LG GD910 review

We've all seen the sci-fi films where a space commander uses his watch to communicate with his fellow contemporaries and until now it's been just that, sci-fi. Well not any more, thanks to LG, who have transcended space and time to bring us the LG GD910 – a mobile phone watch.

Can a watch double as a mobile phone in everyday life? We weren't sure immediately, so we got hold of one to have a play with it to see if the idea of having a mobile phone watch is plausible, or should just be left for the sci-fi films geeks the world over love so much.

If you want the honest truth right at the start we don’t think this is the device everybody should rush out and buy. It isn’t the smartest phone on the block by a considerable margin, it is awkward to use as a mobile, and it doesn’t even tell the time as well as any number of ordinary wristwatches.

But then again, none of that is really the point, is it? It exists because it can, and those that buy it will do so for its sheer geekiness, marvelling at what it can do, not bemoaning what it can’t.

So, let’s start at the beginning. The GD910 has a number of features that you don’t normally find in a watch. You can make voice and video calls. You can synchronise contacts with a PC. You can send SMS (but not MMS) messages. It plays music. You can use its 80MB of built in memory in mass storage mode so it can double up for storing and transferring files. It has alarms, a voice recorder, calculator, unit converter and stopwatch built in. And yes, it tells the time offering a choice of eight clock faces. Oh, and you can tell it what to do saying ‘call Suzie’, for example, and it will.

The 1.4-inch screen is touch sensitive and it is capacitive which is the best kind of touch sensitivity. It responds well to sweeps and presses. The main screen shows the time, and from here you can sweep right-to-left to get into a screen from which you can choose to make a voice or video call.

Continue sweeping to get to a memos screen on which you can leave yourself a note, your contacts list, SMS creation, and the other applications on the device.

The 128x160 pixels are cramped, and actually we are quite pleased that the 7.2MB HSDPA is only used to cater for video calling and not also for Web browsing, as if we could browse the Web we’d try to and the small screen really isn’t up to that kind of job.

The VGA (640 x 480) camera sits just above the screen and as well as using it to make video calls you can use it to take still photos, but not videos.

Its default position has your mug in the frame, so framing shots that face away from you is tricky. You’ll probably need to take the GD910 off your wrist, and point it at the subject.

Then you’ll need to edge yourself round far enough that you can see the screen which frames the shot but not so far that your visage appears in the corner of your photo. Even if you are successful in not being in the frame, the photos themselves aren’t much to write home about. Ultra low resolution and fuzzy they look OK on the GD910 itself but poor when transferred to a computer.

The GD910 is supplied with a Bluetooth headset and you absolutely need to use this if you want to make voice calls. Without it the loudspeaker is used so that both ends of your conversations are audible to anyone within earshot. Ditto for music which is played quite loud through the speaker unless you opt for Bluetooth. The GD910 supports A2DP so you can send stereo output to a Bluetooth headset.

It is not just a headphones connector that is missing from the GD910. It has no connectors at all. There are just three buttons on the right side of the casing for Call, End and back features. These have doubled up functions and along with fingersweeping are enough to get you round the menus and options.

To get information such as your contacts onto the GD910 you need to connect it to a PC, and that you do using a clamp-like cradle with a Samsung proprietary input into which you can pop a USB connector. You also use this to charge the GD910 either via mains or USB, and, via a provided double adaptor, to charge the Bluetooth headset too. It is clunky, but it works well.

As for the GD910 itself, it is a little unwieldy for the wrist measuring 49mm tall, 39mm wide and a generous 13.8mm thick. Well, that’s generous for a watch. It is amazing that LG has managed to cram what it has into that space. The build quality is very good and the design, with its black and silver colouring, relatively understated. Looking at the GD910 on your wrist, someone not in the know would think it just a rather chunky wristwatch.

Battery life is all important. You’d normally expect a watch to go on and on and on, and the GD910 needs to match a mobile phone for battery life if it is to be acceptable. Fortunately battery life is good. We got through three days before needing to charge it. Though we didn’t do much Bluetoothing or video calling. Get into that and you’ll probably need a daily top up.

And as to that not telling the time too well comment we made at the head of the review? Well, the screen automatically dims after a set period and shows the time and date against a non-backlit background. In most lighting conditions it is difficult to see, and you need to press a side button to get the backlight going, then press again to get into the software proper. So there’s no quick glance at the wrist to see if you are running late – again.

Overall, we actually rather like making sci-fi voice and video calls talking into our wrist, but only in privacy. Out in the street Bluetooth is the way to go, and we aren’t huge fans of having a headset constantly in our ear. The Borg look doesn’t do it for us. We were impressed with the screen’s responsiveness to finger taps, and with battery life, less excited about the camera quality and relative lack of features for what is, after all, £500’s worth of technology.