LG Incite CT810 – jog dial for scrolling
Thumbs Up:
The CT810 features excellent call quality, inbuilt Wi-Fi, 3G/HSDPA support, 3-megapixe camera, Microsoft Office Mobile, and Microsoft ActiveSync.
Thumbs Down:
Sluggish performance; reflective surface
Inside the Trunk:
Technology: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
Band: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Phone Design: Candy Bar
Caller ID: Yes
Other Features: Instant Messengers, preinstalled applications
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
The LG Incite CT810 has 256MB internal memory and its micro-SD expansion slots accept up to 32GB cards. The operating system is Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1. The supported wireless interfaces are Bluetooth 2.0 EDR and IEEE 802.11 b/g.
The 3-inch touch-screen has 400×240 pixels resolution. The preinstalled applications are Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Package Manager, Address Book, Windows Media Player Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, Microsoft ActiveSync, Microsoft Direct Push Technology, and task manager.
The 3-megapixel camera features self-timer and video recording. It can capture still pictures in five resolutions: 320×240, 640×480, 1024×768, 1600×1200, and 2048×1536. The shooting modes are Frame shot, Panorama, Continuous, and Normal. The video recording resolutions are: 128×96, 176×44, 320×240, and 400×240.
The 1300mAH lithium ion battery has a life of 520 minutes talk time and 504 hours of idle standby time. The Incite CT810 comes with these accessories: reference material, software disc, stylus, USB cable, and AC adapter.
Razzle Dazzle:
The LG Incite CT810 is 2.2 inches wide, 4.21 inches tall and 0.55 inch deep and weighs 4.23 ounces. It has slim and sleek profile with some external controls. The entire chassis has mirror finish that captures fingerprints occasionally.
Inside Dope:
The LG Incite CT810 is the first true smartphone for LG in the United States. Previously, the company has released the high-end phones like the LG Dare and the LG Voyager in United States as well as the LG KS20 smartphone in Europe only. The Incite CT810 is one of the shiniest handsets available in the market. It runs on the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system and features inbuilt Wi-Fi, HSDPA support, 3-megapixel camera, Microsoft Office Mobile, ActiveSync, and so forth. The CT810 costs $199.99 with two-year AT&T service agreement. It has minimalist appeal and its touch-screen is reflective like that of the LG Shine. However, the Windows Mobile smartphone suffers from few issues like others. It performs sluggish occasionally and its surface is reflective enough to work as mirror for capturing images. The LG smartphone continues to have the large screen dominating its front face like other touch-screen phones including the HTC Touch and the Samsung Omnia.
The 3-inch resistive touch-screen of the LG Incite CT810 has 240×400 pixels QVGA resolution that supports 262,000 colors. The display exhibits sharp images with vibrant colors, but it does not match the screens of the Apple iPhone 3G and the Samsung Instinct. The touch-screen features inbuilt accelerometer to rotate the display on tilting the phone, proximity sensor to shut off the screen when you bring the phone to your cheeks during call, and ambient light sensor to adjust the display as per surroundings.
You can change the font size and the backlight time. It is a bit difficult to view the display in direct sunlight as the screen is reflective. We like that the touch screen provides haptic feedback. The smartphone allows adjusting the vibration sensitivity along with its length and strength. The touch-screen is quick responsive, still the stylus is recommended for better and continuous usage. While testing, the Incite CT810 was slow to recognize our touch and to rotate the display on tilting the phone.
The QWERTY keyboard of the LG Incite CT810 also appears in both landscape and portrait mode. The landscape keyboard has large keys and is a clear reminiscent of the SureTye keyboard of the BlackBerry Pearl. The smartphone also has auto-correct features. However, the landscape keyboard covers almost 90 percent of the screen and does not leave enough room for typing screen on the top.
The Today screen displays weather information, new email or message notification, calendar appointments, and date/time. You will find the main menu, favorite applications sub-director, new text message, address book, and dial-pad onscreen shortcuts on the bottom. The Start menu button provides the shortcuts to Internet Explorer, dial-pad, Messaging menu, Contacts, Calendar, Office Mobile, Help menu, Settings, and Programs.
