LG 800 Chocolate mobile phone

...'the sexiest phone ever', the LG KG800 chocolate. Again, I was seduced by the pretty lights, rather than the features the phone offered, but I was sure I wouldn't be disappointed, after all, I rarely use my mobile for anything other than calls and texts. I've had phones by all the other major mobile phone manufacturers (Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola), but never an LG, so I was keen to see how it compared.

When my phone arrived ...
...the box is a little LG symbol with the slogan 'Life's Good', they got that right, my life is so much better now I have this box! Wow, ok Tia, maybe you're getting a little carried away by the box, it is the PHONE you're supposed to be reviewing after all………..

Once you stop drooling over the box (not that I'm assuming you're anywhere near as sad as me of course) and remember why you have said box, you might want to open it (and close ... more

Before I start I'd best just warn you this is a long review, but most of what I've written is personal experience and opinion of the phone which I hope will prove useful to anyone thinking of buying it, rather than technical specification (I'm no good at all that stuff!).

I was absolutely gutted on my 21st birthday, when my trusty Motorola V620 with the cool flashing colour changing lights (yes, the lights were the only reason I bought the phone in the first place!) was stolen. But after a short grieving period, I figured at least I had an excuse to buy a new, even flashier phone! After looking around at the latest models, I decided to go for the phone dubbed 'the sexiest phone ever', the LG KG800 chocolate. Again, I was seduced by the pretty lights, rather than the features the phone offered, but I was sure I wouldn't be disappointed, after all, I rarely use my mobile for anything other than calls and texts. I've had phones by all the other major mobile phone manufacturers (Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola), but never an LG, so I was keen to see how it compared.

When my phone arrived I looked at the box and just thought 'wow!'. I was sure I'd chosen a quality product, and this was before I'd even seen the phone itself. I've never seen such a nicely packaged mobile phone. There is a cardboard sleeve on the box with a picture of the phone, nothing too special, but under this cardboard sleeve is the sexiest mobile phone box ever! It's very posh looking, and even has a magnetic fastening! It looks more like something you'd expect to house an expensive item of jewellery, only perhaps a little larger. On top of the box is a little LG symbol with the slogan 'Life's Good', they got that right, my life is so much better now I have this box! Wow, ok Tia, maybe you're getting a little carried away by the box, it is the PHONE you're supposed to be reviewing after all………..

Once you stop drooling over the box (not that I'm assuming you're anywhere near as sad as me of course) and remember why you have said box, you might want to open it (and close it, and open it, and close it…….that magnetic fastening is sooooooooo cool!) and check that there is actually a phone in there. The inside of the box is split into 3 separate compartments. The middle one contains a lovely little drawstring bag with the phone inside, and the other two compartments should contain the phones battery, battery charger, USB cable, headphones, user guide, quick start guide, software, and a little LG mobile phone dangly. The box also has…………no, wait, what am I supposed to be reviewing again? Oh, the phone, right, where did I put it? Ah, there it is………

On removing the phone from it's little bag I was instantly impressed by how light it is, but then realised this was mainly due to the fact that the battery wasn't inserted yet! So I inserted my sim card and the battery, which slides into place quickly and easily, and also forms the back cover of the phone. Even with the battery in this is substantially lighter than all the phones I have previously owned, so still rather impressive. According to the technical specifications for this phone it weighs in at 83g.

Looks-wise at this point I thought the phone looked very simple but stylish, though nothing particularly special. Measuring 95x48x15.2mm, it is slightly larger than many flip and slide phones, but still small enough to fit comfortably in your hand, and not take up too much room in a bag or pocket. And at 15.2mm, it's a lot slimmer than most other slide phones that I've come across, which makes it easier and more comfortable to keep in a pocket. The phone is black, with a 2inch display, above which is the LG logo. Below the display is a silver raised rectangle, around which you can just make out the faint grey symbols of the lcd touchpad.

Now this is always the annoying part when I buy a new mobile phone - having to charge it before I can play around with it! So, out came the charger, and having not read the instructions, it took me a little while to work out that the little covered socket on the side of the phone with the headphone symbol on it is where the charger plugs in. So after plugging the charger into the mains, I plugged the other end into the phone, and, wow, the lcd touchpad lit up all red and glowing! I know this is why I bought the phone in the first place and so it was no surprise, but it looks so much better in real life as opposed to a picture on my computer screen. Fantastic! You have to let the phone charge fully before using it for the first time, so I left it charging while I went to work.

As soon as I got in from work just over 10 hours later, the phone was fully charged (well, I'd have been more than a little disappointed if it hadn't have been after 10 hours!) so I unplugged it and started to mess about with it. The first thing I noticed was that as I held the unopened phone in my hand, my thumb rested on the cover for the headphone socket and it kept coming loose, which I found rather annoying. I've since found that to make it stay in place I have to push it in with my nail, and this way it only comes loose after using the phone for a long time.

