LG Decoy

Cellphone manufacturers are constantly thinking of new ways of keeping their product ahead of the competition. Innovations and new ideas are popping out here and there. Touch screens to powerful cameras and even down to peculiar designs, manufacturers are doing their best to give consumers something fresh and new.LG might have done something that consumers would probably appreciate. They conceptualize the LG Decoy, a glossy device that features the most common technology cellphones have these days. What differentiates the Decoy from other phone is that it has a built-in Bluetooth headset. Most phones today allow hands-free calling – that is allow users the use Bluetooth headsets for hands-free operations. But headsets are usually sold separately, so having one that easily attaches to the back of your phone is definitely a plus.

The LG Decoy is the first ever cell phone to have a built-in stowaway Bluetooth headset. It’s conveniently docked in the back, and you can pop out the headset when you need it, and just snap it back in when you don’t. Some people might find this too gimmicky, but I bet others would find this very convenient.

However, the Bluetooth headset isn’t the only thing that makes this phone special. It does have most of the technology and the features that modern phones have. But first, lets check out its design. As mentioned, the Decoy is a glossy phone with a front surface that is covered with a reflective mirror finish. It measures 4.01 inches high by 1.97 inches wide by 0.67 inch thick. The Decoy is a bit on the bulky side but enough to contain its large 2.2-inch display. It does weigh about 4.05 ounces, which makes it feel very solid in the hand.

This phone has a huge 2.2-inch 262,000 color display located at the center of the phone. It has a bright and vivid display and shows colorful menu interfaces really well. Users have the option to adjust the font size as well as the backlight time. Below the display, you can see the navigation controls. You have the center joystick and three user-defined shortcuts. Once you slide open the phone, you will be greeted with the full alphanumeric keypad, as well as the Send, voice command, and End/Power keys at the very top.

But the most important aspect of the Decoy lies on its back. When you turn the Decoy around, you will see a rectangular bump jutting out from the top part of the phone. This is actually a built-in Bluetooth headset, stowed away in a custom built dock. Press down on a tiny latch at the top, and the headset will pop out. The headset itself is incredibly slim and flat, measuring 1.6 inches long by 0.8 inch wide by 0.2 inch deep, and weighs less than an ounce. It has a multifunction button on the front, which also houses an LED indicator light, and the volume rocker sits on the right spine. On the back is a simple springy ear piece that actually fits quite comfortably in the ear, resting just outside the ear canal. The built-in Bluetooth headset is certainly not the best Bluetooth headset around, it is very thin,  feels very lightweight, and you don’t get fancy noise-canceling technology, but it does serve its purpose and the convenience it gives is simple priceless.

Aside from the built-in Bluetooth headset, the Decoy has plenty of features going for it as well. It has a generous 1,000-entry contacts list, with room in each entry for five numbers, two e-mail addresses, and notes. You can also save callers to groups, pair them with a photo for caller ID, or one of 23 polyphonic ringtones and alert sounds. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, a speakerphone, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, a tip calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock, a stopwatch, a world clock, and a notepad.

More advanced users will appreciate voice commands, instant messaging (AIM, Windows, and Yahoo are supported), Web e-mail (only MSN, AOL, Yahoo, and Verizon), a mobile Web browser, and the capability to use the Decoy as a USB mass storage device. Another great add-on is VZ Navigator support, which provides turn-by-turn directions.

Also in the Decoy is a 2-megapixel camera and camcorder. You can take photos in four resolutions (1,600×1,200, 1,280×960, 640×480, and 320×240), five white balance settings, and five color effects. Other camera settings include a night mode, a self-timer, three shutter sounds plus a silent option, photometry, and brightness.

It has a built-in image editor that lets you zoom, rotate, and crop the images. However, photo quality is just mediocre. You need to hold the phone perfectly still to avoid blurry shots, and colors looked overcast and unnatural. As for the camcorder, you can record video with sound in 320×240 or 176×144-pixel resolutions. Multimedia message clips are capped at 30 seconds, but you can otherwise shoot for as much as your memory card can hold. Video quality is as expected, choppy, grainy, and pixelated, especially when there was a lot of movement.

The LG Decoy has a rated battery life of 3.83 hours talk time and 13.75 days standby time.

Sources:
http://www.phonearena.com
http://blog.laptopmag.com
http://www.infosyncworld.com