LG Cookie Fresh GS290 - A Quality Touchscreen Budget Phone

If you want an affordable mobile that looks spectacular and has a few snazzy features, the LG Cookie Fresh GS290 is definitely worth consideration. However, is the LG Cookie Fresh better than its predecessors? While it certainly has a variety of awesome features and apps, the sacrifices made in the name of keeping its price low may be a disappointment for some.

Slim and slender, the LG Cookie Fresh has a lovely streamlined look. Along with being available in pink, blue, white, or black, it's quite lightweight as well, making it easy to slip into a pocket or a handbag. Its gorgeous three inch WQVGA touchscreen is its shining gem when it comes to looks, however. Bright and vivid, it makes browsing and watching videos an absolute treat. Unfortunately, those looking for an easy user experience may be somewhat hampered in that the screen is resistive.

Its user interface is unique as well, full of nifty icons, some truly adorable avatars and three home screens. Unfortunately, its resistive touchscreen makes manipulating these icons rather difficult, as not only are they hard to press, but they're very small as well. However, the phone's shortcut key does wonders for helping you multitask, and its tendency to vibrate when accomplishing different actions helps enormously in letting you know when a touch registers. However, there may be some who prefer their phones a bit less buzzy. Difficult screen aside, the user interface is easy to master, with no glitches or sluggishness.

Its sound quality is decent for both calling purposes and listening to your favourite tunes. It comes with all the basics you need for enjoying music, including a 3.5 mm headphone jack, an FM radio, and a quality media player as well. Its speaker phone also provides crisp sound, which is an impressive trait in a budget phone. You'll also find that the volume buttons are easy to access as well.

Unfortunately, its camera is where the LG Cookie Fresh fails. With only 2 megapixels, no flash, and no digital zoom, it's likely that you won't get very many quality shots out of this camera. However, if you're just looking for a bare bones camera that you can use for taking snapshots while at the pub or picnicking at the park, it should serve its purpose fairly well. Its video recording capabilities are also relatively decent.

When it comes to staying connected, the LG Cookie Fresh can only provide so much. There's no wi-fi, 3G, or GPS, but you do get Bluetooth, USB, and GPRS as well as spiffy quadband technology. There are various cheap mobile phone deals that Network providers offer, these deals are great in terms of discounts. In regards to social networking, you can tap out emails and texts with surprisingly little effort thanks to its alphanumeric onscreen keypad. Its predictive text feature is also useful.

Considering its large screen and assortment of apps, it shouldn't come as a shock that the LG Cookie Fresh only lasts a day or two off the charger. However, with around five hours of talk time and 390 of standby, you have enough for casual use at least. At 32 MB, you don't have a terrible amount of memory either, but this can be boosted easily with a microSD stick.

The LG Cookie Fresh GS290 is definitely worth checking out. Unlike many budget phones, it doesn't sacrifice call quality, sound, or appearance to keep its price within the range of hipsters' and college students' budgets. However, its lack of wi-fi and camera flash may be a disappointment nevertheless.