Review LG’s first Chocolate was promoted as a style phone but now, several incarnations in, its become more than just a sweet talker. The LG New Chocolate BL40 looks like nothing else (except perhaps a bar of Cadbury’s Bourneville), with its 21:9 cinematic widescreen and elongated proportions. Yet, besides its unusual look, it also has a 5Mp Camera, Wi-Fi, HSDPA 3G, A-GPS, an upgraded S-Class UI with widgets and an FM radio, plus a host of other features.
Dandy candy: LG’s New Chocolate BL40
To our eyes, the BL40 looks lovely, with its glass front, glossy black plastic back, tasteful metal strip around the sides with some snazzy red trim on top and bottom. This distinctive look won’t appeal to everyone but get better acquainted with it, and there’s a lot to like. Initially, the dimensions of 128 x 51 x 11mm seem bizarre but we soon got used to its stretch limo aesthetics. At 129g it’s no lightweight, but at least feels sturdy and well made in the hand.
Around the sides the controls are rather stylishly built into that metallic strip and include a volume rocker, Camera shutter, music key, a micro USB socket covered by a plastic grommet and there’s a 3.5mm jack plug on top next to the power key. The back is plain except for the Schneider Kreuznach Camera lens and LED flash. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The LG GD900 Crystal wouldn’t be the first mobile to sell itself on a gimmick. But in today’s increasingly competitive market, a gimmick just isn’t enough. The new Crystal’s schtick is that it has a see-through keypad – as in, transparent.
LG’s GD900 Crystal
It’s not completely transparent of course, the numbers are displayed as grey etchings, which light up when the keypad is touched. And it’s not just a keypad either, since it also doubles as a multi-function trackpad.
Also on board is a 3in touch screen, 8Mp Camera, HSDPA 3G (7.2Mbps), quad-band GSM, Wi-Fi, the Symbian S60 operating system and LG’s very cool S-Class user interface. So it’s clearly more than just a pretty keypad.
The LG GD900 Crystal isn’t the slimmest or lightest slider at 105 x 53 x 14mm and 120g but it’s perfectly pocketable, nonetheless. The front is dominated by the 3in, 800 x 480 pixel, capacitive touch screen and above it are loudspeaker, VGA Camera and light sensor. Below the screen are three touch-sensitive keys: call start and stop, plus a shortcut to the spinning cube version of LG’s S-Class interface, which we last saw on the Viewty Smart. Read the rest of this entry »
