LG's first U.S. smartphone Incites praise

Last week, we told you about LG's first foray into the U.S. smartphone market with the LG Incite. Today, we have the review. We're not crazy about its curious name (though it does make for corny blog entry titles), but we do have to say it's a pretty decent Windows Mobile smartphone, especially if you're into touch-screen handsets.

The LG Incite is as reflective as the LG Shine, but with a large 3-inch touch screen instead.

LG Incite is LG's first U.S. smart phone

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News.com)

The gorgeous QVGA display seems to blend in with the rest of the phone's surface, and when the screen is idle, you could almost use it as a mirror. The LG Incite's vendor image we saw last week made it seem as if it has a large lower bezel, but up close, it doesn't look that bad. The Incite's touch screen isn't anything new--it's a resistive screen that can be used with either a finger or a stylus, plus it has haptic vibrations that respond to your touch. You'll have to read our review to see what we thought about other design aspects of the phone.

But the main thing about smartphones are their features, and it's the same with the Incite. Since it has Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, it comes with Microsoft Office Mobile, Microsoft ActiveSync (with Microsoft Direct Push technology), Windows Media Player 10, and plenty of other productivity features. Not only that, the Incite supports both Wi-Fi and HSDPA, which we're glad to see.

We did encounter a few problems though--we thought the interface felt sluggish, and the accelerometer often took a second or so to kick in (When we rotate the phone from portrait to landscape mode for example).

The Incite also comes with a 3-megapixel camera and a music player, with access to AT&T Mobile Music, XM Radio, and even a FM radio transmitter. The phone is available now for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and a mail-in rebate.

Check out our full review of the LG Incite for more details.