At £129 for the 2GB flavour, LG's FM37 isn't cheap, but it's one stylish music player. It has a brushed metal finish similar to LG's Shine phone, and a stunning touchscreen.
As large as the screen is, however, we have a couple of criticisms. First up, at 4cm wide and 5cm high, it's defiantly portrait - a bit of a pain when viewing digital photos. And as touchscreens go, it’s on the smudged side of greasy – not so stylish now, then.
Oh, and there's a third gripe - given that the FM37 operates entirely from this touchscreen, it seems strange that it doesn't take up more room. There's acres of space wasted around the screen - albeit, stylish brushed-metal space. It's a small point, but an important one. The LG is expensive for a 2GB MP3 player, so it needs to excel in other areas.
And it's a faff to use, as you have to drill down through one of six opening option icons. One touch of an icon starts an animated transition into that option's interminable sub-menus. Navigation is easy to understand, but involves more steps than seems strictly necessary.
At least the touch-sensitivity is responsive, if finnicky for anyone with human-sized fingers. And you can use 'gestures' to control playback. To pump up the volume, for instance, simply rub your digit around the screen. It's simple once you get the hang of it, and a satisfying, glowing red trail follows your movements. It seems strange at this price that there’s no FM radio, but the FM37 lives up to its claimed battery life of 20 hours.
Playback is high quality, with throbbing bass and well-defined high tones. You’ll want to ditch the bundled headphones, though. We also gave LG’s Media Center the swerve. You can drag-and-drop music, movies and photos to the FM37 through Windows, so LG’s clunky software seems superfluous.
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