That sums it up pretty much. After more than five years in the business of writing about phones, this is only the second or third time I have said
that in a phone review. The first was with the introduction of the Nokia 7650 all those years ago, when a colour screen phone with polyphonic
ringtones was a huge innovation.
Now, I find that the LG Chocolate phone, also known as the Black Temptation, takes a huge leap of imagination and comes up with something different
and exciting. However, they might want to make up their minds about labelling the phone as the LG-SV590/KV5900/LP5900 in addition to the three names
given already. Six different names for a phone is a little overkill is it not?
USB Cable
Exterior
This is where the KG800 stands out by a mile from other phones. Undoubtedly, this phone will be a sleeper hit when it starts retailing in the shops.
When closed, the device resembles a bar of chocolate, albeit a rather shiny one with a silver border running around the side of the phone.
A square of silver frames the central select button which is unlit when the phone is closed. And finally, a LG logo sits on top of the screen, also
done tastefully in silver. The device is only 15.2 mm thick and weighs only 83 grams. In fact, it looks like one of those compacts that ladies carry
around with them to powder their noses.
Anyway, once you slide open the phone, the area around the silver square mentioned lights up into nine glyphs which are touch sensitive, and which
we will refer to as the touchpad for the rest of this review in contrast to the keypad with the numbers. The keypad is located just beneath the
slide portion, so the action of sliding the top half up also reveals the keypad to the user.
The entire phone is done up in the ceramic black glossy finish, which does retain a few fingerprints, but constant wiping with your shirtsleeves
keeps the device shiny. The camera lens is found on the back of the screen, along with the self-portrait mirror and the flash window.
Buttons/Screen
The keys are black with white text, and the keypad is backlit in pale white. The keys on the top section are lit up in red upon a black background,
and that is simply stunning!
However, after the timeout setting has lapsed, then the buttons on the top half switch off and do not activate unless you tap a button on the keypad
or on the side of the phone. It takes a bit of getting used to, as the confusion is due to most other devices using a thin navigation pad much like
the silver square on this device.
Therefore, I kept pressing that silver square inadvertently, when actually there were four directional sensors located just outside the silver
square on the face of the device. There is also the tendency to hover one's fingers really close to the direction sensor's surface, and this will
result in the phone detecting an input and responding accordingly.
The screen is a 262K screen with a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels, and red and black default graphics are simply stunning given the context of the
phone and its colours. The tactile response of the number keys was good, but not so with the red touch keys on the screen, which occasionally missed
a touch or two. Anyway, it might have been psychological due to the lack of bounce-back or tactile feedback from the red keys.
Sometimes, the touch keys would also experience the sticky key phenomenon, where it detects a continuous press-down input and scrolls through the
menus in one direction, without any user input.
Software/Messaging
As is common by now, the main menu page is a grid of nine icons that branch out into a list of submenus that link to just about everything you need
to do with the device.
The messaging here is good. It is rare to find a phone other than a Nokia or SE which actually responds this quickly to text input. I have no
complaints about the programming and the speed and method of input.
After saying that the SMS input is excellent, the MMS is a little bit of a letdown because the device does not support video MMS. However, the
standard MMS works fine in most cases for sending pictures, a bit of text and maybe a sound clip.
PIM
You can add a picture to each contact for caller ID, and even make small notes such as the email address of said contact. I must say that the
convoluted interface here was a bit annoying, as you had to bounce around multiple levels of the menu with a touchpad that tended to respond either
too much or too little.
My eyes kept switching back and forth between what was shown on the screen and what corresponding keys I would have to press.
An alarm clock sits in the Tools folder, and so does the Calculator application. But the unwieldy touchpad precludes any use of this device for
business applications. This appears to be purely a talk and text device, so we shall leave it at that.
Camera/Video
The camera, which is hidden behind the screen, is that of a 1.3 megapixel type. It was hard to tell this because LG does not advertise the fact on
the body of the device like other manufacturers do. Although this makes the phone look much better, it does not help the consumer to know what the
specifications are.
Instead, an icon marked ‘sliding' is located just below the lens. Tell me then, how would you be able to read the words ‘sliding' if you had not
already found out that the device is a sliding type one by looking at the place below the camera lens?
Both the camera and the video here are subject to Zooms of up to 4x. The screen acts as the viewfinder and shows you the target image rather
clearly. Again, it needs no mentioning that you will have to slide the phone open before you can use the camera, since its lens is hidden behind the
back cover when the phone is in its closed state. Finally, a multi-shot feature allows you to take nine rapid-fire sequential shots, just like in
most Samsung devices.
Multimedia/Voice
There is a built-in MP3 player, and 124MBs of multimedia space in the phone. The remaining 4Mbs is categorised as shared memory and is used mostly
for storing messages. The phone also supports WMA and AAC playback and comes with a graphic equalizer with six presets.
There was no mention of voice recognition software. However, there is a voice recorder found inside the multimedia menu though.
Connectivity
The chocolate phone has built-in support for Bluetooth, but it does not do infrared. This is quite a surprise as infrared would have gone down
really well with the reddish theme of the phone. A USB Cable is included with the device, and it was a really simple matter to just plug the phone
into the computer.
I didn't like that the thing wanted me to reboot my computer. I don't like to change my settings, so the next time you make a phone, kindly feel free to include non-intrusive software with it. I just want to load music into the device. I do not need it to synchronise with anything. Apple, please take note. I dislike your iTunes rubbish for doing that.
The funny thing is, you can't use the phone while you are transferring stuff to it. Multitasking is a two decade old thing, if I recall correctly.
However, in all fairness, the transfer was pretty fast and I have no complaints about that.
It was simply wonderful to have a portable music device in this phone. Now if only there was an expansion slot so that I could carry more music if I
wanted to.
Games
There is one game in the phone and it is called the Zoo Zoo Club. It is a puzzle game which is a BeJewelled clone, except that instead of using
jewels, the game uses a bunch of furry animals.
| Editor's Opinion |
This is a simply astounding product. The form factor is the best I have seen in half a decade and the sheer classiness is there for all to see. Word
has it that this model is doing very well in Korea, and I expect it to be a big hit here in Malaysia.
There are some minor things though, like having to get used to the touch keypad and the tendency to bounce around the menu because of both unclear directions. However, this is easily forgotten because of the gorgeous looks of the device.
The SMS input had no lag, which leads me to believe that there is one powerful processor under the hood here. I still like it, and rate it very
highly as one of the highlights of 2006. Again, this is a great product, and it has raised the bar for succeeding products, both from LG and from
its competitors.
We just received confirmation that the retail price has been set at RM 1499. Therefore, we are upgrading our rating of the phone a little, as the
price is much lower than we expected for this products. We really do expect that this phone will do well here. Only time will tell.
Check out more chocolate info Click here.
|
|
Related Article : The touchy feeling of the new LG KG800 and Samsung E900
del.icio.us 
