The Minimalist but Irresistible Chocolate

By Zatni Arbi

What is black all over but has been christened with the name “Chocolate”? Well, let me tell you — it is another handset that I have found quite hard to part with. I do not consider myself fashion-crazy, but when it was time to return it I could not help saying to myself, “This one would be nice to have.”

LG Electronics, the consumer electronics giant from South Korea, has just launched what they call the “Black Label Series” of cell phones outside their home base. Chocolate is the first in the series. Courtesy of LG Electronics Indonesia, for three weeks I could witness the envy of the people around me each time I whipped it out of my pocket and placed it on the table.

The handset looks as intriguing when it’s not in use as when it is. Push the sliding keypad up and wait until the screen and navigation keys go completely dark, and it looks like a bar of yummy chocolate. There are no buttons or keypad. There is only a thin chrome rectangle on the lower part of the fascia. A clear plastic cover hides the screen when it is inactive.

What to like

There is plenty. Although the handset does not give us dozens of leading edge mobile technologies, LG Electronics really impressed me with the design. By the way, there is an interesting human interface technology implemented in this handset, but I will return to that later. For now, let me finish talking about the things that make this handset look so gorgeous.

The black and thin Chocolate is compact but not painfully small. The reinforced plastic housing feels quite sturdy. The thin chrome band that runs along the four sides is a nice design touch. The sliding mechanism uses a spring that is softer than some of the others I have tried. It works smoothly. The numeric keypad is relatively easy to use even if you have large fingers. On the left side there is a pair of buttons to adjust the volume. On the right there is the hang up button. Below it is the multimedia button.

Chocolate, which is also known as the KG 800, has only one jack for everything: headset, USB connection cable and charger. The 262K color TFT screen is simply excellent. With my rather limited vision, I could read the clear characters with minimal squinting.

The menu has been organized very intuitively, too. This was the first time I ever reviewed an LG cell phone, and I hardly encountered any confusion when using it. The monaural speaker produces great audio, making my downloaded MP3 music sound good. You can also change the preset equalization if you wish. Connect the USB cable, and it can also function as a memory card for transferring files to a PC or a Mac. File transfer, including MP3 files, is just a matter of dragging-and-dropping.

What is on my wish list

The handset has a 1.3 megapixel camera. There is not much to write about it, especially since most other mid-range cameraphones now come with a 2 megapixel camera. It has a strong LED flash that has to be turned on and off through the menu. The total memory is 128 MB. You can store around two CDs worth of music, but there is no way to expand the capacity.

The cover of the jack has a rubbery hinge. I was a bit concerned about how long it would last. Inserting the plug was also a little difficult because the cover stubbornly wanted to return to its closed position. Also, the plug seemed to be proprietary. If you ever lose the USB cable, for example, you cannot replace it with just any other standard USB cable that they sell at Electronics City.

Telkomsel’s signal is not very good inside my house, making my study a good place for testing sensitivity. During my test, my review unit took a bit longer to search the network. One thing to keep in mind is that this is a mobile phone, not a smartphone. Therefore, do not expect that it will meet your requirements for business activities.

Touch, do not press

Here is the unique technology that I hinted about before: the navigation keys use heat sensors. This is the first use of this technology on a cell phone. Jae Hong Kim, Senior Manager, Mobile Communication, LG Electronics Indonesia, told me that the keypad is also called “Mystique Touch”.

The touch pad is divided into nine regions, with the OK region right in the center. Lightly place your finger on one of the regions where the icon glows, and your fingertip touch will be interpreted as a key press. For example, if you touch the region with the handset icon, the heat sensor will register your body heat and the cell phone will dial the number that you have entered.

Place your finger on the up arrow icon when the menu list is shown in the display, and the selection bar will go up one item. If you leave your finger on the same spot in the touch pad, the sensor will interpret it as repeated pressing and the selection bar will continue to go up.

The nine icons glow red when the touch pad is active. To activate it, you have to slide the numeric keypad down or press the Volume key twice. The combination of black color and the illuminated red icons is simply cool. It takes some time to get used to the touch pad, because it is very sensitive. In addition, since it senses body heat, you will not be able to operate it with a stylus.

Hard to resist

Chocolate has been one of the best selling handsets in South Korea for a couple of months now. Over there, it is a CDMA phone, while in most other places including Indonesia it is a GSM and GPRS phone. LG is still weighing the option of bringing the CDMA version here.

What advice can I give you? If you are not planning to buy a new cell phone this year, stay away from Chocolate. Because the moment you lay your eyes on this Rp 3.5 million mobile beauty, you are bound to change your mind. That is how irresistible it is.

Source: The Jakarta Post. Thanks to Pak Zatni!