Department of Health on NHI issues in SA

Cape Town - The Department of Health has embarked on a massive audit of clinics and hospitals in preparation for the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI), the Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi said today.

Briefing media in Parliament on Thursday, Motsoaledi said so far the audit, which looks at cleanliness, safety and security, drug stock count, long queues, infection control and the attitude of staff at clinics, had addressed 3 336 of the department's 4 200 health facilities.

The attitude of staff and cleanliness were two of the biggest problems, he said, adding that the department this week had trained a team of 40 health experts to prepare them to provide assistance in improving health facilities.

Motsoaledi said the department would start with four districts and 214 facilities in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, the Free State and the Northern Cape. These districts are: Zululand (KwaZulu-Natal), Sedibeng (Gauteng), Motheo Free State), and Pixley ka Seme (Northern Cape).

He said his department was also refurbishing nursing colleges and homes to increase the capacity of these colleges to produce more nurses.

In all, 122 colleges had been targeted and 49 colleges were already being refurbished.

Motsoaledi said his department was still tackling the problems of the Gauteng Provincial Health Department, particularly in its non-payment of service providers.

He said he had held conversations with the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan to ensure that provincial health departments had to fulfil certain non-negotiables when allocated funding from the Budget.

This could be for example to ensure that provincial health department's set aside allocations for such areas as immunisations of key infections, he said.

Turning to HIV and Aids, he said the mother-to child infection rate for HIV and Aids had dropped from 8 percent in 2008 to 3.5% last year, for children born to mothers infected with HIV.

This had helped to save 30 000 babies per year - most of these in KwaZulu-Natal, he said.

He also called on South Africans to get tested for HIV and Aids at least once a year.

The department would also be tackling non-communicable diseases, such as alcohol and tobacco abuse.

He said South African government's regulations against smoking had already resulted in a sharp drop in smoking over the last few years.

"We have to deal with the scourge of alcohol advertising where this is projected as product bringing success," said Motsoaledi, who pointed that adverts often depicted images of success and a depiction that drinking was "cool" for young people.

A more difficult issue, he confided, was how to get South Africans to exercise more and to mind their weight. -

Source : buanews.gov.za
Tags : HIV, Aids,health insurance , insurance South Africa,national health insurance,NHI, insurance news, gr8insurance

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National health insurance funding debacle

After the South African Government released its long expected Policy Paper on National Health Insurance (Policy Paper) (NHI) funding on 11 August 2011, quite a few questions remained unanswered.


According to the Policy Paper, Government planned for an additional R145 billion funding requirement in real 2010 prices for the roll-out of NHI over the next 14 years. 

The expectation is that these additional funds will be sourced through increased tax revenues. An additional R15 billion is needed over and above the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) estimated health budget for the implementation of NHI in the 2012/13 financial year. 


This represents an increase of 14% in the MTEF budget estimate and will bring the health budget from the original estimate of R110 billion to R125 billion in the 2012/13 financial year. Over the entire roll-out period, the estimate equates to an average of R10.4 billion in additional funding in real 2010 prices being required every year. 


Some of the funding mechanisms currently being discussed include a potential increase in the VAT rate, a surcharge on individuals' taxable income and the phasing in of a payroll tax (payable by the employee). 


When governments consider increasing tax rates to fund a new policy decision, it is not a straightforward decision. Factors such as equity, efficiency, flexibility, ease of administration and collection and potential revenue should be taken into account. 


Questions around equity will centre on whether or not the tax promotes an equitable or fair distribution of income. This would typically speak to the regressive or progressive nature of taxes. The debate round VAT, and those opposed to it, is that it is regressive in nature, meaning it affects the poor relatively more than the rich. 


On the other hand, proponents of VAT as a source of funding feels the tax base is broadened and that everybody can contribute. By zero-rating certain necessary items, the regressive nature of VAT is also reduced and it is relatively cheap and easy to administer if compared to income tax. 


