LG Chocolate KG810 Review

Chocolate has long been a confectionaries best friend. The introduction of the LG chocolate candy bar was all the rave for 2006. The sleek elegance made it the must have device and the sale showed that. The candy bar shape is cool, but there is the segment of the market that love flip phones. This is where the LG Chocolate KG810 comes into play. Its clamshell design has made it the rage for the flip lovers wishing for a piece of the chocolate pie.

The KG810 is sexy, that's the obvious. Measuring 92mm x 47mm x 14.9mm, and weighing a mere 83g, it's the ideal handset to be tucked away in a pair of jeans. The black reflective finish is identical to that of the KG800's, and while it feels and looks solid, the surface is a magnet for fingerprints and smudges. Personally, I'd prefer a grooved anti-slip surface on my phones, but it's a case of preference. The good thing about the surface though, is that it's made of glass fibre, giving it minimal resistance to light scratches. A few days of carrying it around and the surface still looks brand new - that is if you consistently wipe the fingerprints off (which I couldn't help doing because they were painfully obvious). However, don't expect it to stand up against excessive friction with coins and keys in your pocket - scratches will still appear.

The phone has a cold metallic feel to it. The folding joint is tight and sturdy, and the phone snaps open and shut without a single creak. The keypad is firm and clicks very softly, and the keys alternate between glossy and flat textured surfaces to form a chequered pattern that is mild and not too obvious. Classy.

The KG810's internal screen is identical to that of the KG800 - 176x220 resolution, 262k color, and in every way exudes the same merits as its predecessor. The display is bright, crisp and large enough to make usage pleasing to the eyes as much as the phone's design does. The external screen is 96x96 resolution with 65k color, and is hidden underneath the surface, making the outer shell seamless and smooth.

Below the external screen are three touch-sensitive keys, also built into the glossy surface. They're similar to those on the KG800, except that they're designed for MP3 navigation (Play/Pause, Next Track, and Previous Track), allowing you to navigate your playlist while the phone is folded. This is a blessing, considering the KG800 relied on the same heat-sensitive keys to navigate the phone's essential menus - a feature that you will either love or hate. On the new KG810 however, it's more of an optional stylish feature, since you can still navigate your playlist with the conventional keypads.

The touchpad needs some getting used to, since it requires quite a deal of accuracy. I find its behaviour erratic especially when using the Play/Pause key since it's located in the centre, and half the time I end up touching one of the other two keys simultaneously, causing it not to respond. I have to avoid using my thumb as a result. There are times however when all is needed is a tap and the touchpad would register. The touchpad saves you the trouble of flipping the phone open to navigate your MP3 playlist and doubles as a cool feature, but serves nothing more. If you are worried about accidentally pressing the touch keys while in standby, rest assured that it is not activated that way. You need to press and hold either the Volume Up or Down key located at the left side of the phone to bring it up from standby mode to activate the touchpad.

The internal keypad has a conventional 3 x 3 structure, surrounded by two soft keys on top, with the dedicated MP3 and Camera keys below - pretty easy to understand. The 'answer', 'end' and 'clear' keys are grouped with the numeric keypad. The keypad is single-pieced, firm but light to the touch, and big enough to navigate with effectively and comfortably.

Mounted on the bottom right side of the phone is the headset/USB/charger input, hidden beneath a plastic leaf cover. It may have been a better idea to use rubber for the leaf as I foresee that prolonged usage might actually cause the plastic to break off. It does feel rather flimsy, but the plastic adds consistency to the phone's material. It all comes back to looks. Unfortunately, the unit we received seemed to have some problems with the USB connection. Windows XP could detect the phone, but could not recognize it even with the drivers installed. We were unable to test the LG software as a result or share data between phone and PC.

The menu system is well organized, I had no trouble finding my way around without consulting the manual. The interface however makes full use of the keypad and you would have to go through a lot of keys and sub-menus just to do basic things like send messages. Easy to get around, but by no means the quickest and most convenient phone user interface in the market. Nevertheless, you have 9 slots to which to save any of your favourite tabs or sub menus so that you can access them directly by pressing the Favourites keyinstead of having to manually navigate every time.

LG Chocolate KG810 Design

Application

Contacts

Calendar

LG Chocolate KG810 Features

I would expect the speakers to be the same as the one on the KG800, as they sound rather tinny. Mind you they're clear and sharp, but ringtones are just about the only things you need to hear from them. It makes no sense listening to MP3's or the radio through the external speakers - the quality is abysmal. Needless to say you should use the included headset for listening to music on the phone.

