Full Review and Specification for the LG KF600

With an avalanche of new touch-sensitive phones set to descend upon us in 2008, LG is fast becoming the most prolific of all touch-sensitive phone manufacturers. This is a bold move, because, although many of the touch-screen phones are usually lovely to look at, they can also be an absolute pig to use.

With the launch of the KF600, LG has managed to push both the envelope and hedge its bets at the same time. Like the HTC Touch Dual, for example, the LG KF600 offers the obvious multimedia and visual benefits of a full-blown touch-screen, while still providing the traditionalists (3G included) with a mechanised slide-out keypad for inputting phone numbers and texts.

However, even accounting for the mechanised keypad, this is still very much a touch-sensitive phone at heart. For example, there are no mechanised soft keys, so if you want to do anything other than make a phone call, you’ll have to use the touch-screen interface, so LG is under real pressure to ensure the user experience is a good one.

The InteractPad

The KF600’s touch-screen is split into two parts and only the bottom half is touch sensitive. This part of the display is called the InteractPad and actually controls the top half of the display. This is unusual as most touch-screen phones require the user to touch the part of the screen they wish to use, open or manipulate, be it a menu option, a photograph or a web page.

However, the touch-sensitive part of the KF600 works in exactly the same way as a navi-pad and soft keys on a regular mobile would, which does make you wonder why they bothered.

Surely, one of the main benefits of removing soft keys is it means you have a much larger display space so that websites, videos, photos and other multimedia render much larger. However, with the InteractPad dominating a good third of the available space, the display that’s left is no larger than on an average phone.

User friendliness

To activate the KF600’s touch-screen, you can either slide the phone open or press the dedicated camera key on the side of the phone to unlock it.

With the display unlocked you’ll see that the InteractPad, which sits directly beneath the main display, consists of six different menu icons.

By clicking one of these icons, you set the agenda for the display above. For example, if you click the main menu icon in the InteractPad, the display will morph into a typical phone interface, with icon-based menu options appearing in three rows of three.

Meanwhile, the InteractPad will also transform to include four touch-sensitive navigation keys to move around the menu icons, an OK button to select a menu option, and a back arrow key which returns you to your previous screen view.

Alternatively, if you choose the messaging menu option in the InteractPad, the main display will present you with all your messaging in list format – and the InteractPad will transform to offer touch-sensitive up and down navigation keys, as well as the OK key and the back step key.

You only have to get to grips with the InteractPad for a few seconds, until it becomes simple and intuitive to understand, and the haptic vibro-alert assigned to each virtual key means that you get a really good tactile response.

It’s easy to use because it works in almost exactly the same way as a conventional mobile.

For example, when accessing your contacts list via the touch-sensitive menu, you can still fast track to a section of the alphabet by clicking the appropriate keys on the mechanised keypad.

Look and feel

Although we’re not necessarily sold on the touch-sensitive benefits of the KF600, we’re totally won over by the design and build quality of the phone.

The KF600 is a well proportioned phone with a satisfying sliding action. As with Samsung’s phones, the KF600’s default is to set off an annoying jingle each time you open the slider, but this can be easily switched off in the Profiles menu.

The phone boasts a smoked glass fascia framed with shiny chrome and a matt black backing. The back of the phone attracts fewer fingerprints than the front, but the phone looks great and feels well balanced in the hand.

On the right-hand side of the phone you’ll find a dedicated camera key and the power port, while on the left-hand side of the phone, you’ll find the volume control keys and dedicated access to the music player.

Three-megapixel camera

Because the dedicated camera key provides the means to unlock the main phone menu, to access the three-megapixel camera, you’ll need to press the camera button twice – which is a little quirky.

With the camera activated, the phone is designed to be held in landscape mode and operated like a conventional camera, in as much as the shutter key will be located at the top near your right index finger.

You can capture an image either using the shutter key or via the InteractPad with the latter giving you access to the camera’s full array of impressive settings, including video camera, shot mode, resolution, picture quality, portrait enhancement, flash, shake reduction, self-timer, multi-shot, auto-focus, colour effect and white balance.

There’s no digital zoom, which is unusual but no great loss and the camera is pretty good at producing sharp shots, although the touch controls are a little fiddly.

As for the other features, the MP3 music player satisfies without dazzling, while the touch-sensitive embedded games have a fun, childlike quality.