The first Android handset from the Korean firm, the LG Intouch Max GW620, has taken a different direction to its competitors - there are very few Android phones that have aimed at the lower end of the handset spectrum, and it's interesting that the Korean firm has chosen this tack.
However, while the costs have been kept down to make it a competitor to the HTC Tattoo, LG has still added a decent amount of innovation into the mix, by offering the choice of the vanilla Android experience or its own S-Class interface, offering a new level of functionality.
The phone itself is small - a 3.2-inch HVGA resistive pales in comparison with the Google Nexus One phone, with its massive 3.7-inch OLED capacitive screen - but the Intouch Max GW620 also brings a full keyboard and a decent array of buttons as well.
The outside of the phone is well designed in pretty premium plastic - it's light, but still feels solid in the hand. The 3.5mm headphone socket sits at the top next to he power/lock button, and is also raised so the headphone jack sits flush with the chassis - something we haven't seen much of in newer handsets, which leave the metal of the headphone jack exposed.
LG has also had a good think about its media offering on the Intouch Max GW620 as well, with a dedicated music key next to the camera shutter button on the left-hand side of the device. It's a feature we saw in the LG New Chocolate BL40 from the firm, and something we're big fans of.
There's also a dedicated gate for the microSD card on the side of the phone meaning hot swapping of memory cards is much easier - for some reason there's been a trend towards putting this feature under the battery in recent Android handsets, and it's very annoying when you want to watch a video from another device and can't be bothered to connect it to a PC, so kudos to LG for this.
The left-hand side of the phone is more basic - the volume up and down rocker and the microUSB slot are housed here, with the latter housed by a pleasant-to-release gate.
And the main Android functions are taken care of by the front three keys - touch sensitive home and back buttons, and the physical menu key. We kept getting the home and menu button mixed up on the Intouch Max GW620 because of other Android phones choosing a different layout - so if you're upgrading from another Google device watch out.
In the hand the phone fits very nicely. Both in landscape and portrait mode, the dinky chassis sits well, yet in the pocket there's still some width to it thanks to the QWERTY keyboard. That's not too say it's too hefty - just that there are a few thinner devices out there on the market at the moment.
The keyboard is pretty easy to slide out, with minimal effort needed and a pleasing click registered when fully extended.
The great thing LG has done here is to bring a decent number of keys to the party with the Intouch Max GW620 - there's a full set of QWERTY buttons, four directional keys and a full range of numbers too, making tapping out a message a very swift task indeed.
The travel on the keys is similarly good, making it very easy to simply shuffle across the keyboard and write messages without having to go back and correct yourself. There seems to be a slew of full QWERTY devices coming to market at the moment with the likes of Nokia N97, the Motorola Milestone or the BlackBerry Bold 9700, but we'd have to say the keyboard on this little device is probably the best around at the moment.
Your comments (5) Click to add a new comment
timcypher
August 18th 2011
5. By far and away, the GW620 is the worst mobile phone I have ever owned.
It just seems to have a mind of its own, and doesn't respond to what you are asking it to do - as such, it is practically unusable.
Please save yourself a lot of pain and steer well clear...
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paully
May 25th 2011
4. This one Korean Masterpiece to give a very wide berth to. In short its junk, poorly designed and too many gizmos in a budget product.
Half the time it rings 5 times and switches off, you cannot adjust the ring time,then for no reason it will lock up and you have to remove the battery to get rid of the lock up.
Its touch screen is very poor quality and means you have difficulty answering calls.
Battery life is about 10mins and whatever you do dont activate the internet on it..You`ll lose the will to live before it kicks into life, the screen is too small for you to read anything and after about 20 mins the battery will be knackered.
Berst thing to do with this is get rid and buy a Nokia or a Sony..How they have they cheek to put **** like this on the market beats me..
Dont buy one
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vampira81
November 7th 2010
3. Me and my boyfriend got one of these each on the same day via T-mobile...its is the WORST phone Ive EVER had!! (and Im usually not fussy about my phones at all)
Firstly, neither phone will store new numbers. You enter the number, click to save, it stores to the phonebook but when you exit and go back in, its gone. Thats on both handsets.
Secondly, both the charger cap and the SD card cap are impossible to open if you have no fingernails. I have to keep a hairclip with the phone to pop the caps open.
Thirdly, as the last poster said, the SD slot is faulty. I will hear a bleep from across the room to tell me there is no card detected.
The touch buttons on the bottom are uber sensitive, so you frequently find yourself back on the main menu and out of whatever program you are in. It also freezes on a regular basis.
The landscape to portrait flipping of the screen is mega slow, so I often go to accept an incoming call after 10 seconds of waiting, only to find the screen has finally flipped and Ive hung up instead!
Finally, the phone doesnt support bluetooth transfer between phones, and there is no speaker so that you can answer calls handsfree.
The qwerty keyboard is great, as is the charger that disconnects to become a USB cable....but that is no good when the phone itself doesnt work!
That is my experience from 2 identical handsets, so its not a one off problem :(
Worst phone EVER!!!
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eyetee56
August 22nd 2010
2. i have a GW620 and although it isn't a bad Phone as Smart phones go, i have found that Blue-tooth is not supported by the Android 1.5 system. My only other problem has been with the screen itself as it tends to operate inside the pocket, and regularly dials out. Otherwise, not a bad Smart Phone.
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tylerian18
July 20th 2010
1. This is an absolutely poor phone.
I'm sorry to down what is a good review from techradar but I had this phone for 2 months and I endured 15 different problems with it before it became too much.
As with every LG that I've endured, and every Android phone I've used, it freezes constantly, the screen is far too insensitive that the unlock code rarely works.
During the 2 months that I used this phone, the best thing about it was that it worked for a week. :)
It doesn't charge through a plug socket, it barely charges through a usb port. The computer cannot recognise the phone, as the software easily corrupts itself.
The SD card slot is faulty, it cannot read the card half the time and even when it's in, it can't recognise it.
I know this could just be an issue with my phone, but after 2 months of torture through this, I do highly recommend people do not buy this phone; it isn't worth the hassle because it WILL mess up eventually - my sister's is already starting to play up and she's had it for just under a month.
Get an iPhone; they are honestly the safest bet. x
Tylerian18
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