LG KF600 and KF700: We touch the touchscreens
LG has gone touchscreen mad and unveiled a plethora of fingerprint-attracting phones out here in Barcelona. We spent yesterday with our hands all over them
Love them or loathe them, touchscreen phones are here to stay and LG has unveiled a whole bunch at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, including this curious looking phone, the LG KF600.
Why have one screen when you can have two -- that seems to be the reasoning behind the KF600's design. The top screen acts as a normal display, where you can view all of your phone's content, and the bottom one serves as a navigation pad.
Unlike a normal navigation pad that stays static, though, the KF600's changes depending on what you're using on the phone. If you're in the menu, then navigation keys pop up. If you're using the music player, then -- you guessed it -- music keys appear.
It's an interesting idea, but we're not sure it's the best way of navigating around a phone's interface, even if it looks cool. Having played around with it, we can imagine some people yearning for a standard four-way button after a few months of using it.
The LG KF600 will be out at the end of February on T-Mobile and Orange. Click on the next page for more information and pictures of the LG KF600 and the LG KF700. -Andrew Lim
Update: Read our full LG KF600 review and our full LG KF700 review.
At 14mm thin, the LG KF600 can't claim ultra-skinny status but it does fit in a pocket nicely and doesn't feel too weighty either. The KF600 looks and feels like a quality product, which is a massive change from LG's pre-Chocolate days.
Turn the LG KF600 over and you're presented with a 3-megapixel camera and LED photo light. We didnt get a chance to test it out, unfortunately, but we assume it'll take good quality snaps for MMS messaging and small prints.
LG Chocolate users will know how annoying it can be to use touch-sensitive keys when starting or ending calls and to delete while texting. If you look at the KF600's keypad, you'll notice that the send and end call keys as well as the cancel key are normal, mechanical keys that are easier to use.
Next up in LG's touchscreen arsenal is the KF700, an LG Prada-esque handset that comes with a large colour touchscreen and a slide-out standard keypad. The addition of slide-out keypads on both the KF600 and KF700 means that you don't have to rely solely on the touchscreen.
If you don't mind using touchscreens, though, the one on the KF700 isn't bad and comes with a similar interface to the LG Viewty. If neither keypad nor touchscreen float your boat, then you can always use the mechanical scroll wheel on the back of the KF700.
In terms of features, the KF700 comes with HSDPA (3.5G), a 3-megapixel camera and an expandable microSD slot, among other things. We're disappointed that it's not as inspiring as the Viewty but from what we've seen so far, it looks like a nice addition to LG's touchscreen portfolio.
The LG KF700 is due to come out in April on O2 for free on a monthly contract.
Considering it comes with a slide-out standard keypad, this phone doesn't feel too chunky. We're keen to spend more time with it to test the sturdiness of the build quality, but it felt fairly solid when we picked it up at the stand.
The LG KF700's keypad comes with large keys but you might find it difficult to distinguish between each one given that they are completely flat. That said, we're overjoyed that LG has put the send, end and cancel key within the keypad section and not in the touch-sensitive pad.
On the back of the LG KF700 you'll find a 3-megapixel camera and a silver mechanical scroll wheel that you can use to scroll through track lists or to access functions via a semi-circular onscreen menu.