LG Arena Mini Review

[cptwhite_uk]

So I've had my LG Arena a couple of days now. I'm not going to give all the info you can find on the general Google search for reviews, more smaller chunks of in-depth info. that the reviews have glossed over. So here we go...

The positives:

+ The user interface is very good. Very iPhone-esque and easy to navigate once you have learn your way around (tip: hold middle button at bottom for multi-tasking screen, very important screen)
+ The screen is brilliant 800x480 pixels looks uber sharp and it's very bright, with automatic brightness adjustment (you can turn this off)
+ Sound quality is excellent
+ Reception quality has been excellent for me (O2 contract)

The average:

• 5MP Camera - not the best quality photo and definitely not a replacement for my Sony 6MP Compact unfortunately However the quality is acceptable for 5" x 7" prints maximum I'd suggest. If you're after a camera which can almost replace your compact digital look at one of the models with a built-in 8MP (see Samsung Pixon / LG Renoir and others).
  
  Sample pictures:
  
  
  
• Built in video recorder/player is fine. Quality is wholly acceptable and can record at 720x480 @ 30fps. Pretty decent I reckon. Sample - 720x480 @ 30fps

The bad:

Internet browsing - not what I expected, limited usabilty and 'mobile' versions of sites like BBC news, YouTube etc. Recommend you download Opera Mini for the sake of your sanity, this seems to display the true website typically (although this is far from a perfect browser itself). The phone uses an embedded version of flash which means if you try to browse Youtube via anything other it's link on the mainscreen it ain't gonna work. Not only that but Youtube will only work with a 3G connection (i.e. it won't allow you to play via your home WiFi connection god knows why what a stupid limitation that was.) Not only that but of the times I've tried to connect to YouTube, via 3G, using the Arena's built in browser (the only way it'll work) it won't stream the videos anyway. Pointless. The Opera Mini browser goes someway to correcting this abysmal internet useage (point the phone's browser to mini.opera.com and download Opera Mini 4.2 (ignore any warning - it works fine). Install it to your applications folder - you can now launch it from there. However you won't be able to get any flash components working with this browser (as of 25 April 09 anyway), as the OS on the phone isn't compatible with any version of flash available from Adobe i believe).

Media Playback
Before I start I'll just let you read this (Note: wfrantz works for Divx)

I'm still investigating this but I've learned a few things so far.

1. The DivX VOD activation video will not play on an LG Arena. The LG is incorrectly identified as a "Home Theater" device by the DivX VOD server which then provides a 720x480 pixel activation file. The Arena cannot play that file, HOWEVER it does successful activate the VOD DRM in the Arena. So, despite the error message you see, the phone does actually get activated.

Please keep in mind that there is no reason to complete VOD registration for the Arena at this time because there are currently no VOD videos available for sale that the Arena can play. You do not need to register your phone if you are only playing unprotected files.

2. The Arena has a hard limit on the resolution allowed for DivX videos. It will not play any video larger than 320x240. One easy way to ensure your videos are the right size is to convert them using DivX Converter on the Mobile setting. Only the Mobile setting will work.

I tested files even just slightly larger than qVGA. They do not work. For example, a 400x240 resolution video will not play on the Arena even though it would play on the LG Viewty.

3. I have found some files that give an odd error, "DRM: rights expired". I'm not sure why that particular message pops up, but it was always due to a corrupted video file. These files play fine using DivX Player on a Windows PC but DivX Player is more tolerant than the Arena. Again, if you have files that exhibit this behavior, use DivX Converter to ensure they are well-formed DivX Mobile videos. I have also successfully created videos using VirtualDub.

As I said, I'm still looking into some of these issues and maybe some things will improve with a new firmware release. However, if you are converting videos for the Arena, you may want to try MP4/H.264/AAC instead of DivX. I take no joy in recommending that but it seems the Arena will play MP4 files in higher resolutions than DivX files and it seems a waste to have a 800x480 pixel display for a 320x240 video. To create MP4 files, try Quicktime Pro or MPEG-Streamclip.

So to summerise:
You can't just drag and drop your AVI divx encoded files onto the phone - you have to re-encode them to Divx Mobile profile (via the converter program supplied on the CD) before it will work with the phone. This downsizes your AVI to 320x240 30fps. Absolute rubbish, who has time to re-encode there videos on the fly as and when they want them?

It basically makes a mockery of the Arena being a video playback device. Oh and MP4 works better anyway. Divx VOD is only necessary for divx paid for content, so don't worry about it, but if you do set it up, the sample video will epic fail as well

I will finish with muffins pros/cons from AV forums which contain a number of other useful things to know:

Finally got my sim free one today

Its very nice indeed, the touch is great but not as fast as the iPhone IMHO but still very good.

