I love this phone! (LG KC550)

Member Name: nickbrown60

Product:	LG KC550
Date:	28/05/09 (145 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing camera and battery, looks nice, MP3 Player

Disadvantages: None at all

Hello everyone and welcome to this review,


Time had come to buy a new mobile after my Sony Ericsson decided to 'shed', some of its vital plastic parts that keep the phone alive, to Tesco I went on the hunt for a newer and stronger phone.

The LG Kc550 stood out from the crowd with its stunning black and gloss finish, that was the phone for me. The Kc550 is a slide phone with a 5 mega pixel camera including auto focus and a flash... Perfect for me! Anyway enough on the camera until later on... How much did it cost Nick?

Well I was expecting a rather hefty price tag on the high specification phone, Tesco had an offer on their own mobile network that included the phone, £10 credit and a free 1GB memory card for only £89! Bargain. Off to the checkout I went with my new bargain.

What was in the box?
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The phone of course!
The charger
Headphones
A USB data cable
1GB micro SD Memory Card
And the general pile of paper that I never bother reading.

The phone was very easy to set up after I managed to open the battery cover, it was hard to open and resulted in me accidentally throwing my new phone across Tesco's car park as it slipped out of my hands, I was slightly upset but took it straight back for an exchange which Tesco were very helpful with. I really successful at setting up the second handset as I had gained some experience from my previous 'drop'. So be warned, if you buy this phone wait until you get to the car before opening.

The battery was ready charged and the phone sprang to life, the first thing I noticed was how clear the screen was, crystal clear! A very high quality display. The handset also feels fantastic quality and is very solid but light which is unusual for a slide mobile, they usual wobble as you hold them to your ear.

The camera
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I was desperate to test the camera on this phone and as I had booked a flying lesson it was a perfect opportunity to test, the camera is mounted on the back of the phone and can be used without sliding the phone up first. Many slide phones have the camera mounted on the top of the slide up bit, sorry for not sounding too technical! But this phone's camera is very easy to access. The lens is a 'Schneider - KREUZNACH', I have no clue what that means but it sure does sound good!

Time to test the Kreuznach after take-off, I slid the panel on the back of the phone to expose the lens and WOW! The picture came straight up on the screen, such fantastic quality that you would swear it was a proper digital camera. The pictures were easy to take and so clear with the auto focus. The camera is no quick snapper, it does require you to hold the button half way down to focus before snapping the image, this is fair enough though, if you want a perfect image you must wait...

I took over 100 pictures on my flight and the memory card was holding up well, so nice of Tesco. The camera also has a flash which is great for using at night, there is also a few settings hidden away in the camera menu which allows you to change the contrast, colours and select different modes, even face warp! The lovely setting that allows you to jumble up peoples faces!

There is also a video camera that records up to an hour! Wow! I have tested this up to 3 minutes so far and it is fantastic.

General features
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There are many fantastic features that this phone holds within! I will try and explain most of them but if I miss any... I am sorry

MP3 Player - I use this all the time! Gone are the days of my iPod since purchasing this. I have 300 songs loaded onto my memory stick and they are always there in my pocket. The headset supplied gives fantastic quality to songs and are pretty loud! Best of all, you can listen to music and if you have an incoming call the music will stop and you can talk through the headset! Yay. The speaker on the phone is also handy if you forget your headphones, the speaker is loud and clear but can sound slightly blurred if turned right up.


Radio - Yes! This phone has a full radio tuner built in, mind you - many phones have this and is not uncommon! I have tested the radio and can confirm it works fantastic, the signal is also much improved on the phones radio than a standard radio.


Internet - Tesco mobile allows you to use full mobile internet for checking eBay, emails or of course Dooyoo on the move! The browsing is very quick and the phone keeps a great signal compared to other phones I have had on the same network. The phone also holds games that can be downloaded online with ease if not slightly pricey at £5 a game!

Speaker phone - I needed this! I get headaches when on mobiles for too long so this feature has been really handy to me, just press the centre button when on a call and it comes out loud.


Making calls and texts
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It is really easy to make a call, just access the menu and select a contact, press the call button and away you go! The sound quality is fantastic and so is the microphone (So I have been told, I don't talk to myself that often, hehe) The battery lasts a very long time at around 9 hours of calls and of course more in standby.


As I mentioned earlier the phone feels very strong when on a call and is very comfortable to hold during long conversations. But beware! There is a rim on fancy looking silver metal on the edge of the phone, it can get cold! Very cold, probably British weather!

Now we know all about the calls, how about texting?

Texting is really fantastic with the easy to use keypad, the button are quite responsive and nice to the touch, I can type very fast on this phone and it is a pleasure to text with, there is also the T9 dictionary and the phone pretty much writes your texts for you, very handy indeed! Once your text is written it is very quick at sending, most other phones take a while, especially the Nokias I have owned, texts on this send almost instantly!

Other features and handy bits?
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Well the phone has Bluetooth for sending pictures, songs etc to others for free, it works very well and sends files quickly.

When searching the phone last night I found out something great... The phone has a TV output, buy a cable that fits into your Tv and you can display all of your images and videos on the Tv, a great feature in my opinion, even though I will probably never use it!

The phone also has the usual alarm clock, world clock, word pad, calculator and of course the calendar! These features are all very handy at times and I use this phone as my main alarm clock. It has not failed once in the last two weeks which h is a record for my alarms, it must be good!

Battery
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As mentioned earlier the phone is capable of calling up to 9 hours but can last up to a week with general use. I charge mine every three days and I use my phone a lot!

Overall conclusion:
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An absolutely fantastic and stylish slide phone with an amazing camera. The battery is great and seems very reliable and solid. Definitely one of the best phones I have owned for the price and would highly recommend to others. It is very easy to use and although it is a high tech device the menus will soon be picked up by a first time user.

Thank you for reading, hope this has helped.

Summary: A really fantastic phone

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