In spite of the variety of implementations none of the so-called iPhone clones managed to outpace the popularity of the original. At that other brand solutions possessed better cameras and were more abundantly equipped in general. All this once again indirectly proves that the similarity of concepts and direct competition are not always one and the same thing. This perfectly goes to the new Samsung F490 and LG KE990 (Viewty) 5 Mpix cameraphones. They share a very similar positioning and oppose each other as likely competitors, but by no means intersect with that area of the market dominated by the Apple handset, although utilizing a large touchscreen and a minimum amount of keys.

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The intrigue of reviewing these products consists in their utmost comparability - both stem from Korea, both are classic candy bars with touchscreens, both make use of 5 Mpix camera units and are offered at about the same price. Formerly Samsung always ran a step ahead of LG, having begun switching the brand values much earlier and doing quite well at all that. Nowadays the customer loyalty to Samsung devices is rather high in many regions of the world, not least of all due to the aggressive promotion campaigning with a wide-scale advertising support. The role of the exhaustive portfolio embracing even a large number of top-class devices and premium products (Giorgio Armani) is also important. The Koreans have already competed in the latter segment – here's a comparison of Samsung P520 Giorgio Armani to LG KE850 PRADA.

As for the F490, this model drives the development of the last year's F700 (by the way, presented in Barcelona as well) towards a lower-ranking class. The former employs a more powerful camera though it lacks a keypad. Due to this lack it became possible to place an autofocusing 5 Mpix unit into a relatively slim casing – just a little bit more than a centimeter thick (11.8 mm). One more remarkable thing is the Croix UI interface looking like that of the P520 fashion solution. Finally, here comes a universal 3.5 mm headset jack which adds to the multimedia section of the handset (the 3.2' screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio is perfectly becoming to the handset's video playback functionality). On the whole the rivals are worthy of each other's best, that's why the deathmatch promises to be rather interesting.

Design, ergonomics

Samsung F490 and LG KE990 (Viewty) are massive candy bars featuring larger-than-average dimensions judging by the standards of the modern telecom market, which is quite natural for WM-based touchscreen smartphones that are in fact closer to the mentioned new products. Only a sole colour solution is available for the both - the darker hues with metal pieces for the LG phone and a chrome-coated handset for Samsung. The material used is plastic in F490 and a combination of metal and plastic in KE990. As seen from practice, the quality of Samsung materials is higher; LG is less resistant to mechanical damage, especially its front panel, which gets worn and scratched rather quickly.

F490 is slimmer, that's why looks better. Its design is more successful on the whole, which contributes to the latter point. KE990 looks simpler. It sounds surprising, but the thicker Viewty casing is better balanced regarding dimensions. The Samsung model utilizes a larger display, thus the casing is longer and sits in hand worse. Though the touch controls look more advantageous, they are less easy to use. For example, you can respond to an incoming call at once with the LG green button while Samsung first of all requires you to unlock the slider on the right edge. By the way, the latter is for some reason combined with a power button here, which doesn't add to convenience either.

You may compare software interfaces, but you won't find an obvious leader here – each has its ups and downs both in ergonomics and design. Let's note perhaps themes with LG as well as a more abundant set of applications. Instead Samsung widely employs dynamic animation. Camera is the key feature of the competitors and the Viewty takes the lead in the matter of software implementation here. Besides it's easier to activate the module – just move the lens guard aside. We'll give a more detailed description of this element a bit later in this article.

Let's compare Samsung F490 and LG KE990 Viewty with Nokia N96:

Nokia N96 Preview
LG Viewty (KE990 and KU990) Review (translation is pending)

Input

Samsung F490 and LG KE990 (Viewty) both lack a conventional keyboard, that's why the implementation of text input is very a important aspect where any flaw could become fatal. F490 is much inferior here - only the alphanumeric analogue of a hardware keypad is available, no more than that. The competitor features the a similar element, its fullscreen QWERTY-version and as many as three methods of handwritten input too. The value of handwritten input is insignificant, though it's definitely to the fancy; the same can be said about QWERTY, not all the symbols of some languages find enough room on one screen – some of them are available only by double-clicking after numericals, which is not quite handy. Though there is no such problem with the English layout.

As you can see from the illustrations, the C (cancel) button in KE990 (also used to delete the last character) is put between the call buttons below the screen; it's a hardware one. When using the alphanumeric keypad you have to constantly draw your finger downwards for a delete operation. This kind of problem arises neither with QWERTY, nor with F490 in general – this element is virtual here, therefore it's situated closer to the keypad.

