Last week LG sent me one of their new “Chocolate” (KG800) mobile phones on loan.
I’m a bit late blogging about it, but rather than immediately blogging “ooh shiny”, I wanted to give it a real trial before reporting back…
For a start, it’s worth pointing out that I tend to hate mobile phones and the mobile phone industry. In particular I’ve discussed before my lack of interest in the “secondary mobile phone company” products, namely the non Nokia/Sony Ericsson phones from companies such as Samsung, Motorola and LG.
The KG800 packaging is practically Apple-like. It resembles a chocolate box (same shape, look/feel, etc) and opens up to reveal different compartments for the charger, USB cable, hands free, etc.
Personally, I’m not fussed either way about packaging, but I’m minded of Joel Spolsky’s Etech05 presentation on the importance of aesthetics and emotion being an important part of people’s perception of a product.
So, look, I’ll admit it – the phone itself is a much prettier and classier designed phone then I expected from a non-European manufacturer. My experience of Asian-manufacturer mobile phones is that they are usually not quite as visually stunning as their European counterparts. In other words, they tend to focus on functionality, or size, instead of the Joel Spoolsky-observed aesthetics/emotion concept.
Some of the things I like about the phone include:
- Overall design – the all-black shiny body with low-profile screen is v nicely designed
- Build quality – the slider on the phone feels really solid
- The touch-sensitive buttons are great
- The dimensions of the phone, its less than a cm thick
- The menu system, generally speaking, is as intuitive as a Sony Ericsson T610/K750
However there are a list of things that I was slightly disapointed with:
- The phone scratches easily (it comes with a little draw-string bag, but it’s quite impractical to keep the phone in there and answer it in time before it diverts to voicemail)
- The port on the phone to plug in the charger, USB cable and hands-free is really tricky to pull out and I keep thinking I’m going to rip it from the thin bit of plastic it hangs from. Considering the phone needs charging every couple of days, it would have been nice to have had a stand for the KG800 to sit in (and charge from a port in the base of the phone).
The biggest disappointment – or tease at least – has been the hands-free mic which doubles as an mp3-player remote. When I saw it, I thought the phone was going to be an amazing mp3 player. The remote has all the buttons you need in addition to doubling up as a microphone for the hands-free system – it’s pretty cool.
However the KG800 only has 128MB of memory to store MP3’s on – which is practically nothing (maybe 1 or 2 albums max). Sadly there are no slots on the phone to upgrade via external memory cards.
I’m not quite sure why LG released a phone with a really nifty mp3 remote that only contains 128MB of RAM because clearly you aren’t going to have many tracks to warrant a remote control… oh well.
So don’t get me wrong, I do like the phone. But clearly it’s been designed for a particular style-conscious market such as those who currently own Motorola V3 RAZR and SLIVR phones. It’s not for people who want strong personal information management applications, etc.
Even without the sweet little remote the phone stands up as a nicely designed, easy to use, uber-cool mobile.
Of course, if you’re looking to trade in your Crackberry, then this phone is not for you. But if you’re in the market for a style-phone then I’d certainly recommend the LG Chocolate Phone to you.
I give the LG KG800 8/10.
This is actually the worst phone I have ever owned.
I bought an LG chocolate white in November last year, the camera and video camera stopped working around april this year and now it has got to the point where the screen barely works, and if it does it is either in negative or has lines across it. I took it back to Carphone Warehouse where they simply blamed it on water damage, But I think the fault is actually with the phone as I know other peoples phones which have done similar things.
You guys are (mostly) f#@%ed in the head. Special mention to eilidh, mobile phones generally aren’t waterproof genius.
I had a black chocolate for a month and had no problems, it was the best phone I’ve ever owned..
Then I dropped it in my pool and the touch keys don’t work.
I loved my little chocolate.. 🙁
what? my one works out fine for me!! and when i charge it it lasts me ages i think its just your phone. And the place u put in the headphones and charger is easy to open (if you nails)
how do u download albums?? please someone tell me i’ve got one about a couple of months ago, love it and all but dunno how to download…HELP!
i got the chocolate in october of 06 and since then i replaced the phone 3 times going on a 4th. at first the phone would scroll out of control to where i couldnt open it with out it scrolling through everything on my phone. so i got it replaced. after about a month the phone started to call people randomly and then the touch screen wouldn’t work at all. so i replaced it for a third time and now the phone is stuck with a white screen. it still gets calls in sometimes but wont make out going calls and obviously i cant read/send text messages do to the fact the screen stays white. I have had a big problem with all lg phones especially the chocolate.
