With devices such as the Optimus GT540 and Pop GD510, notable Korean manufacturer LG has effectively cornered the market when it comes to cheap and cheerful touchscreen mobiles.
The Cookie Fresh – which is the sequel to the budget blower that was the Cookie KP500 – continues this trend, illustrating perfectly that style and function don’t have to go hand in hand with an eye-watering price tag.
In terms of design, the Cookie Fresh betrays its bargain-basement roots while simultaneously impressing with its clean curves and appealing aesthetics.
Although it’s practically an all-plastic device and feels lightweight at just 89 grams, you can’t help but flash an admiring glance at its simplistic yet undeniably alluring bodywork.
The alluring yet simplistic Cookie Fresh You must resist
The Cookie Fresh’s touchscreen is – somewhat predictably – a resistive one. A capacitive display on such a low-price handset is simply out of the question at the moment, and although it’s responsive enough the usual niggles remain. Swiping between home screens is a hit-and-miss affair, and you’ll find you have to apply just the right amount of pressure to make a selection.
It’s an understandable shortcoming, given the low asking price of the Cookie Fresh, but it does impact on the usability of the phone’s commendable three-stage home screen arrangement.
Your first screen has docking spaces for four pre-loaded widgets. These display information on a wide range of topics, including your calendar, music player, and even Facebook account. You can configure which widgets are docked in order to get the arrangement that suits you.
Your second and third home screens actually do roughly the same thing.
One uses LG’s LiveSquare system, which allows you to populate your phone’s display with your most common contacts.
These are represented by cute little animated characters which can be interacted with in order to place a call or send a text message.
The third and final screen is more concerned with telephone numbers, allowing you to quickly call pre-selected contacts from your address book.
Navigating the Cookie Fresh Media medley
As a multimedia device, the Cookie Fresh doesn’t fare too badly. A 3.5mm headphone socket ensures compatibility with your favourite pair of cans, while the ability to upgrade the phone’s memory with MicroSD cards allows users to carry around a considerable amount of music. The music player included with the phone is workmanlike, but it gets the job done well enough.
Sadly, the 2-megapixel camera is rather weak, generating average snaps and low-quality video. It’s a shame because LG’s phones have a reputation of impressive image and video capture.
Surfing the web is also a disappointing experience, as the Cookie Fresh is crippled by the lack of 3G connectivity. It doesn’t help that the phone’s browsing software is also somewhat inadequate, struggling to render complex, image-heavy pages on the 3-inch screen.
A closer look at browsing on the Cookie Fresh GS290 Fingers and thumbs
On the gaming front, the Cookie Fresh comes loaded with the usual selection of Java demo titles. LG’s own Thomson and Touch makes a welcome return, but there’s a danger that many mobile users will have grown bored of the selection of DS-inspired mini-games, seeing as this title has been included on many of LG’s devices in the past year or so.
The Cookie Fresh isn’t likely to steal away market share from the iPhone or HTC Desire, but it is perfect fodder for those mobile users who don’t have bags of cash to spend yet still crave smartphone-like functionality.
When you consider that it can be obtained for as little as £50 on Pay as You Go, it’s easier to stomach the issues and focus instead on the positives.
LG Cookie Fresh GS290
Damien McFerran
Damien's mum hoped he would grow out of playing silly video games and gain respectable employment. Perhaps become a teacher or a scientist, that kind of thing. Needless to say she now weeps openly whenever anyone asks how her son's getting on these days.