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LG KC780

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By Andrew Lim, CNET.co.uk
Mar 2, 2009

Sneaked in by the South Korean company after the LG Renoir, the LG KC780 is another 8-megapixel phone, but comes in a slider format and has a slimmer profile.

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

For a phone that LG describes as "slim", you'll probably be surprised at how thick it is. A relatively large screen is surrounded by sizeable navigation keys, and a big keypad hides under the sliding mechanism. The advantage of everything being so large is that it's all easy to press, making dialling and texting straightforward.

The KC780 has a simple layout and, while it's not sexy, it is very functional. It's the kind of phone someone who complains about small keypads would love.

The supposed star of the show is the 8-megapixel camera on the back, but we can't say we were blown away. The camera looks rather basic, and there's no lens cover and no Xenon flash, which is disappointing considering how badly LED photo lights perform.

A silver border adds little to what is a basic-looking phone.

Features

Some phones look basic and turn out to be very complex inside. Unfortunately, the KC780 isn't one of them. Start using it and you quickly realise that, aside from the camera, the KC780 isn't a high-end phone. If you're looking for a smartphone, you'll be disappointed.

The 8-megapixel camera allows you to take still photos and video. Face detection and smile detection work as advertised, with smile detection capturing a smile automatically. We were disappointed by the picture quality, however. Pictures taken with the KC780 just didn't look as sharp or crisp as we expected and, in low light, even though you can turn the ISO up to 1,600, the pictures simply weren't that great. Besides the disappointing camera, we also found the lack of 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS frustrating.

Feature-wise, unless you're after a camera-phone that does the basics, the KC780 really doesn't have much to recommend it. Some features, such as motion-sensitive games and the ability to use the camera as a wireless webcam, perked us up momentarily but, overall, there's no oomph--browsing the Internet, for example, is a lacklustre experience.

The MP3 player is basic but lets you shuffle tracks and create playlists. Annoyingly, there's no built-in 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can't plug standard headphones straight in. On a positive note, there's 2GB of onboard memory and a microSD card slot, which means plenty of storage space for pictures and songs.



Tags: Camera Phone, Camera, built-In, LG Electronics Inc., microSD Card
 
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