Inspecting gadgets

Inspecting gadgets

Will the flood of touchscreen phones never end? Two years ago we'd never heard of the blighters and now we're up to our armpits in them, with each vendor promising that we'll touch their products in new and excitingly different ways. Oh thank you, Lord Steve, for the wondrous bounty that you have bestowed upon us or as we like to call it, the gift that keeps on giving.

What can we make then, of this latest device from aspiring mobile giants LG? Well, it's got a three-inch display with 8GB of memory and a five autofocus megapixel camera on the back that boasts a lens from some outfit called Schneider Kreuznach. The screen's probably the most interesting bit - at 800x480, it's got considerably more pixels than competitors from Apple and Samsung, which help in overall readability. Increasing overall resolution is where all vendors will go eventually, unless you want to go back to the era of Nokia Communicator-style bricks.

The multimedia functionality isn't anything out of the ordinary with the Arena being able to play most formats including the often tricky H.264 video files. A bonus is the FM transmitter, which allows you to stream audio to a home audio or car stereo system and isn't a feature that's commonly included (although we hear rumours that Apple is considering its inclusion in the next iPhone).

What LG is really pushing with the Arena is its new "S-Class" user interface which uses a 3D metaphor for interaction - so you can choose options on a ‘floating' cube, or slide along a film strip. From the early demos, it looks promising, but as always with phones of this type, your mileage with the production version may vary.