To activate the lcd touchpad, you need to either slide open the phone or press a volume key (of which there are 2, located on the left side of the phone, just in the right place to press with my thumb if I hold the phone in my left hand) twice. Personally I think this is brilliant, as it almost completely eliminates the possibility of you accidentally calling people when the phone is in your pocket, unlike with certain other phones where they're constantly coming unlocked without you realising. All of the keys on the sides of the phone need to be pressed quite firmly to use them, so the chance of you accidentally pressing the volume key twice in quick succession (after pressing it the first time you have to press it again within 5 seconds to unlock it) accidentally are very slim.

The lcd touchpad itself is great. It glows a lovely red colour when activated - so different to any other phone, giving it that sophisticated edge, and it's really easy to use. The keys on the touchpad are the ok key, which has a raised silver border, 2 softkeys, navigation keys (arrows for up, down, left and right), the call key, and the cancel key. One slight problem I've found whilst using the touchpad is that when I'm typing a message to someone, and I pause for a couple of seconds perhaps to think what else to say, my thumb tends to hover over the call key, which is never a problem with normal buttons but as this is touch-sensitive I've often ended up calling the person I'm trying to text! I'm also thinking touch sensitive keys are probably not a good idea when you're drunk as it's much easier to press the wrong key than with a normal keypad, so who knows what you might end up doing! I've more recently found that when I ring any automated service that requires me to type in numbers during the call, I have to be very careful when moving the phone away and back to my ear as the touchpad seems to stay active, meaning I can end up cycling through the menu without realising it, so then when I come to typing the number it doesn't work. All minor niggles for me, but could be extremely annoying for anyone who uses their phone a lot.

The screen is very good quality, and in my opinion the perfect size, and the ability to adjust the brightness means you can change it to your personal preferences so you don't have to put up with a glaringly bright or dull screen.

Sliding open the phone reveals two things; on the front, the alphanumeric keys (normal buttons, not touchpad!), and on the back, the camera. The slide action of the phone is quite smooth, and the workings seem sturdy enough when you slide it, so it doesn't feel at all flimsy or as if it's going to break. The only problem with that is that, as a major fidgeter, I'm constantly sliding it open and shut whenever I have it in my hands (and as this activates the touchpad - randomly calling people again becomes a problem!).
The keypad is easy to use, and the keys are a nice size, though I do sometimes find that I have to press certain keys a couple of times to get them to work as I've not pressed them hard enough the first time. I find the keys work a lot better if I press them using my thumbnail rather than my thumb, but this is how I tend to use buttons on mobile phones anyway, so not a problem for me.

The camera is on the back of the phone at the top when open, and next to it you'll also find a dinky little mirror (for taking pictures of yourself I assume), and a little light (for the camera flash). Operating the camera is easy, you can either take the long way round and go through the menu options to find it, or you can use the camera/mp3 button situated on the right side of the phone. Pressing the camera/mp3 button takes you into a menu where you can choose whether to use the camera, video camera or mp3 player. Choosing the camera option takes you straight to the camera screen where you can take a picture and save, delete or send it someone in a message. Whilst in the camera screen you can easily change settings (size, brightness, flash settings, timer etc) using the softkeys.
The camera is 1.3 mega pixels, which although is certainly not the best camera to be found on a mobile phone, is highly adequate. The pictures produced are crisp and clear, and overall fairly high quality.
The video camera is equally as easy to operate, and of a similar quality. This is not one of those phones which can take only 30seconds or a minute of video footage, it can take a lot. The image quality is fairly good, but the sound quality is quite poor.

Transferring your photos onto your pc is easily done with the provided USB cable, with no need to install any extra software first.

The mp3 player is also very easy to use, and can be accessed in the same way as the camera, but by selecting mp3 from the list. The sound quality is good, and I find the headphones provided are highly adequate for my needs. The headphones come with an inline controller, making it easier to change volume, skip tracks etc without having to have your phone in your hand whilst listening to music. The headphones can become a little uncomfortable after prolonged use, but I find this only to be the same as any other in-ear headphones.

Transferring music to the phone is as easy as transferring your camera photos to your pc, you simply plug in the USB cable and transfer them into the music file (you do need to make sure you transfer them into the right file or you won't be able to play them).

The softkeys are configured as left for Menu and right for contacts. The menu comes up in grid style format, which is easy to navigate, with 9 options as follows:

1) Profiles - Here you have the option to personalise profiles and choose which one you want to use. As well as the personalisable profiles, there are the options of Vibrate Only and Silent, which cannot be personalised. The profiles are for the tones only, not the display.

2) Call Register - Here you can view all the calls made to and from your phone, including missed calls and GPRS information. You can check the charges for the calls and the call duration, and you can delete the list of recent calls and reset the call timers.

3) Tools - Here you will find the alarm clock, calculator, unit converter, world time and sim menu options. The sim-menu will depend upon which network you are on. There is also a Favourites section, where you can add up to 9 functions which you use often, which are then easily accessible from the idle screen by pressing the up key.

4) Organiser - Here is where you will find your contacts, calendar and memo functions. In contacts you can search for or add contacts, view your own numbers and change contact settings. The memo function allows you to write notes to yourself which can be viewed later for instance to remind yourself to do something. The calendar lets you write memos and set alarms for important dates, add daily schedules, or just view a date.

