LG Viewty

The LG-KU990 or LG-KE990 (known and marketed as the LG Viewty) is a 3.5G touchscreen mobile phone by LG Electronics, announced on August 23, 2007[1] and then released in Europe and Asia.[2] A high-end model at the time of its release, the Viewty had a resistive touchscreen and was specially marketed for its camera due to its powerful camera features.[3] The Viewty had a high gloss black look similar to the previous LG Prada,[4] although it was also released in many other colours. In South Korea, it was known as the Beauty Phone (Korean: 뷰티폰).[5]

LG Viewty / CYON 뷰티폰
ManufacturerLG Electronics
Compatible networksHSDPA, GSM / GPRS / EDGE Tri-Band (900/1800/1900)
Availability by regionOctober 2007
December 2007 (KOR)
Form factorCandybar
Dimensions103.5 × 54.4 × 14.8 mm (L × W × D)
Mass112 grams
Memory100 MB
Removable storageMicroSD
Display262K colour TFT touchscreen, 3", 240 × 400 (WQVGA)
Rear camera5.0(sony cam module) megapixel, video 30 frame/s or slow-motion video 120 frame/s, Strobe Flash
Front cameraVGA Video call (Front)
ConnectivityBluetooth 1.2, USB 2.0
LG Viewty showing the menu screen and its stylus

Features

Camera

The phone's main selling point was its 5-megapixel digital camera with Schneider Kreuznach optics, Xenon flash, autofocus, and a digital image stabilizer. It featured an ISO 800-equivalent High-Sensitivity mode for night scenery shots and "Smart Light" for bright and clear images in the dark. It allowed capturing DivX VGA video at 30fps, and QVGA at 120fps for slow-motion playback. According to the manufacturer, the camera's frame rate was high enough to film a balloon bursting.[6]

The Viewty also had a front camera, designed for 3G video calling.[7]

YouTube

In addition to being able to stream videos from YouTube, the LG Viewty also featured the ability to directly upload videos onto the platform.[4]

Applications

The device supported Flash Lite 2 and MIDP Java 2.0. There were a few built-in system applications like Office and a PDF document viewer, movie and photo editor, and Obigo web browser.

Sliding disc

The round part around the rear camera has a wheel that physically rotates, and can be used for scrolling in menus, zooming in and out of webpages or change the volume.[8]

KU990i

An updated model, the KU990i, was later released, but only in European markets. It features a new camera module, the strobe flash is replaced by a LED, it has no image stabilization nor Schneider Kreuznach optics, although it features always-on flash mode and automatic smile and face detection. Physically, the inner camera lens seemed to be slightly smaller.

Limitations

The organizer in the phone could only store 100 calendar events[9] and isn't officially listed on the compatible list with the popular GooSync,[10] which helps sync phone calendars with Google Calendar (though it does work by using instructions for LG Arena). Also some public customer reviews of the LG Viewty stated concerns over poor battery life, mainly due to the large touchscreen.

Model differences

The KU990 was the original Viewty model. The KE990 was released in 2008 and lacks 3G (HSDPA) support, but does have a camera cover.[11][12] In South Korea its model numbers were LG-SH10/KH2100/LH2100.[13]

Sales and reception

Mobile Phones UK praised the device, calling it a "souped-up Prada" and commenting that the Viewty "ticks all the boxes" in terms of features.[14] TechRadar in its review thought that the device was stylish and praised its camera and HSDPA connection, but criticising the lack of a lens cover and the rotating disc being "fiddly".[8]

LG reported sales of 310,000 units in Europe in the first five weeks.[15] A blog entry by UK mobile phone reseller Dial-A-Phone suggested that the Viewty may be outselling the Apple iPhone in the region, citing anecdotal reports of sluggish sales and Apple's reluctance to publish figures for the iPhone in the region as evidence. The pricing and featuresets of the two phones were used as an explanation.[16]

In January 2009, LG reported that the Viewty had sold 5 million units after 14 months on the market.[17]

It was succeeded by the LG Renoir in 2008.[18] A number of newer Viewty phones were then released: the Viewty Smart (GC900) in 2009, which was similar to the LG Arena but with improved camera capabilities,[19] and two budget phones in 2010, Viewty Snap and Viewty Smile.

