LG - T310

Recently LG announced three new handsets to be released, which would be aimed mainly at the teen/youth/student market, with a strong focus on fashion, design, messaging and social networking. We are going to take a closer look at the first of those three handsets now, the LG Cookie Style T310.

The new Cookie range, which was previously announced under the 'Wink' brand, compromise a set of handsets that deliver a strong set of features, at an entry level price point. The Cookie handsets should be available on contract at all price levels, as well as appearing as a Pay As You Go handset.

The Cookie Style T310 is a slim device, measuring just 11.9mm, and very light, weighing in at 86.5g. The handset sports a a QVGA TFT Resistive display, supporting up to 256,000 colours and measuring 2.8 inches from point to point. With a resistive touchscreen, the T310 also supports handwriting recognition for data entry, and the Cookie Style offers a bright, colourful, cartoon style user interface, which should appeal to the younger user. Another indicator to the youthful appeal of the Cookie Style is the colour variants the handset will be available in, these include Black and Red, White and Orange, Black and Titan Silver and Pink and White.

For a budget handset the T310 offers a decent set of features, and the main focus of the phone is integration with all the popular social networking platforms. This is achieved with support for LG's proprietary SNS integration software, which allows updates, and postings to be delivered straight of the main standby screen of the phone. The T310 offers quad band GSM support, and delivers data transfer via Class 10 GPRS and EDGE, and some variants of the handset will also include WiFi 802.11 b/g, but you will need to check with the vending network before hand to ensure the model they supply supports this feature. Bluetooth 2.1 is included on the handset, with A2DP support, which allows you to stream stereo music to a compatible wireless headset. Should you prefer to use a wired headset, the Cookie Style incorporates a 3.5mm audio jack, so you can use your own preferred choice of headset.

Music is an important part of the T310 set up; as well as a full media player, with support for various video and music formats, the device also includes a stereo FM radio, with RDS support, and has a built in antenna, so you can listen to the radio without needing to plug in a headset. There is plenty of storage space available to store music, too, as the T310 includes a memory expansion port which allows you to increase the memory with Micro SD memory cards. The T310 will support cards up to 4GB in size. A digital camera is included in the device, a standard 2.0 Megapixel affair, with support for video recording. Video clips on the handset are recorded at QCIF resolution at 15 fps.

All in, given the expected price range of the phone, the LG Cookie Style T310 delivers a decent performance, and a good set of features. The handset is not without competition in what is a crowded budget market, but the Cookie Style should have enough to hold its own.