LG KC910 Renoir

Posted on 13. Feb, 2009 by IBM in Reviews.

The LG KC910 has a moniker that sends out a bold and clear statement about talent. Packing a whopping 8 megapixel camera and top-of-the-line video recording, the LG KC910 Renoir is all about capturing the moment, leaving an impression. While this alone should be enough to assert an identity, the Renoir just won’t stop there. With the full touch user interface and the portly 3″ display, everything is a mere touch away. Wi-Fi, HSDPA and GPS are all aboard to add the last bits of oomph to the feature-loaded LG Renoir.

The exciting facts and figures from the Renoir specs sheet however won’t really give away its real-life performance and this is where we step in. We already had the camera performance of the LG Renoir to bits in our 8 megapixel cameraphone shootout but it’s time to move up and look at the bigger picture.

t certainly took us quite some time to bring this review forward. Perhaps we even pushed it over the peak of your anticipation, but we didn’t mean to get you starved so you like the meal better.

Our better-late-than-never department – duly sent to the corner, by the way – has finally prepared a full-featured, action-packed and hopefully eye-opening review of one of the best imaging mobile phones this year – the LG KC910 Renoir.

Compare all LG KC910 Renoir deals

Key features:

Tri-band/Quad-band GSM versions, dual-band HSDPA
3″ 256K-color touchscreen TFT display (240 x 400 pixels)
8 megapixel autofocus camera, xenon flash (geo-tagging, face tracking, blink detection, touch focus, manual focus)
Video recording in AVI format, VGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps, time-lapse QVGA videos
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
Wi-Fi
GPS receiver with A-GPS support
TV-out
100MB internal memory
Hot-swappable microSD card slot (ships with 8GB card)
Accelerometer for auto screen rotate
DivX/XviD video playback
Dolby Mobile music enhancement
FM radio with RDS
Office document viewer
Multi-tasking with a real task manager
Handwriting recognition
Excellent touch optimized image gallery
Direct video uploads to YouTube

Main disadvantages:

Xenon flash is inadequately powered and causes the camera to underexpose
Fullscreen camera viewfinder doesn’t show the entire frame
No video streaming over Wi-Fi (such as the mobile YouTube)
No Java connection over Wi-Fi (so Google Maps needs a data plan)
No voice-guided GPS navigation
Stylus as dongle only, no stylus compartment
Design will not appeal to everyone

Final words

The LG KC910 Renoir is without a doubt an impressive package. It’s got a nice user interface with rich feature set such as the capable task manager and well developed multi-tasking, excellent touch optimized gallery, DivX/XviD video support plus direct YouTube uploads, as well as auto screen rotation and a landscape QWERTY keyboard.

Surely, the Renoir rich features such as Wi-Fi and GPS are a bit limited by the feature phone interface, but if you are after a more expandable platform such as Symbian S60, the Samsung INNOV8 is your only cameraphone option right now and although similarly priced, it would mean you’d have to ditch the touchscreen functionality.

We are pleased with the LG Renoir camera features and performance too with the small exception of the image oversharpening it applies and the feeble xenon flash that’s not only underpowered but also throws the camera automatic exposure and white balance over board.

The LG handset has its other quirks too – lack of video streaming over Wi-Fi (you can enjoy YouTube only over the cellular network), silly 300KB limitation of incoming emails, no QWERTY keyboard in the Java apps and no free games.

Choosing between the LG Renoir and its direct competitor – Samsung Pixon – is a tough call since both are similarly priced. While the Pixon lacks Wi-Fi, it adds to the equation 0.2 inches of screen estate, more advanced widgets system, a snappier interface, WVGA video recording and a true quad-band support.

So in the end, it’s the consumer that makes the final decision – choosing between such close competitors is always a matter of personal evaluation and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

Compare all LG KC910 Renoir deals