Due to the broader nature of the tax base, research conducted by KPMG on the nature of a tax increase to fund NHI through VAT or through personal income tax, also indicated that increasing VAT might have a slightly less distorted nature. However, due to the socio-economic make-up of South Africa, changes in the VAT rate can and should be carefully considered. 


There is another, less common alternative. Many people believe that increasing the tax on cigarettes and alcohol could and would discourage harmful behaviour and, in turn, improve the population's health. From that perspective, it makes sense to use sin taxes as a potential source of funding for public health policy initiatives. In addition, sin taxes also serve as a source of revenue and are considered by some analysts to have less distortionary effects than other types of taxes. 


On the downside, research indicates that sin taxes might be regressive in nature and if the consumption of taxed products actually reduces on the back of the introduction of sin taxes, it might have a negative impact on the estimated revenue. Increasing sin taxes, on the face of it a potentially reasonable alternative, might therefore have other, unintended consequences that the Fiscus might like to avoid. 


Finally, it is important to consider that tax revenue in South Africa goes into one pool and are normally not ring fenced. The policy stance is unlikely to change with the introduction of NHI. Therefore, no matter the tax revenue source considered, the funds will be paid from the same pool of tax revenue. 


The question remains - who will contribute and how much? 


* Lullu Krugel is an Associate Director and Senior Economist at KPMG 

Source : businesslive.co.za
Tags : health insurance , insurance South Africa,national health insurance,NHI, insurance news, gr8insurance

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South African insurance market changes

PRETORIA – The big-four players in short-term insurance face fierce competition and are even losing some market share from the smaller direct writers such as Outsurance and Auto & General.

According to a report by the ratings agency Fitch these direct writers have increased their market shares, particularly in personal lines, at the expense of the larger companies.

"The increasing competition has put pressure on the larger non-life insurers' profitability. Fitch expects earnings to remain under pressure in the near term," the report reads.

Nicole Gibb, associate director in Fitch's insurance team in South Africa, said in an interview that the bigger players are adapting and have created their own direct distribution lines in place to win back market share.
"It will take some time to see if they can get back their market share," she said.

The fierce competition in the sector is a good thing as the four-big players still dominate the market with a combined market share of roughly 50%.

Santam is the leading short-term insurer with a market share of more than 22%. Second is Mutual & Federal with 11%, followed by Hollard with 9% and Zurich South Africa with 8%.
Outsurance has already increased its market share to 6%, while Auto & General is currently on 5%.
According to the report, direct sales now represent nearly 20% of the personal lines market, a market that was historically served by intermediaries.

Gibb says that Fitch maintains a cautious outlook regarding credit ratings for the short-term sector, as well as life insurers, in South Africa.

She adds that ratings are likely to stay constant if conditions remain as they are.
"If there would be an improvement in performance it would only be a slight improvement," says Gibb, highlighting the volatile investment markets and continued pressure on consumers' disposable income as constraining factors.

Gibbs also says that South Africa has been more sheltered than the rest of the world against the economic downturn. "South Africa obviously has been impacted and I do think a serious fall-out will filter down, but not on the same scale as for the rest of the world."
Ratings actions are important for life and short-term insurers as higher ratings help these companies to issue debt more cheaply.

The insurers actually approach the ratings agency to obtain a credit rating.
"Within the insurance market ratings also demonstrate the security and strength of an insurer to its policyholders and can be a bit of a selling point for them," David Prowse, senior director at Fitch's UK team, said.

As far as growth opportunities go, Africa remains a possible market for both life and short-term insurers, Gibb said.

"The South African market is quite saturated for life-insurance products and the big players have been expanding into Africa. A very cautious approach is being taken when moving into these markets that are still relatively untapped," Gibb said.

Expansion into Africa as a diversification strategy would initially be seen as a credit negative due to the risk involved with moving into new markets, Prowse said.
"Once the company has successfully diversified it becomes a credit positive as the risks are then spread more geographically,"

Source : moneyweb.co.za
Tags : insurance market South Africa,direct marketing, insurance news, gr8insurance

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wealth creation tips for retirement income

General tips for wealth creation NB not fool proof.


