Available now
14th December 2011

LG have had a collaboration with PRADA for several years, and the peculiarly named PRADA phone by LG 3.0 is the latest handset from this combination of brands.

Unlike the previous PRADA phones, the LG PRADA 3 (we will call it that for the sake of simplicity) is a fully featured smartphone with a technical specification than can rival some of the best in its class.

The LG PRADA 3 is an Android 2.3 smartphone with a bright 4.3" 480 x 800 pixel display, an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video capture and a dual-core dual-channel 1GHz CPU with 1GB of RAM.

The high-end technical specifications are combined with a carefully designed handset that is very much in line with PRADA's design philosophy, plus a unique and very understated user interface that looks distinctly different from other Android devices.

At just 8.5mm thick, the PRADA 3 is a very slim device and some clever trickery by the designers actually makes it appear much thinner. The back of the handset has PRADA's Saffiano pattern on it, and the overall design is quite pleasing although fundamentally this is just another black slabby smartphone.

Although all Android phones are pretty similar, the 800 nit NOVA display is unique to LG and is similar to the excellent panel found in the LG Optimus Black. Another unique LG feature is the dual-channel architecture that gives a useful performance boost, as found on the LG Optimus 3D. LG have certainly not skimped with the technology on this handset.

Of course, this does everything that every other Android phone can do, so it has 3.5G support, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS built in, plus turn-by-turn navigation and access to thousands of applications from the Android market. Although the PRADA 3 will ship with Android 2.3, an upgrade to Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" is promised soon.

The LG PRADA 3 measures 128 x 69 x 8.5mm and it comes with a large 1540 mAh battery. There is 8GB of internal flash memory plus a microSD slot plus Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity.

LG say that the PRADA 3 should be available from early 2012, no guidance was given on price but we would expect this to retail for more than €500 when launched.