The main menu interface has separate tabs for productivity, multimedia, phone and settings. The phone tab has Messaging, Recent Calls, and Contacts applications, while the multimedia tab has AT&T Cellular Video and Music. The productivity tab has these applications – Office Mobile, AT&T Navigator, and browser. The Settings tab has options for wireless connectivity, sounds, graphics, and so forth. We do not like that you cannot drag and drop the icons as on the LG Dare or the Samsung Omnia.
The Talk key, two soft keys, and the End/Power keys are located underneath the screen. You will find the volume rocker and charger jack on the left spine; while the micro-SD card slot, the jog dial, and screen lock key are on the right side. You can use the jog dial for scrolling via menu and messages. The 3.5mm headset jack sits on the top, whereas the camera lens is on the back.
The LG Incite CT810 has Microsoft Direct Push Technology for real time email delivery and automatically synchronization of Outlook email, contacts and calendar via Microsoft Exchange. The smartphone also has Internet Explorer Mobile, AT&T NetFront browser, Microsoft ActiveSync and Xpress Mail for accessing POP3/IMAP4/SMTP and Web-based email accounts. The other PIM tools include a notepad, a calculator, a task manager, and so forth.
The highlights of the LG Incite CT810 are text and multimedia messages, inbuilt Wi-Fi, 3G/HSDPA support, quad-band world roaming, A-GPS with AT&T Navigator, stereo Bluetooth, voice command and dialing, conference calling, and speakerphone. The CT810 smartphone can store the contacts in its phonebook limited to available memory and the SIM card can hold additional 250 entries. Each entry can save multiple phone numbers, street addresses, notes, instant messenger handles, email addresses, a birthday, and more. You can categorize the contacts into caller groups and pair them with one ring-tone and a picture for caller ID.
The onboard Bluetooth supports stereo Bluetooth, dial-up networking, object exchange, and hands-free kits. AT&T has also included its 3G services within the LG Incite CT810. It includes AT&T Cellular Video for streaming video content via providers like CNN and NBC; AT&T Video Share for one-way calling to compatible phone; and AT&T Mobile Music that includes Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, Pandora, XM Radio, Billboard Magazine, and Music ID. The Windows Media Player 10 Mobile features equalizer, play-lists, shuffle and repeat modes. It supports WMV, WMA, EAAC+, eAAC+, AAC+, and MP3 media formats.
The 3-megapixel camera of the LG Incite CT810 features self-timer and video-recording with audio. However, there is no auto-focus and flash for improving the picture quality. The still capture options are five resolutions, three quality settings, four shooting modes, four color effects, three shutter sound with silent mode, and five white balance presets. You can record short videos for MMS and live video calls. The video recording options are four resolutions and other similar to that of still capture. The overall picture quality was mediocre and below average for a 3-megapixel camera. The pictures looked clear, but had overcast look with dull colors and more blur.
The LG Incite CT810 comes preloaded with five games: Sudoku, Solitaire, Ms. Pac Man, Bubble Breaker and BlockBreaker Deluxe. The preinstalled applications are People magazine mobile version, My-Cast 5 Weather, and Mobile Banking. You can personalize the phone with available graphics and sounds. More options can be downloaded through AT&T Media Mall application.
We made few calls through quad-band based the LG Incite CT810 via AT&T service for testing. The overall call quality was good and impressive. We received the clear and loud sound at our end. The callers also received crackled and static sound at their end occasionally. The speakerphone call quality was average with low volume. We did not have any problem while pairing the Bluetooth headsets and making calls through it.
The overall performance was sluggish occasionally while using the LG Incite CT810. As expected from a Windows Mobile smartphone, there was noticeable delay while starting some applications. The downloading speeds were excellent and the Web pages loaded instantly. We downloaded a 5MB song in 10 seconds. The audio playback on the speakers did not produce satisfactory bass, but it was good on included wired headset.
The battery life of the LG Incite CT810 is 8.7 hours of talk time and 12 days of idle standby time. Its digital SAR is 0.73 watts per kilogram in accordance with FCC radiation tests.
Nitty Gritty:
If you can overcome the sluggish performance, then the LG Incite CT810 remains a good and affordable Windows Mobile smartphone to buy.
