Great looks - but does this come at a price? (LG Chocolate KG800)

Member Name: ccamgu

Product:	LG Chocolate KG800
Date:	11/09/06 (1804 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good looking, good size

Disadvantages: Small memory

This phone has caused a revolution in Korea when it was first launched, selling like the proverbial hot cakes over the past year, so it was no surprise when LG decided to launch this phone in Europe in May .

I decided to upgrade to this from my V3i a couple of months ago, and this is what I think….

When you buy the phone, it comes with the following bits and bobs:

- The phone itself
- Charger
- Handsfree kit
- Manual
- Remote control unit (like those on IPod headphones)
- Carry case
- PC software (I haven’t used this yet, and will add an update when I do)
- USB Cable
- Carry strap with screen cleaner


***

This phone stands apart from all other phones at the moment and looks great and has actually won some design awards for its look. It is sexy and sleak with a glossy, minimalist design. It is a glossy black colour (not chocolate colour!) but when you open it, the touch keys light up red, which looks really good with the black

It is a nice size in your hand and in your pocket (94 x 48 x 15 mm) weighing in at a tiny 80g. The screen is also large and clear enough despite the small size of the phone (around 2” diagonally)

However, this glossy shell can get quite grubby from finger prints hence LG including a screen cleaner in the box. I recommend you try and leave the protective plastic screen on as long as possible. You will be forever cleaning this phone, but it is worth it to keep your phone looking shiny and sexy!

I pretty much bought this phone on looks alone, and I’m sure many other people will do too, but in doing so, I have actually got myself a pretty good phone as well….


***

The phone takes around 30 seconds to become operational when you turn it on (which seems like a long time to me!). On the right hand side of the phone is an on / off button, and next to this is the “Multimedia” button for MP3s, camera and video recorder. On the top of the phone is the so called interface connector, allowing you to plug in the charger, headphones or USB cable. The left hand side has a scrolling volume key for your MP3s or when on the phone. The rear of the phone (on the sliding half) contains the camera and flash. Opening and closing the phone is also a smooth process and makes a reassuring clicking noise when fully open or closed.

***

One of the most talked about features of this phone is the touch keys. Firstly these look great, and a help with the minimalist look of the phone, compared to the traditional “press keys”. LG also say that this makes there phone more durable as there are less moving parts! It also means that when your phone is in your bag or pocket, you cant accidentally press the buttons.

The key to end calls is on the side of the phone, and depending how you hold the phone, it is quite easy to hang up on people accidentally!!

The touch keys also take some getting used to, and when I first got the phone it was frustrating as you have to be very precise with your touch. This does improve with time though, so if you do get this phone, grin and bear it for a couple of weeks… it will get better! The number keys can be quite hard to press and take some getting used too. All the keys are easier to use if you have decent finger nails, so stop biting them!!


***

The camera on the KG800 is average in everyway. It is a 1.3 Megapixel camera, which is ok, but now much less than that of the latest Sony Eriksson phones. It does come with a decent flash for taking photos in dark places and also has a number of settings allowing you to tweak the photos (brightness, effects, balance, quality etc). The zoom isn’t great, with a 4x digital zoom, but the quality goes very quickly

The KG800 also comes with a inbuilt video recorder and player using MP4 and MPEG. The only limit for video length is the memory (see below), and the quality, like the camera is distinctively average. One good feature is the PC software it comes with allows you to convert the videos into a format compatible with PCs

***

The charge on this phone is quite good (much better than the V3i I had before), and will last around 3 days with normal se. However, if you are listening to music, or playing games this does reduce. I have also talked on this phone for at least 2 hours without having to recharge it which seems adequate. The charge itself is also pretty fast going from flat to fully charged in around 2 hours.


***

Through the USB – PC connection, you are able to download MP3s from your computer onto your phone (the media player is also compatible with AAC, AAC+, AAC++, WMA; 3GP). Sound quality is good through the inclusive headphones and the media player has a built in equaliser allowing you to tweak the sound output.

However, one of the main problems with this phone is the lack of memory. It comes with 128MB of internal memory (comparable to other phones). However, what it does lack is the ability to add an external memory card, which severely limits it attempt to be a serious media device. In reality you can only store a couple of albums of music on this phone, which is a drawback.

***

Other minor features of this phone, which are self explanatory are:

Bluetooth 1.2
Able to download Java games
Voice recorder (around 20 seconds)
Alarm clock (5 programmable alarms available)
Calendar
Memos
Converter
World Time Zones
Phonebook with capacity of 1000 contacts
MMS
The settings section from the main menu also allows most options to be adjusted (time, date, background etc)


***


Overall, this is a good phone, and it looks great. I have heard it can be damaged quite easily, but to date I have not had any problems (if I do I will update!).

This isn’t the most complete phone in the world, and to get the looks, you do have to compromise some what (especially on the lack of memory), but the looks do make up for it.

If you want a phone to be a phone to simply text and make calls, then I would recommend this.

If you want a phone to be your primary camera, MP3 player and media centre, then I wouldn’t, simply because there are much better phones available on the market.

I got my phone free as an upgrade from O2, but from looking around, it is available free on a number of tariffs. I haven’t yet seen it as a PAYG phone though.

uk.lgmobile.com

Summary: A totally unique looking and feeling phone

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