Is the "LG Prada Phone by LG 3.0" Precious or Pretentious?

LG Prada Phone by LG 3.0

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The name is probably the worst thing about this phone. If LG and Prada were trying to avoid the appearance that they were producing a pretentious abomination of a phone, then they certainly didn't show it by calling it the LG Prada Phone by LG 3.0. From now on, it shall be known as the LG Prada Phone 3.0. Actually though, as we said, the name is probably the worst thing about it, overall it's good... but it comes with a rather high price tag. You may be able to find an acceptable price if you check out some phone deals though.

Prada Phone? Eh?

For any fashion troglodytes out there, Prada is an Italian fashion label and, yes, they make phones with LG as well. This is in fact the third phone that they've made together. And in all honesty, hard as this is to admit, it really isn't bad at all. First and foremost though, let's get to what you really want to know: the design.

One of the most striking things about this phone is how slim it is. We're not talking Size Zero though, at just 8.5mm thick we're getting in to negative numbers now. And the back curves inwards as well... which is perhaps a part of LG's “Floating Mass Technology” which is supposed to make the phone look even thinner than it is. Which presumably makes it the mobile-phone equivalent of airbrushing.

It's not just its super skinny appearance that makes it stand out though. The front and back are also highly distinctive. The back is textured, in a prickly sort of way... we wondered if it was supposed to stand in as an emergency nail file as well (don't worry, these jokes are going to end soon). In all honesty though it does give it character, although it might become uncomfortable to hold if you're having a long chat.

The home-screen of the LG Prada Phone 3.0 has been designed mono-chromatically, with only white and black allowed. This makes the already large screen (at 4.3 in.) seem to actually cover the whole front of the phone. It does give a classy look... and of course black and white are unlikely to ever go out of fashion. If you're concerned about downloading apps that will ruin the look, don't worry, you can replace the icon with one of their pre-installed options, and there are a fair few of them so you should be able to find something appropriate. The only problem is that you can't look for the iconic blue and white of a Facebook logo or the red and white of YouTube, so it can take a bit longer to actually pick out the app that you're looking for.

Performance

So is the LG Prada Phone 3.0 as impractical as wearing a shoe for a hat, or does it strut down the catwalk of high performance with consummate ease? Well... it's somewhere in-between, but closer to the latter. This is a good phone. It has a 1GHz dual core processor and 1GB or RAM as well, so it will be able to handle just about everything you can throw at it with good grace. There's only 8GB internal storage, but that can be enhanced up to 32GB with a microSD card.

The screen, as noted, is plenty large enough at 4.3 inches and has a resolution of 480 x 800 which isn't actually that high by modern standards but colours are still vibrant and images crisp. There can be very little complaint there.

Now, when it comes to Android, there's a little bit of an issue there. When it came out it had Gingerbread but was supposed to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich in the very near future. It is now several months later and still no upgrade. Well, to be fair the upgrade has been released, but only in Italy and Germany. So for the moment it's only Gingerbread, which works well enough. With Ice Cream Sandwich though it is going to run even more sumptuously.

The camera is pretty standard, capturing 8 megapixels. It also records video at 1080p so you will get excellent HD videos.

Find the full specs on the LG website.

Summary

If you're a Prada aficionado and you're looking for a phone that won't clash with your wardrobe, then you won't be disappointed with this phone, and we can recommend that you check out the best LG Prada Phone by LG 3.0 monthly contract deals. On the other hand if you're looking to get the best performing phone for your money, then it might be better to check out iPhone deals or the high end Androids (such as the Samsung Galaxy S II)