I was excited about receiving this phone, it was to be the first in this style I'd ever used.
Firstly I should say that for me, as a user, the most important things are ease of use particularly of the SMS function, aesthetics and quirky yet easy-to-use add-ons. By ease of use - I don't mean easy enough for a blind 90 year old to be able to work out. I mean easy enough for a 21 year old who's probably on her 30th phone by now so has had some practice of using phones...
Well sadly, for me, the LG KS360 falls miserably at this first hurdle. I used to send 50+ messages a day. Now I keep it down to the absolute essentials, and my texting is now at a rate of about 0-3 proper messages per day. When I hear my text tone go, it fills me with dread that I'm going to have to sit at this ungracious piece of equipment and go through the trauma of ... sending a text. My facebook usage, however, has gone through the roof - I can boot up my computer, log onto my account, get on the internet, sign into facebook and write a message on there in a fraction of the time it takes me to write and send a text. Then I will often just send a simple one word text saying 'facebook' - by now, my friends understand.
This phone is advertised as a texters dream. Well if you've been used to predictive text, don't even consider buying this phone. I bought this under the impression that it would be as easy to use as a computer. Not the case. The keys are too small for my small, female fingers/thumbs, you have to go through a variety of functions to get numbers or go back or forwards spaces (if you notice you made a mistake earlier on in the message, you have a right hassle to get back there and alter it). On numerous occasions have I accidentally deleted a message I've been writing - very easy to do. And when you first get it, it's a case of trial and error to actually work out how to send the text.
I've had the phone about 2 months now - as with most phones, I figured it would take me a little while to get used to it. Not the case.
As for the phonebook - I had all my numbers saved to sim, believing they'd transfer over easily. They have saved in the strangest order and on a lot of them have put the surname before the first name, even though on my old phone both the surname and first name were saved in the first name part to avoid this from happening - which means that for those of my contacts who have double barrelled first names, for example Sally May, have saved as May;Sally, or Surgery;Doctors, you get the gist. Very annoying considering the two words were saved in one entry on my previous phone.
Also a fairly insignificant but annoying thing - there is about a 3 second delay between opening the phone and getting the information on the screen.
Another disadvantage is that the camera is not great compared to other phones, and does not have a flash which rules out taking photos in anything other than great light.
As for my two other little requirements in a phone - no quirky add ons to speak of, just the standard stuff you get with a phone, and aesthetics aren't as nice as they look in the picture I find.
The only positives I can pick out are that when you shut the phone, it does not lose the info on the screen as some other slide phones do. And that when people see it, they assume you must have spent more on it than you did, being a qwerty keyboard.
I have to give this a low score because it absolutely does not meet my criteria. Perhaps if you are not a regular texter and have different requirements to me, it may be the perfect phone for you. But for me it is the most annoying object I've ever possessed, and I regret the day I ever purchased it.
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QWERTY slider RF Band GSM EDGE Triple-band (900/1800/1900) Dimension: L*W*D (mm) 101.5 X more
51 X 16.8 mm Standard Battery, Max (mAh) LI-Polymer Inner Pack/800mAh Weight with Batt. Standard (g)111.5g Standby Time, Max (hrs)Standby Time, Max (hrs) Up to 444 hr (PP9) Talk Time (hrs) Up to 5 hr (GSM PCL 10)Display 240 x 320, 2.4 inch External LCD (Pixel)262k *Please note that the phone was originaly on Orange Network but it has been unlocked by GSM-Fonz in such a way that its manufacturer warranty is not void. Other sellers may void the warranty in unlocking process. This product can be sold by GSM-Fonz only
Advantages: can have expandable memory of upto 8gb, comes in three different colours, easy internet access Disadvantages: cannot cope with heavy-handedness, battery is sometimes unreliable
amyxpsycho 22.05.2009 (31.05.2009)
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Review of LG KS360