LG U880 review

The handset's speaker isn't the best for listening to music. The provided headset delivers better quality and loud volume, which is just as well as its connector to the handset is proprietary so you can't use your own headset. Music playback stops whenever you do something with the handset, such as look for another application.

What really mitigates against the U880 warranting the music phone label though, is the relatively small amount of built-in memory. Our review handset had just over 70MB free. That won't store many songs, and looks paltry in comparison to other handsets. You can boost it with microSD cards, but you'll need to buy them.

That memory also stores shots from the camera -- again there are good and bad points to this. You can use the front screen as a viewfinder, initiating the camera by holding down the side button. You don't have access to making settings but opening the flip provides this via the main screen, and camera controls are easy to use. There's a range of white balance settings that includes indoor, daylight and cloudy conditions, a night shooting mode, self timer and black and white, negative and sepia effects.

There is no flash though, and images taken with the camera left a lot to be desired. Try as we might we couldn't avoid them being blurred, and colours were not as sharp as we'd like.

Performance
Voice and 3G video calls were acceptable with this handset, both in terms of quality and volume. We weren't troubled by the battery falling over, though as usual with 3G handsets, it was drained most fiercely during 3G usage.

There are plenty of controls for accessing all the handset's features, and once you get used to them getting around is fast and easy. The main problems with the LG U880 are that it is a mediocre music and camera phone. With so many models offering better on both fronts, you might want to shop around.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Kate Macefield