LG KM900 aka LG Arena

The service contract for my mobile phone ran out so I was looking for a new provider and a mobile fitting my (arguably moderate) needs. I set out to find a mobile phone satisfying the following specification:

• the possibility to play podcasts in a reasonable size and resolution
• a reasonable amount of memory (to store podcasts and music)
• an internal GPS unit
• a keyboard (virtual or in hardware)
• the possibility to run custom programs (Java or native)
• a reasonable pricing
• the usual stuff expect of any mobile phone (address book, organiser, alarm clock, …)

I went for the LG KM900 because it fits this specs (well at least the manual says it does) and its price seemed a lot more reasonable than that of the iphone. So far so good, I bought it at the e-plus online store and had it shipped without any trouble whatsoever.

However I came to regret my descision after testing it for the first few days. I own the phone for about two months now and have worked out a considerable list of bugs that continue to thwart my initial enthusiasm for the device. Bugs include, but are not limited to:

1. Filesystem errors
   This is a good one because I have not seen this is quite some time. There are bugs in there that remind me of the days of the very first implementations of underdocumented MS filesystems in the Linux kernel. The effect vary from load screen that can be enjoyed (but not aborted) for 5 or more minutes, files or folders that can neither be accessed nor deleted to complete crashes of the operating system forcing you to remove the battery.
2. Poor GPS reception
   The device pretends to feature both GPS and A-GPS however I have not seen a position fix using pure GPS yet. This does not even seem possible during a clear night while standing in the middle of a large meadow. A-GPS on the other hand is only reliable if there is good mobile reception and if there is actual traffic on the line.
   Keeping this traffic up is not only stressful for the battery but the A-GPS module fails to generate traffic itself although continously queried for updated position fixes which effectively shuts down the positioning service as soon as you stop using the internet.
3. Poor battery run-time
   The battery run-time when surfing, using the GPS or doing anything even remotely challenging like listening to music is about 3-4 hours. This is extremely frustrating especially because the battery display consists of three equally bars that do not represent equal or even similar amounts of battery time. After about 6 hours of standby the fist bar disappears, then the second bar stays on for quite some time and the third one has 2-3 hours of standby but (and that’s the most annoying part) about 2-3 minutes if there is activity. This gives you phenomenal 3 minute warning before the device turns off automatically for lack of power.
4. Extremely picky video decoder
   Managing to encode podcasts to be playable on the device proves extremely difficult. The playback tends to crash halfway through the cast. I have not found a reliable way to encode podcasts using open source software which renders the video feature practically useless to me.
5. Focus on visual design instead of functionality
   The GUI is mostly designed to look pretty but not really tested for functionality. There are basic functions missing but useless shiny features can be found everywhere. For example the audio player is missing a “pause” function (although labeled with the standard pause label it effectively acts like a “stop” button), however there is a very nice and configurable visualiser (visualising music on the fly on a device with limited processing capabilities and battery run-time seems to be an extremely bad idea to me, but I’m sure the resources are well spent).

To sum this up this mobile phone (in my humble opinion) is poorly designed, poorly tested and should not be out on the market at this point. I’ve marked the date in the calendar when I can get rid of it and have something that actually lives up to it’s own specifications.