This review had been promised weeks ago, but couldn't really bring myself to write it up. So at last, here is my review of the LG GD900 (Crystal) phone.



First and foremost, it is very much a fashion phone. The key selling point of the phone is, of course, the fact that the keypad is transparent. The clear plastic is touch sensitive, as is the main display. Still not completely sure about the technology that drives it, but my money's on sensors along the outside of the keypad. Details aside, it does make quite the impression. Even when I knew what to expect, it definitely still has a 'wow' factor to it. Or in my case, 'daaaaayum'.



The OS that comes with the phone isn't, unfortunately, Android, but instead it's shipped with LG's own S-Class UI. It's not too terrible to use, but there are some issues with it. Had to hard-restart the phone once when it froze by pulling the battery out, and the OS rebooted itself twice. Not a very good track record, but I'm more or less used to malfunctions in almost anything I own by now, so it wasn't much of a shock. A bit disappointing, though. There are a lot of other things in the UI that make my mobile life (hah!) a lot easier.

It took a while to get used to the touch screen, too. I frequently state that my fat fingers and touch screens do not get along, especially with the iPod Touch. After almost a month of using it, I've gotten used to it, though. I actually don't use the keypad as much, except when using the browser. The keypad can be used to control the mouse in the browser, which is amazing for text links in web pages. The browser is a hacked-up Opera, I think, which isn't too bad. The only thing about the browser that I really dislike is the fact that clearing the history and cache doesn't clear the list of recently entered URLs. They might want to work on that one.

Another big issue that I've had (that apparently nobody else has had because Google couldn't find any answers) is with the email app. POP3 was a no-go, so tried IMAP with Gmail. That also wasn't very good. Apparently there is a 300 message cap, and from those, it crawls from earliest first. The app also doesn't fetch all 300 earliest messages, so right now I'm stuck with 196 messages all the way from 2005 (and one that somehow shows up as being received in 2015). For now, will have to stick with browser Gmail.

There's a dedicated Google section of the phone as well with shortcuts to Maps the Java app, Gmail, Blogger, Youtube, and Search. The only thing that falls short is Maps, but that may be an issue with the Java app itself. Hopefully they'll release a new version that I can test out. Not like it matters much, since the GD900 doesn't have GPS anyway.

The sound on it is quite good. I can actually hear it outdoors in a crowd when I turn on the Outdoor sound profile setting. The batteries are also quite impressive, but that may just be because it's new. Above all that, though, is the fact that the GD900 can actually get reception (full bars!) in my basement room. If that isn't impressive, I don't know what is.

All that's really left now is for Canadian mobile providers to stop being jerks and lower their prices already. That's unlikely though, because Canadians are too nice or can't be arsed enough to bother arguing to the people who matter. I'm no exception to that. Damn our politeness. Please.