LG KC910 Renoir review

Everybody is going crazy about the iPhone – it's all iPhone-this and iPhone-that. But what if you want to be a little different, slightly original and not follow the crowd? Well, if that sounds like you then the LG KC910 Renoir could very well be the phone for you.

The Renoir is not a device to be trifled with, not only does it feature a gorgeous 3-inch touchscreen and weight in at a mere 114g, but it also features a whopping 8-megapixel camera too!

Sound too good to be true? Read on to see what our final verdict it.

We loved the Viewty but lamented its bulk and lack of lens cover. LG was clearly listening and has hit back with a slimline model with an even better camera and a lens cover to boot. There’s none of that bothersome rotation malarkey either – the only action the circle around the lens performs is opening and shutting it.

As well as fine-tuning the Viewty baddies, LG’s taken the good stuff and made it even better. The UI is seamless to use and mobile desktop widget wizardry also helps to cement this phone as a firm favourite for businesses and consumers alike.

Schneider Kreuznach optics, auto and manual focus and a Xenon flash all join the camera party here, with blink detection, smile mode and a beautification option (beauty shot) along for good measure. The latter should prove handy for posting fake photos on dating sites (although we don’t advocate that!).

Taking high-quality photos using the touchscreen controls that appear on the main display was a breeze and a trial snap showed up all of the dust and toast crumbs on our keyboard in unforgivingly fine detail. We jerked the handset slightly while getting used to how much/little pressure to apply but there’s also the option of using the hard volume controls for zooming in/out.

Not content with strutting its stuff camera-wise, the Renoir boasts DivX and Xvid support as standard, meaning mobile video viewing pleasure is guaranteed.

Keen to give Mr Spielberg a run for his money? You’ll be pleased to hear that you can shoot videos at 5 to 120 fps as well as having fun with the Muvee video editing software.

It’s not unusual for a cameraphone golden child to skimp on other features, leaving things like the music player and browser unloved. Not so the Renoir.

Teaming up with audio greats Dolby, LG has integrated Dolby Mobile into the handset resulting in tremendous audio quality; even through the monstrosity of a pair of headphones supplied in the box.

The headphones are ugly and proprietary but rummage around in the box and you’ll find a 3.5mm adaptor that comes to the rescue and frees you to use any cans you like.

The music player’s interface is both nice to look at and easy to control – we’ve never made so much noise at the mere wiggle of a finger.

Texting using the virtual keypad is also a doddle, although we found it easier in portrait mode. Browsing the web thanks to HSDPA (7.2Mbps) connectivity (it’s got Wi-Fi and Bluetooth too) made for a good user experience, although we automatically tried to pinch the screen to enlarge the content, until our brain worked out to use the zooming menu along the bottom of the screen. Aside from the substandard headphones and sticky finger marks, that’s probably our only moan.

The Renoir also boasts some other little features that make it worth beholding. These include some more M-Toy games, like the LG Secret, that make use of a motion sensor (Flying Dice and Wheel Mania), an alarm clock you can snooze at the sweep of a finger and the ability to quickly and easily change the touchscreen’s calibration and feedback levels.

When you’re not texting people, playing games, listening to music or taking pictures, you might actually want to use it to phone people. Thankfully, call quality is excellent.

LG reckons this littler critter is the world’s first full touchscreen eight-megapixel cameraphone and we like it so much we’d argue it’s also the first true contender for the iPhone’s throne.

With the megapixel wars hotting up, heading towards double digits and beyond, LG’s Renoir is likely to be the first of many vying for rule of the kingdom.