Other basic features include a unit converter, world time (very cool looking and convenient - I love it!), and a voice recorder, allowing you to record 3 messages in total, up to 30 seconds each. The voice recorder is easy to use, and quality is as clear as a regular phone call would sound.

Multimedia

Mp3 Player

Camera

The LG Chocolate KG800 comes with a 1.3 mega pixel camera.
1.3 MP, 1280 x 960 pixels, video(QCIF), flash - Java MIDP 2.0
- MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player
-
- T9
- Organiser

The camera isn't much to shout about but it's fully featured. As mentioned earlier, there are better camera phones out there, but for such a slim phone, a 1.3 megapixel camera should suffice. It snaps pictures at 320x240, 640x480 and 1280x960 resolutions, comes equipped with night mode, white balance (daylight, incandescent, cloudy, and fluorescent), image effect (sepia, monochrome and negative) and zoom - everything you'd find on a basic digital camera. It has video recording capabilities at 176x144 resolution too.

Picture quality is borderline average as you can see below. Anything beyond 800x600 however, the image will be too grainy. Taking shots and viewing the real time screen is also a tad too sluggish. It feels as though night mode is perpetually turned on - the image is amplified even at the slightest hint of darkness. The camera has decent focus as a result, but if you absolutely have to be quick with your shot, you might just miss it because the display and shutter are a split second too slow.

Located on the right side of the phone, at thumb level (assuming you hold the phone with your right hand) is the external camera key. This key allows you to activate and use your camera with the phone folded, so you can snap a picture of yourself, with the external screen as your display. Convenient, but the key is in a position that is prone to accidental activation, and the key is very light. Since the phone is so thin, there isn't much of a surface to hold on to at the sides, and I've found myself holding and pressing the external camera key by accident many times.

FM radio

built-in FM Radio
The KG810 has a FM radio tuner, something that is absent on the KG800. The FM tuner allows you to save up to 10 radio channels, and thanks to the headset controller that doubles as an antenna, reception is very good. The MP3 player is very basic, not much to expect from a phone of this type. But it does come with two default player skins and 8 equalizer presets. The equalizer makes no difference on the speakers, but is quite effective on the supplied headset.

Bluetooth

The KG810 shares most of the KG800's features: 128MB memory, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 1.2, GPRS, MMS, and JavaTM. Subsequently it shares the same weaknesses as well, namely the lack of a memory card slot. It may not have 3G either, and there are 2.0 megapixel camera phones in the market, but considering that the KG810 is clearly designed to be a fashion phone, we can expect the sacrifice of some advanced features. The KG810 also lacks IRDA support which the KG800 came with. The A2DP Bluetooth however works like a charm; easy and fast, that about sums it up. The package doesn't include a hands free Bluetooth device though. The KG810 can store up to 150 contacts, 120 text messages, and 2000kb of multimedia messages.

Memory

Messaging, Internet, and Tools

Voice Command

LG Chocolate KG810 Performance

Battery Life

Standard battery, Li-Ion 700 mAh Stand-by Up to 200 h

LG has shrunk the battery from 800mAh for the KG800 to 700mAh for the KG810, no doubt to accomodate the phone's smaller size. It is said to provide 200 hours standby time and 4 hours talktime (as opposed to 6 hours talktime on the KG800). Less than 48 hours into usage (a few hours of navigation and testing, standby mode the rest of the time, with extremely minimal calls and messaging in between), and the battery is almost depleted. If you are a heavy user, expect to charge your phone every two days at the very least.

Sound Quality

Reception

Network

PHONE SPECIFICATIONS Phone LG KG810 Unlocked GSM Slim Phone SPECIFICATIONS Modes World GSM Frequencies GSM 900 GSM 1800 GSM 1900
Quad Band GSM phone with GPRS support.

LG Chocolate KG810 Conclusion

Like the KG800, the KG810 was designed with focus on style over functionality. This doesn't mean that it lacks features however; it's sufficiently loaded on the contrary. Safe to say, it all boils down to the design's appeal. It's a sleek and slim phone with more than decent functions to get you by, but the deciding factor would probably depend on how much you like its design. There will be people who would be irked by the unavoidable fingerprints and smudges on the surface despite its attractive glossiness. My advice to anyone considering this phone is to hold one and get a heavy feel for its ergonomics and touchpad before deciding to purchase it. The LG KG810 retails at RM1,299