5) Messages - Here is where you will find everything to do with your text and media messages and emails. Inbox contains all your received text messages, whilst Outbox contains all the messages you have sent. There is also a Mailbox for your email and a Drafts folder for anything you wish to save for later. You can listen to your voicemail, write a new message, make message templates, and change message settings.

6)Multimedia -From here you can access the camera, video camera, mp3player, voice recorder, photo album, and video album, as well as changing the settings for the camera and video camera.

7)Browser - Here is where you have access to the internet, with options to go to your homepage, go to bookmarked pages, or type in a url to go to. You can also view and change the internet settings and perform actions such as clearing the cache and deleting cookies.

8)My Stuff - Here you can view all the things which make your phone yours - games and applications, your videos, photos, music, text, images and sounds, and anything else you may have downloaded to your phone.

9)Settings - Here you have access to all the important settings for your phone. You can set and change the date and time, personalise the display, change the language, change call and security settings, check the memory status, and more.

As you can see, it's all set out in a rather logical way, with things where you would expect to find them, so it shouldn't take anyone long to get used to where all the options are within the menu.

Texting with the phone is simple, though I have to admit I find it rather annoying that I have to change the dictionary format every time I want to send a message. It automatically comes up in predictive text (which I used to use on my Motorola but haven't been able to get used to on the chocolate), and I have to remember to press the hash key 4 times to be able to type my message the normal way, and I can't find any way to change it so that it automatically comes up this way. Grrrrrrrrr!

As I've just remembered this is a phone I'm reviewing, I should mention that as well as all the other features, you can actually make a phone call on this! The call quality is good, and it's easy to change the volume during a call using the volume buttons on the side of the phone. Reception is generally good, though this is more to do with the network than the phone. The only slightly annoying thing I've found when making a call is that it can be quite difficult to end a call - I've often pressed the end key up to 5 times before it actually ends the call, and though you can also end a call by sliding the phone shut, it never seems to end it straight away.
The phone also has options for taking a second call, and making conference calls, but as I have never used these functions I cannot say how well they work.
Bluetooth is easy to set up with the phone and works quickly and easily.

Using the internet on the phone is relatively easy, but i've found it to be extremely slow, though i've never used the internet on a phone before so i'm not sure how it would compare with other phones.

I know a lot of people complain about these phones getting scratched really easily, but I've had mine for about 8 months now, and there's not a scratch on it! I find the phone is surprisingly durable. When I first read through the instruction manual I was a little wary as it warned that dropping the phone can cause the touch screen to lose it's sensitivity, thus rendering the phone useless. I have a really bad habit of dropping phones (often out of windows, though so far I've not subjected the chocolate to this, I think it may be just a little too much for it!), and this one's been dropped on nearly every surface you could think of, the worst case being when I accidentally flung it about 15ft across the sink area of the ladies toilets in a bar whilst on a night out. Considering the speed at which it flew across the room, and the tiled floors, I was sure my phone would be dead, but no, still not a scratch on it, and still functioning perfectly.

Though it doesn't break easily, it does look dirty extremely quickly. It shows up fingerprints really well not only on the screen and touchpad, but on the whole of the case, so I find myself constantly trying to wipe the thing clean whenever I have it my hands!

The battery life I'd say is ok, but certainly not brilliant. I find that if I don't use the phone at all, the battery lasts about 7 days, but when I am using it (and I never use it a lot - average daily usage for me is sending about 5 texts and using the alarm, and that's it!) I tend to need to charge it about every 3 days. On the odd occasions when I have actually used it a lot, I've found it really needed to be charged again by the end of the day, so heavy users would probably need to be charging every day.

I was quite disappointed by the choice of ringtones on the phone, as I like to have a simple 'ring ring' tone on my phone rather than any annoying music or silly noises, but there are only a few tones to choose from, so I ended up using a rather more annoying version of the 'ring ring' tone I prefer! The message tones are also somewhat lacking in choice, and I found I didn't like any of them, and I don't like paying to download new tones, so again I ended up with a rather annoying sound. Though saying that, it hardly makes a difference what tone I choose as most of the time I don't hear my phone when it's ringing anyway! Even on full volume I don't hear it when it's in my trouser or jacket pocket, and the vibrations don't seem to be strong enough to make me notice it either. This is not a major problem for me as I don't tend to get important calls on my mobile, but for anyone who does it would be a major issue as I'm sure they'd miss plenty of calls.

Overall, I am quite pleased with this phone. It serves it's purpose (looking good, sending texts and making a few calls) well for me, and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't use their phone a lot, but for anyone who does make a lot of calls or wants a phone for business purposes, I don't think it would really fit the bill. It does have great features for those who want something more than just a phone, is stylish, small, light, and durable, with only some minor flaws.

If I remember rightly I paid around £250 for my phone, sim-free, but this was not long after they went on sale in the UK. They're now selling at amazon .co.uk for £187.89.

The photo below was taken with the camera phone.

 

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