Wealth creation is extremely difficult (if not impossible) with the traditional ‘save for retirement formula’. The personal savings strategy has passed its sell by date to say the least, and yet it is still the most popular method used by employees to plan for the future.  

The strategy is very simple. Before you get your salary every month, your company makes a contribution into their pension fund on your behalf. The objective of the fund is to maximise the return on your contributions so that when you retire you hopefully have a decent pension to live on.

There is a major problem with this approach:


Pension fund savings are too little. In South Africa for example, an employee typically contributes 10% of his or her gross income. If an employee earns R10,000 a month, the employer will transfer R1,000 into the fund. The expectation is that the monthly savings will grow to a handsome amount after a number of years and provide a good standard of living during retirement.


But that rarely works out. Let’s have a look at a simple example to demonstrate. If you haven’t done so already, download the ‘Are you saving enough for retirement?’ calculator.

Suppose you are 30 years old and would like to retire at 65. Your current monthly income before expenses and tax is R10,000. Your goal is to earn the same amount when you retire by making 10% fund contributions. You believe your retirement funds should last for 20 years. 

What must you save on a monthly basis if you want to maintain your standard of living during retirement? (In other words, earn R10,000 per month for 20 years from age 65 onwards).

For the purposes of simplicity we’ll ignore the effects of tax and inflation. To maintain your lifestyle at retirement, you will need R2,4 million. Required contributions are R5,714, which is more than half your current income! This leaves a savings shortfall of over R4,500 per month. Not good.


The short of it is that a R1,000 pension fund installment is just too little.  

How could one solve this problem?

One clear option is to save more, and because pension funds limit your contribution, you will have to take your personal savings to the extreme. Here’s how:

1. When you receive your after-tax income at the end of the month, the very first thing you do is pay yourself. Forget about your normal expenses or entertainment budget. First buy assets and then look at your other commitments.

2. When I mean pay, give yourself a ‘golden handshake’. Really cough up! Instead of placing a few dollars into a savings account or retirement annuity, take 60 to 75% of your salary and buy income generating assets. That leaves you with 40-25% of your salary to get you through the month. 

Personally, I have not come across a person who saves 75% of his or her monthly income, but I have met a few individuals who save half of what they earn. Can you save that much? Are you able to take your personal savings to that level?

The advantage is that you can create wealth by simply saving a lot. In our example above, if you save R5,714 every month, you may be able to retain your standard of living at age 65.  

The problem is that not everybody can do this. People need to live, especially when they have a family to support. And if this looks like an attractive option to you, I’d like you to consider something else first – inflation.

In the real world, the above strategy will only work if your savings outgrow inflation on an annual basis. So asset selection is very important. Whatever the asset, just make sure that you give yourself the best chance to beat the cost of living.

Instead of savings most of what you earn, we suggest one of the following:


Build a business that requires little working capital. A perfect example is an online business. The world is going digital and the information boom is driving the cost of doing online business to new low levels.


Leverage your savings. Borrow what you don’t have. Banks are pretty open to this when it comes to property. But given the tough economic times, not every bank is going to finance your next investment property. It also depends on your personal financial position.


Find a business deal that generates superior returns. Let’s say you want to buy a  franchise that generates a healthy cash flow. Would you be willing to save 75% of your income on a regular basis until you have enough capital to purchase a franchise that generates a business return of 30% (for example)?


Design a strategy that incorporates all three steps above. Build a low cost business. Use other peoples’ money when necessary. Be very selective with the market. You want a market where people are willing to pay for your service.


Source: http://waytowealthpro.com/
Tags : Weatlh creation, savings tips, business start-ups

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Kia Rio wins awards in SA

(SOUTH AFRICA), 22 December 2011. After its unveiling at the 2011 Johannesburg International Motor Show, the new Rio sparked the interest of many South Africans.


It was launched to the South African media exactly two months later, and has turned out to be a very popular and sought after Kia model.


