Hands-on: LG's Sexy Prada Phone

A couple of months before Apple first showed its iPhone prototype, LG and Prada announced the results of their collaboration: the LG Prada phone. This week at 3GSM in Barcelona I took it out for a bit of a test drive. Like the iPhone, the Prada phone sports a large touch sensitive display that covers most of the front of the device. The LG Prada phone's touch screen is based on the same technology that was used for the LG Chocolate's touch controls, which in my experience works much better in this particular application. The biggest benefit to this type of touchscreen has to be the fact that the screen is hard and durable, just as would be any other non-touch sensitive display. On top of that, the display's touch sensitive cover is mounted flush with the body of the device, leaving no nasty corners for dust to accumulate, and allowing users to simply wipe the display off on their pants leg.
That, sadly, is something that they will need to do often since the touch screen handles all input into the phone. There is no slide out keypad or other controls, save a few dedicated buttons on the sides of the phone. Your finger does the walking and controls most every aspect of the phone's user interface. The UI itself reminds me of the Linux based system used in Motorola's A series devices. Vertically oriented tabs run up and down the right edge of the menu, organizing the many options into something more manageable. The UI itself is very stark looking, with most everything being white on black, but it seems effective none the less.
Where the UI breaks down a bit is when the user needs to dial a number or send text in an email or SMS message. The on-screen numeric keypad supports T9 like a normal handset would, but the lack of tactile feedback really limits its effectiveness. It works, as you can see in the sample photos, but it was not exactly optimal.
But with all that said, I still am rather fond of the phone. It is pretty, compact, and very holdable. The UI's interesting little touches, such as being able to drag the standby screen's analog clock around with your fingertip, are quite endearing. It might not be the best choice for an everyday phone for most people, but I think it will certainly find its mark with certain groups of phone buyers.