The Samsung interface is slower, which is important for a fast text input. Most often it's not critical, but if you need to quickly type an SMS message, for example, it's much substantial. In spite of the above-mentioned poor implementation of the C button, it's all the same faster to input the text from the Viewty keypad even if making no use of QWERTY and comparing just the alphanumeric input capabilities.

Thanks to a short vibration for a physical feedback every time a virtual key is pressed, typing SMS messages is not a problem as many could think. It goes without saying, the key lack tactile segmentation, a hardware keypad doing better here. But a large screen to a certain degree recompenses for it, and it's to F490's advantage – the keys are physically larger, it's easier to tap them without looking at the handset.

Camera

In theory Samsung F490 and LG KE990 (Viewty) are identical on this front - 5 Mpix, autofocusing, flashlight, etc. However, practice often happens to differ from theory. Even external distinctions are perceptible – in KE990, the lens unit sticks out above the casing surface, has a protective cover and an autofocusing backlight. Everything is much more modest with F490; the unit is even a little bit sunk into the 11.8 mm thickness of the body!

The launch time of the application is about 2-3 sec with LG and 3-4 sec with Samsung. Both the viewfinders display certain inertness, but it's more perceptible with F490. And the Viewty interface itself is less convenient, but offers a greater number of settings. There is even a manual focus adjustment option available; a movable ring embracing the camera lens is in charge for this capability. No optical zoom is available for the both, but Samsung lacks even a digital zoom if the maximum resolution is turned on. It is possible with LG and that has quite a good ratio - 16x.

Samsung traditionally features its trademark charge saving system - at the minimum charge level the screen brightness drops drastically and some of the device's functionality (camera, player) is blocked out. Some firmware revisions of earlier Samsung products do away with this feature (for example, such an edited firmware is available for D900), but it'll be hardly available for F490 since the product is obviously a niche one. There is no such problem with KE990; the device allows taking quality pictures even at the minimum charge just a few seconds before the battery dies completely.

The maximum photo resolution is one and the same for both - 2592х1944, but as for the video the models differ much from each other. The Viewty maximum equals to 640x480 at 30 fps, which is on a level with Nokia N95 and the similar representatives of Nseries and even those outside the multimedia series, e.g. the recent 6220 Classic. The majority of the advanced handheld cameras also sport nearly identical characteristics. Besides the VGA video, shooting at a resolution of 320x240 with a framerate of 120 fps - the so-called Slow Motion mode is available. It can be played back in slow motion with a framerate of 15 or 30 fps.

Thus, with KE990 you can shoot falling raindrops, for instance, and later view the raindrops slowly falling. F490 has much simpler video - only QVGA (320x240) at 15 fps. There's no use comparing, that's why we give you only photos. As you see, Viewty does better at taking pictures as well, but the difference is not so significant here as in case of the video. Some of our colleagues erroneously take F490 for a device lacking the auto-focus capability. Actually this feature is available, but the quality of its implementation is rather average, which is especially noticeable in macro shots – one could come to think there's no auto-focusing at all.

Miscellaneous

Let's get down to reviewing minor features of Samsung F490 and LG KE990 (Viewty) with the most important of them - the screens. They are powered by the TFT technology and can render up to 262K colors. The F490 screen is larger (3.2" against 3"), the same concerns resolutions (240х432 against 240х400). The picture quality taken with the handsets is closely comparable both in the aspects of brightness and view angles. It is above the average level judging by modern standards, yet not ideal considering the majority casual phones. Both the screens behave nicely in the sunlight.

Storage is another important point when choosing a handset; the two opponents have some difference here. The amount of internal memory in F490 is more than a time and a half as much as that of LG (160 Mb against 100 Mb), but that's not critical considering the available expansion slot. The latter utilizes the universal microSD standard in the both models, but it is placed under the battery in the LG model, which makes hot swapping impossible. Besides, F490 comes with the nice extra of a 1 Gb memory card; nothing of the kind is included in the KE990 sales package.

Samsung is superior in one more interesting aspect - unlike KE990, F490 supports not only hot-swapping but also a full-blown Flight Mode – no SIM card is required to be kept in the phone. It means that you cannot use Viewty just as a camera or a music player with its GSM unit switched off, while this is a passable trick for the competitor model. It is important considering the focus on multimedia features. Let's also note out the standard 3.5 mm headset jack available with F490 (KE990 employs a cord-placed unit) as an addition to the interface slot (both the reviewed models utilize firmware ones). The same solution is found with Samsung F250.

