LG KC910 Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist and a leading exponent of the Impressionist movement. He created some of the world's most celebrated paintings.

The LG KC910 'Renoir', on the other hand, is a mobile telecommunications device with an eight-megapixel camera, a touchscreen and video playback capabilities.

Quite why these two entities share the same surname is something that only the zany marketing types at LG will be able to answer to any degree of satisfaction, but given the somewhat bizarre names the Korean company is famous for coming up with (Chocolate, anyone?), christening one of its products after a famous 19th century artist seems almost sensible.

We're guessing the choice of moniker might have something to do with the phone having aspirations of artistic greatness, and when you take into account the fearsome camera specification and the robust multimedia capabilities (the Renoir supports both DviX and Xvid footage and also showcases Dolby Mobile for better quality music) it becomes easier to stomach the hubristic comparison - but only just.

The Renoir is also the next entry in LG's prestigious line of touchscreen mobiles, following on from the LG Prada and Viewty. The three-inch display is a little wimpish when placed alongside the muscular 3.5-inch screen of Apple's iPhone, but this is largely due to the Renoir's more modest proportions. However, while it's easier to slip into your pocket, the phone is still undeniably chunky.

The touchscreen itself is something of a disappointment, to be honest. Rather than adopt capacitive technology (which is what's used in the LG Secret and Apple's iPhone) LG has instead plumped for a resistive touchscreen interface. In layman's terms this essentially means the screen requires pressure to register interaction.

While this form of tech is hardly outdated (the Nintendo DS and LG's aforementioned Viewty also used resistive touchscreens) it simply doesn't feel as smooth and responsive as a capacitive display.

There are advantages: because it relies on pressure rather than skin-to-screen contact, you'll be able to use a stylus or a gloved hand (something you can't do on the iPhone). However, this also means that if you happen to place the phone in your pocket without engaging the lock, you run the risk of accidentally dialling someone's number. And no one really wants to have a conversation with your genitals.

Also, because the screen is covered with a thin layer of deformable plastic, it's more likely to pick up bumps and dents if you happen to be an especially careless buffoon. It's a far cry from the air of quality that exudes from the scratch-resistance glass screen of the iPhone.

With such an impressive megapixel count you'd rightly expect the Renoir's camera to be a bit special, and to a certain extent it doesn't disappoint. Shot quality is way above-average and there are loads of features that take the stress out of casual snapping. Smile detection only takes a photo when your subject is sporting a cheesy grin and blink detection operates along similar lines, only executing the shot when it can see the whites of your subject's eyes.

Video playback is equally pleasing, with the much-hyped DviX and Xvid capability proving to be quite a selling point, especially when you consider how many people are using these two formats to encode movies and TV shows these days. The three-inch screen could do with being just a smidgen larger but for the most part we found it perfectly comfortable to use as a video playback device.

Further inspection uncovers more positive points. Wi-fi makes web browsing a joy (provided you're within range of a wi-fi spot, naturally) and the inclusion of Dolby Mobile results in some seriously appealing music playback (although it has to be noted that the media player is lacking in terms of options).

Many of the touchscreen phones we've reviewed recently unfairly push gaming into the background due to the difficulty of controlling the action in the absence of a dedicated D-pad and buttons. LG tends to make a little more effort when it comes to the interactive experiences offered by its handsets and the Renoir is no exception.

The pre-loaded Flying Dice and Wheel Mania games are both highly competent visually and in their use of the touchscreen interface; the former in particular offers several different play modes (including multiplayer Snakes and Ladders).

The key issue here is whether or not future releases will appear that are tailored specifically towards the Renoir. Alas we doubt it, as most games developers are either sticking with traditional Java games, coding for Nokia's N-Gage or flocking to Apple's App Store. Still, what's offered 'out of the box' with the Renoir is much better than what we're accustomed to finding pre-loaded on the majority of phones and the company should receive praise for that, at least.

Elsewhere, niggles of both a minor and major pitch unfortunately bog down what might have otherwise been a highly commendable piece of technology. Texting on the Renoir is pretty nightmarish, for example. It utilises an onscreen QWERTY keyboard which can be used either in landscape or portrait mode (the built-in accelerometer senses which way you're holding the phone).

Typing on the iPhone's screen is often awkward but on the smaller display of the Renoir it's almost painful; the generally unresponsive nature of the resistive touchscreen makes swift texting almost impossible, which isn't a good thing when you consider how many texts the average mobile user sends in a day.

Also, the design of the phone might present a problem to some of the more fashion-savvy consumers out there. It feels very cheap, with dour-looking grey plastic being the main component used in its construction. There's also a puzzling lack of weight for such a sizable handset.

However, by far the most significant problem is the operating system. While the customisable home page is a welcome feature (and is similar to the praiseworthy interface we liked so much on the Samsung Tocco), it's disappointingly sluggish. Moving from one screen to the next causes an annoying delay and you'll often find your fingers moving faster than the phone can keep up with.

While the Renoir represents a decent progression from the Viewty and is a superlative multimedia player, you can't help but feel that LG has been caught napping here. Rivals such as the Samsung Pixon, Blackberry Storm and (of course) the all-conquering iPhone have upped the ante so drastically since the Viewty first appeared that it simply isn't enough for a phone to offer a touchscreen display any more - if it doesn't also possess a slick interface then grumblings of discontent are likely to follow from the mobile-buying public.