Specification sheet
Feature Specification
Form factorCandybar
Operating SystemLG Proprietary OS, with Adobe Flash user interface, Java MIDP 2.0
NetworkHSDPA, GPRS, EDGE, GSM 900/1800/1900, WCDMA 2100
Dimensions103.5 × 54.4 × 14.8 mm
Weight112 g
Display262K colour TFT Touchscreen, 3.0", 400x240 pixels (Dot pitch: 0.1634mm) with Mobile XD Engine
CameraFrontal VGA video call and rear Sony 5.1 Megapixels camera module with Schneider Kreuznach optics, zoom 16x, xenon flash, AF, MF, Image Stabilizer, ISO (100-800), Smart Light
BasebandQualcomm 3G baseband
Video recordingVGA (640×480 or 640x384 cropped to wide) up to 30 frame/s, QVGA (320×240) up to 120 frame/s for slow motion playback, QCIF (176x144) up to 15 frame/s
RingtoneMP3, AAC, WMA files, video ringtones, WAV and AMR voice, 72-chord/voice polyphonic
Internal Memory120 MB
CPU140 MHz ARM9
Multimedia ProcessorZoran APPROACH 5C Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine (268 MHz)
Memory card slotSupports up to 4 GB microSD
EmailSMTP, POP3, IMAP4 (SSL is not supported), and APOP
Bluetooth1.2 + A2DP
Data cable supportUSB 2.0
Radio StereoPhilips stereo FM radio with RDS
Audio PlayerAAC, eAAC, MP3, WMA, m4a, WAV
Video Player3GP, MP4, DivX(Up to 720x480), AVI(Up to 640x480), H.263, H.264/AVC
BatteryLGIP-580A (1000 mAh)
Talk timeup to 200 min (WCDMA), up to 160 min (GSM)
Standby timeup to 330 hours (WCDMA), up to 270 hours (GSM)
AdditionalGoogle Services (includes YouTube, Google Map, Gmail, Blogger and Google Search), Handwriting Recognition/Handwriting Editing, DivX mobile profile, TV out, Document viewer

See also

References
  1. "LG announces 'LG Viewty' camera phone". phys.org. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  2. "LG celebrates 5 million Viewtys in 14 months". Yahoo Finance. 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  3. "LG Viewty Smart GC900 Preview". 18 May 2009.
  4. "LG KU990 Viewty: The YouTube phone is unveiled". CNET. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  5. "LG 뷰티폰 간단 개봉기". 사진은 권력이다 (in Korean). 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  6. LG KU990 – LG KU990 Viewty Features Archived 2007-10-15 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Anna Lagerkvist (2007-11-15). "LG KU990 Viewty review". TechRadar. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  8. Anna Lagerkvist (2007-11-15). "LG KU990 Viewty review". TechRadar. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  9. GSM Arena review
  10. GooSync Supported Devices
  11. "LG's Viewty KE990 is downgraded KU990, destined for China?". Engadget. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  12. s.r.o, 24net (2008-04-04). "LG KE990 Viewty: bez 3G, zato s krytkou fotoaparátu". mobilenet.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  13. LG전자 (2007-12-11). "LG전자, '뷰티(Viewty)폰' 한국시장 출시". LG전자, ‘뷰티(Viewty)폰’ 한국시장 출시 - 뉴스와이어 (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  14. "Should you buy the LG Viewty KU990? Read our LG Viewty KU990 review plus LG Viewty KU990 reviews by users and find the best buy in the UK (Free LG Viewty KU990 / LG Viewty KU990 pay as you go - 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three, Vodafone)". 2007-12-06. Archived from the original on 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  15. LG press release
  16. LG Viewty Outsells Apple iPhone in Europe
  17. "Say cheese: LG Viewty camera phone hits 5 million sales worldwide". TechCrunch. 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  18. "LG launches the Renoir in Europe". CNET. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  19. "LG GC900 Viewty Smart review: S-class act". GSMArena.com. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
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