LG KC910 Renoir preview: First look

02 October 2008
LG KC910 Renoir represents the latest and greatest of the cameraphone breed. It tops latest connectivity technology such as HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS with serious image and video capabilities. Xenon flash, face tracking and blink detection...

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  • V
  • VenomRJF
  • T4e
  • 18 Nov 2008

Hi Tess,

A friend of mine has also got this phone on the Orange network and was having similar problems to you. He called Orange up who then sent him a text that contained all the necessery setting needed to connect to the Orange network. I would suggest that you give that a try first. I'm on T-Mobile and my menu system is a little different... but you can normally select to connect to a preferred network by going into; PHONE SETTINGS>>CONNECTIVITY>>NETWORK SETTINGS

I haven't checked the alarm thing out yet, as I always turn mine off... but I will check this out tonight and report back to you when I find out.

Hope this helps for now :)

    • T
    • Tess
    • mXP
    • 17 Nov 2008

    VenomRJF, 12 Nov 2008Hi Slade1, Like you I went from using SE and more recent... moreHi Venom
    You seem to be pretty clued up on the Renoir. I've had mine for a week now and am beginning to want to tear my hair out with a couple of things.

    Firstly. I have unlimited internet access with orange but my phone will only let me connect via wi fi - I don't seem to have the option to select an alternative method to connect. If you can do both whenever you choose, walking through it for me would be very useful.

    Secondly, I love lying in in the mornings and have, until now, loved the snooze function on mobiles. I have my alarm set to have a 5 min snooze interval but when the alarm goes off, pressing "snooze" instead of "stop" does nothing at all....the alarm tune keeps on playing until the mp3 or the default sound finishes. Does your snooze function work?

    Thanks for your time.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • mp{
      • 15 Nov 2008

      Hey guys, got the Renoir last week... Really loving it!!! The Camera is so good, and I really like having a touch screen phone having upgraded from my old N95!! But I have a question? Does anyone know which GPS navigation software is compatible? I've installed Google Maps but it doesn't have voice guidence and I've installed amAze as well, which doesn't seem to have maps!!! Really want to have GPS on it as my N95 had it and it was useful!!! Please help!!

      PS have managed to install Skype on there as well as Gizmo project for Voip calls (not tested either yet though!!)

        • S
        • Slade1
        • M4L
        • 12 Nov 2008

        VenomRJF, 12 Nov 2008Hi Slade1, Like you I went from using SE and more recent... moreThanks a lot!
        That's all I want to know :)

          • V
          • VenomRJF
          • T4e
          • 12 Nov 2008

          Hi Slade1,

          Like you I went from using SE and more recently the Nokia N95. Depending on how long you've been using these phones, you will find it a little frustrating moving over to LG's UI. But it's not that bad either. To answer you questions:

          1. The version of Opera Mini is 4.1.11355. When you go to the Opera site it does a good job of recognising your handset and will recommend which version to install. It will not recognise the Renoir so will instruct you to install the standard Opera Mini version. It's very simple and you will not have any problems :)

          2. I would say that you can try and install Java programs and they should work. I've put a few games on mine... some worked and some had a few issues with graphics so I just deleted them. It really comes down to trial and error in this area, I'm afraid.

          3. The Renoir runs these programs and displays virtual keys (at the bottom of the screen) for you to use - just like a normal phone. You have arrows (up, down, left, right, 1 and 2 buttons (like symbian) and a button to toggle for using numbers (though this is not displayed like a traditional keypad it's displayed in 2 rows). It's a decent enough solution.

          Hopefully I've explained that enough so that you don't need a picture... let me know if it isn't and I'll see what I can do :)

          Hope that's helped you out.




            • S
            • Slade1
            • SsF
            • 12 Nov 2008

            Hi, Venom!
            Thanks for the review!
            I'm waiting for Renoir (used only Nokia and SE before, not touchphones). And I am interesting in few things:
            1) What version of Opera Mini have you installed? Or it doesn't matter?
            2) Can I install any java programs and it will work without any problems?
            3) How can I use this pograms without real buttons (especially Opera Mini, jimm - mobile ICQ, etc.)? Could you place several photos of managing Opera at Renoir somewhere in the net?
            Waiting for your answer.

