{"id":955,"date":"2009-04-14T14:24:25","date_gmt":"2009-04-14T14:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/?p=955"},"modified":"2009-05-29T16:02:59","modified_gmt":"2009-05-29T16:02:59","slug":"tocco-ultra-vs-lg-arena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/04\/tocco-ultra-vs-lg-arena\/","title":{"rendered":"Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition Vs LG Arena"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\n<!--\n.divimgleft {\nborder:0; \nwidth:60; \nheight:60; \nfloat:left;\nmargin:5px\n}\n.divimgright {\nborder:0; \nwidth:120; \nheight:120; \nfloat:right;\nmargin:5px\n}\n.tablediv {\nclear:both;\npadding:2px;\n}\n.blinks {\ntext-decoration: none;\nfont-weight:bold;\n}\na {\ntext-decoration: none;\n}\n-->\n<\/style>\n<div class=\"tablediv\">\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/images.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/lg-vs-samsung.jpg\" class=\"divimgleft\" >This year we&#8217;re going to see a lot of high end phones all trying desperately to compete with the iPhone and each other. The iPhone, love it or hate it, has completely changed the way that manufacturers and users think about their phones. Its not just all about what it looks like, but what it does, and how it does it. Over the last 2 years, the number of touch screen handsets available has gone through the roof, with just about every manufacturer now making full touch screen, finger friendly devices.<\/p>\n<p>Samsung have had massive success already with the <a class=\"blinks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/product\/16978.htm\">Omnia<\/a> and the <a class=\"blinks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/product\/16288.htm\">Tocco<\/a>, and LG did brilliantly with the <a class=\"blinks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/product\/15068.htm\">Viewty<\/a>. These two manufacturers have always been fierce rivals, always wanting to out do the other one, so with them both releasing new handsets at the same time, I thought I&#8217;d put the <a class=\"blinks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/product\/18743.htm\">Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition <\/a>up against the <a class=\"blinks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/product\/18744.htm\">LG Arena<\/a> to see how they compare.<\/p>\n<p>Now, like most people in the mobile phone world, I&#8217;ve known these two phones were coming for a while, and always thought they were going to be 2 versions of the same thing, but when I powered them up I realised this wasn&#8217;t the case.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"tablediv\">\n<p><strong>LG Arena:<br \/>\n   <\/strong><img src=\"http:\/\/images.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/LG\/arena.jpg\" style=\"float:left; width:120; height:219; margin:5px; \" >The first thing I noticed about the Arena is that its actually quite a small and compact looking device. Brushed steel finish and dark glass screen make it look like a solid phone that will take its fair share of knocks. The screen is clear and bright, and  although it did appear to be slightly smaller than that on the <a class=\"blinks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/product\/17668.htm\">LG Cookie<\/a> the resolution of the screen is 4 times that of most mobile phones, making this phone perfect for viewing photos and video playback.  For the controls there are just 3 touch sensitive buttons under the screen. <\/p>\n<p>The Arena is the first handset to run the new S-Class menu system, which replaces the one found on the LG Viewty which I&#8217;d found to be a bit awkward and limited at times. S-Class works really well, its smooth and quick to respond. The centre button launches a shortcut widget, which is basically a 3D cube that you rotate to jump straight to your contacts, media, widgets and full menu, and you can customise these if you want by adding widgets &#8211; small applications that let you play music, write messages, check facebook etc, without having to dig through all the other menu screens to find it. The only slight negative I found here was that the full menu screen was a little overwhelming, due mainly to the number of icons on it &#8211; especially in landscape mode. <\/p>\n<p>Landscape mode works quite well, although as with most phones there was a slight delay before the display changed. On the messaging screens, rotating the screen provides you with a qwerty keyboard, and portrait gives you the standard keypad layout out that you&#8217;ll find on standard mobiles. Haptic feedback is on by default, but found it to be a little annoying after a while! <\/p>\n<p>The Camera is easy to use, and has a surprising amount of settings for a camera phone &#8211; pretty much everything can be adjusted to help you get the best picture. In terms of camera features, it has image stabilisation and geo-tagging, which will allow you to see where your photo was taken if you use online photo sharing sites such as flickr or Picassa. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"tablediv\">\n<p><strong>Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition:<br \/><\/strong><img src=\"http:\/\/images.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/samsung\/Tocco-UE.jpg\" style=\"float:left; width:120; height:221; margin:5px; \" >The Tocco Ultra Edition is a slightly different handset to the LG Arena, apart from the obvious difference (the slide down keypad) they appear on paper to do similar things, but there are a numbe rof differences. Size wise, its about the same as the Arena although it is a little heavier &#8211; not that its a bad thing, it certainly feels solid in your hand. Screen size looks the same, but is actually 0.2&quot; smaller and the resolution is lower. The screen is an AMOLED screen, which uses less power and provides sharper colours than a standard TFT LCD. <\/p>\n<p>The Tocco Ultra Edition has physical keys under the screen rather than touch sensitive ones, and these are used for answering and ending calls and a &#8216;back&#8217; button for returning to the previous screen. The menu system here is a little more conventional, and those of you who have used Samsung handsets in the past will find it all very familiar. Everything is laid out in a clear and easy to use manner. The Tocco Ultra Edition also uses widgets to let you launch\/control applications a little bit quicker.<\/p>\n<p>Landscape mode is very different on this phone to that on the LG Arena in as much as it&#8217;s only available in certain screens &#8211; mainly the media gallery, unlike the Arena where its available in most applications. Messaging on the Tocco Ultra Edition is simpler than the Arena, there is no qwerty keyboard, but you do have the choice of using either an on screen numerical keyboard or the physical keypad on the phone. I&#8217;m used to typing on a qwerty keyboard now, so I found this to be a little strange at first, but if you want to take the step to touchscreen, but don&#8217;t want to re-learn how to use your mobile, then the Tocco Ultra Edition is an excellent cross over device.