LG's tie-up with Prada is in its second outing with the Prada II, also known as the KF900. This handset is very reminiscent of its predecessor, the original Prada phone, but times have changed.

The original Prada handset appeared before the iPhone, and was an important part of a trend that changed the mobile phone scene completely. While the original Prada was novel in having a full touchscreen, the Prada II joins growing ranks of handsets sporting that feature.

What the Prada II offers that is a little different from the norm is a full QWERTY keyboard, sliding out from a long edge. This is the kind of thing we are more used to seeing in high powered PDA-style smartphones. If you are very much into text creation it will be welcome as it is a lot easier to use for generating texts and emails at speed than tapping on the on-screen keyboard.

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In terms of packing in high-end features the Prada II presses many - though not all - of the right buttons. HSDPA to 7.2Mbps, Wi-Fi and a 5-megapixel camera are here, but sadly GPS is absent. A true high-end handset has to offer this these days, and its absence is notable.

The camera impresses, though. The Schneider Kreuznach optics help it shoot good quality stills and it will capture video at 720 x 480 pixels. There is a slow-motion mode which is fun to play with. There are autofocus and macro modes, and an LED flash helps with low light indoor photography. There is a front camera for two-way video calling.

Memory isn't exactly brimming over, with just 60MB built in. There is a microSD card slot on the right edge and the phone comes with a 1GB card. If you are a music fan you'll probably want a larger card for storage. While the provided headset is proprietary it has a 3.5mm connector just past the microphone, so you can substitute your favourite headset if you wish. There is an FM radio for those times when your own music isn't enough.

The touch screen occupies much of the Prada II's front fascia, measuring 3-inches across diagonal corners and offering 240 x 400 pixels of viewing area. The QWERTY keyboard adds a little bulk to the phone, making it 104.5 x 54 x 16.8mm in size and 130g in weight.

The touch interface is easy to get to grips with, the main menu offering four groups of items which you select by tapping their tabs: Communicate, Entertainment, Utilities and Settings. Meanwhile the main screen offers shortcuts to number dialling, contacts, messaging and the main menu, while a sweep to the right gives you user-defined shortcuts and another sweep gives you a screen onto which you can drag widgets to personalise its offerings.

There is some multi-touch capability, including a pinch-to-zoom feature when Web browsing and image viewing.

Touchscreen handsets are much more common than they used to be and without GPS on board the Prada II finds itself in the second division rather than the first. The QWERTY keyboard does give it quite a lift, though.