Phonebay

Prada II is priced at €600 in the eurozone, the same as the first phone when it hit the shelves – it's not really the fault of the company that the weak pound means it's a lot more expensive in the UK this year, at about £500. Since the phone is SIM-free, the price also depends on the provider you get the phone with.

The first time you look at the LG Prada II, the second version of the mobile phone collaboration between the Italian fashion label and the Korean phone manufacturer, you can't help feeling a sense of disappointment. It looks almost identical to the first-generation Prada launched last year, except that it's about 5mm thicker and about 50% heavier at 130g.

The 5-megapixel camera is ahead of the competition in the same space, with a Schneider-Kreuznach certified lens, and the phone incorporates slow-motion video recording and plays videos in the DivX format. It also plays the standard music formats and has an 8GB external memory slot.
It's a really good product, but the problem is you'll have to pointedly slide out the QWERTY keyboard to differentiate it from the earlier phone. Size and weight are a problem as well, but the main issue is that it could alienate the wag market that made the first product so successful.
Will businesspeople be impressed enough to choose it over the Blackberry Storm, and be prepared to shell out £500? Only time will tell if Prada II will be seen as a brilliant all-in-one product, or a phone with a bit of an identity crisis.