my older brother and mother have the same phone as me and the same thing has happened to their phones. together we have gone through 11 chocolates in less than a year.
the guy at verizon told me the problem with the phone is the ribon that connects everything inside is right under the slider and there is a small rubber piece that protects the ribbon and everytime u open ur phone that rubber wears until the slider touches the ribbon and destroys it leaving a blank screen and makes the phone basically stop working.
the worst thing tho is that verizon will not let me trade the phone for a different phone other than 2 cheap phones. at first i paid 200 dollars for the phone and they are trying to give me a new phone thats worth 49 dollars. there tryin to tell me that either i got to get a new chocolate that will be as shitty as the other 3 or take one of the cheaper 2 or im screwed on a phone. my advice to everyone is 2 things
1. never buy a lg chocolate unless u feel like spending more time replacing it than using it.
2. dont use verizon because they dont care that they sell u cheap phones that dont work and wont even stand behind the product and replace the phone with a equally as good a phone. either u try ur luck with the same phone over again or u take a worse cheaper phone. my advice save ur money and buy an iphone and chage to cingular because atleast apple says they will stad behind the iphone and if there are problems apple will always find a way to fix their products
WASTE OF MONEY. I bought it for 400 dollars and after 3 months I have thrown it away.
The phone switches off by itself,
they touchpad goes crazy sometimes,
the messaging is awful with that keypad
and now the screen turned white 🙁
chocolate fuckin blows DONT BUY IT… first i had a razr and it worked great but then it got water damage soo my brother had a chocolate and it was alright but he gave me his chocolate and it worked great for another month but then out of no where it froze and it wont turn on or off … it just keeps flashing the verizon wireless logo … this phone sucks VERY CHEAP DONT BUY
This phone sucks. I had a white version, it started to turn yellow within 2 wks. I surfed online and found another guy with the same problem, LG later told him: thats because u put the phone in your pocket!
If they would have clarified to the public tat this phone cannot be put in your pocket, I wonder how much sales can they get. Sneaky bastards LG sucks shit. Im boycotting all LG products from now on and will advice all my friends not to buy their products too. I hope LG die.
Hey my LG chocolate phone is awesome i love so much. but i am having some probablems with it. i want to put some of the music i have on my copmuter on to my phone and i have the program and everything and i no to go to tools and go to media storage but once i get on there i dont no what to do from there. how do i open my file and put it on the program and put the music on my phone??
This phone is horrible. Sure its exciting and all once you get it all the features can be great… until it starts to completely break on you. Im on my third and hopefully last chocolate right now. They all have had problems.. like shutting off randomly and restarting. Especially to random text messages. The camera Function will me messed up. It will call the last called person. Everyone knows these problems. Sometimes I cannot even hear the person im on the phone with.It will freeze on applications like “aim.” The charger has broken and will make the noise that it makes when it is first plugged in.. constantly. If it is being used while charging or is bumped. The battery life is horrible. The verizon workers say its cause of bluetooth,games, or music… I never use those features and my battery life is horrible.Sometimes it does not vibrate or not make sound when its on full volume. My first chocolate… mostly all of those problems and then the send button would not work. Unless i pressed it very hard in a certain place. So I had to set it to recieve calls by sliding it open instead. The second phone. I went to go use after volleyball one day and the screen turned white and instead of turning on.. would just show the verizon lego and would attempt to turn on. The third chocolate im on has almost snapped in half. The upper part of it is lifting almost all the way up on one side. New problem. I know. and sure things can happen to the phone from dropping it but it happens anyway without dropping once. Doesn’t make a difference. Whoever is in love with this phone must have something wrong in the head and just needs to wait until their phone decides to crash on them. Im going to the verizon store tomorrow and hopefully getting a completely new phone like my other friend did,after 5 chocolates. Anyone with the phone, good luck.
Pleeease DO NOT EVER GET THIS PHONE!! Seriously It Is The Worst Phone Eveeer … I Had It Since February And At First It Was The Best .. I Had The Best Phone Around And Was Really Proud Of It.
But Then The Battery Started Dying Like Every 2 Days.. But I Got Used To It .. I Thought It Was Just Normal.. Maybe I Was Using It Too Much!
Then It Started Going Wierd ..
Sometimes It Went Into Negative And Sometimes It Went Blank With Multi-Coloured Dots .. And Sometimes It Had Wierd Grey Lines Going Across It… And Basically All Kind Of Thing Like That
BUT NOW!! I’m Just Totally Pissed Off With It!!
