Mobile Phone Review

The  LG CU500 is an  HSDPA phone that’s exclusive available on the  Cingular network in the United States. Running on the back of  Cingular’s UMTS network, the  LG CU500 is one of only a handful of  HSDPA high-speed  3.5G phones on the market anywhere in the world.

The first thing to note is that UMTS in the US is not the same as UMTS everywhere else in the world - it’s an 850/1900 MHz UMTS device rather than the UMTS 2100 MHz standard that pretty much everyone else uses. It does have quad-band GSM and EDGE support though, so you can still continue to use the  LG CU500 more-or-less anywhere in the world.

It looks a little like the European LG U880 and LG U890 UMTS phones, with a squarish clamshell design and rotating camera - in other words, it’s basically an existing UMTS device adapted for the  Cingular network and  HSPDA. It weights 3.7 ounces (105 grams) and measures 3.80 x 1.95 x 0.75 inches (97x50x19mm). As with the European UMTS phones, the  LG CU500 has a 176x220 pixel display, microSD (TransFlash) expandable memory, 1.3 megapixel rotating camera, stereo Bluetooth, a pretty versatile multimedia player and external media controls.

The maximum download speed of the  LG CU500 is 1.8Mbps. Where the  CU500 can’t pick up an  HSDPA signal, it will fall back to UMTS 850/1900, EDGE or GPRS. It’s pretty much the same speed as you’ll get from a EVDO handset though, but the  LG CU500 has the advantage that it can be used worldwide as well as in the US.

It’s a nice looking device with a neat design and internal antenna which gives it an somewhat distinctive look when compared to many other phones in the US. Cingular say that the  LG CU500 is available now.