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By Damian Koh
May 14, 2007

When LG unveiled its first Chocolate phone, it was clear the Korean chaebol's new series was targeted at the fashion-conscious crowd. Though user feedback hasn't been all that flattering about the tricky-to-use keys, the Chocolate phenomenon continues to grow, with subsequent models from this lineup riding on the fashion wave.

Born into the premium Black Label portfolio, the LG Shine KU970, however, goes back to basics with a traditional silver, full-metallic casing and hardware keys on the top lid. It is not to be confused with its twin--the Shine KE970--as the KU970 sports HSDPA connectivity but doesn't come with an expansion memory card slot. The KE970, on the other hand, offers 2.5G EDGE with support for microSD expansion.

Design
The LG Shine came to us in the same packaging as the first Chocolate, only now it's a gray box instead of black. The first thing that caught our attention was its mirror finish on the top lid. While it isn't 100-percent mirror (we do see some distortions of our reflection), this is as good as it gets. The second thing was that the lid is one giant fingerprint magnet, which isn't a surprise, just annoying that we had to keep cleaning the screen.

At 13.8mm, the LG Shine KU970 isn't in the running for the title of slimmest handset, nor is it the lightest mobile phone. But in our hands, the 99.8 x 50.6mm slider feels surprisingly solid, partly due to the right amount of weight contributing to the overall sturdiness. The only flaw is the top lid isn't very secure and shakes a little when we slide it open to shut it down. Pushing up the top lid brings the phone's home screen to life and the buttons light up in a cool shade of blue. From here, we used the left/right softkeys and the center rolling bar to navigate the menus. It's a mixed bag with the scroll bar, though.

The bar isn't very responsive and we notice some response lag during scrolling. There isn't an option to adjust the scroll speed and, if there's a long of menu selection, we have to lift our thumb off the bar to keep scrolling. It's also very misleading when it comes to using the softkeys and the left/right buttons flanking the scroll bar because it's hard to know which one matches the screen's options.

Taking a shine to Motorola's popular RAZR series, the LG KU970 sports a paper-thin, single-piece keypad. While this may not be an issue to RAZR defectors, new users may find themselves on a slight learning curve. A problem with this design is that the top row of buttons, which include the call/end and back keys, are lined too close for comfort to the top lid. Hence, you'll have your thumb pushing against it most of the time.

LG has done a brilliant job with the design of the camera feature on the back of the KU970. The brushed aluminum surface and the camera element can take on dedicated digital cameras and beat them in terms of style. What the shooter lacks is a protective cover for the lens.

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