Style Meets Function – Prada Phone by LG 3.0 Launch

Style Meets Function – Prada Phone by LG 3.0 Launch

Fashionable Android

Let's face it, when put next to the beautifully-designed Apple iPhone 4S, most Android smartphones just can't compete in terms of overall aesthetics. LG however, has taken it upon itself to to heed the challenge and has joined forces with Prada, one of the most sought-after fashion designers on the planet, to create the Prada Phone by LG 3.0. As you may have guessed from its name, this isn't the first time the Italian and Korean brands have collaborated. The original Prada Phone was launched in 2007 and was actually the world's first all-touch smartphone, not the iPhone, according to LG. The phone's design was so revolutionary in fact, that one unit is on permanent display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. 2008 saw the follow-up, the Prada Phone II, which featured a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and introduced Prada Link, a Bluetooth-enabled watch that displayed incoming calls and text messages.

Third Time's The Charm

The svelte and swanky Makati Shangri-La hotel played host to the local launch of the third iteration of the Prada Phone, dubbed the Prada Phone by LG 3.0. This time around, the designer smartphone runs Google's Android OS - 2.3 "Gingerbread" to be exact. It has a large, 4.3-inch IPS LCD, that uses LG's NOVA technology, allowing it to put out an impressive 800 nits of brightness. Under the hood it carries a 1GHz, dual-core processor, complemented by 1GB of RAM and a discrete PowerVR SGX540 mobile GPU, which means that the smartphone is likely capable of some impressive graphics handling. Internal memory comes in at 8GB, but is expandable to 32GB via microSD card.

During the event, members of the media were given the chance to experience the new smartphone first hand. We noticed that even at a relatively large 4.3 inches, the phone fit quite well in our hands and was not too heavy. To match the phone's exterior of chrome accents on black, LG customized the stock Android UI, giving it minimalist, black and white themed icons. Aside from the usual WiFi and Bluetooth, the phone also has NFC or Near Field Communications capabilities. 

The Prada Phone by LG 3.0 will be available starting this month in LG concept stores around the country, retailing at PhP 29,990 with a pair of matching in-ear headphones. So far, the phone runs Android 2.3 "Gingerbread", but it was mentioned that it will be upgradeable to Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" by the second quarter of 2012. LG Philippines was kind enough to send us a demo unit, so expect a full-length review of the Prada Phone by LG 3.0 soon. For more information, please visit LG's official minisite.