LG KG810

The LG KG810 is a stylish flip-phone that follows in the tradition of the LG Chocolate. It features 128MB of on board memory, a 1.3-megapixel camera, is tri band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz) compatible, and GPRS connectivity. The KG810 features a glossy finish, which may attract smudges and fingerprints very easily. However, the KG810 is solidly built, and in my hand it feels really sleek and slim. The heat sensitive buttons on the outside of the phone were generally accurate, but there were times when they couldn’t register presses. These buttons glow red. Flipping open the phone reveals a large, bright screen as well as a flat keypad. While flat keypads are sometimes difficult to use, this one isn’t—it’s great for composing text messages or dialling numbers. The keypad features the same matte and gloss keys as the original Chocolate phone, however this time they are laid out in a slight curve.

Audio quality during calls was really clear and loud, even over the speakerphone. There are seven profiles, out of which three are completely customizable. The phone can hold up to 1000 contacts in its internal memory, and speed dialing is available. Unfortunately, voice dial and voice command are not supported. It also has a Web browser and email client so you can browse the Web and send and receive emails, but the email setup is pretty tricky. Battery life is acceptable, at only 2-3 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby. The KG810’s 1.3 megapixel camera is capable of capturing images in five different resolutions, and provides quite an impressive range of settings for users to tweak and a 4x digital zoom is provided. However, the camera takes around three seconds to activate, and the shutter lag is a terrible three seconds as well, making it impossible to capture candid moments. The MP3 player that supports MP3, AAC and AAC+ formats, and users can use Bluetooth stereo headphones. One of the KG810’s biggest let downs is that while 128MB of onboard memory seems like a lot of storage space, there’s no expandable memory slot. Other features include a calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock, a voice recorder, an FM radio, a unit converter, world time, a stop watch and Java games. Overall, although the LG KG810 looks great, the poor interface makes it difficult to recommend.