HERE'S something yummy to sink your teeth into?LG?s new Chocolate (LG BL40).
LG continues to woo the fashionista crowd with this new addition to its Black Label line.
Straight out of the box, the first thing one notices about the Touchscreen bar LG BL40 is a clean button-less scratch-resistant glass that adds sleekness to the exterior design. Save for the LG logo, there are no keys on the face of this beauty.
The thin and tall (128 x 51 x 10.9 mm and weighs 129 grams) exterior is prominently accentuated by red highlights at both ends of the phone. Its 1 GB internal memory is enough to run a couple of widget all at the same time.
6 hours talk time
At the top of the phone is a 3.5mm headphone port and power/lock key. On the left side is a dedicated music key and hinged microUSB slot. The right side holds the volume rocker and camera shutter keys.
At the back is the 5MP camera with Schneider Kreuznach lens and LED flash. You may now throw away your digital camera because this phone may take mean photos even in low light.
The back lid may slide off with some difficulty, especially if you have oily hands. Underneath is a 1000 mAh Li-Ion battery, which is quoted at 400 hours of standby and up to 6 hours of talk time.
Upon powering on, users are treated to a 4-inch full 21:9 (cinematic) screen with one of the most vibrant blacks ever. The brilliant 16M-color capacitive touchscreen has been enabled for multitouch input. It also sports TV-out, Dolby mobile, FM Radio, FM transmitter and DivX/XviD support all straight out of the box. It also has an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the screen?s light according to the light available.
The phone also has a built-in accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, which is just as intuitive as the other accelerometer-equipped phones out there.
The S-Class User Interface from LG feels like a cross between the OSX of iPhone and TouchFLO Cube. The gesturing from a locked screen is oddly similar to Samsung?s, but with a little tweak (you can see your gestures, like ?M? brings out messaging, and so on with 11 other gesture patterns).
Pinch and zoom
The only hindrance I see with the interface is the size of the phone. In portrait mode, the button on top of the phone would call for a longer thumb. A user would have to use his other hand to get to it.
MultiMedia is where the LG BL40 gets interesting. Pinching and zooming, both for the web browser and image browsing, was pretty much spot on. Image quality (thanks to its 5MP Schneider Kreuznach lens) and video playback are pretty impressive. The camera supports Geo-Tagging, Image stabilization, Face detection, Smile shot, Blink detection, Intelligent Shot and VGA Video recording at 30 fps.
You can also feed your videos through the optional TV output lead to your TV. Audio playback is topnotch especially for higher bit rate recordings. Over all, video and audio are fun to watch, great to listen.
The battery, with normal usage, lasts about a day and half. But with Wifi on, internet browsing, audiobook listening, SMS usage, along with normal calls plus a movie a day?a user won?t last a day without charging.
Connectivity is through WiFi, Bluetooth 22.1 with A2DP, great for your stereo BT headsets. It also has GPS Receiver with A.GPS. Maps are available through Third Party apps.
New processor
Thanks to its new Qualcomm processor, you can now enjoy watching your ex?s photos while listening to Lady Gaga?s Bad Romance.
Applications aren't a problem, since LG has launched it's own Apps store ( http://www.lgapplication.com/web.gateway.dev ). Although not as massive as the Apps from another other phone brand, LG has developed quite an array of Free and Paid Apps.
Overall, LG has released a better quality phone that?s not really bad for its price.