No bloody youtube via Wi-Fi

No Wi-Fi without the sim card

Ofcourse Divx need to be converted 1st

Looks very nice and is quite small for a touch screen phone

I was surprised when I went to configure my gprs connection and mms it was already done with out me having to do anything at all
How did it do that?

I have the silver one and it doesn't pick up any finger prints on the back which is a bonus

Typing sms in normal mode and qwerty isnt too bad, being this is my 1st T/S phone Im sure Ill get better

Someone asked about the cover flow look in the gallery, it only works if you turn the phone around before you go into a picture.

sound quality is fantastic with my Ultimate ears Super.fi 5 Extended Bass earphones

Call quality and signal quality is very good

Ringtones loudness and clarity is very good and the vibration is strong too

music player is a bit of a mess, it put all my sing in A-Z regardless of what album they came from. Had to label each song from A-Z then ZA-ZL for them to be in order of all the albums in the list and it also puts my ringtones in there as well

It seem to come with a screen protector already on? Well anyway I left the screen cover that was on the phones and will take it off it it starts to become ratty and dog eard, but it seems to be on quite firmly. Any one else leave theirs on?

Oh and does anyone know what BOBCAT MOBILE is in the EQ?

If they sort out the flash player, ability to play divx files upto 800x480 (the screen res) and transfer of album art when you drag and drop your music it'll be a decent handset.

O finally, no apps store of course.

The original thread on AV forums for those of you who wish to read it all (12 pages and counting!)
http://www.avforums.com/forums/lg-mo...m-900-a-6.html

[shadowmaster]

The original thread on AV forums for those of you who wish to read it all (12 pages and counting!)
http://www.avforums.com/forums/lg-mo...m-900-a-6.html

Ah, you found that thread .

Imo the handset is very good, just lacking in some departments where it shows that LG are just being plain lazy. The divx has to be the most annoying thing. Luckily mp4 works perfectly at 720*480.

[Hicks12]

Shame the arena has the media problem where the renoir doesnt. My renoir seems to be able to just resize the video to a resolution of 320x240(i think, might be higher but res is lower than arena by far), browser sucks on the renoir to so shows LG hasnt fixed much. Did you find the phone to lag? Might be a good idea to check on myperfectphone.com(i think thats it) as they may have custom firmware out now as i did that with my renoir and its amazing with it .

Good review./

[cptwhite_uk]

Thanks for the tip Hick, think I will give it a go for sure

Yes it does lag a bit. Not too bad in the user interface but zooming in with the default browser is a nightmare, literally 5+ seconds on high content pages.

Edit: Hicks, can you try and find that website for me, having trouble locating it (myperfectphone.com doesn't appear to be it)

[Az00123]

So what are the benefits of the arena over the renoir?

[cptwhite_uk]

Higher definition screen, better interface, better video recording(?), lighter(?), better internet ability (despite my comments )

It's just a more sleek experience using it basically, albeit with it's own problems. There's pros and cons for each phone.

[fazer]

So what are the benefits of the arena over the renoir?

I would also find that helpful, since my contract is up for renewal at the end of this month, I have been looking at the LG series

[Hicks12]

Ah sorry its actually my greatphone . Heres link for arena section http://www.mygreatphone.com/forum/lg-arena/

Not sure on better video recording as that is dependent on the camera+lense afaik so renoir should be better but they are both similar but very different phones. The renoir is a camera phone which is the specific reason i bought it for(cheaper than any OK phones aswell) and it performs great when compared to my other digital camera bar the Cannon SLR camera . The Arena is a media phone hence why the high res screen is a must which is why that resolution issue needs fixing lol, its meant for people who dont want a decent camera(albeit it is still good) and it competes with the tocco imo.

[shadowmaster]

So what are the benefits of the arena over the renoir?

1)Screen quality and resolution is better on the arena.

2)The arena has capacitive touchscreen which means you can its very fluid and smooth whereas the renoir has resistive screen, still good but not as fluid.

3) The sound quality on both is very good

4) The camera on the renoir is significantly better, however the video camera on the arena is better.

5) The arena has 8gb of internal memory.

There are probably more, but I cant think of anymore of the top of my head. Imo the arena is a really good phone, just lacking a bit in the os department due some bugs and LG being lazy. Hopefully a firmware update will come out soon or someone develops a custom firmware. Anyway here are some reviews of the renoir and arena, they are both from the same site and also contain video reviews so its easier to compare.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/mobile...Arena-KM900/p1

http://www.trustedreviews.com/mobile...enoir-KC910/p1

[cptwhite_uk]

Video sample uploaded for your consumption! Link in original post (half way down)