It's been a really tiresome week, last week that is, since this week just started. There were so much stuff to do, I found myself pretty much messed up. I simply couldn't concentrate on writing just one thing, which resulted in writing practically nothing at all.

Anyway, coming back to the LG PRADA Asian Launch - I've been looking forward to this launch since the day I joined Gadget3, and finally after four months or so, the day came.

Like every other week day of the week, I went to work as per normal, did what I need to do, and by lunch time, off I went heading first to pick up my sister and then to St Regis.

FYI, parking at St Regis is reaaally expensive. Per entry cost SGD5 and every hour after that is SGD4. It's cheaper than I had expected considering that it's a six star hotel, but still expensive.

(Coming back) I was pretty certain that I would be earlier considering that I sacrificed lunch, but sadly, I only made it just in time. Beats being late that's for sure.

As I entered the hall I was taken aback - in a good way that is. The setup was mesmerizing. It wasn't like the other "exclusive bloggers events" (after all it is a press conference) but you could feel the theme and glamour hidden beneath the dark schematic.

The only downside was that I didn't have a good enough camera to capture the moment the way it should have been captured. Putting on the flash would have killed the whole effect, and setting high ISO would have added too much noise to the images. It's times like this that I feel the absolute need of a DSLR, which I clearly couldn't afford quite just yet.

(Back to the hall area) LG Prada II displays were placed evenly on each side of the hall, each with a representative (or rather, model) stationed to provide information about the mobile phone.

"This time I'm going to really play around with the phone", a passing comment from Priss. "Not going to make the same mistake I did during the Vaio P launch".

Apparently, after Priss blogged about the Sony Vaio P launch, readers/friends have been asking her questions that she founded herself having no answer to. She would have, if she actually played with the demo units. Unfortunately, she was too caught up taking pictures with the product (cause it's so pretty) it didn't cross her mind that photos won't everything, especially when we're talking about an electronic devices.

(At first impression) I haven't had the opportunity to hold the first LG Prada; all I've seen were photos. At first glance, I'd have to agree with Nicholas that the LG Prada II does pretty much resemblance its predecessor, with a little "extra weight" on the side, or rather bottom for that matter of fact.

By weight, I'm referring to the slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which somewhat increased the thickness of the second LG Prada compared the first.

Frankly speaking, I'm not a big fan of QWERTY keyboards; they tend to be a little too small for my chubby fingers. I have this problem of pressing two keys at once while "typing" on such a keyboard. In fact, I kinda have the same problem on my Asus Eee PC 901's keyboard as well.

This keyboard however, somewhat reminds me of the Sony Vaio P's. The keyboard is designed in such a way that space was given in between the keys, which allowed my finger tips to press each key without hitting two at once.

In other words, it pretty much solved the problem I had with tiny keyboards - super plus point if I may add.

Maybe I should have saved my blog feeds to all the demo sets? ;x

I wanted to test out the camera as well, but due to limited time, I had to make do with just playing around with the interface.

As you can see, it's all in black and white. Just like everything else in the hall with exception to the lights.

The touch-screen, is pretty sensitive, I could go from one page to another with ease. That said, by playing around with it for just a bit, it would be a little too hasty to pass any sort of judgement.

Putting the mobile phone aside, let's bring a little attention to the Prada Link. On the surface, the Prada Link is basically a watch, an add-on accessory for the LG Prada II. But apart from just telling time, it has the ability to synchronise and displays not only calls but messages as well.

Time tends to slip pass quickly, before you know it, the hall became silent, which marked the start of the press conference. The two spokespeople for the event were:

1. Mr. Chang Ma, Vice President, Marketing Strategy Team, LG Electronics
2. Mr. Matteo Sessa Vitali, Vice President, Licensing Director, PRADA

"Do we get a chance to meet the VP for Prada", a passing comment by Esther (aka iCE-ANGEL). I'm not surprise by the comment really. He is as good as the phone looks, and the reason why I've been eyeing the LG Prada is its good looks.

(Back to my point) For the first time ever, I raised my hand, got hold of the mic, stood up, and asked my very first question during a press conference. Undeniably, I am as shy as my sister, Shynessa. And guess how she came up with that nickname.

The Q&A session lasted a little longer than expected, but it was fruitful. Many answers given help cleared some of my doubts, which bring us back to the LG Prada II and Prada Link once again.

Through this Q&A session, we came to understand the audience group, design fundamentals, partnership (between LG and Prada) and of course, expectations.

Did you know that Prada was actually involved in every step of the design of the LG Prada II? Well, apparently that was the case - from start to finish. After much debate, at the end of the day they both agreed to keep the classics - the first LG Prada design.

As for the Prada Link, as a watch, the design is really straight forward - digital interface, black with a mix of silver and suited for both men and women. It's only in one-size but there are apparently different bands available to meet the unisex requirement. I've only seen one band so far so, and it looked pretty good on Priss's wrist. So I suppose, it'll do.

The LG Prada II is USD850 and the Prada Link about half the mobile phone's price. Now, you'd probably be thinking, "wah, the phone so expensive". But if you really think about it, it's pretty close to the price of Sony Xperia 1, which is just Sony.

"The LG Prada is not just a name."

But hey, it is still Prada.

Considering the audience that they are "targeting", that is the high-end market. The name does play a significant role for one that believes in lifestyle to purchase lifestyle. And basically, the LG Prada is about lifestyle. For that same reason, I'm still so much into Volkswagen Beetle - it's about lifestyle.

(Start sighing people) You will NOT be seeing this phone at Prada retail outlets!

Prada believes that their retail service staffs lack the experience to deal with gadgets, so it would not ideal to place them at their retail outlets. I'm not sure to say, "Good point" or "Well-thought answer", but both works I guess.

LG and Prada have been working together for a couple of years; they are expecting their relationship to be a long term one. That said, as of now, there are no plans to develop another product yet, but it doesn't mean that it won't be happening.

Apparently, the Prada Link wasn't something that was planned from the very beginning. Through discussions and such, it just happened, and from there everything fell into place. For now, they plan is to concentrate on the LG Prada II before moving forward.

Here's something that Nicholas brought up,

"The best thing is that it's water-resistant up to 30m. This means you can read your SMSes while swimming. OK, maybe you won't do that, but it's still cool to know who's calling you when you are taking a dip, right?"

Well, if you intend to just for a dip, sure, by all means. However, even though it states 30m, do not expect to receive signals while you're underwater - signals tend to be disrupted underwater. Also, the connectivity of the Bluetooth from the phone to the watch is roughly 10m. Don't be surprise to miss a call, uninformed by your watch, when you are at one end of an Olympic pool with the phone at the other.

Food, drinks, chit-chat, photo-taking - that pretty much rounded the rest of the event.

PS: I haven't organised the photos yet, but have done so at Gadget3.com. Go there take a look first while I dig through for the right photos to publish. :P

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