The autofocus system works smartly and efficiently, though the 2-step button can lag a fraction between pressing and snapping when taking quick shots so be careful of movement before the image is captured to avoid blur.

There are a typical selection of settings to cope with different conditions, plus a macro mode for close ups that does the job well. An LED flash is included rather than a more effective xenon type, and so low-light images aren't as impressive as shooting in normal daylight conditions. Illumination is limited to a few feet and shots in dark situations can look grainy and noisy, and colour rendition isn't particularly good.

Picture editing

Shots can be tweaked after shooting, with a wide selection of effects, drawing, text and colouring options that can be applied by a bit of judicious finger action.

The Prada phone has a decent set of video capture features too. As well as shooting in 640x480 pixels (VGA) and 720x480 pixels resolution at 30 frames per second for reasonably good mobile phone quality, it can also record in slow-motion mode at a higher frame rate for slowed down playback. Further tools allow manipulation of clips and basic in-phone editing.

It's video playback for downloaded, streamed or sideloaded content is up to scratch too. It supports DivX video playback, with conversion software supplied for PCs, and the large display offers a good platform for playing back moving images.

Online and other activity

With Wi-Fi and HSDPA powering the browser on this handset, plus the multi-touch zoom control, you can enjoy a reasonable browsing experience. Pages generally load up promptly, and it's easy to scroll around and navigate pages. Onscreen icons also provide an intuitive layer of navigation many mobiles ignore. It's not iPhone-slick, though - more like a decent mid-tier phone effort.

The music player has a typically low-key LG user interface based on selecting from lists of familiar track categories, and a no-hassle touch control panel when tracks are playing, with a draggable timeline on tunes. The music player can be used in the background in standby or using other functions, too, with one of the widgets enabling control of the functions.

With 60MB of internal storage, music fans will need the 1GB MicroSD memory card that LG includes in the luxury Prada phone package. There's also a better than average set of earphones provided, which sound very serviceable, offering a decent amount of bottom end and higher frequency detail.

Generous range of features

Although there's no standard 3.5mm headphone socket on the bodywork, the two-piece Prada-labelled earphones have a standard 3.5mm headphone adapter built in, so you can add you very own higher quality (or expensively-branded) headphones. Bluetooth headphones are also supported.

An FM radio adds to the music-playing abilities of this handset, doing an effective job with a no-fuss user interface. Other entertainment is provided by a couple of staple LG motion-controlled games (rolling dice and wheel of fortune), plus a touch operated golf game. Further Java games can be downloaded.

Although it will appeal to the style-first buyer, it still maintains a run-down of practical common-but-useful features and tools. Email attachments and copied over PDF, Word, text, Powerpoint and Excel files can be read by an integrated document viewer, while organiser software includes a calendar, calculator, memos and to do lists, world clock, convertor, calculator, alarm, stopwatch and voice recording functions.

Phone performance

Even with a luxury Prada phone, ordinary phone calling is still a key function. Easy access to and easy use of the numberpad and contacts make it a breeze to use for voice calling, and sound quality is first rate. Network connectivity is reliable, and the Wi-Fi set-up works easily.