              • V
              • VenomRJF
              • 0p2
              • 11 Nov 2008

              Hi Shaizr,

              Use the phone's default browser to get to the Opera site and you can download Opera Mini straight from the site.

              The default browser isn't bad at all - but will take a little getting used to. I like the way that it tries to re-size sites that you visit. The only issue I have with it is an option for allowing higher quality photos - which opera mini does.

              Hope this helps :)

                • S
                • Shaizr
                • 0Fu
                • 09 Nov 2008

                VenomRJF, 02 Nov 2008So I've just got this phone through T-Mobile UK. It's small... moreHey Venom, can you link me up to how you got the opera mini of the renoir? Is it better than LGs Browser?

                thanks,

                  • V
                  • VenomRJF
                  • 0p2
                  • 05 Nov 2008

                  Hi Spidey... haha... no I don't work for GSM Arena. I'm just a gadget lover trying to help others out. Sadly I can't help with the INNOV8 question, as I don't know anyone that has that phone. But I'll post if I come across one :)

                    • S
                    • Spidey
                    • PGQ
                    • 05 Nov 2008

                    VenomRJF, 05 Nov 2008Hi Spidey... I've just checked this out for you and can con... moreHey Venom pal, Thanks for the detail explanation! Wooow... are you working for GSMArena? wow...
                    Btw, for the video audio sync problem, is this happen to Innov8 too?
                    If possible please help to check also... haha thanks again!

                      • V
                      • VenomRJF
                      • 0p2
                      • 05 Nov 2008

                      Hi Spidey... I've just checked this out for you and can confirm that there is the slightest delay when recording video at either 640x480 or 640x384 (wide). I also tried this at various quality (normal/fine/super fine) and the slight delay was still evident. I wouldn't say that it was as bad as half a second, mind... but there is a noticeable delay if you're a real stickler or an expert in this area.

                      Hope that helps, mate... I'd be happy to answer any further questions that you may have about the phone - if you're still interested, that is :)

                      To anyone else that is thinking about getting this phone... I've now started to dabble with the phone's email client using both POP and IMAP and am running into some problems:

                      1. Yahoo mail was doing something funny with my inbox messages. like retrieving mails that were sent all the way back in 2005 and putting it at the top of the inbox - even though I arranged it by date. Inspecting the mail a little further and I noticed that mails in my inbox were all dated as though they were sent sometime in the future - in the year 2057!

                      2. Google mail had a few issues... first through IMAP, it started retrieving my oldest mails first - not 30 of my latest. I couldn't find a way around this so opted for POP instead. While this seemed to work fine retrieving mails... it did not want to send mails with attachments. I loved my N95 for this i.e. take a photo and then mail it to friends and family. The Renoir was failing in this area. Mails with just text seemed to go through fine - but it would fail every time if you attached a picture.

                      I've called LG's support line on these issues and they couldn't help as they didn't even have the phone in their support office to look at. Same goes for T-Mobile. They are really surprised when I tell them what phone I've got as it's "not on our system yet"... they are then even more surprised when I tell them that I got it directly from them!

                      No one seems to be able to help with issues at this time as the phone is simply too new. Ahhh... the life of an early adopter :(

                      LG are going to be calling me in the next couple of days to try and give me an answer on the problems I'm getting - but the people I've spoken to so far sound like they know nothing of their products. One person told me, regarding my issue of Bluetooth connectivity with my iMac, is that it's simply not compatible - which I find hard to believe. I thought Bluetooth was a standard format. OK I'm not expecting a full sync... but at the very least some kind of file transfer. Nope... the person I was speaking to was adamant that it just wouldn't work with a Mac in any capacity - even though I've been using it as a mass storage device on my Mac.

                      LG! Get your act together, please. You have a real contender in the Renoir... it would be a shame to neglect it by not allowing support for more apps and resolving these other phone issues that I'm (and others I'm sure) having.

                      Sorry... rant over. I hope that all this is useful to you :)

                        • S
                        • Spidey
                        • PGQ
                        • 04 Nov 2008

                        VenomRJF, 02 Nov 2008So I've just seen a few questions here and I thought I'd gi... moreHey Venom pal, Thanks for detail review on the phone. How about the video recording in normal mode. VGA 30fps? Any sync problem? I heard that you can see the lips move half second after the sound... Please help to check as this is very critical for me to choose between this babe or Inov8. Thanks in advance!!