The GSM sections of KE990 and F490 differ only in the availability of 3G services. LG provide their KU990 model with this feature, but it's not officially delivered in some regions unless you get an unofficially imported version. And F490 supports even HSDPA, which is senseless outside of 3G coverage, though gives the handset a bright outlook for the future. EDGE is available in both the gadgets. As for the wireless communications, we have a parity here - only Bluetooth is available, that's why it's less convenient to publish photos and videos to your blog, than using Nokia - via Wi-Fi. On top of it all, LG employs the outdated 1.2 version of the unit, while Samsung makes use of the more advanced 2.0 revision. Both support A2DP.

The sales packages of the models differ greatly, LG is in the lead here – it comes with a stylus, a player control unit and some other nice extras. Samsung haven't been so generous as to provide for any bonuses; everything is standard. F490 yields to its rival in the aspect of battery lifetime (the lower capacity of 880 mAh against 1300 mAh is the side effect of the slim casing demanding a smaller battery unit); however the difference is essential only during the heavy duty cycle (video) when the screen is active while at a lower power consumption rate (audio) Samsung does even a bit better – the device features an excellent optimization that LG cannot boast of. Nevertheless the latter is winning in daily routine under moderate duty. We'd especially mention that F490 also display very good results, which earlier used to be impossible for much simpler handsets employing traditional implementation of the screen (and thus lower energy consumption).

Market Forecast

Speaking of Samsung F490 and LG KE990 (Viewty) market forecasts, one shouldn't expect any record hits for these models. These are quite specific offers, looking less advantageous on the market against the background of the said iPhone. The features of the gadgets being comparable, Samsung are going to promote their model in a more aggressive fashion, in spite of the fact that the Viewty handset is the key product of LG for this year's first quarter, - the budgets of the companies are too different in scale for the time present. For example, a few days ago the market entry of the very interesting KF600 model was left almost unattended by the media.

F490 does better in design as well, which plays a vital part in most cases, while a much smaller number of customers will consider the implementation of a 5 Mpix camera. Nowadays LG make great efforts in this respect – a kind of 'explanatory work' is carried out in a series of periodicals and the active advertising campaign has already started in mass media. As a result, KE990 is going to become the most demanded phone of the brand in spite of the considerable price.

As for F490, its development is divided even in its class, F700 being more affordable and released earlier. Besides, promoting the brand's key model U900Soul is now the matter of the utmost importance for the company. The latter takes part in an interesting analogy - the product is going to be the flagship in its segment in all parameters, having overshadowed the much similar KF600 model by LG. The situation seems to be reverse to the F490-KE990 link though the domination of the one over the other is less obvious. We are already preparing a detailed comparison between Samsung U900 Soul and LG KF600; it will be published on our site in the nearest future.

Samsung U900 Soul Preview, full review is pending
LG KF600 Preview

In the end let's ask ourselves one more question, being far from a rhetorical one – what kind of audience Samsung F490 and LG KE990 (Viewty) are actually intended for? Any such thinkable audience presumably being very wide, even the least sophisticated market forecast restricts the circle of customers to quite a limited group due to the non-mainstream approach to ergonomics in these two devices. A certain traditional part of end users, Nokia fans first of all, won't sacrifice the hardware keypad convenience for style. It's for this very reason that the Finnish manufacturers have no touch-based models in their portfolio and plan none of the kind for the near future.

As a result, we get a rather vague image of the average target consumer. Samsung and LG tried and offered them a blend of fashion and technology. In our opinion, F490 succeeded in the former and KE990 - in the latter, the choice between the two is just a matter of preferences. The Viewty model will attract those who need a good camera with an extended functionality, and F490 is designed for the lovers of stylish and unusual things. However the both consumer groups should have no objection to touch screens, and that's the main obstacle the models encounter on their way into the masses. As for the implementation of this technology Samsung, and LG are lagging behind the said iPhone company which now utilizes the multi-touch technology, a larger diagonal as well as some other nice features not found in the would-be rivals.

SMAPE's opinion

The uneasy choice between Samsung F490 and LG KE990 (Viewty) depends on nothing but personal priorities. If design is of much importance to you, you should take a closer look at F490, and you care about the camera above all, you'd better pay attention to KE990. Personally we liked the Viewty handset more, in spite of a number of obvious flaws as compared to the competitor.

Author: Dmitry Ryabinin, dm@smape.com

SMAPE.com

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