LG Renoir – Hands On

[CES 2009] The LG Renoir was launched in December in Europe and when asked, the LG representatives at the booth told us that they have information about this phone coming to the US. The most interesting feature of this Smartphone is the 8 Megapixel Touch Shot camera equipped with a protected Schneider-Kreuznach optics. First I had to open the lens cover (see photos in the gallery) to start the camera. I tried the face tracking features that allows to get a focus on a face by tracking it with your finger on the touch screen, when you get a lock (like in video games!) you just have to press on the display to snap a picture. I found the Touch Shot somewhat difficult, it shook the camera a bit each time.

The video mode has slow and fast motion, and it is pretty fun to use (see photos). The sound quality is powered by Dolby Mobile and it is supposed to be excellent, we had an on stage demo of it sounded very good to me. I liked the virtual keyboard, I prefer to use it in landscape mode / qwerty, in comparison to others I tested this one is better. The rest of the user interface is well designed and well organized, I did not try everything though. Other features include A-GPS, Geo-tagging, WiFi. I would love to get the Renoir (KC910) to live blog on the go, my BlackBerry’s (the old Curve) camera is crappy in comparison. Dear LG, could you please bring the Renoir to the US? Or should I ask the carriers nicely?

Quick Specs after the jump

• 8 Megapixel camera with Xenon Flash
• 3″ Full Touch Screen with Customizable Widgets
• Touch Shot Photography
• Various Shot Modes (Smile Shot, Beauty Shot, Art Shot)
• Face Tracking & Blinck Detection Manual & Auto Focus
• ISO 1600
• Geo-tagging
• MP3 Player with Dolby Mobile
• Slow MotionRecording & Fast Motion Recording
• DivX & Xvid Video Playback
• WiFi & A-GPS