Taste it, you're gonna love it!

May 7, 2007 10:04 GMT  ·  By

LG KE800 or LG Chocolate Platinum has been launched in the 4th quarter of 2006, just after the huge success of its predecessor - KG800 also known as LG Chocolate. The LG Chocolate is the first phone deriving from the Black Label Series which also includes the newly launched LG Shine. The name Platinum comes from the metal stripe that splits the phone's black design in two. There's also a Gold version of the Chocolate that features obviously, a gold stripe at the middle of the handset. The Platinum model is just an updated version of the classic Chocolate (KG800) featuring better camera, microSD slot card and EDGE technology. You can get the Chocolate Platinum for about $400, and the sales package can include more or less accessories, depending on the market location.

Design

LG Chocolate Platinum has been particularly designed for pure pleasure. It produces pleasure in all kinds of manners, just like a piece of chocolate that tempts you to taste it. The phone's main target could be more than just women, and generally speaking, it could also address the feminine side of men too. Its fashionable and elegant design keeps the Chocolate in the top charts for desirability. It's a "never-boring" device, which will make you smile just by using it, even long after buying it.

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Now let's "taste" some of the Chocolate's features. The measures of the handset are almost identical with those of its elder brother, LG KG800 - 95 (slide down) or 128 (slide up) x 48 x 15.2 mm and weighs a little bit more: 100 grams (battery included). These numbers place the Chocolate into the medium-sized handsets category.

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The slider's few external buttons are well embedded in the case and can be used even when the phone is slid down. The left side of the phone features only the volume key that can be used if the phone is not set on the 'Vibrate only' mode. On the right side of the handset, it's the MP3 player key that can be used to access the music player (when the phone is slid up) or to activate the touch sensitive keypad (press twice when phone is slid down), the camera button, the 'End' button used for powering up/down the device (can only be used when the phone is slid up) or for rejecting/ending a call, and the charger port hidden by a cap, which also serves as an USB port for synchronization or earphone port. On the back of the phone, there's an external speaker and if you slide up the handset you'll discover the 2 Megapixel camera.

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There are no other external keys on top or at the bottom of the phone. The metal stripe on the front cover splits the touch sensitive pad and the TFT 240 x 320 pixels resolution display, which supports 265k colors. When closed, the phone has a glossy aspect, almost mirror-like and its slide mechanism works like a charm, thus owners won't have to fear it might accidentally open in their pockets. The touch sensitive keys, used for navigational purposes are somewhat tricky to use. They are nice to see, but the response of the touch pad registers a notable lag and makes its functionality rather problematic. The selling package contains charger, handsfree kit/stereo headphones and USB data kit.

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Display and Camera

The TFT display of the device is one of the best and meets the requirements for latest tech phones. The only downside of the screen is that it catches fingerprints very easily making it annoying to read. You will even be able to read the screen when you're in strongly sunlighted areas. The 2-inch QVGA display features vivid colors and gives the phone a classy look when it's highlighted.

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The 2 Megapixel camera supports resolutions such as 320 x 240, 640 x 480, 1280 x 960 and 1600 x 1200. It includes many features and options like: multi shot mode, macro mode, night mode, auto focus, white balance (fluorescent, cloudy, incandescent, daylight), delay timer, shutter tone, flash and image effects (negation, mono, sepia, colour). Even if the Korean manufacturer decided to upgrade the classic Chocolate's 1.3 Megapixel camera with a new one that features 2 Megapixels, the quality of the images taken with the Platinum Chocolate hasn't improved too much.

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As seen in the pictures below, outdoor shots look slightly better than those that were taken indoors. The 4x digital zoom doesn't help too much and the pictures taken with the flash option ON are even worse.

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You can also use the camera to capture 3 gp videos in two different resolutions - 128 x 96 and 176 x 144. The video camera features and options are pretty much identical to those of the picture camera, same goes for the (non)quality. Furthermore, the handset includes PictBridge service so users can print their captured pictures directly from the device. Bear in mind that you cannot use the camera if you don't slide-up the device. Not too good, but also not that bad, the LG KE800's camera can satisfy most of the buyers' demands.

Menu and Software

Taking advantage of the technologically advanced display, the menu of the phone has been masterfully designed. The main menu can be entered by sliding up the phone and the navigation is made by simple touches of the sensitive keypads. You have the option of seeing the main menu in Grid mode or Arc menu. I'm recommending the Arc menu because it gives in depth info about the menu commands and functions. There are 9 main categories which are largely used in all today's handsets: Messaging, Call history, Contacts, Multimedia, My stuff, Browser, Tools, Profiles and Settings.

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You can set just about everything in the Messaging category: text message, multimedia message, email, voicemail, push message. The phone features 1000 entries for the phonebook, enough for anyone. Users can make caller groups and choose to view the contact with or without the photo attached. You can also copy any contacts on the phone to SIM and vice-versa or you can set where you want to save your newly inserted contacts (phone or SIM). Businesspersons can use the business cards draft to record the needed information. Multimedia features are also included: camera, video camera, MP3 player, Radio and Voice recorder. There's also a "My stuff" folder where you can find the gallery for images or videos captured, some default sounds, games and other applications. This is the place where you can access the external memory, in case you insert a microSD card. The phone features only 2 good looking Java games Chequered Flag and SudokuPuzzle; for any other compatible application that you want to install, check our Java software database.

