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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.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

29 Responses

  1. Avatar for rachat de rachat de rachat de rachat de says:

    C’est dommage je galère à trouver le flux RSS de votre site ! :)

  2. Avatar for Prince charm Armonio Prince charm Armonio says:

    Hi good day, I just wanna ask about the cost of this phone here in the Philippine market?thank you and God bless!!!

  3. Avatar for Olimpia Lara Olimpia Lara says:

    Good – I should certainly pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs and related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, website theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Nice task..

  4. Avatar for iqa iqa says:

    hi there, i’m hunting for a new hp and i happened to saw this model. i kinda like it cause it looks cool plus the application to me seems more or less like the iphone thingy. that’s the good part of it, but cld u tell me if there’s any shortfalls of this hp? if u happened to know one of course. will be very glad if u cld give some advise bout it. tqvm! =)

  5. Avatar for jhuannaly 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.. =(

  6. Avatar for charlene 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 =))

  7. Avatar for anlene anlene says:

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

  8. Avatar for Nik Nik says:

    Its pretty decent for a phone :D

  9. Avatar for tinkerbell.scot 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!

  10. Avatar for diego gabriel araga 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)

  11. Avatar for weena 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.

  12. Avatar for r4 games r4 games says:

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

  13. Avatar for leo leo says:

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

  14. Avatar for leo leo says:

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

  15. Avatar for leo leo 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…

  16. Avatar for Jay Castillo Jay Castillo says:

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

  17. Avatar for Abe Olandres Abe Olandres says:

    @bertsan – it’s a daschund.

    @doc harry – both!

  18. Avatar for Doc Harry Doc Harry says:

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

  19. Avatar for bertsan531 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…

  20. Avatar for linalyn linalyn says:

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

  21. Avatar for The Teknisyan The Teknisyan 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

  22. Avatar for boo 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?

  23. Avatar for Abe Olandres Abe Olandres says:

    @joeyboy – sa BMX bike ko.

  24. Avatar for joeyboy joeyboy says:

    yugs, san mo tinali aso mo? hehe!

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