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LG Phenom



LG Phenom
LG Phenom

The original list of licensees for Windows CE included Casio, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and several others, and was later joined by other companies including Sharp and Everex. The least well known of the original licensees was probably LG, a multi-billion dollar Korean manufacturer who had previously sold PCs under the name Lucky Goldstar. LG chose not to release products in the first wave of CE launches, but have now released the first Phenom model (see elsewhere and elsewhen in PC Pro for a review).

LG plan a range of machines, including colour and palm-sized, to be released over the course of the year. The first model is a monochrome machine running CE 2.0, and has a couple of features that might make it attractive for users with specialised requirements.

The Phenom is available with 8 Mb RAM, a PC Card and CF card slot, rechargeable NiMH battery pack, and a VGA output connector. Clearly the VGA output could represent a considerable saving for someone wanting to use an HPC to replay Power Point presentations. Later this year a colour version of the Phenom, the Phenom Ultra, should also be launched with a larger display, although full details are not presently available, and the palm-sized Pocket Phenom is due at the end of this year.

The Phenom should be available for £499. Battery life with the rechargeable seems to be about 4 hours. The screen is average at best, and the backlight didn't increase the clarity at all. One feature that attracted my attention is that the Phenom is almost exactly the same size as the HP620LX, which shares the distinction with the Newton 2100 of being the largest PDA this side of a proper Windows 95 laptop. The keyboard has smaller keys than the HP620, although uses the same button style of key; I would rate it as slightly less good than the HP, which is usable but not outstanding.

US models apparently have a built-in soft modem, although that doesn't seem to be enabled in UK models.

If you need an HPC for PowerPoint presentations, or demonstrating CE applications, the Phenom is probably cheaper than the HP620LX with a VGA PC Card, although you'll ptobably want to wait for the colour version, rather than the mono Phenom available now. Otherwise the Phenom is too large to be convenient for most PDA uses.

http://www.lgphenom.com



Words and design by:
Paul Lynch
Last updated: June 8, 1998

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