LG Shine II GD710 Review

Even for AT&T, takes the Shine II by his predecessors by a shiny metal exterior and a sporty mid-range multimedia feature set. Unfortunately, there is also some of the disadvantages suffered, we had Beefs with the CU720. For example, if it sports a different design, which remained for the navigation array, it is difficult to use. Performance was variable when the phone feels solid. You can get it for $0.01, with a contract.

Design

Due to its slider design and rugged metal housing skin, similar to the Shine Shine II of the older models. The brushed silver exterior certainly catches the light when you find that the mirror surface moves over the display fingerprints and smudges. On the positive side, the skin feels metal firmly in hand. We want the slider mechanism would be firmly in place at each end, but a thumb grip for opening the phone first. At 4.2 inches long and 2 inches wide and 0.53 m deep, the Shine II will travel well. It is on the heavier side (4.4 ounces), but it was not to interfere.

The 2.2-inch display supports 262,000 colors (320×240 pixels). Colors and graphics are sharp, the display is bright and the menus are easy to use. You can adjust the brightness, backlight time and dialing font color and font size of the menu. You can see the menus in the list or icon styles.

As we already mentioned, the navigation keys not Shine II better offer. First, the two soft keys below the display are much too thin. We could not find them the feeling, but you just had with the right press. The four-way toggle takes almost the entire area below the softkeys. It is quite spacious, but it is much too stiff to be useful. Fortunately, the rectangular button OK is a bit better. It is elevated above the surface of the phone and is easy to find by touch.

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As on many slider phones, the buttons are flush on the keypad. Dialing by feel is quite difficult, but the backlight is bright and the keys have a nice give under your fingers. In usual style, LG, and the numbers on the keys are large, even if the letters are quite small. People with visual impairments should take note. Above the keypad are a large clear/back key and the Talk and End/Power keys. We would prefer the ability to access these without opening the slider.

On the left spine you’ll find a slim and concise volume rocker. Across the spine a camera shutter, a control, an on-screen menu is opened, and the charger port/headset jack. Although the latter uses the Micro-USB charger standard, we would prefer a 3.5mm headset jack. Moreover a combined jack, you can use only one peripheral at a time. The camera lens and flash sit on the battery cover, but you have to remove the cover to equipped the microSD card slot.

Features

The Shine II 1000 contact phone book has room in each entry for five numbers, two e-mail addresses and notes. You can assign caller groups and for caller ID you can assign your friends a photo and a polyphony of 10 tones. Basic features include an alarm clock, a calendar, a notepad, a calendar, a tip calculator, a full-duplex speakerphone, a world clock, a task list, a stopwatch and a unit converter.

The Shine II offers a number of functions on the essentials. Here you will find Bluetooth, PC syncing, voice command and dialing, a voice recorder, a file manager, USB mass storage, and instant messaging (AIM, Windows Live and Yahoo). The Shine II also supports Assisted GPS and AT&T Navigator. The access to POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail through a Web-based interface, so that by entering your message on the alphanumeric keyboard.

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The 2-megapixel camera takes pictures in five resolutions from 1,600 x1,200 to 160×120. You can also adjust brightness, color effects, white balance, image quality, sound, and shutter speed, and you can make a night mode, use a 2x zoom and a self-timer. The camcorder shoots clips with sound in two resolutions (320×240 and 176×144). Editing options are similar to those of the camera, including flash, which doubles as a light. Clips meant for multimedia messages are limited to 32 seconds, but it may take longer to shoot in standard mode.

The Shine II has a generous 100MB of internal memory for your work. Alternatively, place the microSD card slot cards up to 16GB. If you send it on to friends, you can create a variety of methods, including MMS, Bluetooth, and use e-mail. For video, the handset supports AT&T’s Video Share service. Photo quality is quite good: colors were natural, but our images were the least bit blurry.

As a 3G phone, the Shine II offers a full set of AT&T wireless broadband multimedia services. You can find Cellular Video (streaming video content) and AT&T Mobile Music (wireless song downloads through partners). The experience of the two applications is similar to other AT&T phones, both are minimalist in their designs, but the music player supports a variety of file formats and offers features such as album art, an equalizer, playlists, shuffle and repeat modes, and an airplane mode. You also get a solid selection of music-related functions, such as support for XM Radio, Music ID, an apartment, your own ringtones, videos, music and a community section.

How many phones AT&T in its class to Shine II offers a selection of Java applications, some of which are subscription-based. These include The Weather Channel, WikiMobile, Yellow Pages Mobile, Notifier, a world clock, MobiTV and Mobile Banking. You can personalize the Shine II with a selection of wallpapers, colors, styles and time alarm sounds. The handset comes with demo versions of four games: Ms. Pac-Man, Uno, Tetris, Diner Dash 2nd You can use the WAP 2.0 browser to get the full title to find or download additional customization options and ring tones.

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Performance

We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone in San Francisco using AT&T-Service. Call quality was satisfactory, but we would not say it was excellent. Although the band was loud and voices sounded natural, the signal was not consistent. Not only the audio cut here and there, there was also a small amount of static. These issues do not ruin our experience, but they were felt.

Our friends heard a little static mentioned on their end, and a few that Shine II picked up background noise. Although we are not all trouble hearing when we were in a noisy place, our interlocutors were not so lucky. Automated systems could understand us most of the time, although it was best if we were inside. On the other hand, you get the speaker is quite loud and clear relative. Bluetooth headset calls were in order.

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The Shine II supports the 1900 and 2100 UMTS bands for 3G services. The browser well and we were generally happy with the streaming video quality. Clips load quickly and there were at the beginning of each clip a small amount of pixelation only. On one occasion a clip froze, but most of the time we have no problems. We were also pleased that the video frame takes up the whole screen. Music was ok quality thanks to the powerful external speakers. Their music is not much choice, but if you use a headset.

The Shine II has a battery life rated for 3 hours and 20 minutes of talk time and 12 days and 12 hours standby time. It has a talk time of 3 hours and 26 minutes tested. According to FCC radiation tests, the Shine II a digital SAR rating of 0.761 watts per kilogram.

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