"The new Kia Rio is a complete revolution from the previous model, and is a highly competitive offering within the very competitive B-segment", comments Ray Levin, CEO of Kia Motors South Africa.

Kia Rio 2012

"The Rio TEC is our flagship model and is very successful. This model offers features only found in more expensive C-segment models, and this creates a very high value proposition due to very competitive pricing", he adds.


After not being on the local market for more than two months, the new Rio has already raked in numerous awards, both nationally and internationally. On 15 December 2011, Independent Newspapers South Africa announced the new Rio as the overall winner in the "Best small/budget car" category in their Motoring Car of the Year competition.


The publishing group describes the Rio as a car "blending trendy styling with impressive ride quality and neat handling" and further describes it as a B-segment car with a "larger than average" interior.


Merely a day later, the Rio was crowned as the Australian Car Guide's Car of the Year, beating close rivals, the Volvo S60 T4 and Ford Focus, finishing second and third respectively. "We are very excited about this news and feel that the Rio was the deserved winner in both cases", adds Levin. "We are confident, that these wont be the only awards that this fantastic product will receive, and that there will be many more to follow", he concludes.


Source : 3Dcars.com
Tags : Kia,car of the year 2011, Kia Rio
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New plan for SA doctors in public sector

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday announced a healthy R1.24-billion would be spent to "revitalise nursing colleges" and improve infrastructure to train more nurses, as part of the department's new human resource policy. 


Motsoaledi unveiled the health department's first human resource strategy to deal with the country's severe shortages of doctors and nurses, at the University of Witwatersrand's medical school in Johannesburg.


He had promised to address staff shortages in the public healthcare sector, when he unveiled the national health insurance green paper in August. 


Department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said nursing colleges standing empty would have to be fixed up so that they were fit for use.


"For the current financial year we will spend in R220-million, and R510-million each in subsequent years," Motsoaledi said. "Even if Wits University takes an extra 1000 [medical] students it would not meet our needs."


He said the shortage of healthcare professionals extended beyond South Africa and there are currently four million vacancies globally.


South African universities currently train 1200 doctors each year. 


Training more staff


The plan proposed an increase in the number of medical students trained every year; investing more money in training facilities and nursing colleges; and building a new medical school in Limpopo. It also suggested a focus on primary health care by increasing nurses in schools and municipalities to prevent people from going straight to hospital. 

Doctors

Earlier this year Motsoaledi asked the deans of South Africa's medical schools to train 40 more students per year. He said Wits University was the first to do so by taking in an extra 40 at the beginning of the year at the cost of R8-million.


The Wits' medical faculty dean, Professor Ahmed Wadee, said the country was short of every type of medical specialist and it would take a long time to fix because it took "six to eight years to train specialists after they had qualified as doctors".


South African Medical Association president Dr Norman Mabaso previously told the Mail & Guardian the country had 24 000 doctors in 1990, while in 2008 this had only increased to about 34 000. It took 18 years to produce 10 000 doctors, which he said was unacceptable.


A short-term solution from the health department included employing 400 retired nurses willing to work. Motsoaledi said they told him "they are retired but not yet tired".


Private vs Public


Motsoaledi echoed this sentiment and said bad planning was to blame for the predicament South Africa finds itself in. 


"Some problems are self-made," he said. "Further evidence indicates that the training and production of certain key health worker categories have stagnated or reversed over the years. The weak management skills in the public service aggravate the situation even further."


Motsoaledi said that staff did not like to work in the public sector and more had to be done to make sure management of hospitals were up to scratch.


"Studies have demonstrated that it is not only financial incentives that make them leave but sometimes how they are managed or mismanaged. The public health sector has to ensure that environment in which health workers operate is conducive," he said. 


Motsoaledi said in order for national health insurance (NHI) to work, there had to be enough staff distributed equitably around the country.


The NHI green paper policy document, released in August this year, mentions that there is a disparity between numbers of staff in the public sector and those in the private but does not address how to change it.


