LG GD900 Crystal review: Crystal clear

When talking about good design it’s usually all about placing the right elements in the right places. And in the rare cases when an R&D team actually comes up with something innovative, they usually reserve it for a 2000 buck handset like the Motorola Aura. The LG GD900 Crystal and its see-through keypad, however, prefers walking among the mortals to sitting on mount Olympus and drinking ambrosia.

And luckily the sleek handset is much more than a pretty face. The rich feature set of the GD900 Crystal places it only a short step away from LG’s multimedia flagships. However the lack of GPS is easily made up for with cool features like gesture shortcuts and multi-touch input. Sure, these may seem like fancy additions rather than key features, but sometimes it’s all about winning the hearts of the users rather than their minds. And the Crystal seems pretty well designed to do that.
Key features

* Unique see-through alphanumeric touch-sensitive keypad
* 3″ 16M color capacitive TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
* S-Class Touch UI
* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
* 3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps)
* Wi-Fi
* 8 megapixel autofocus camera, LED flash, manual focus, geotagging, image stabilization, multi face detection (up to 3), smile detection
* D1 (720×480 pixels)@30fps, VGA@30fps, QVGA time-lapse and slow-mo video recording
* 1.5GB storage memory
* Hot-swappable microSD card slot(up to 32GB)
* microUSB v2.0, mass storage mode
* TV-out port
* Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
* Gesture shortcuts
* Accelerometer for screen auto rotate
* Multi-touch input
* DivX and XviD support
* FM radio with RDS
* Dolby for Mobile audio enhancement
* Office document viewer
* Smart dialing

Main disadvantages:

* Poor screen sunlight legibility
* Below average camera image quality
* No built-in GPS receiver
* No standard 3.5mm audio jack
* Records video in 3GP format
* Email attachment size limit is 1MB (both ways)
* Limited DivX/XviD video support
* All-plastic build

So what we have on our hands here is a handset that’s dressed to impress and with a mind bright enough to keep your attention. We really like it when there’s something new thrown at us and a see-through touch-sensitive keypad is certainly a first in the mobile world.

The LG Crystal is the first device that feels like it’s from the future. At heart it is the same as the LG Arena and Viewty Smart, but sliding it up reveals something far more impressive. The transparent glass sensor keyboard is something genuinely new and innovative. Typing, browsing or viewing photos is a complete different experience and make you feel like you are in a sci-fi movie. Currently there are almost no competitors with this particular form factor, so let’s at least look at those in the same ballpark.

The LG Arena is the first released S-Class handset and apart from some GPS limitations we could find little to fault it. In terms of features the two devices are essentially the same, except for the reduced megapixel count on the Arena’s camera and the lack of a glass keyboard. It’s currently priced at 300 euro, which is quite tempting for customers seeking the standard S-Class experience and who have no need of the fancy glass thing.

The Samsung S8000 Jet has just hit the shelves but is already winning many customers. The new 3D TouchWiz interface may well be a match for the S-Class, especially given the powerful hardware on the Jet. The compact design and equally matched feature set (including full DivX/XviD support, full Flash support, Smart Unlock, excellent 5MP camera) make the Jet quite a threat, regardless of the lack of a transparent glass keypad.

Competition-wise, if it’s a point & shoot camera with telephony you’re after, you should have a look at our 8 megapixel shootout. The contenders there are all aging gracefully and their prices are falling.

The Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH is probably the best among the new crop of slim 8 megapixel cameraphones and if imaging capabilities are a priority, you should definitely check it out. Its touch interface may be slower, but it’s got the same form factor and its camera is little short of perfect.

At the end of the day the LG Crystal left a really positive impression on us. It certainly has a wow-factor to it with its unique look, style and transparent glass keypad, and is well-equipped comes with the most common features such as 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, a fancy UI and 8 megapixel camera. Yes, the snapper may be a bit of a disappointment, but the rest is a wonderful and unusual experience. If the price seems reasonable for what you’ll get, then we recommend that you go for it.

More detailed review with photos can be seen here…. CLICK