we’ve seen.
We hate
Inability to add applications and that atrocious battery life.
Verdict
Bringing style to the masses, the LG Arena will garner more glances than your neighbour’s Ferrari. Shame the rest of it isn’t as polished…

There have been more “iPhone killers” than we care to mention. Turns out most of them were about as proficient assassins as Sylvester Stallone in the film Assassins. Anyway, the LG Arena is a lavish mobile phone with a three-inch touchscreen. Sound familiar? Let’s find out if it can take down the King…

First up, the LG Arena’s screen. The three-inch, WVGA touchscreen can fit in more pixels than Graham Norton can television shows in a week. And as a result it’s one of the most hi-res around, making everything on it look stunning: even Gordon Brown’s YouTube messages.

The awesome screen is matched by the lavish, silver exterior of the Arena -it looks absolutely stunning – and the myriad features that it comes packing: Wi-Fi, HSDPA, A-GPS, a five-megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics, auto focus, LED flash and image stabilisation, 8GB of storage (which is expandable to 32GB via microSD card), DivX video support and Dolby Mobile sound. And it’s that last feature that impressed the most, with Dolby Mobile tricking your ears into thinking that you’re listening to surround sound. It even gives the Sony Ericsson Walkmans a run for their money audio-wise.

Unfortunately, this is more smartly dressed phone than a smart phone. Yes, it has an abundance of features, and the new 3D S-Class interface looks great and is easy to use, but downloading third party apps? Afraid not. Meanwhile, texting on that touchscreen, for anyone who doesn’t have twiglets for fingers, will drive you insane. And don’t get us started on the 3.8 hour battery life for talk time…

If you’re all about the style (and let’s face it, who doesn’t like a bit of pizzazz every now and again) and can put up with a few basic flaws, the Arena will certainly garner a few envious looks. Just don’t expect it to be perfect. Looks like we’re still waiting for that iPhone assassin…

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