LG Shine KE970 Review - Organizer
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Richard Baguley Published on April 25, 2007 Comment on this |
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Synchronization Ease of Use (2.0)
The synchronization software that comes with the KE790 is very basic. So basic that it’s pretty much useless, as it can’t import contacts or calendar items from any common applications. It can only import from CSV (comma separated value) or tab delimited files, so the best you can do is to export your contacts from your PC contact program, and then hope that they import correctly into the KE790.
Synchronization Miscellaneous (5.0)
The Synchronization program can work over USB, Bluetooth or old skool serial port connections. It does not, however, support connections over TCP/IP over the Internet itself.
Synchronization Compatibility (0.0)
As mentioned above, the synchronization program doe not support any common programs directly. Instead, it relies on you exporting the information from your program in one of the text formats that it can understand.
Alerts (6.0)
There is no separate application for setting reminders or alerts: all of these have to be done through the calendar or the alarm clock. Any ring tone or MP3 file cam be used as an alert, so you can use your own music to remind you of upcoming appointments. It is also possible to set an alert to vibrate, but still leave the normal phone ringers turned on.
Over the Air PIM Sync (0.0)
The KE970 has no over the air synchronization features; you have to use the cable or a Bluetooth connection.
Personal information Management Cross Connections (0.0)
There are no cross connections between the applications on the KE790; there is no way to connect a contact with an appointment, for instance, or to link a phone number to a task.
Address Book
Adding Contacts (3.5) Adding our test contacts to the contacts application of the KE970 took an average of 28.5 seconds. That’s a little bit longer than most, and that’s because of the rather small keypad and the awkwardness of the scroll wheel which you use to move between fields.
Looking/Sorting/Search (4.0)
The easiest way to search for a contact is to (surprisingly enough) use the search feature of the contacts application. With this, you start typing the name of the contact you’re after, and it winnows down the list. You can then scroll down the list to the contact you want, and hit the call button to start dialing. You can also send a text or email message by selecting new message from the options menu. However, because there are no fields for job titles or company names in the contacts application, you can’t search on a company or job name. So, you’d better have a good memory for names; “thingy from that technology, inc” isn’t going to work.
Fields (1.0)
Only a very limited selection of fields are on offer for contacts on the KE970; name, mobile number, home number, office number, fax, email, group, ringtone, photo and memo. There are no fields for company name of job title, but these can be put into the memo field. However, this means (as we noted earlier) that you can’t search on a company or job title.
Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (0.0)
No voice dialing capabilities are present on the KE970; you have to do it the old fashioned way when you want to call someone.
Calendar
Adding Calendar Items (8.0)
We test the calendar features of phones by creating a series of appointments, ranging from a simple one (for lunch tomorrow) to a complex one (a weekly meeting that repeats and has a specific list of attendees). The KE970 was a partial success at this; we were able to create a simeple appointment in an average of 12.5 seconds. We could not create some of our more complex test appointments though, as there was no option to link contacts to an appointment, or to create a preliminary appointment. But the calendar could create repeating appointments (such as a weekly meeting or daily conference call).
Calendar Views (4.0) Only two views are possible on the KE970; a monthly and a daily view. The monthly view shows the entire month, with the current day highlighted and any days with appointments indicated with a small red triangle next to the date. The daily view is a simple list of the appointments on the day.
Fields (4.0)
Appointments in the calendar have only a small number of fields connected to them; they have a start and end time (or they can be all day appointments), the alarm type (on time or any one of a number of options for alarms before the set time), the subject, how they repeat and the expiration date.
Real World Testing (4.0)
The calendar app on the KE970 has the basics, but it is lacking the features that business users will need. There is no way to link people to appointments, and no way to create categories for appointments. There is a simple memo field, but this won’t be sufficient to help the busy keep track of their time.
ToDo/Tasks
Adding ToDo/Task (0.0)
There is no to-do/task manager on the KE970. If you need to keep track of your tasks, the only option is to put them into the calendar as appointments. So, the KE970 will score 0 points in this cateogory.
ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (0.0)
There is no to-do/task manager on the KE970.
Fields (0.0)
There is no to-do/task manager on the KE970.
Real World Testing (0.0)
There is no to-do/task manager on the KE970.
Notes
Adding Notes (3.6)
A simple memo application is the closest the KE970 comes to a notes application. This basic application allows you to create simple notes, but that’s it; notes cannot be categorized, sorted or otherwise manipulated. We found that creating a simple note took an average of 14 seconds; somewhat slower than some other phones. And the KE970 didn’t have an option to attach a due date to a note; notes are saved with a date, but that’s just the creation date.
Note Interface (2.0)
The notes interface is simplistic; you can’t sort or filter notes; they are presented purley in the order of their creation date.
Note Formatting (0.0)
There are no options to control the formatting of notes; you can’t choose a font, change the font size or otherwise control the layout of the note.
Voice Memo (7.0)
Voice memos can be recorded using the voice recorder application, which is available under the multimedia menu. This is a very simple application; the only options are the storage location of the memo (internal memory or memory card) or the recording mode (general or MMS, which heavily compresses the audio to attach it to an MMS message). The general mode can record memos of unlimited length, but the MMS mode limits the length of the recording to 30 seconds.
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