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Some other applications included: alarm clock, calendar, calculator, memo, stop watch, unit converter and world time. The Settings menu offers you the possibility of customizing the phone in more detail. You can use any picture from the gallery for the wallpaper, you can set the menu style, dialing style (beads or digital), backlight time, brightness of the screen, date & time and the home screen shortcut. LG KE800 features multiple languages and flight mode. There's also a secondary smaller menu that features some shortcuts to your most frequently used commands. You can also use the secondary menu to choose from one of the 4 customizable profiles: Vibrate only, Silent, General, Outdoor.

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Communication

Compared to LG's KG800, the Platinum Chocolate comes with an updated Bluetooth 2.0 compatible with A2DP stereo headsets and EDGE technology class 10 that enables data transfer speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s. There's no Infrared port, but the USB 2.0 port does its job and you won't have any troubles transferring files. The phone can be synchronized with the PC or it can be used as a mass storage device. You will find the software CD that comes in the package very useful as it contains 2 applications that will enable the sync feature. LG Mobile Sync program that helps connecting phone and PC for data exchanging, such as contact, schedule, memo etc. It provides the functions to add, modify, and delete the contact info on PC, and the function to upload and download the contact info to the phone. There's also the InternetCube application which is used to connect a computer to the Internet using a GPRS phone. The application connects a computer and a GPRS phone through a serial data cable (data communication cable). Before connecting the phone to the PC don't forget to choose one of the options available for the USB connection mode: Data service or Mass storage. The device is GSM900 / GSM1800 / GSM1900 network compatible and features pretty good signal reception.

Processor and Memory

LG KE800 Chocolate uses an ARM9 (115 Mhz) family processor that offers 3D gaming and Java acceleration support for operating systems. The phone uses AOT (Ahead Of Time) virtual machine compiler (unlike the classical Chocolate that uses Jazelle) for running Java programs. These will enable the phone to reach higher performances in running these applications, compared to non-compiler Java Virtual Machines. The 60MB internal memory embedded offers little space to fully satisfy multimedia users, but fortunately, the phone comes with a microSD card slot for memory expansion. The slot is very easy to spot right under the back cover of the phone, near the SIM card, as seen in the pictures.

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Multimedia

The MP3 player included in the phone can be used to listen to music even when the handset is closed by pushing the MP3 key (on the right side) twice. There are some nice headsets that you can use with the phone that feature MP3 player controls as seen in the pictures. Surprisingly, the headsets' quality is above standard and improves the multimedia experience of the users. You can also listen to the FM radio which has a nice Autoscan option which can store up to 12 channels. The only way to listen to the radio is by using the headsets, after pluging in the headsets you will also have the option of listening to music on the external loudspeaker (on the back of the device), but I wouldn't recommend that as the sound is sub-mediocre. There are also some equalizer modes that you can use to adjust the sound quality when listening to the music. If you want to store music files on your device, you can use the file browser that you can find in My stuff menu. Unfortunately, you cannot create any new folders except when using the phone with the PC, but those won't be recognized by the phone. The quality of the sound is obviously superior than in the case of other LG models mostly thanks to the headsets.

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Battery

LG KE800 Platinum Chocolate features an 800 mAh Li-Po battery which has a life expectance of 2 hours and 30 minutes in talk time mode and 200 hours in standby mode. These are the official numbers stated by LG Electronics, but unfortunately, the real numbers are even lower. These days people are usually looking for phones that feature high battery life and even 3 hours of talk time is considered low. If you use all the Chocolate's features (MP3 player, radio FM etc.) you'll end up with mostly 2 hours of talk time and if you're not using any of its features you'll have to recharge the battery after 150 hours.

Impressions

The upgraded Platinum Chocolate impresses through its marvelous candy-bar design and features. If we were used to having good-looking phones with low-end features, this time LG managed to raise the standards by offering a good, balanced product at a reasonable price. I find it a little bit unusual to see a man using this kind of device, but the Chocolate may be the best choice for people that want to impress or draw attention.

The Good

LG seems to be learning from its mistakes and Platinum Chocolate is one of the things that prove it. Upgrading the features of a masterfully designed phone was a good idea and gave LG a long-expected milestone in sales. The MicroSD slot card, EDGE technology, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support, 2 MP camera are only some of the features that make the newly Chocolate 'taste' better.

The Bad

I would've expected a better battery for KE800 especially because it has many energy consuming features. There's also a big problem in controlling the device with the touch sensitive keys. You have to be very careful how many times you touch a key because the response is rather problematic. I don't know if LG will be able to solve this problem in its future models.

Sales package

LG KE800 Platinum Chocolate phone LG Battery LGLP Lithium-Ion Polymer (800 mAh) Compact Charger Travel charger LG Earphones USB cable Carrying bag Bluetooth headset (optional) Software CD User's guide

Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com

Photo Gallery (4 Images)

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