At a June 1st press conference in Seoul, LG announced the upcoming launch of their newest phone: the LG Town GT350. The first phone in LG’s new Town series of phones, the LG Town GT350 is designed and optimised for messaging and social networking integration. “The LG Town Series is the result of our effort to provide consumers with an exciting on-the-go social networking experience with better connectivity and easier access to the people who matter the most to them,” says Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. The Town GT350 attempts to follow in the footsteps of LG’s own KS360, while making some improvements and appealing to the changing desires of consumers. You can leave your own views on this phone or read those of others on the LG Town GT350 reviews page.
To accomplish this, the Town GT350 comes equipped with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for comfortable, intuitive messaging, in combination with T9 predictive text input to make it quicker and easier to have conversations with the people who are important to you. As a result of the heavy focus on social networking services but not heavy-hitting hardware, the Town GT350 is an ideal platform for users whose main concern is keeping in touch with friends and family, and not being on the cutting-edge; instant access to social networks and useful integration of updates and social media ensures you always have the latest information and lets you easily update your status on the go.
Though the Town GT350 sport a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a fairly sizeable screen, LG has managed to squeeze all of the features into a fairly small, stylish package. Weighing just 125g and measuring 10.7 x 5.2 x 1.5 cm, the Town GT350 is a highly-portable entertainment and communication platform with sleek and functional styling. Rounded corners allow for a comfortable, secure grip as you use the phone, and its stylish appearance is only enhanced by its bold colours; the Town GT350 is available in Aqua Blue, Light Silver, Purple, and Black.
LG specifically designed and honed the Town GT350′s user interface (rumoured to be based on the popular S-Class interface found in many of LG’s other devices) to provide quick, convenient, real-time interaction with friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, and other popular social networking sites. Additionally, similar to other smartphone manufacturers, LG has included a live social networking aggregator similar to HTC‘s Friend Stream and Sony Ericsson Timescape to gather info from various networks and presenting it in a single live stream to give you an overview of what is going on with all of your friends at a glance. Though it does not automatically update like other aggregators may, a simple tap of the refresh button collects the latest information; relying on user input for updates helps save battery and ensures you only get the information you want when you want it, with no wasted effort put into streaming info you’re not viewing.
Known for their high-quality QWERTY keypads with excellent feedback, easy-to-use layout and innovative integration with the phone design, LG has continued this tradition in the Town GT350 to create an ideal messaging and social networking environment. Convenient keypad placement and spacious layout of the four-row QWERTY keypad ensures you will have no problems with crowded fingers and helps to reduce mistyping. Additionally, the inclusion of customisable shortcut key makes it easy to access important functions and network operator-specific interfaces so you can get the most out of your mobile device without digging through menus and lists.
Using the Town GT350′s 2-megapixel camera, users can easily snap pictures or record video, then instantly upload it to their favourite social media site, send it via multimedia message, or email it to share it with their friends and family. The 3” 240×400 pixel TFT LCD resistive touch screen is capable of displaying 256,000 colours—not quite as many as most smartphones on the market, but it still manages to present the interface and media in vivid, bright colour sufficient for social applications. In addition to multimedia and email, the Town GT350 does support standard SMS text messaging in a threaded view, making it simple to let friends know what’s going on or check in on family.
Though much of the focus in designing the Town GT350 went into its usability as a social platform, LG did not neglect to include some essential multimedia features. The Town GT350 supports audio and video playback in various common formats, and you can set your favourite MP3s as ringtones. Stereo FM radio support allows you to listen to streaming music as well, and the 950 mAh battery provides sufficient power for plenty of playback time. The Town GT350 also features Bluetooth A2DP stereo support to listen to music using wireless headphones, and a 3.5mm headphone jack for traditional headphones as well. With microSD expansion support for up to 8GB 
of external memory, the Town GT350 can hold a sizeable collection of videos and music to bring with you on the go. Though the Town GT350 lacks 3G access that might make it a little easier to keep up with heavy social networking traffic, high-speed Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g connectivity and 2G EDGE network support keep you connected to all of your friends and family with internet access whether you’re at home or travelling. The built-in browser also allows you to surf some of your favourite websites, and Java support allows you to utilize helpful productivity tools and applications.
With the Town GT350 aimed at teenagers and students who are the most frequent social networkers, it is likely to come into competition with other budget mobile devices such as the popular Samsung Genio Slide and other similar phones. Expected to be available around July 1st on the O2 network in the UK, the Town GT350 is an affordable entry-point into the social networking device market with a solid set of essential features for a reasonable price. Though pricing has yet to be officially announced for all regions, the Town GT350′s middling features, average hardware, and spartan design suggest it will be around £100 before taxes and subsidies—a fair deal for the messaging functionality and connectivity it offers. We may be able to get hold of the handset for cheaper depending on what LG Town GT350 deals O2 offers.
Tags: LG, LG-GT350, LG-Town, LG-Town-GT350, QWERTY