Skip to content
October 09, 2009

LG GD900 Crystal Review

LG made the Crystal GD900 a bit intriguing by including a transparent touchscreen keypad in this handset — something that we rarely see these days with mobile phones but an interesting approach, nonetheless.

lg crystal

The LG Crystal (GD900) is, in most respects, your typical slider phone. The main difference is that the alpha-numerical keypad is a touch panel and the letters/numbers are laser-etched on a transparent hard plastic (feels like tempered glass) — you can practically see thru the keypad. That’s on top of the 3″ display screen that’s also touch-sensitive and has good, bright output.

lg gd900

Using the touchpad takes some time to get used to mainly because there’s not physical buttons to push but the feedback mechanism is okay. The cool thing about the touch keypad is that you can use it as a trackpad (with multi-touch!) to navigate between menus, when browsing and even for handwriting recognition. It even lights up (glows) so you can see the letters and numbers in the dark.

lg gd900

LG GD900 Crystal specs:
3-inch screen @ 480 x 800 pixels
1.5 GB internal storage
up to 32GB microSD card
3G/HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Video recording 720×480@30fps, VGA@30fps, QVGA time-lapse and slow-mo video recording
FM radio
TV-out

As for the user interface, it’s basically the same as the LG Arena (LG KM900) we reviewed here earlier (you can read thru that review to learn more about the S-Class Touch UI). In a way, the GD900 is like form-factor upgrade to the KM900.

There are several partitions for the internal storage that sums up to 1.5GB but you can upgrade it up to 32GB with a microSD card (sold separately).

From experience, the touch screen is more responsive and the multi-touch adds better navigation when browsing the internet over 3G or WiFi. As with the LG Arena, the LG Crystal is also powered by Dolby Mobile so sound quality has more depth and volume.

Took a couple of shots using the 8-megapixel camera. It’s pretty decent but not very impressive either (photos are a bit smoothed out and not crisp). Haven’t tried the LED flash at night time though.

gd900

At daylight, white balance and exposure are a little off so these should be adjusted in the phone’s settings.

gd900

Here’s a sample video from LG Crystal’s 8MP camera. Not really HD quality but the HQ level is pretty good.

As for battery life, the handset can do 3 days without heavy multimedia and internet use. Those who liked the LG Arena will surely love the LG Crystal as well. As for the price, earlier listing pegs it at Php27,500.

Written by yuga

Abe is the founder and publisher of YugaTech. You Can follow him on Twitter @abeolandres.

Follow me on Twitter or add me up on Facebook.


28 Responses to “LG GD900 Crystal Review”

  1. joeyboy says:

    yugs, san mo tinali aso mo? hehe!

  2. yuga says:

    @joeyboy – sa BMX bike ko.

  3. boo says:

    oh, parang maganda nga yung crystal… pero parang hindi pa rin ako masyadong convinced sa capabilities nung transparent keypad na touch sensitive din… hindi ba nag mimisinterpret madalas sa inputs?

  4. [...] View original here: LG GD900 Crystal Review | YugaTech | Philippines, Technology News … [...]

  5. [...] See the original post: LG GD900 Crystal Review | YugaTech | Philippines, Technology News … [...]

  6. The Teknisyan
    Twitter:
    says:

    yeah… atleast… this phone arrive in Phi, for Php 27.5 K, this is not a bad unit to invest.

    http://teknisyan.blogspot.com/2009/09/lg-gd900-first-crystal-phone.html

  7. linalyn says:

    Nice phone! Parang ang price nya yata ngaun is PhP26,900

  8. bertsan531 says:

    nice design,the picture and videos aren’t bad at all BTW is your dog a minipin or dauschound? nice dog also hehehe…

  9. Doc Harry says:

    So the slide is a touchpad, but is the display a touchscreen? If it is, I’m sold!

  10. yuga says:

    @bertsan – it’s a daschund.

    @doc harry – both!

  11. Jay Castillo
    Twitter:
    says:

    How is its performance as a modem for surfing with one’s laptop?

  12. leo
    Twitter:
    says:

    mtagal ko n nbasa n yun crystal eh pwde mgplay ng divx videos, pero ang sabi dn eh hndi lahat kaya nyang i-play, totoo b yun sir yuga? yun bng headset nya ay proprietary? o pwde n ynu mga standard n 3.5mm n headphone? salamat…

  13. leo
    Twitter:
    says:

    sir yuga, may virus yun 2nd link, yun may pingback.
    probably_hifrm ata yun,

  14. leo
    Twitter:
    says:

    sir yuga, may virus yun 2nd link, yun may pingback,
    probably_hifrm ata yun

  15. r4 games says:

    It’s looking great. LG mobile phone are always nice in look out.. Thanks for share with us,…..

  16. weena says:

    really like it’s TVC. as well as the phone. kaso it’s a pricey for a student like me. tsaka i just lost my newly bought e71. hndi pako bibilhan nian. ^-^ but i really love to have one.

  17. diego gabriel araga says:

    actually sabi nung kaklasi ko na ung lg gd900 crystal daw ay maganda kso sobrang sensitive(my classmate told me that the lg gd900 crystal is preety nice but very sensitive)

  18. tinkerbell.scot says:

    to those who are thinking to get one… buy na kasi it’s really cool and cute for surfing. it’s tested as i have one. cheers!

  19. [...] recording quality isn’t even close to decent which is a little odd since the LG Arena and LG Crystal takes decent to nice videos. Okay, so the two others take HQ videos while this one is only SD [...]

  20. Nik says:

    Its pretty decent for a phone :D

  21. anlene says:

    Gusto ko to, dahil maganda ang mga features at ini-endorse i2 ng Bigbang!!

  22. charlene says:

    hi, just wanted to ask, if the camera is good? i am very convinced.. but i still wanted to know the camera background? like how about goin into party? like clubbing? is the effects clear? is the flash good? coz i have my sony here, that has a flash, but its not FVckn good at all! it seems like i am having only a light! not a flash! thanks =))

  23. jhuannaly says:

    please. can anyone tell me where I can possibly go or what and where cell shop should I go to checked my lg gd900 crystal be fix kasi nabasa sa tubig.. =(

Leave a Reply

*
*