Phones.com » Cell Phones » Review of the LG KE800

The KE800 Platinum has a different approach to style. Dressed in Black, it has a very stylish, high-end finish. Not a very sleek slider, but the Chocolate Platinum looks like one though measuring 95 x 46 x 17.5 mm. The Korean manufacturer has squeezed a lot of features into a handset weighing less than 100 grams. The front panel of the KE800 has no physical keys, only a touchpad that activates when you open the slider or press a shortcut key on its side. The touchpad lights up in red color, marking a total 9 virtual keys. It is fun to operate a touchpad apart from the ease it offers. The only drawback is that the keys must be pressed at the exact places where they’re marked. This takes some getting used to it but reduces accidental presses. The slider has a very intact spring mechanism and doesn’t get opened or closed accidentally. The Platinum however has a petty annoyance; if you place your finger on the touchpad while closing it you might perform an unwanted keypress. The right side of the KE800 Platinum is equipped with two multi-purpose shortcut keys and a dedicated camera key. One of these keys is an on/off key which also functions as a call-reject/end button. The other key activates the touchpad, or opens the music player. The left side has volume keys and an external ant. jack. The rear of the handset is neat, it conceals the camera and the LED Flash when the slider is closed. This mechanism also acts as protection for the camera.

The Chocolate Platinum is a handset designed for multimedia lovers. The KE800 has a great 2.0” QVGA display that can display 320x240 pixels. The image is sharp and vibrant on the dense TFT display measuring 30 x 40 mm. The LG Chocolate Platinum has an upgraded music player, which can playback MP3, AAC, and AAC+ formats. Multimedia support is also full with support for MPEG-4 playback. On the other hand the phone is equipped with a 2 MP camera that takes decent pictures. The drawbacks to the camera are that the interface being primitive and slow, poor auto-focus. However the camera was good in the areas of low noise levels, taking sharp pictures in macro-mode, and neat performance in night mode. Video recording support was limited to 3GP format at 176 x 144 pixels. To back up the multimedia capabilities of the phone, the KE800 has a microSD slot which allows cards of up to 2 GB.

The LG KE800 comes equipped with Tri-band GSM and EDGE / GPRS capabilities. The handset supports the 900/1800/1900 MHz bands on GSM. Local connectivity is through Bluetooth v 2.0 and USB 2.0. The handset supports bluetooth stereo headsets due to the A2DP support. The KE800 still has no WLAN or Infrared capabilities. The KE800 could be accessed as a mass-storage device, though phone functions would be unavailable at that time.

The LG KE800 is fitted with a standard Lithium Polymer battery of 800 mAh capacity. The phone provides for up to 2 and half hours of talk time, which leaves much desired. The phone can still get through a day and half of normal usage after a full-charge. The standby time of the KE800 is also very insufficient at 200 hours.

LG KE800 is a good choice for an upgrade from the older Chocolate, however we are not fully convinced of the Platinum. The issues may be a minor annoyance, but we expect a lot more from a phone that looks as elegant. No doubt the Chocolate Platinum is a great phone for those who are pleased with its looks and multimedia functionality. Its price still is very attractive for those convinced to buy it.