Social networking is at the forefront, and even has dedicated launch keys on the keyboard for Facebook, instant messaging, email and internet. Oddly no Twitter though.

Style and handling on the LG Town GT350

The Town has a shiny fascia of white plastic and a pattern on the back, which is cute but lacks elegance. The three-inch touch-screen dominates the front, and underneath that sit three buttons, for call, call end (which also returns you to your home screen from the menu), and the central, lozenge-shaped shortcuts key. A virtual 3x4 keypad lets you dial without sliding out the keypad, but no virtual QWERTY means you’ll be restricted to multi-tap of predictive T9 for anything more.

The slide-out keyboard has four rows of well-spaced circular keys that are raised in the centre. They’re not comfortable for loads of typing, but once you get used to them you should be flying through those messages and status updates. No spate number row means you need to press the shift key for numbers, or double-tap to lock them into place. It’s still an improvement over its predecessor, the KS360, though, which only had three rows.

One minor omission is an accelerometer, so the orientation of the screen changes to landscape when you slide open the keyboard, and back to portrait when you close it again.

Internet and camera on the LG Town GT350

The lack of 3G makes for slow internet, which is mainly an issue when you’re trying to download large amounts of data. But emails, status updates and instant messages aren’t affected too badly, and the superb Opera Mini browser is expert at getting the best out of slow connection speeds. More critical in this day and age is the lack of Wi-Fi connectivity. But then a budget phone is produced at minimum cost so we shouldn’t expect too much.

The camera is a basic two-megapixel job, with no fash, but it shoots video too albeit at only 12fps. There’s no GPS and the touch-screen is resistive as opposed to the more fluid capacitive type. The plus side of this is that you can use it wearing gloves and it will still respond.

Fun features on the LG Town GT350

The three home screens include a Live Square screen. Live Square, which we saw on the KS360, puts an animated avatar of you, animal or human, in the centre of the screen and adds extra characters for the people you call or text.

Another screen has the cute washing line on which you hang your favourite shortcuts such as calendar, clock and photos; the third is your contacts screen. Some work well, others not so well, but you get to choose which one works for you.

The verdict on the LG Town GT350 

The LG Town has a lot of fun features and much to enjoy, but the slow speed could get you down quickly. It’s light on solid features, the camera is basic and the screen not as responsive as we would like. On the other hand it’s a cheap handset with good social networking, fun stuff like LiveSquare and useful call and text history information. Basically, it’s perfect for cash-strapped, social-networking youngsters; if this isn’t you, you’ll want something different.