Camera Phone Reviews

LG Shine KE970

When closed, Shine oozes sophistication with a perfectly reflective 2.2" screen. Slide open the super-thin brushed metal body and the 'magic mirror' full colour screen comes to life, while Shine's keys are bathed in a cool blue light. Access to Shine's menu system is by an easy-to-use multi-function scroll key.

Also, Shine's equipped with a comprehensive media player with multi-codec support (MP3, WAV and ACC++) and real spectrum display. Shine supports GPRS and EDGE network compatibility, Bluetooth and USB connectivity.

"2007 is the year to Shine," says Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "People are naturally drawn to shining objects. They convey messages of happiness, joy, excitement and desire, all the traits that perfectly describe the Shine phone. With an appeal that goes far beyond the simple requirement of owning a mobile, LG has yet again raised the bar in the mobile phone market."

Already available in Korea, Shine has sold more than 200,000 since November 2006, with more than 3,500 units a day still being sold! LG expects the same level of excitement and sales in the UK following a high profile launch campaign fronted by world famous illusionist David Blaine.

Mr. Chang Ma, Vice President of Marketing Strategy Team, "As the second handset in the Black Label series, there will be comparisons with LG Chocolate which was the phone of 2006. While Chocolate undoubtedly established LG as a force in the design-led mobile sector, Shine offers a completely unique proposition, appealing to a wider audience with a different aesthetic and technological attraction.

Available from most major mobile retailers from 7th February Shine is likely to be from free on selected contract. See individual operators for tariff details.

LG Shine Reviews

Trusted Reviews reviews the LG Shine KE970 and writes, "Shooting stills outdoors was a challenge because it was difficult to see the screen in bright daylight. Images were often over exposed too – the daffodils, shot on a bright spring morning, lack clarity. The autofocus system was very fiddly to use. The small side button for controlling the camera only has to be pressed the tiniest amount for autofocus to kick in, then you have to wait a bit and fully press the shutter without moving the phone to take your shot. The picture of the cat was the best of many I tried to take and at the beginning of the shot he was looking right at the camera."

3G reviews the LG Shine and writes, "The two-megapixel lens comes with auto-focus and has been certified by optic specialist Schneider Kreuznach. Don’t confuse this with ‘built by’, but, with such high standards, Schneider and co won’t have passed a dud. The camera shoots in a maximum 1600x1200-pixel resolution and is accompanied by a redundant LED light that’s too crude to really illuminate any low light environment. Otherwise, the Shine offers a full suite of photography features like macro focus for close-ups, metering, colour effects, white balance and a self timer. These can be changed easily via the straightforward camera interface while in capture mode. At this level, picture quality is impressive enough, displaying keen detail and focus, strong colour representation and true contrast."

CNET has a review of the LG Shine (KE970) and writes, "The 2.0 megapixel camera outshines (no pun intended) the Chocolate's shooter in many ways. You can take photos in a selection of resolutions, from full two megapixels (1,600x1,200 pixels) down to VGA and below (320x240 pixels). Other camera features include a self-timer, three quality modes, four color effects, an adjustable white-balance setting, a choice of shutter sounds, and a multi-shot mode (available only at the lowest resolutions). The Shine's camera also comes fully equipped with a self-portrait mirror and a flash. ... A Schneider Kreuznach lens and an efficient autofocus ensure this isn't your ordinary camera phone. Indeed, photo quality was quite good, with sharp colors, distinct object outlines, and vivid detail. The flash wasn't terribly effective but we were glad to have it anyway. Video quality was good but not great. Though the clips weren't as grainy as we've seen on other camera phones, we wouldn't want to use the Shine for our home movies. On the whole, the Shine's camera is a worthy effort but not quite as good as the fantastic 3.2-megapixel shooter on the Sony Ericsson K790a."

MobileBurn reviews the LG KE970 and writes, "On paper, the camera on the KE970 is supposed to be one of the best in LG history, and I am happy to report the 2 megapixel CMOS unit with Schneider-Kreuznach lens perform well. With a press of the shutter button, the camera starts up in around one second. The auto-focus lens is fast; focus can be achieved successfully in just over a second, though low light focusing is trickier as there is no AF assist lamp. ... In terms of picture quality, the camera performs well outdoors and above average indoors. The color is accurate most of the time thanks to the great auto white balance. Pictures are not the cleanest in terms of digital noise, but the more worrying part is the jagged appearance when viewed full size, possibly due to excessive image sharpening. Apart from that and the shutter lag, we were quite pleased with the camera's performance."

InfoSync reviews the LG U970 Shine (AT&T) and writes, "Looking around back on this phone, we find a 2-megapixel camera with an LED flash and even a self-portrait mirror. But don't get excited, because image quality on the LG Shine is seriously lacking. Photos were blurry, with abundant jaggies and colors that felt soft. Even in good lighting, images were unusable at full size, though they looked better on the phone's 2.2-inch screen. Videos were wavy looking and also of poor quality. For image management, you get a simple photo browser. We used it to send photos, which w as easy and quick, especially transferring to our desktops via Bluetooth."

CNET reviews the LG CU720 Shine (AT&T) and writes, "The LG Shine CU720 comes armed with the same Schneider Kreuznach lens and autofocus 2.0-megapixel camera as the KE970, which we loved. It is definitely a fabulous camera, with great photo quality. Camera options include a range of resolutions, from 1,600x1,200 to 320x240 pixels. Other camera settings include a self-timer, three quality modes, four color effects, white balance settings, shutter sounds, and a multishot mode. There's also an included camcorder that shoots videos in two resolutions (128x96 and 176x144). The camcorder's editing options are similar to the still camera; plus you can use the zoom. Multimedia message video clips are limited to eight seconds, but otherwise you can shoot as much as available memory permits. Video quality wasn't great, but photo quality was fantastic, with sharp images, crisp detail, and rich colors."

Mobile Burn reviews the LG CU720 Shine (AT&T) and writes, "The LG Shine sports a 2 megapixel camera, located on the back, with a flash and self-portrait mirror. There are plenty of options in the camera application, including the ability to record video. The camera viewer requires that you hold the Shine in landscape mode, which allows for comfortable picture taking. The handset is also able to stand on its side, making self-timer shots a breeze. I found the photo quality to be very good, and the flash did not completely wash out the subject. I would easily recommend the LG Shine's camera as great for capturing moments to send via MMS, or even to use on a personal blog. However, the photographs would probably not look very good when printed."

Digital Trends reviews the LG CU720 Shine (AT&T) and writes, "The LG Shine for AT&T has a 2.0 megapixel camera with fixed focus lens and a flash. It takes great pictures by 2 megapixel camera phone standards. The still images have sharp detail and natural colors; they're not overly sharpened or color saturated. In most outdoor shots, the contrast is very good. In some outdoor shots, there is a slight purple tint. The noise level in indoor shots is low by camera phone standards, and the light and color balance look good. The LG can take photos in 5 resolutions ranging from 1600 x 1200 to 160 x 120 photo caller ID. It also has a multi-shot mode and self-timer. Like most camera phones, the LG offers customizable settings for shutter sound, white balance, color effects, brightness and more. The bright and colorful display makes a wonderful viewfinder."

CNET Australia reviews the LG Shine (KE970) and writes, "The camera works reasonably well, but suffers a few of the pitfalls we saw with the Viewty. The auto-focus works well for the most part, though it sometimes struggled with close-up shots and is quite slow to settle. Colour reproduction was passable, but the images we took outdoors on a clear day turned out looking cold, tinged with a blue hue. These are the optimal conditions for camera phones and shows that LG's camera modules still need a bit of work."