A couple of weeks back I bought an LG KG800 cell phone (also known as the LG Chocolate) and I thought I'd share my opinions of it with you here. I will discuss the style and functionality of the phone so hopefully you can come to an informed decision about whether it's right for you.

The most important point about it is that it is a slide type phone which means that the screen slides up to reveal the keypad. This is a good idea because it allows for larger keys and a larger screen because they are effectively on top of one another when the phone is not in use. However I find the keypad feels a little flimsy because it is so thin.You would think that this slide design would make the phone thicker than average but it's not. It's fairly thin but it is actually comparatively wide.

The version I have is the black one but it also comes in white and pink so there's a color to suit all tastes. It's a minimalist design with no visible buttons on the front when not in use. There are small keys on the sides to control the volume and camera and MP3 player. These are a little too small for my liking. The finish is extremely glossy so it picks up fingerprints and grease very easily; it comes with a small cleaning pad but this is really too small to be of any benefit. I am worried about the phone scratching because it seems highly likely - the phone is packaged with a velvety pouch which I keep it in to protect it.

The screen itself is large, bright and clear. It is probably the feature I am most impressed with after using my old Sony Ericsson T610.

The menus are easy to navigate and it hasn't locked up at any point yet. Searching and organizing contacts is easy. You can store multiple numbers for contacts and email addresses as well as organizing contacts into different groups such as Family or Friends.

Text messaging is good although the keypad is flimsy as I have mentioned and I haven't worked out how to change lines in a message. Sound quality on calls is nothing special - I can hear hissing during calls - but on a positive note I have had no trouble with dropped calls.

It includes one Java game - a sudoku one which is actually quite good fun! The camera is 1.3 Megapixels with a white LED as a "flash". It has lots of options to change image size, white balance, brightness, special modes etc. This may not be good enough for some considering these days you get phones with over 3 Megapixels, autofocus and a Xenon flash but it's not too bad. Pictures look decent on my 19" monitor but probably won't do for printing. The MP3 player is good but this is let down by only 128MB of built-in memory and no option to add more using an SD card.

Overall I probably wouldn't recommend this phone. It looks flashy at first but it's a case of all style and no substance. There are much better options available now especially from Samsung if you want a slide design or Sony Ericsson if you want a good camera or MP3 player.

Learn more about this author, Tobias.
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