MUCH LIKE ALL would-be iPhones, this LG's newbie sticks to the large screen and no buttons design, encouraging you to use your fingers to wring all the functionality out of it. LG has done a great job, in building a skin over the boring Microsoft platform, giving us a menu that can be selected, phone numbers dialled, speakers switched on, and even games started all without resorting to the stylus given with the phone -like the HTC Touch, but not as full featured. Yet like the unmentionables hidden in a tight bikini, the advantages of a Microsoft platform are quite easy to see.

You can use all the shortcuts you slam your computer with, the Internet explorer actually makes surfing easier, word documents and presentations can be tweaked with a flick of a finger. But the phone has a liking for DRM protected share-me-not music, the transcriber is accurate only if you write with cursive writing skills and speed of a 1O-year old. Although the camera just sneaks out of the patent leather flip case bundled with the phone, its 2-megapixel sensor and flash, give plenty of options to make most clicks memorable.



Yet there is one problem; while the case does protect the dust and sweat prone screen, its upper magnetic clamp tries its best to gnaw into your ear, making long duration phone calls feel like an anal probe session. But if you are looking for a phone that packs style, functionality and cred in one go, this is a sure winner.