LG BL40 Chocolate
It’s been a while now since LG jumped into the phone market and up until now they’ve really muscled in on the competition. So what does their next instalment hold for us all? That is the question.
To be honest the Chocolate is quite a nice surprise. Although it looks a little bizarre it works and that’s what so many handsets lack right now! You touch it and it responds! It does what you want it to do.
So enough with the small talk. Let’s take this thing to pieces and really get down to it!
Construction and Build:
Well it’s an interesting beast and I’m not too sure what to make of it. Granted it’s unique and no other handset has anything like it but is there a reason for that?
The problem with the size is that it’s just far too stretched. You play a game and it only uses part of the screen, you use an app and it only uses part of the screen. To me that seems like a waste. However on the other hand you get a movie going and the real advantage of the screen comes to life. So really, swings and roundabouts!
The next issue with the size is the comfort factor. One handed and it seems like it might just tumble over the ends of your fingers, two handed and it seems like a stretch to hit the qwerty. There’s just something about it! When all’s said and done it’s a fraction too long.
However the build quality is there. The screen feels durable and the whole body feels like it could take a bash and live to fight another day. It’s a slick design and looks the part. If you pull this out of your pocket your bound to draw a few eyes, they really nailed the wow factor here.
Micro USB I cheer! It’s good to see manufacturers finally all slowly settling on one charger/USB. Also the inclusion of a 3.5 mm audio jack is a nice inclusion. No longer are you forced to seek out an adaptor in order to use your favourite pair of headphones.
UI and OS:
Here’s where the Chocolate really stands out from the crowd of touch screen phones. In this day and age the touch screen industry seems led by the Apple iPhone with other manufacturers struggling to catch up. The first thing I noticed about the Chocolate is that it’s responsive, I tap and it does. The inclusion of gesture control is great to see to.
However it’s not all smooth sailing. Although this is a great leap forward there were a few times where I found myself mashing at the same icon over and over as the phone simply refused to do what I wanted. Hey, at least they’re close and it was rare that happened.
The home screens work in a very interesting way creating a cube with a different customized screen on each face that the user can flick through, very much like the multiple screens we see on the iPhone. This is and interesting and stylish inclusion.
It’s a nice piece of software and it does what you want. It’s not overly advanced but it’s relatively easy to use and navigate. There are a couple of issues but nothing too daunting!
Camera:
The 5 MP auto focus camera is a great piece of kit and really lives up to expectations. There are numerous settings on the phone and I must say the flash is exceptionally impressive!
When looking into the advanced settings the Chocolate offers a rotating dial, similar to that of a digicam, on the left and on the right has the available options for each. The navigation is simple and easy to use.
Unfortunately the major let down of the camera comes in the form of video record which is a big let down. The videos are exceptionally poor quality and fall short of the promised 30 fps VGA resolution we were promised!
Other Features:
The Chocolate offers a whole host of features. The built in GPS is a great addition especially due to the size of the screen which really allows this app to take full advantage.
There are a number of games pre-loaded onto the device. They are all designed to take advantage of the Chocolates features. The accelerometer plays a large part in navigation on most games and even the microphone is used for blowing bubbles. The games are novel at first but their charm soon wears off. They are rather simple and seem to be stepping back to the old days of mobile phone gaming.
The MP3 player is a good piece of kit on this phone. It’s easy to use and navigate just like the other features on the Chocolate. Of course the ability to expand the memory up to 32GB is a huge help. With the screen size you’ll want movies on there and having that much memory to play with is a nice feature.
Conclusion:
To be honest I’m in two minds about this handset. It’s got potential but it doesn’t really do it for me. If you’re after the next big thing, all singing all dancing then this phone is not for you. However if it’s style you’re after and ease of use then this might be the handset for you.
The touch screen is right up there with some of the big players and it really does look the part. This is just one of those handsets where you will either love it or hate it. Me, I really can’t decide which side I’m on!
Advantages:
- Unique design
- Quad-band
- HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
- S-Class Touch UI with pinch zooming and gesture controls
- Accelerometer for screen auto-rotation
- 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash,
- VGA@30fps video recording
- 1.1GB of internal memory, microSD expansion (up to 32GB)
- Wi-Fi
- GPS receiver with A-GPS support and WisePilot satnav app
- Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, microUSB port, TV out
- Standard 3.5mm audio jack, Dolby Mobile sound enhancement
- Stereo FM radio with RDS, FM transmitter
- Full-blown multi-tasking with a decent task manager
- DivX/XviD video player
- Motion-based games
- Smart dialing
- Office document viewer
Disadvantages
- Too long!
- Poor video record
- Finger print magnet
- Web browser has no Flash support
- Clunk WAP browser
- No video streaming over Wi-Fi