As the successor to the feature-dense Viewty, LG's new Renoir mobile phone gets substantial improvements all around -- including the camera and audio quality, network support, and interface. With its five megapixel camera and 30 frames-per-second standard and 120 frames-per-second slow-motion video recording speed, the Viewty was no slouch when it came to media; however, the Renoir packs in an auto or manual focus eight megapixel camera with the same recording speeds and ups the ISO sensitivity to 1600 for low-light situation, all while offering the same high-end Schneider-Kreuznach optics and a true Xenon flash in a compact, 14 millimeter thin chassis.
Unlike the predecessor, the Renoir has a 3-inch 400x240 touchscreen that allows it to offer inventive features like Touch Shot, for example, that allow users to focus the camera on a subject and snap a picture by touching it on the screen. LG also added Dobly Mobile for improved audio playback, improved Bluetooth by supporting the 2.0 protocol with A2DP for wirelessly streaming audio, and include an 8GB microSD card in the box to support all of those high-resolution photos and movies (especially handy since it supports DivX and Xvid codecs). Capable of running on a 7.2Mbps HSDPA network, sporting built-in Wi-Fi for quick uploads and including Assisted-GPS for geo-tagging, the Renoir has a very solid set of core features that make it more than a spec bump.
LG has written a custom operating system for the phone that is supposedly easy-to-use, though it remains to be seen if that is true. Given how critical the interface can be in determining the success of a phone -- demonstrated quite effectively by Apple's iPhone -- it remains to be seen how the company's move to eschewing Windows mobile, Nokia's Symbian, and Google's Android will impact the Renoir.
