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LG KF510

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By Andrew Lim, CNET.co.uk
Jun 2, 2008

Sticking to its design guns, LG has whipped out the KF510, an attractive phone that feels like a quality product. It's similar to the Chocolate phone, but is it as fiddly to use? We gave it a good gripping to find out.

Editors' note:

This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.co.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some other products or telcos in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia.

Design

Made up of a glass front and metal body, the KF510 not only feels sturdy but is also satisfyingly heavy. The only downside you get from such a glossy casing is that it's very prone to fingerprint marks. Sure, your allergies may be acting up, but you'll need your hanky to wipe the phone more than your nose.


The touch-sensitive area of the KF510 uses white LEDs that flash differently depending on what action you take.
Pop the KF510 open and you'll notice the standard keypad on the front. At the back, a 3-megapixel camera is cleverly hidden behind the back cover when the phone is shut, as is the microSD slot, keeping them both well protected.

When open, the KF510 is top heavy. It's awkward to type on with just one hand, especially when you're trying to use the bottom three keys. We'd recommend a two-handed Monica Seles grip rather than the one-handed Justine Henin approach.

The star of the show is the KF510's navigation pad: It's touch sensitive and flashes different patterns depending on what you're doing. Flashing arrows and crosses, the pad allows you to flick up and down and left and right, reacting in a similar way to a trackpad on a laptop.


We liked the keypad but found the overall weight balance of the phone made it slightly awkward to type with one hand.
It sounds cool on paper but after a few weeks of use, we found it started to get frustrating. Although the touch-sensitive keys vibrate when you tap them, we didn't always find them very responsive or fast enough. Despite how fun it can be to flick, we realised we would have preferred a mechanical navigation pad.

We most definitely missed mechanical keys when it came to cancelling or deleting words in text messages. One of the issues we had with the LG Chocolate phone was that you completed these operations using a touch-sensitive key. It didn't always respond properly, often deleting an entire text when we only wanted to delete a letter. This excruciatingly annoying issue is sadly echoed in the KF510.

 
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