LG GD880 Mini review: Going minimalist

Introduction

The LG GD880 Mini is a looker. Quite the way to start really, but the Mini isn’t all about looks. From the hardware design through the high-res screen to the software – everything was crafted by skillful hands. Beauty is function in design – nothing is more complex than it needs to be, but beneath the deceptive simplicity there’s a myriad of functions.

LG GD880 Mini official photos

The LG GD880, despite its name, is not a small phone, in the sense of some recent minis (*cough*X10mini*cough*). It is darn small next to the LG BL40 New Chocolate, but by no means tiny.

Indeed, Mini also refers to the design concept – there are barely any hardware keys on the device, and the GD880 has one of the cleanest faces in business.

Minimalism does not mean lack of functionality. The scratch-resistant 3.2” display of the impressive WVGA (480x854 pixels) resolution opens the door to HTML5 and Flash capable browsing over a zippy HSPA connection.

Then there’s the multitasking, the social networking, and the multimedia features. Here’s a list of goodies that make the Mini quite big in terms of functionality.

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM support and dual-band 3G
• 7.2Mbps HDSPA and 2Mbps HSUPA
• 3.2" 256K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen display of WVGA (480x854 pixels) resolution; multi-touch support, scratch resistant surface
• Latest S-Class UI; Flash and HTML5 support
• Cool minimalist styling and great build quality
• 5 megapixel auto focus camera; image stabilization, geo-tagging, face detection, Smile Shot, Beauty and Art shot
• VGA@15fps video recording
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with DLNA and built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support
• Bluetooth with A2DP and microUSB v2.0 (chagrining)
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot; up to 32GB cards supported
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• 3.5mm audio jack and Dolby mobile
• DivX/XviD support
• Social networking integration (Facebook, Twitter)
• Accelerometer sensor for automatic screen rotation; proximity sensor
• Office document viewer
• Smart dialing

Main disadvantages:

• Laggy software
• Display has poor sunlight legibility
• Flash and HTML5 support not good enough for watching videos
• Below-par audio quality
• GPS functionality is left bare, not even Google Maps preinstalled

The LG GD880 Mini runs LG’s S-Class OS, which keeps it outside of the smartphone tussle, but it also gives LG complete freedom to design it – and they’ve spared no effort to draw out each element in great detail, shadows, gloss and all.

LG GD880 Mini live shots

Make it simple and make it beautiful too – this seems to be the clear objective and LG did well for all we’ve seen so far. But we know you’re keen to see looks translated into performance, so let’s get started.