LG Cyon LH 2300

Author: autiger_seoul

About six months ago I joined the touch phone revolution by purchasing the LG Cyon LH2300 from my local LG OZ store here in Korea.  Ever since the iPhone launched I had wanted one, but I’m a Verizon guy and AT&T’s service wasn’t very good at my house, so I was stuck with a regular slide phone.  When I moved back to Seoul in 2008 I decided to do some internet searching about Korean handsets and buy a nice phone.   I soon realized that the cell phone here is much more than a phone.  Locals here use their handsets for everything from paying bills to watching free live TV (T-DMB) to scanning to ride public transportation and even to buy a whopper at BK.

After searching around, I decided to purchase an LG LH2300 partly because of the price.  Korean phones are immensely expensive, to the tune of 800 dollars or more.  When I purchased my phone, it had been out for about 4 months and therefore had come done in price, to a more reasonable price of 200 dollars.

The first thing I noticed when I powered on the phone was an OZ enabled screen, this means that the phone has full internet capabilities (as long as you pay for it) as there is no WIFI, which is something I wish it had.  One helpful feature that it does have is a wireless phonebook and data port.  You just place your old phone next to it and use the transfer data feature on each phone and all of your old contacts are synced, even if your old phone is not LG.   I also noticed that the phone has Bluetooth and easily syncs with my Macbook Pro (after I set my own password).  At first glance, I was pretty happy with my purchase.

When I took the phone around with me for a few days and I began to explore the detailed features of it, I became pleasantly surprised to find out that I have free live TV right on my phone!  Here in Korea it’s called DMB and many of the new phones have it as a standard feature.  I had already loaded about 300 songs on the external memory card but having live TV at anytime is great!  Especially because I use public transportation almost everyday so I can still watch my sports while on the subway or bus.

One of the most exciting features on the phone is the capability to “scan” the phone to purchase things directly from your bank account.  You can have a T-Money card (subway card) added for a few dollars, then you can use your phone to “tap” in and out of the public transportation here in Seoul.  Some people take it even farther and use as a method for purchasing items at local retailers.  The money is added up and taken out of your account in a lump sum at the end of each month.  You will have to have a valid credit card account in order to use this feature.

A TV news Broadcast using South Korea's T-DMB mobile TV feature included on most new handsets

After finding out all these cool features on my new handset, I was really excited to see what other things were hidden inside the OS.  Here is where the phone loses some of its excitement.  First off, the OS is a little clunky.  It’s a touch phone but it is not a heat tracking system.  It feels like some of the older PDAs of the 90’s that had a thin cover over the screen and you had to use a stylus pen to interact with it.  I used a stylus pen for the first month or so but now I use my thumb and it’s OK; sometimes I do still hit the wrong letter when sending text messages though.  Overall the calendar features are what you would expect from a smart phone but the “clunkiness” of the OS really hinders the phone.  Another thing that I don’t like about the phone is that even though it is advertised to play mp3’s, you can’t drag and drop mp3 files to the phone. You have to use the included LG PC Manager Software.  I know that iTunes must be used for the iPhone but that is software that is easy to use and actually intuitive; this software is confusing and just a bad experience.  It took me over 5 hours to transfer 250 songs and the worst part is that it does not recognize play lists.  So after you transfer the songs, all you have is 300 songs in one play list!  This is quite annoying to me.

Overall the phone is a quality phone, and the mobile banking, T-Money system, and live TV features are really cool things to have on a phone.  I just wish that the OS and the computer sync software were a lot better.  One other thing to note is there is not a fully functioning app store for the phone.  You can buy certain apps on the phone, but not from your computer and you have to have the 3G internet service to log on to the service.  The hardware of the phone is great, but the software has proven to be detrimental.  That’s such a disappointment because the phone has a lot of potential to really be a great iPhone competitor with its features but the OS and software is so bad that it doesn’t even come close to matching Apple’s handset.

Here is a summary list of the LH2300 features:

Pros:

• Great Hardware, from battery life, to physical size, to call quality
• Amazing internet banking features
• Free live TV
• Mp3, Mp4 and divx video playback
• Video recording with camera mode
• Camera mode has many different settings and even a few editing options

Cons:

• The OS and sync software are horrible
• Can’t play mp3 or mp4 without a very long conversion process
• Doesn’t support play list
• The camera is only 3 MP and doesn’t have a flash