The LG Viewty Smart is not a smartphone. Let’s get that straight from the start. All those dreams of cramming it with apps and games? Put them to the back of your mind. What the Viewty Smart does do, however, is take top notch cameraphone photos.
The software inside is seriously clever, and there’re enough extra features to put it head and shoulders above the rival mobile snappers out there.
Powering this photographic supremacy is an 8 megapixel camera, paired with a multitouch screen and dedicated shutter button. But it’s the software that’s the real selling point here.
Flick the LG Viewty Smart into Intelligent Shot mode and the phone will begin analysing the scene in front of it. Before you can say ‘David Bailey’ it’ll balance aperture, shutter speed and white balance for the best result, as well as focussed on the most obvious subject in front of it.
Don’t like the person it’s focused on? Tap the screen and you can choose another focal point. The whole system is super smart and reasonably fast. There’s a slight delay when using Intelligent Shot, due to the amount of processing the phone is chugging through, but the outcome will be much better than usual, so it’s worth the wait.
The Viewty Smart also produces DVD quality video, with an option for high or low speed shooting to give Benny Hill-style effects, or impressive slow-mo action.
Once you’ve shot and edited footage, the phone can share it using MMS, e-mail or by uploading direct to YouTube.
Best of all these fancy photo skills don’t add any extra bulk to the handset. It’s just 12.4mm thick and looks slicker than your average cameraphone.
However, once you’ve explored the Viewty Smart’s camera in full there’s little else here to write home about. The phone packs LG’s latest S-Class software, dishing up customised home screens and whizzy shortcuts, but the pre-loaded games are dire, the apps on board are basic and even tapping out text messages and e-mails feels mundane.
If you’re in the market for a quality cameraphone, you’ll find few better than the LG Viewty Smart, but for anything else on top of the snapping abilities, we’d direct your credit card elsewhere.
