LG Incite with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

INTRODUCTION

WHAT'S HOT

(all images link to larger versions)

In hand, the LG Incite feels quite nice. It makes good use of rounded edges and smooth materials.

As we'll see later, the landscape keyboard of the Incite is very easy to use.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX

Here is the unboxing video for the LG Incite.

This is the box for the LG Incite.

Here is what comes in the box. You get the device and battery, an external stylus, travel charger, sync cable, plus software and reading materials. Not included is case or screen protector.

THE DEVICE

The LG Incite is covered almost entirely in a reflective coating. It's like one big mirror. Actually, it looks similar to the LG Shine.

The first thing you notice when turning on the screen is how small it looks relative to the front of the device. This gives the device a low-end feel. And, as we'll find out later, the screen quality on the Incite isn't as good as other similar devices.

    Closer in on the front we see the two dots for the proximity sensor which will automatically shut off the screen during a call when the phone is pressed against your face, much like the iPhone. To the right of that is the speaker, and to the right of that is a tiny LED indicator light.

    Going down to the bottom, we see that the Incite joins the ranks of Windows Mobile phones like the Touch HD that lacks a D-Pad. Here we have just a Call Start and End key, plus a mic in the center. The Call End key doubles as the Power button. And, what you can't see is the light sensor, which is a few millimeters above the Call End key.

Flipping over to the left side, we can appreciate the flush touchscreen. On the left, under a plastic flap, we have microUSB for syncing and charging, a volume rocker, and a nicely-placed soft reset hole.

On the bottom of the device, there is nothing.

    On the other side of the device, we have a dual action camera button (press lightly to focus, and all the way to take the picture), next to a standby/lock button. To the right of that is the external microSD slot, and to the right of that, we have a springy scroller, which helps to mitigate the loss of functionality caused by the D-Pad omission.

On the top of the device we have a 3.5mm headphone jack. Nice.

    And the Incite has no stylus built in, just like the Samsung Omnia. So, if you want to use the annoying external stylus by attaching it to the lanyard hook of your phone, this is what it looks like. I decided to roll without the stylus and rely on finger input - but sadly, the Incite isn't completely optimized to be finger-friendly. We'll talk more about this soon.

Flipping over to the back, we see another highly reflective surface, with a 3.0MP camera on the top.

    I took this close up so you can get an idea for the level of build quality on the Incite, which is low. Look at the camera lens and how it's slightly tilted in the recessed area. Also, what you can't see from this view but is present are some bubbles in the paint.

Taking off the back cover reveals the 1300mAh battery and SIM card slot.

And at night, this is what the Incite looks like - the Start Call and End keys glow white.

Here's a short hardware tour video of the LG Incite.

COMPARISONS

From left to right, we have the Verizon HTC Touch, the Samsung Omnia, LG Incite, HTC Touch HD, and Apple iPhone.

Here they are in reverse order, stacked.

And here is a profile shot.

    The Omnia and Incite are very similar - they are both slab-like devices with no keyboard, both have no inbuilt stylus, and both have a WQVGA screen (which is a pretty rare resolution for Windows Mobile). As we can see here, the screen on the Omnia is not only bigger by .3" than the Incite, but it is brighter too with more vivid colors. Both devices are on max brightness.

Click onto the next page where we'll talk about software on the LG Incite.