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Review GSM phone LG F2400Package:
We all know that such attempts to widen a product line result in several phones different in one or at least two functions and slight changes in design. This tactics is typical of many manufacturers, and speaking about LG F2400, we can bring an example of Motorola v300/v535. Both models have similar design, and only the elder one is equipped with Bluetooth. A copy of the F2400 in the company's model line is the F2300. The devices are equal, the same design, and only the colour of the front insertion differs. 
The phone size forms 88x46x24 mm, and the weight is 91 g. A 65K OLED screen with the resolution of 96x96 pixels is placed on the front panel. As compared with the F2100 with a close in characteristics TFT-screen the picture is not as vivid, the tints are dull, however this one is better is the sun. You can set screen savers for the external screen, and at the call it shows the caller's name, number and a photo. 
 
A VGA camera is under the screen, and a good designers' solution is an edging around it that serves as a flash (it's not impact and can be used as a lamp). Two volume buttons and a headset connector closed with a shutter are on the left side. A camera button is on the right, and holding it you call the menu for working with a closed device. We should mention working with the camera, slide show and a lamp in the settings available there. And the most frequently function that is a lamp is placed next to the last (the last item is Back), and that is absolutely illogical, for the slide show (your favorite photos one after another are shown) you'd better use the internal screen, and the camera is turned on by this key by default (short pressure). That is an evident shortcoming from the ergonomics point of view. 
There is a standard interface connector on the bottom end. The device is easy to open with one hand. And inside we'll see a large screen. According to the manufacturer it is 65K. And in the F2300 the same screen was called 262K. 
The screen resolution is 128x160 pixels which allows showing 7 text lines and one service line (short message mode). The keypad is made of plastic; the keys are large and slightly sunk into the body (the mid row is sunk on purpose). An Ok button is inscribed into the navi one. The keypad backlighting is blue, well seen in various conditions. Working with the pad makes no troubles, the keys are obviously better than in the F2100.Unlike the F2300 strong pressure problem is solved. Here they don't seal and the mat is not seen. 
The back panel closes the battery compartment with no backlash. The battery is 1000-mAh Li-Ion. According to the manufacturer the device can work for 200 hours in the standby mode and up to 3 hours in the talk mode. In Moscow the phone worked about 4 days (40 minutes of talks, up to 20 minutes of using other functions). You can achieve 5 days' battery life with total talk time forming 25-30 minutes and no using other functions. Full recharging takes about 2.5 hours. 
A SIM-card holder is standard. 
MenuThe main menu is represented by three rows of icons. The pictures are qualitative and look good that makes the device pleasant to use. Submenus look like lists and the items that may not be disposed on the screen are scrolled automatically in a horizontal line. There is a fast navigation with the help of digital series. Also it is possible to choose up to 9 functions for a personal list that is called by moving the navi button down. 
Phonebook. There is a possibility to save up to 200 names in internal memory, up to 5 fields for a name (4 numbers, one e-mail address). Also you may choose a users' group and an icon. The icons are preset pictures of people faces and animals. During the call a chosen picture will be displayed besides a name on the screen. There is a possibility to assign a photo to a name but it must be saved in a minimal size first. 
When entering your data you'll have to choose the main number and only then add others one after another, by the way, some of them may be passed. The total list may contain both numbers from SIM-card memory and from the internal one. Also an assigned picture may be displayed opposite to a name. There are 7 users' groups and it is possible to set a personal melody and a picture for each one (that is another set of pictures). Messages. There is a support for EMS that allows attaching melodies, pictures to messages, formatting text and sending concatenated messages. The phone supports predictive text input T9 (a possibility to add your words into the dictionary). There are several dictionaries for different languages and up to 6 editable templates. 
The device supports MMS and the company made it possible to format several pages, insert several pictures instead of one. 
All the messages are stored in the internal memory, first SIM-card memory is filled with SMS and only then the internal one is used. In general it is comfortable to work with messages, the device is up-to-date. Call lists. Here one may view standard lists of outgoing, incoming and missed calls. Each one contains 10 numbers, for some entries date and time of the call are specified. Similar numbers are summed up but not displayed in order. 
There is a general call list, 20 last entries from all the lists are summed up there. And it is this list that is displayed when pressing the Call button from the standby mode. Profiles. All the sounds may be adjusted from here, from a call signal to a key press sound and alert type. Everything is traditional. 
Settings. Phone settings such as the screen, call signals and what is the main alarm clocks are adjusted from this menu. There are 5 of them in the phone and each may be set for once, everyday and every week. The presence of such a number of alarm clocks will satisfy even the most demanding user. 
 
