I've Got To Give Credit To This Mobile! (LG KC550)

Member Name: cazkins

Product:	LG KC550
Date:	29/01/09 (170 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything; from the design and features, to reliability

Disadvantages: None that I've noticed

Please excuse the lame title!

I've tried various phones and think I've found one to stick with now with the LG KC550. This is my first LG phone, and I was a little sceptical at first after hearing not so good reviews about the Chocolate mobile because of problems with the touch sensitivity. I needn't have worried as I'm very happy with this phone as it has everything I need, good features to personalise to your liking and it's been very reliable so far.

... Looks ...
At first glance, you'll notice that this phone is chunkier than many slim slider mobiles in the shops lately. I actually liked this because the last phones I've tried have been thin slide/flip and I wanted something a bit different. It has a sturdy, quality feel to it, rather than feeling like an old-fashioned brick. It's 1.49cm in depth, 9.69cm in height and 5.14cm wide. Because of it's size it's also a tad heavier than other slim models at 110g. That said, I don't find it any bother to carry around in my pocket or my bag.

It's designed with a large front screen which is clear to see and makes navigation and text writing much easier. On the front there is are 4 flat buttons which allow you to make/end calls and navigate the main screen, along with a cancel key (ie. To delete a letter from your text). In the centre is a box key, allowing up/down & left/right navigation, along with a main 'ok' silver button in the middle. To the one side is the port for headphones/charger/pc connection (which slides open rather than having a piece of tacky plastic that often breaks off), and the other a shortcut key to the camera, SD slot zoom/volume adjuster.

The phone has an easy slide mechanism which is sturdy enough not to slide open when you don't want it to. This reveals the chequered black & grey keypad. The keys, although small and flat, I find are still easy to use once you get used to them.

The overall appearance of the phone is slick and stylish, all in black with the exception of the silver trim. The back of the phone has a more rubberised feel to it, so you needn't worry about any scratches. The camera is located on the back too, and is neatly covered by a sliding silver bar. I find this extremely useful as it protects the camera lens and you only need to slide it down when you want to use the camera.

... Camera ...
I think that one of the biggest appeals of this phone is its 5 mega-pixel camera with auto focus, which is a great improvement on the basic VGA, 1.3 and even 3 mega pixel cameras. I find it takes photos easily and produces good quality output. It also gives you good video capture with its image stabiliser. If you want to be taking professional photographs I would still recommend a purpose-specific digital camera, but this is definitely a fab way of taking great photos very easily. The snippet of specific info I found on this states "high performance schneider kreuznach lens. Enhanced shooting capability in low light ISO800. Image stabiliser and powerful LED flash. 2.4 inc wide LCD screen with auto rotation. DVD quality video recording, full TV out". Makes it sound very technical! Uploading to the PC is also straightforward with the software and cable provided, though the software doesn't seem to be compatible with Vista on my laptop, only on the PC with XP.

... Navigation & Applications ...
As for the general layout of menus on the phone, the 2.4", 262,000 colour screen makes it wonderful to look at. Colours are bright and clear and navigation is easy. There's enough to choose from to personalise your phone with backgrounds, ringtones etc, along with the standard applications you'd expect to find on a good phone (such as alarm, calculator, file manager, calender etc). I've always found little dingly noises on mobiles to be irritating, but when I first got this phone and slid it open it made a pretty sound that's quirky & strangely addictive, so I've kept that on. You can also change the sounds of different keys etc so you can mould it to your own preferences which is great. I've found navigation to be very quick and easy, so writing texts for example is straightforward.

Added extras include MP3 player, radio, tri-band, internet & bluetooth. The sound quality I find to be good (though I don't tend to use MP3/Radio on my mobile) and conversations always seem to be clear and crisp. You don't need to be shouting "HELLO?! I'M ON THE PHONE!", so save your voice and spare the people around you (I had to put up with 20 minutes of this in a cafe yesterday & came close to telling the guy to get a hearing-aid!)

I'm not particularly interested in games on mobiles, but this comes with pre-loaded M-Toy games that are very different to what I expected. The phone must have some sort of motion sensing technology, because there are games like darts, where instead of pressing buttons to throw your dart, you move your phone back and forth. It's got good sensitivity and although it's not a big thing for me, it's an added bonus and really shows how technology has advanced!

As I've mentioned, it's got an SD card slot so if you wanted to store more music or photos on your phone you can do so by expanding the memory.

... Reliability ...
I expected the battery to die after 1 day like the last phone I had because the amount of features on it sucked the life out of it. But I was pleasantly surprised to find the battery life to be very good, so with minimal use (the odd text and sliding it open to listen to the pretty sound every now and again!) it lasts a good few days. When I've been using it more often, it's still reliable enough to go a couple of days without panicking it'll kick the bucket when you need it the most.

I've never had any problems with this phone & can't foresee any in the future. There's nothing I dislike or find irritating about it either so I'm a happy bunny.

... Price ...
I can't remember exactly how much this phone cost when it first came out, but I bought this from Tesco Mobile a few months before Christmas at £119.00 as it was on offer (but I also had money off coupons so it was a bargain!). When comparing it to mobiles with similar specs, I would say this is a reasonable price, and actually quite good when you consider the 5 mega-pixel camera.

... Thumbs Up! ...
Overall I would definitely recommend this if you want something a bit more than your basic standard phone. It's reliable, easy to use, looks fantastic, it's sturdy, doesn't scratch easily and has plenty of high-tech features for a mobile around the £100 mark. I'll be sticking with this one for a while because I think it's fantastic, and above all, it's reliable!

Summary: Fantastic LG creation that's not given enough credit

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