Despite his frequent complaints about the over-commercialisation of medicine, Motsoaledi dodged a question about how the ministry planned to attract health care workers from the private sector back to the government sector. 


The minister was critical of the costs of private health care and said many people told him he was mad about wanting to fix the public health care sector. "I will not stop this madness of mine," he told audience.


"People tell me the health care sector is not going to work but it has to work -- 84% of our population rely on the public health care sector."


The NHI policy document that the minister launched was also critical of private health care and suggested prices on private industry needed to be regulated.


The document noted that private hospital costs have increased by 121% and specialist costs by 120% over the past decade. It targets those increases as unacceptable and "out of proportion" to the services provided, suggesting that pricing in private healthcare needed to be "radically transformed".


Source : http://www.mg.co.za
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Another petrol price hike for South Africans

The retail price of all grades of petrol will increase by nine cents a litre on Wednesday, the Department of Energy said on Friday.

The price of diesel with a 0.05 percent sulphur content and the price of diesel with a 0.005 percent sulphur content will both remain unchanged.


The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will drop by two cents a litre.


The single maximum national retail price for illuminating paraffin will decrease by three cents a litre.


During the period 29 July 2011 to 1 September 2011, the average international product prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin decreased, the Department added.


The average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate, however, weakened when compared to the previous period.


"The average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate for the period 29 July 2011 to 2 September 2011 was 7.0590 compared to 6.8353 during the previous period.


"The deterioration of the rand against the US dollar increased the contribution to the basic fuel price by about 20 cents a litre," the Department said.


Sapa
Source -http://southafrica.info
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Evolving insurance industry in South Africa

KPMG, global audit and advisory services firm, recently revealed the findings of its annual South African insurance industry survey, reporting robust financial results for both life and non-life insurers for 2010.

According to the survey, there are new forms of competition, an uncertain regulatory landscape and concerns over market and economic conditions.




Gerdus Dixon, the insurance industry leader for KPMG SA, explains: “It appears that the conventional thinking that life and non-life brands should be kept separate is no longer true.”


One of the trends emerging from KPMG's 2011 survey is the cross-selling of products. This is especially true among established insurers who are seeking to capitalise on an existing brand by moving the brand into a new market space.


For example, Discovery, which offers health and life insurance, has recently launched a short-term product and Old Mutual is now marketing short-term insurance in the form of iWyze. Conversely, short-term insurance giant Outsurance now has a life offering in its portfolio.


The insurance industry is hampered by the threat of a double-dip recession as well as a volatile investment market due to the debt markets crisis and this does not bode well for the life insurance industry. According to the report, the next six months will be vital.


“The short-term insurance industry is less dependent on the investment market, and more dependent on good claims experience, which has been favourable in 2011 to date, with no large corporate fire claims and a general improvement in the loss ratios for motor insurance. However, the traditional short-term insurers have been struggling to achieve growth in recent times and a strained economy will not make it easier,” Dixon explained.


In addition to the economic challenges, the industry also has to deal with a regulatory environment subject to significant change.


“There is a wave of new regulations that will all come into force at roughly the same time. The Solvency Assessment and Management (SAM) regime will become effective in 2014, as well as the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) requirements. In addition, micro-insurance legislation and binder regulations are also on the horizon. This coupled with taxation uncertainties on the life insurance side make for a very fast-paced rate of change in the industry,” said Dixon.


For the time being, the impact of the proposed national health insurance (NHI) is still an unknown, with not enough solid information in the form of facts and figures emerging.


“It's definitely influencing the strategic thinking of players in the industry but the uncertainty around it makes it difficult to act,” said Dixon.


KPMG's 2011 insurance industry survey also highlights the expansion of the more established life and non-life insurers into Africa, with offices and offerings in sub-Saharan Africa and further into the continent. Often insurers' African expansion is in the form of joint ventures with local players or technology companies.


