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LG KG810 review– chocolate style folding phoneMobile library: Reviews

LG KG810 review– chocolate style folding phone

Developing KG800 Chocolate sliding phone success, LG released KG810 folding phone made in the same designer style and having similar characteristics.

You can understand this step of the largest Korean company – the consumer gets one and the same phone that obviously found its buyer (if not, why the huge demand?), just in different formats. Some people don’t like the sliders and prefer phones with folding structure, others, on the contrary, think that a flat and compact slider is the most comfortable and looks down upon the folding phone. Now all of them can get the admirable “chocolate”.

KG810 took from its predecessor (it would more correct to call it a “milk brother” or… a “milk sister”) all advantages and some of the disadvantages. But I’ll have to say right away that there are not much disadvantages. And they, these disadvantages, can rather be considered special features than omission or simplifications. There is no ideal technology in the world. And a phone that has prominent characteristics can turn out to be very uncomfortable in practical use. And another one that does not shine with widest functionality turns out to be wonderfully practical in use and simply beautiful. Salient design, quality material, modern characteristics and… the lack of the memory card slot. And not the best camera. And… that’s it.

The memory and the camera – the two main complaints. But we were not promised a camera phone with super capabilities in the first place. And it’s not a player, but really a multifunctional phone. To note – a very beautiful phone at that. And very attractive. So attractive that it’s hard to walk away from the shop window. And you don’t pay any attention to the price of the wonder. And KG810 costs a lot. A bit less expensive than KG800 slider, but also much more than $400...

Charming appearance

Yes, just charming… The phone looks just wonderful. The impression stays after you hold KG810 in your hands. Quality materials, presence of metal details in the design, solid and clear mechanism of the loop in the joint of the upper and lower frame halves, big keyboard (the same as in KG800). Finally, the sensory shining buttons on the front phone panel… All of this gives a special stylishness to the phone. It looks expensive and prestigious. And it does not come out of the Chocolate style frames, even though it does not carry in its title the sweet name.

Upper phone panel is made from the dark semi-transparent plastic and boxed by a metal frame. The square exterior display that shows 65 thousand color shades is located in the center of the panel. The resolution is 96õ96 pixels, (TFT) active matrix technology. This display looses its brightness in the sun, but implements the functions. Although, I thought that the default design isn’t very comfortable – black symbols frame by white on a bright background (image of a wet flower). I had to peer into the display, but… it’s just a design. And the bright flower looks striking in tune with the phone.

The lens window of the built in camera is located in the upper part of the front panel (the phone is folded). The lens is protected by a transparent plastic inset. And this solution seems to be almost the best from what I’ve seen before.

The thing is that the glossy plastic of the front panel is very easily soiled. Finger prints stay on it. You have to constantly wipe the phone with a soft rag. At the same time you wipe the lens, too. Let me repeat myself that the plastic is easily soiled, but steady to the scratches. And so the optics is always clean. Dust does not get under the framing of the front lens. Try to remove the dust particles from the lens of any other camera phone. Not an easy thing. And here – everything is thought out and practical.

Three sensory buttons that are backlighted red and hardly visible in the sun are located below the exterior screen. But these are not the phone buttons. These are the player control buttons – skip to the previous track, stop-play and skip to the next track. You don’t operate very often with these buttons, but they can be successfully used as an element of high technology design.

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810


In KG800 “chocolate” exactly the sensory control put me on guard. You cannot find the sensory buttons by touch. The backlight stops functioning in the bright sun, so you have to blindly start the main phone functions. Here, regular (although, originally made) buttons control everything – you just need to open the device.

Metal framing of the upper half of the folding phone turns into the fastening of the phone halves. The loop edges are muffled by the rounded metal insets. The loop itself is solid and has a finishing mechanism. The phone halves open softly, comfortably and the gap is minimal (you can write it off to the test sample that does not look very new, but heavily used).

The phone is easily opened with one hand. The form of the upper part promotes this – the lower edge of the metal framing has a shearing on which the finger is placed once you open the phone.

There is nothing on the upper and lower edges of the phone frame. The button of the shutter release of the built in camera is located on the upper right (on the right edge if you look on the front panel of the phone). It also calls the camera control applet. The big finger lies on this button if you hold the phone in the right hand. It's very comfortable to shoot.

The system adapter with a plastic cover is located lower. It connects the PC synch cable (a test sample wasn’t included), charger and stereo set. We will talk about the set separately. Right now, I can tell you that it is so well made that I pitied the lack of the memory card. The phone has only 128 MB of memory. It is enough for a couple of music hours, if, of course, you won’t photograph or install Java-programs. There would be no thoughts about the memory card, if there would be at least 256 MB. As 128 MB is still too little – for the player as well as for the camera. It’s a pity…

There are only two buttons on the left edge – speaker volume control. The system applet of the keyboard response volume control starts when you press one of them in the regular mode. These buttons just control the sound volume when the player is on.