That is the first time schemes that change the entire appearance of the windows appeared.  
Organizer. It is possible to save up to 20 events in the organizer and a date and time for the alert are set. You also may set it recurrent (every day, week, month, year). Calendar displays the whole month, the dates with set events are distinguished with another colour and a sign indicating the type of the event (meeting or a memo) appears in the bottom. The main minus of the organizer is a limited number of entries. 
Tools. Here is a standard calculator, a unit converter, world time function and a dictaphone (works only in the standby mode with up to 19 seconds for a record). A general memory status may be viewed from this menu. 
There is about 4MB of dynamical memory. Downloads. Downloaded images, melodies and programs are stored in separate folders. A set of plain melodies and a game is preinstalled. The game is developed specially for Russian users and is called "Games from life". There are three subdivisions in this game, they are similar in some way. Really the game is awkward, ad why the company installs it into its phones so hard is quite questionable. 
Service. The device supports GPRS class 10 that is why I'd recommend to adjust wap-browser using batch communications, that will be cheaper. The only thing to add is that the wap-browser is 2.0 version. The thing that disappointed is the absence of history, it is often necessary to enter the same address again. Downloading melodies and pictures makes no troubles and the same for applications. 
Camera. An integrated camera allows to take photos with several resolutions, they are 48x48 pixels (used only in the phone book), 160x120, 320x240, 640x480 pixels. File format is JPEG, it is possible to choose a compression level and quality (high, medium, low) for all the resolutions except the maximum one. The quality for 640x480 is only low.  
The screen serves as a viewfinder in the shooting mode. There is a tool panel on the left and there you may choose the main parameters for shooting, it is particularly comfortable to do that using a side button for volume level adjustment. Not all the chosen settings are saved till the next shooting, one has to adjust them again and it is a slight disadvantage. 
The photos may be black and white, colour and also Sepia effect may be applied. There are 5 light levels and x4 zoom. One of the preset frames may be used when shooting. 
In general the photos are not bad. And by the way there is a possibility to view photos as icons and having chosen one you may see it fullscreen.  
 
 
The photos taken may be used as wall papers for the internal screen. The quality of the pictures on a PC is not so bad but not excellent. The camera by LG is average in characteristics if compared to other manufacturers. Photo samples: Resolution
640x480 Synchronization with PC. The synchronization is possible via a cable included into he kit. The settings are rather trivial and everything works without troubles. There is a wide range of melodies, pictures for the screen in the standby mode (wallpapers) besides Java programs on the disk. 
There is a possibility to synchronize phone book and organizer entries with a PC, there is synchronization with MS Outlook. ProductivityWe measured the productivity with JBenchmark 2.0.2. And got the following results smilar to the ones for LG G5600:
The total score is rather low that shows not high productivity of the processor and memory subsystem. That is clear that such productivity is characteristic for the previous generation devices but not current, an old platform tells upon. ImpressionsThe quality of the sound is typical for LG phones and no problems appear in the majority of cases. The volume of the 40-tones call signal is enough not always, it's loud and comparable to other models by the company but the presence of two loudspeakers is not felt. Subjectively, the call loudspeaker is weaker than in the previous model, it starts wheezing at the max volume. Well assembling quality and various colour solutions that will attract youth should be considered advantages. The inner screen is rather well-done, but takes an intermediate position and is inferior to Motorola, Samsung, Sharp. The external screen looses to the F2100, using an OLED screen is not quite right. 
The model differs from the F2300 only in the presence of Bluetooth that may be used for a headset and acting as a GPRS modem, it supports no other capabilities. That's hard to say how necessary Bluetooth is for LG users, but I'd take a risk and suppose it is not demanded. Now LG F2300 costs 230-240 USD, and a version with Bluetooth will be 15-20 USD more expensive. The device is not interesting with such a price of 260 USD, since Motorola v535 has similar characteristics, a better screen, supports mp3, more Bluetooth profiles and costs 200-205 USD. The only minus of the Motorola's product is an external antenna, which is liven down with a Bluetooth headset included into the kit (that was true till the last time, and now the headset is absent in the package). And here is a conclusion the F2400 is an assortment offer which will suit only few users. Eldar Murtazin ([email protected])
Published — 20 July 2005 Have something to add?! Write us... [email protected]
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