This mixed bag of challenges and opportunities will see insurance companies being more cautious in their trading and operational updates for the remainder of 2011, despite a relatively strong start to the year. - I-Net Bridge


Source -http://iol.co.za
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Market jitters keeps investors on their toes

Market players may be making decisions with all the savvy of headless chickens. Investors stampeded out of equity markets last week. And, in all the chaos that followed, some long-standing market correlations broke down.


Econometrix chief economist Azar Jammine identified one anomaly. Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation while bonds are seen as a hedge against deflation. So prices usually move in opposite directions. Yet last week both assets were on a winning streak.




Chris Hart, the economist at Investment Solutions, pointed out another anomaly. Although the gold price soared, the rand remained weak; and, while the value of US treasuries rose, the dollar did not.


The immediate trigger for the flight from equities was poor economic data from the US and Germany earlier in the week. Without economic growth, the US and heavily indebted European governments won’t be able to reduce their debt burdens, extending indefinitely the threat to global financial stability.


The danger for investors is that the recent scramble into gold and bonds could be building up two bubbles. And what will happen when the bubbles burst?


Last week’s sell-off in equity markets was the third since the downgrading of US debt by Standard & Poor’s earlier in the month. The re-rating alerted markets to the extent of the threat to the economic recovery in the US.


Jammine commented last week that he was surprised that it had taken financial markets so long to wake up to the danger.


Last week’s losses came despite the undertaking by the US Federal Reserve to hold its key interest rate at virtually zero for two more years, and despite the efforts of the European Central Bank to stabilise markets by buying Italian and Spanish bonds. This is an expensive remedy because it’s effectively printing money – a process that reduces the buying power of the euro. And the remedy hasn’t worked.


We have now started a new episode in the saga that began in 2007, when the US subprime market started unravelling. But are we getting any closer to the end?


We probably are because governments and central banks no longer have much fire power, after three years of intervention. But how will it all end?


Jammine predicts several years of very slow growth globally. While this is a gloomy prospect, it’s preferable to the alternative scenario of a series of asset bubbles – and their aftermath.


US and European bankers have been blamed for the financial and economic disaster that started in 2007. Rightly, because they were in the driving seat at the time, careening heedlessly through economic realities with offers of endless credit to fuel the consumer boom.


But they were not alone in their folly. One of the problems in advanced economies is that voters expect cradle to grave security – and life doesn’t provide that sort of blank cheque.


Politicians colluded in the illusion to get themselves into power. One of the ways they achieved this was by paying social pensions out of current revenue – unlike private retirement schemes which are obliged to have assets to cover their liabilities. The formula worked for decades but its efficacy is about to expire.


Europe, in particular, can see the writing on the wall as its working age population shrinks in relation to pensioners. So reality intrudes.


And, after being fed a steady diet of wishful thinking, since the end of World War II, voters won’t like reality. This creates a new challenge for politicians.


Source -http://iol.co.za
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LG optimus black

Are you in the market for an Android smartphone? Good luck. There has never been a time that we can remember where there has been so much competition, with a multitude of new handsets all jumping up and down for your attention. The Optimus Black joins over a dozen other Android phones to launch since the beginning of the year, so does it have what it takes to catch your eye?

Design

Physically speaking, the Black is a very eye-catching model, especially as you turn it over in your hands and find the angular battery cover on the underside. LG does a good job of disguising the stiff plastic battery cover as being something metallic, with its smooth finish and its dark charcoal colouring. Though we like the look of the raised angles on this surface, we do wish LG had smoothed and rounded the edges a little further; for us the Optimus Black is a little uncomfortable to hold with its corners digging into our fingers and palms.

Differentiating the Black from the dozens of other smartphones in the world today, LG opts for a new display technology it calls NOVA. This screen uses the same in-plane switching technology we've seen in other recent LG releases, but it adds increased brightness to the mix to improve the visibility of the display under direct sunlight. LG reports that the NOVA display shines at 700 nits, or at least 50 per cent than its nearest competitor (the iPhone 4). The result is clearly apparent outdoors on a bright day, though this won't make a huge difference when you're indoors. Given that most people will want to set their display brightness to its lowest level for battery saving, it's strange that LG didn't include an easy option for adjusting screen brightness in its customised software.