<\/p>\n<p>The Camera on the Tocco Ultra Edition is a step up from that on the LG Arena, it&#8217;s 8MP rather than 5, although unless you&#8217;re planning on printing your photo&#8217;s out in large sizes or doing a lot of editting and cropping, you probably won&#8217;t notice much of a difference. Other features on board include image stabilisation and geo-tagging &#8211; the same as the LG, but the Tocco Ultra Edition also has smile and face detection. In a nutshell, this will focus on people&#8217;s faces in the photo and removes the need for you to time the shot just right, just press the button and the camera will take the picture once everyone in the frame is smiling: <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"tablediv\">\n<p><strong>Features at a glance:<br \/>\n   <\/strong>The  handsets are quite similar, and the full list of features is quite long, so I&#8217;ve highlighted some of the key features below. If there is something else that you want to see listed here, leave a comment below:<\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\"  cellpadding=\"5\" cellspacing=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><a class=\"blinks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/product\/18744.htm\" title=\"Sim Free LG Arena\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/100pixelp\/18744.jpg\" alt=\"Sim Free LG Arena\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" border=\"0\" title=\"Sim Free LG Arena\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><a class=\"blinks\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/product\/18743.htm\" title=\"Sim Free Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/100pixelp\/18743.jpg\" alt=\"Sim Free Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" border=\"0\"title=\"Sim Free Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"20%\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td width=\"20%\">\n<div align=\"center\">LG Arena <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"20%\">\n<div align=\"center\">Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<p>Size (mm) <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">105.9 x 55.3 x 12<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">110 x 51.5 x 12.7<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">Weight<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">105g<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">105g<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">Screen Size <\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">3&quot;<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">2.8&quot;<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">Screen Resolution <\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">480 x 800 <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">240 x 400 <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">Camera Resolution<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">5MP<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">8MP<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">GPS<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/tick.jpg\" alt=\"Has GPS\" title=\"Has auto focus\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/tick.jpg\" alt=\"Has auto focus\" title=\"Has auto focus\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">Wi-Fi<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/tick.jpg\" alt=\"Has Wi-Fi\" title=\"Has Xenon Flash\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/spacer20.jpg\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">Physical Keypad <\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/spacer20.jpg\" alt=\"Has Keypad\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/tick.jpg\" alt=\"Has LED Flash\" title=\"Has LED Flash\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">Radio &amp; MP3 Player <\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/tick.jpg\" alt=\"Has Radio &#038; MP3 Player\" title=\"Has Image Stabiliser\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/tick.jpg\" alt=\"Has Image Stabiliser\" title=\"Has Image Stabiliser\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\"> Internal Memory (Max Mem. Card) <\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">8GB (16GB) <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\">80MB (16GB) <\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td height=\"30\">3.5mm Headphones<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/tick.jpg\" alt=\"Has 3.5mm Headphone socket\" title=\"Supports GeoTagging\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td height=\"30\">\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/graphics\/misc\/Blogs\/spacer20.jpg\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>In Summary:<\/strong><br \/>\n   Both handsets do a great job, but after playing with them for some time now, I&#8217;m sure that they will both appeal to different types of user. If you&#8217;re someone who likes their phone to do everything a phone can possibly do, or are a heavy text\/email user and prefer a qwerty keyboard, then I&#8217;d say that the Arena will suit you better. The Tocco Ultra Edition is the perfect choice if you want a high resolution camera, like the idea of a touch screen phone, but don&#8217;t want all the bells and whistles normally associated with touch screen devices. <\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve got one of these handsets &#8211; let us know your thoughts below.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<!-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v. 2.0.27.4 -->\n<div class=\"quads-location quads-ad1\" id=\"quads-ad1\" style=\"float:none;margin:0px 0 0px 0;text-align:center;\">\n<div id=\"bari-widget\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year we&#8217;re going to see a lot of high end phones all trying desperately to compete with the iPhone and each other. The iPhone, love it or hate it, has completely changed the way that manufacturers and users think about their phones. Its not just all about what it looks like, but what it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[61,638,536,635,636,637,634],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1373,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955\/revisions\/1373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mobilefun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}