LG InTouch Max GW620 review

As for LG's home screen, we don't think it's sufficiently different to be worth bothering with, although we like the fact that the menu allows you to group icons together as you wish, so you can group the calendar and radio functions together under the multimedia heading, for example.

LG has also ditched the plethora of physical buttons traditionally found on Android phones. There are touch-sensitive home and back buttons, and a large menu button that sits where the trackball or five-way function button is usually found. The menu button even looks like it could be a trackpad of some kind, so we found it took a fair amount of getting used to, but, if you've never used another Android phone, you may not care.

Stuck on the Web
LG has also tweaked the Android Web browser slightly, with a sliding, see-through menu that pops in from the side to give you access to the browser's functions. This feature reminded us of some of the best mobile browsers we've tested. It doesn't look pretty, but it's handy to have, although we sometimes beckoned it accidentally while scrolling around.

The Web browser does a good job of rendering Internet pages and displaying them on the 76mm (3-inch) screen. There's no Flash support, but the browser is excellent compared to that of similar-looking phones that aren't powered by the Android OS, such as the Samsung Genio Slide.

Poker face
The GW620's touchscreen is of the resistive kind. This helps keep the cost down but the resistive screen isn't as bright and responsive as the capacitive type seen on the iPhone, for example. You'll need to apply a fingernail or firm pressure to make the phone do your bidding. But, as resistive screens go, this one isn't bad.

Unfortunately, the resistive touchscreen feels like a bad match for the touch-sensitive home and back buttons, and it doesn't help with the phone's occasional sluggishness either. Overall, we thought the phone felt numb and dull, unless we were using the keyboard.

Socially challenged
With its low price tag, the GW620 really aspires to be a phone for youth folk, so you've got to expect some social-networking gravy to have been poured all over it. Indeed, the GW620 has an app, SNS, which brings together updates from Facebook and Twitter. But SNS is nothing special, especially compared with the alternatives available from the App Market. There's too much wasted space in this app, and you can only see a few status updates at a time, which isn't very useful if you've got tonnes coming in each day.

Camera case
The GW620's 5-megapixel camera takes decent snaps, although the time between pressing the shutter button and capturing a photo seems like an eternity. The camera is also slow to write photos to the memory, so this isn't a phone for capturing a candid moment. The LED photo light proved welcome when we needed more brightness, though, and there are numerous camera options, including a face-recognition feature.

There's plenty of room for your snaps on a microSD card. There's also a good selection of options for sharing your photos with social-networking sites, and the Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity will keep uploads speedy.

Conclusion
There are two situations in which we'd recommend the LG InTouch Max GW620: when you absolutely must have a Qwerty keyboard on your Android phone, or when you're skint. The keyboard and the relatively low price are the biggest strengths of the GW620, but the phone is let down by the resistive touchscreen, unresponsive menu keys, and awkward attempts at tweaking the Android OS.

Edited by Charles Kloet