The appearance of the display is good, but it hasn't blown us away. Colours look fairly natural, but the contrast of the screen is somewhat jeopardised to achieve the brightness. Next to the Super AMOLED Plus display on the Samsung Galaxy S II, the Black's blacks look dark grey, in fact we prefer the image we get out of the LG Optimus 2X better than that of the Optimus Black.

User experience

As we mentioned when we reviewed the Optimus 2X recently, LG's modified Android user interface is a vast improvement on previous releases. The user experience is consistent across LG's range this year, so these comments hold true for the Optimus Black as much as they do for the 2X.

The LG Android workspace contains up to seven pages for widgets and shortcuts with static, customisable shortcuts bar at the bottom. When you pull down the notifications curtain you'll find quick settings buttons for connectivity options and a fixed music player fragment for quickly controlling your tunes. The apps drawer options allow you to choose when you want your apps listed in one long horizontal list, like stock Android, or in horizontally ordered pages, like the iPhone.

On the whole, the user experience works well, though it lacks the silky smooth animations we've seen from more powerful phones this year. Swiping between home screens and app pages is fine, but it can feel a little sticky at times. Scrolling speeds are fine in other apps, like the address book and Gmail.

An interesting extra to note is the inclusion of a "Gesture" button on the left-hand side of the phone. Holding down this key activates gesture-based navigation in certain parts of the phone. For example, tilting the handset to the sides while holding the key will scroll from one home screen to the next, or flick between images in the gallery. This is a pretty neat party trick, but it is terrible for accurately navigating your phone. The Gesture has a "G" written on it, which we assume stands for gimmick as much as it stands for gesture control.

Camera

LG packs a 5-megapixel camera into the Optimus Black, including a single LED flash and the standard image adjustment settings. The photos we've taken with this camera are fine for a phone, but they won't be winning any awards. Like the phone's display, the camera's image sensor leans too hard towards the white, blowing out brighter areas of our photos and washing out the colours. The auto-focus works fairly well, so your photos should be sharp, even if the colour reproduction feels wrong.

Performance

Unlike its Optimus siblings, the 2X and 3D, the Optimus Black is a single-core handset with a 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 3630 processor and a slightly older PowerVR SGX530 graphics unit. This combination doesn't hold back the Black too much, though you can feel the difference between using it and the dual-core Optimus 2X and Samsung's Galaxy S II, both of which have a much smoother feel throughout the user interface.

Web browsing is good on the Black; pages load as quickly as your connection will allow and it doesn't struggle too greatly with complex elements on full-size sites. The phone is compatible with Adobe Flash, so web videos will play within the pages you are viewing and web-based games will work too if the controls are set up for mobile devices.

Video playback is also good, though there is a limit to what the Optimus Black can handle. LG includes native support for DivX, XviD, WMV and MP4 files, but we found that the 1GHz processor struggled with our 720p test files. Also, while it would render our MKV test file, the results stuttered and were unwatchable. Also, there is no HDMI port to share your videos with friends on your TV. There is a Wi-Fi sharing option, however, if you have a DLNA-compatible device hooked up at home.

Battery life is one standout from our testing, even with the super-bright display. Though the Black will chew through battery at a standard rate while in use, its standby power consumption is great — discharging only a couple of percentage points overnight, for example. Against our standard usage tests, the Black would last for up to two working days and need a charge on the second night.

Overall

The Optimus Black is a solid smartphone, but one that could get lost in this increasingly noisy market. Its unique features, the NOVA display and its gesture controls are both a bit gimmicky, adding something to the smartphone experience that doesn't actually improve the experience in most common use cases. The enhanced outdoor screen visibility will appeal to some, but we'd prefer a richer image over a brighter image any day of the week.

Source -Cnet.com.au
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