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • 0p2
                          • 02 Nov 2008

                          just got the phone too and mostly agree with venom's comments. a few other things that are annoying me is the lack of security like having a password to unlock the phone. the options they give aren't great and limited to asking for a password if the phones turned on, sim changed, or lock in immediately which i find really odd. voice calls sound good. speakers aren't so good and starts to rattle at high volumes. turning dolby on seems to sort this out a little but you can't turn it on all the time. i'm a little disappointed with the phone if i'm being honest :(

                            • V
                            • VenomRJF
                            • 0p2
                            • 02 Nov 2008

                            So I've just seen a few questions here and I thought I'd give a quick response:

                            Handwriting Recognition: Is supported - just like PDAs. As I've mentioned in my last post, you do get a stylus in the box.

                            Video Record Mode: It records in 640x480 and also 640x384 (wide).

                            Music format: MP3s and AACs have worked so far. Midi has not worked.

                            USB Charge: Supported. While I was using LGs PC suit and connected the phone via the USB cable it started charging. There's an option on how you want to use the device when you connect to USB i.e. PC Suite or Mass Storage Device. My advice... transfer files using Mass Storage, as it's USB 2. PC suite is slow going :)

                            WMV/DivX: Have not tried WMV files yet... but I have thrown in AVIs - which I'm disappointed to say is not supported unconverted. It's a real shame as I've been reading lots of good things about this phone's support for DivX and XviD without any need for converting. A small CD come with the phone with a converter. This was a little disappointing, for me.

                            Mac Support: I use an iMac and was utterly distraught when the phone just would not co-operate with it. Bluetooth pairing worked - but always fails when trying to send files to the phone. I am stuck with using the phone as a USB mass storage device.

                            So this phone has a hell of a lot of potential... but it will come down to the support that LG gives it.

                              • V
                              • VenomRJF
                              • 0p2
                              • 02 Nov 2008

                              So I've just got this phone through T-Mobile UK. It's smaller than I thought it would be... lighter too. It looks high-quality but the materials give it a cheap-ish feel. Having come from a symbian phone, I find the OS/UI very frustrating. I want to arrange things in a certain way or delete useless things, like links etc. but it just doesn't let you. Touch screen takes some getting used to but when you do it's actually OK. I found the virtual qwerty keyboard OK to use. Have not tried the handwriting recognition (phone comes with a small stylus to write with). I desperately want to install more widgets that are actually useful to me - but there is no clear way of doing this. If anyone knows then please share... I've installed some other Java based apps which seems to have worked. Browser is a little disappointing - thank goodness I managed to install Opera Mini :) Camera is awesome, of course. The amount of features is top-notch.

                              I'm still getting used to the phone - which I will keep... I just think that a Software Update is needed to fix a few thing, here and there. Though from what I hear... LG are not the best for doing this - or for allowing application support.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • fvK
                                • 01 Nov 2008

                                Does it have Handwriting Recognition?
                                The LG offical Website claims it does so does it?

                                  • S
                                  • Shaizr
                                  • 0Fe
                                  • 28 Oct 2008

                                  LK, 06 Oct 2008It's been confirmed at Mobile-review and smape.com that the... moreIm afraid the LG renoir doesnt record in 720x480, just 640x480 (I hate square video!) But that is a major step in the Pixon...look at its review sample on this site...its amazing! But then again i guess you will have to choose between Wifi (renoir) and 720x480 recording (Pixon).

                                    • G
                                    • Gijs
                                    • T3D
                                    • 25 Oct 2008

                                    On LG's own site, they claim playback function for WMA as well as WMV. I guess you can't get it more official than that.

                                      • G
                                      • Gijs
                                      • T3D
                                      • 22 Oct 2008

                                      Cynic, 21 Oct 2008Please answer! Does Renoir kc 910 play WMA music files and ... moreInstead of asking it all the time, you could have searched for it aswell. According to Phonearena.com, it can handle the following music-formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA

                                      This would indicate that it indeed can deal with WMA. I don't stand for their claim though, I can only tell when I get my sub prolonged and get me this phone.

                                        • C
                                        • Cynic
                                        • p$K
                                        • 21 Oct 2008

                                        Please answer! Does Renoir kc 910 play WMA music files and does Dolby work for WMA?