I’ll tell you right away that the built in (“loud”) speaker volume is on the level. You do not hear any wheezing or bouncing. I.e. a good quality speaker that corresponds to the respective phone level. The phone utilizes 64 voice polyphony (MIDI files sound excellent). The built in player reads MP3 and AAC formats. The vibration is powerful, so you won’t miss a call…

The back panel is built from the lusterless black plastic and is divided into several parts. The battery compartment is located on the upper part and has springy movable lock. The battery itself is made together with the cover and has a volume of 700 mAh. It’s less than in KG800. It has a battery of 800 mAh. Consequently, the working time should be less as well (considering the second display and smaller battery volume). I didn’t find the exact numbers, but, I guess that the phone should work (respective to the characteristic) not less than 5 hours in the conversation mode. In any case, I listened to music, read Java-book and photographed for about 5 hours and the phone still didn’t need to be recharged after that.

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810


SIM card slot – a narrow crack in the lower part of the battery compartment. The card put into the slot is held by the battery-cover itself. Simple and practical. No complaints.

You can see the four heads of the fastening screws that, contrary to the expectations, do not spoil the appearance of the phone. The copper nest for connecting the external antenna is located on the back panel. The nest isn’t covered by anything and so is a potential dust “collector”…

Let’s open the phone. The interior surface of the upper phone half is made from the black lusterless plastic. Four plastic insets – the “legs” that soften the contact of the phone halves (the upper ones are contacted by the lower ones on the upper phone half). The screen is covered with a protective “glass”. It’s an active (TFT) matrix that shows 262 thousand color shades. The size is 2 inches diagonally (31õ39 mm), the resolution is 176õ220 pixels. The image quality is very high – the colors are rich and deep. The main screen strongly fades in the bright sun.

The keyboard is divided into two sets. The under-the-screen set is made as a plastic page without any button division. The special buttons that start the player and camera are located under the two soft buttons. Joystick – a big flat puck with a separate central button for confirming the chosen action.

The phone buttons – dial, “C” and hang up – are united by the main keyboard. They are brought out onto the upper key row. The keyboard buttons themselves are designed like in a “chocolate”, in staggered rows of glossy and lusterless buttons. This design seemed a bit off in a slider. But here – it fits in. The heterogeneous surface visually brings out the buttons and is not out of tune with the general device design.

The phone is quite small in size – 92õ47õ14.9 mm (pay attention to the thickness). And weights 83 grams. Altogether – thin, graceful and very beautiful device. A real phone for beauty experts.

Multimedia

KG810 program stuffing isn’t very different from the same in KG800. A very comfortable and good player. There is an equalizer with 8 presets, but there is no user setting. The phone sounds very well. The included earphones contribute to that. But you can replace them if you want. I found a great remote control with a peg and a built in nest for 3.5 mm, you can connect any earphones. But the included ones are also good. They look unusual – the kind of “nails” with an elongated lip base. The sound is clear with comprehensive base. And the feeling is comfortable – the ears don’t get tired (in comparison, say, to the put in Sony Ericsson drops).

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810


You can choose one of two visualizers in the player settings. You can upload a play list. You can close the phone and listen to the music controlling the player with the sensory buttons located on the upper phone panel… There is not enough memory. If there was a slot for a card – all problems would disappear.

There is a dictaphone in the phone. You can record voice reminders up to 30 seconds each one. It does not look like much, but it’s fine in practice – if we are talking about a voice notebook, not about recording a two-hour lecture (no phone is good for that). There is also a radio with 10 memory cells for specific station settings…

Camera… No, it’s not a photo phone, just a camera phone that does not pretend to be a real digital camera. But look at the photos – the sensor works with 1.3 mega pixel resolution. There is not enough of shutter speed so the moving figures seem to be somewhat blurred. There is not enough of detailing – you can feel a slight generalization. But all in all… quite good! In any case, you want to keep photographing with this phone.

LG KG810

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LG KG810

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LG KG810

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LG KG810

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LG KG810

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LG KG810

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Video sample, mp4, 480 KB >>>

The video phone does not photograph better the Sony Ericssons (with the same QCIF resolution). There, the function looks declarative, although the photo is very well utilized. Here, with modest (if you can something like that) photo quality, the video quality is utilized on the same level. You can play, but you cannot seriously count on the video capabilities of the phone.

All in all, the multimedia phone capability can be evaluated as very good.

System

I really like the design. The mixture of dark plastic and almost black background – that is something. Concerning the program component, you can make your decision based on photographs. I’ll just note the comprehensive settings, thought out colors, fonts and an understandable system of included menus.

Calendar, dictaphone, notes, alarm, calculator, quantity converter – there is everything that a modern phone user would need. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of the EDGE support, but I liked the mail client that supports HTML.

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810

LG KG810


One more thing… The phone is russified, but there no Russian letters on the keys. Although, they would, certainly, fit on the buttons…

Conclusion

LG KG810 is an excellent device. It does not compete with KG800 slider, but successfully complements it. Is there a desire to get a trendy, beautiful phone and money for it? Then there is nothing to think about.

And don’t forget that it’s not a smart or a phone with widened photo functions. Don’t expect too much from this phone. Although, it does a good job.


© Nikolay Nadezhdin, Mobiset.ru reviews
Translated by Olga Mexina (info@mobiset.ru)
Published — 07 march 2007




Read full version of the article: http://eng.mobiset.ru/articles/text/?id=17






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