LG Prada 3.0 review

If the devil wears Prada, what does that make this new phone? The LG Prada 3.0 is in many respects a standard high-end Android LG smartphone plastered with the fashion house's logo. This is no bad thing, though. With a dual-core processor, high-quality screen and 8-megapixel camera, this mobile is streets ahead of the previous two Prada handsets, released back in the dark ages of 2007 and 2008.

Although the LG Prada 3.0 is a fashion phone, it's priced to compete with other high-end Android phones. At around £430 SIM-free, it's a similar price to the staggeringly popular Samsung Galaxy S2, and almost £100 cheaper than the iPhone 4S 16GB. Not what you'd expect from a fancy brand like Prada?

Watch our full video review of the LG Prada 3.0:


The reasonable price is possible because the LG Prada phone doesn't use ultra-high quality materials like those of luxury Vertu phones. It's a fine-looking device, but it's made largely of plastic and glass like most worryingly-thin Android phones.



At 8.5mm thick, this phone has the dimensions to suit its fashion phone pretensions. It's thinner than the HTC Sensation XE and the same thickness as Samsung Galaxy S2.



Its look is starker and bolder than the Samsung trooper, though. Turned off, there are no buttons to be seen on its front and no superfluous icons - just the Prada logo, a user-facing camera and the ultra-discreet earpiece speaker grill. It looks the business. There are bright, LED-lit touch sensitive buttons down at the bottom, but they only show up momentarily following a press on the touchscreen.



The classy look continues on the LG Prada 3.0's back and sides. Its edges are finished in smoky chrome and the back is embossed with an uneven dimpled texture that wouldn't look out of place on a Prada handbag.


The accessories package includes "funky-looking" earphones


The Prada phone knows how to make an entrance

Other design highlights includes the connections and buttons on the phone's top edge. There are buttons for power on/off and the camera shutter, and a similarly-styled slider atop the microUSB charge/data transfer slot. None of them are labelled, but like the transient touch buttons, the consistent look is classy. Each is a round metal blip finished with subtly-raised concentric circles. The other edges are free of connections, leaving just the volume control buttons on the left side. 



If you're expecting a phone that feels like pure luxury, though, you may be a little disappointed with the feel of the plastic battery cover. Its high-friction surface adds plenty of grip, but misses out on the cool touch of metal or the soft touch of leather. However, given the somewhat-reasonable price the phone sells at, expecting real leather is perhaps to expect too much.

From a more technical perspective, the LG Prada 3.0's bod is fairly up-to-date. The microUSB port is MHL-compatible, letting it output HD video and surround sound given the right cable, and there's a microSD card slot behind the battery cover. With top-end Android phones increasingly omitting this feature, this is good to see. However, the 8GB of internal storage is less impressive, with many phones at the price supplying 16GB.