When I Turn It On It’s Fine When It’s Un-Slid… Until I Have To Slide It Up Then The SCreen Goes Completely White!!
No Matter How Much I Try To Get It Working It Stays White!! And I Really Know What I’m DOing With Technology I’m 14 Years Old And Know My Stuff!! So There’s No Way I’m Over-Estimating How Much It’s Broken Haha!!
If Anyone Knows What I Should Do Pleeease Leave A Comment Or Something Coz I Will Be Checking This!! DO NOT BUY THE LG CHOCOLATE!!!
bogus this phone kicks ass
Got the chocolate about one month ago. Haven’t had a problem…yet. I have heard MANY bad things about the entire LG Phone line, my friend had a different model LG and she had to send it to get repaired about 4 times before giving in and getting a razor.
However, i know a few ppl that have this phone and are having no problems. (my one friend has had it almost a year) anyways. I do love this phone, im proud of it, buuuut im just waiting for the day now when the screen turns white and thanks to this site, i know exactly what that means and i will be taking it directly to Bell and getting another phone.
but i really do love it so far!
Battery life-average
sound-a lil quiet
touchpad-no problems yet, like that
love the slide aspect
my phone wont shut off it goes from white screen and a screen with lines going across it
have to take battery off to get it to shut off put battery back in try to turn it back does same thing
please help only had about 4 months and this is first time i have had problems
Had mine a few months and it was fine, then it got a little wet and stopped working all together – then it started working again, well the touch screen did, the rest of the buttons took 2 weeks to start working again.
Everything was fine for a couple of weeks until the battery died (for a change) and when I tried to turn the phone back on it wouldn’t. I tried and tried and charged the phone up etc but nothing seemed to work, I used a dart to press down the start button in the pub one night (yes I was that desperate!) and miraculusly it turned on!!
All was well for another couple of weeks until the phone decided to turn itself off – so I turned it back on (it only took a nail and 15 minutes this time) then it turned itself back off, not straight away – after a few hours. We got into a routine like this for some time until the pone got bored and decided that it was no longer going to work AT ALL!
I think it’s finally given up. The phone is crap – yeah it looks good but it doesn’t work half the time. Sorry folkes but thats the pure and simple truth of the matter!
The LG is a gorgeous looking phone, it’s classy and everyone that doesn’t have one seems to want one. Unfortunately that’s all it has going for it.
When I enter new contacts it stores the numbers until I turn the phone off. When I switch it back on the names and numbers have been deleted, consequently my phone book is empty.
In the middle of texting people it usually just turns itself off. Sometimes it decides to turn itself off randomly, even when it is fully charged…I no longer use the alarm feature on the phone anymore because I’ve woken up late too many times.
I also find it difficult to get a good signal.
I am going to take it back for repair, but I am less than happy with the LG Chocolate, people considering buying it should rethink.
Can anyone help me. I am having a problem with my lg chocolate,rec’d music through bluetooth, which I had set as my ringtone.worked great for a couple of days, and now I am getting a different ringtone altogether now. I dont know if I have pressed something or done something I shouldnt have, but despite following instructions to set it again, it wont set. ITS DRIVING ME BONKERS. I dont know much about mobile phones at all, so I would appreciate any help you can give me, thanks.
THIS PH IS F****** SHIT IT CUTS OUT AFTER ABOUT 3 MINS TALKING ,AFTER I DELETE MSG’S FROM OUTBOX IT TURNS OFF THE SCREEN WAS GOING WHITE AND TURNING DIFFERENT COLOURS AND MY SCREEN SAVER AND EVERYTHING WAS TURNING UOSIDE DOWN AND TO TOP IT OFF NOW MY SCREEN IS PERMENTLY WHITE AND I CAN’T USE IT AT ALL, I TOOK IT BACK AND HAVE TO WAIT 5 WEEKS FOR IT TO BE SENT OFF WHICH IS CRAP THEY SHOULD JUST REPLACE IT, I’M NOT HAPPY AT ALL,SO IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING GETTING IT THINK AGAIN,THE ONLY THING IT GOOD FOR IS ITS LOOKS!
i just bought a chocolate phone. and ive had it 3 weeks. and the screen turned completely white. i can still listen to ring tones and turn it on but i just cant see ANYTHING on the screen its completely. i can call people and text. but i cant see what im saying. or if im dialing right. ive lost all of my stuff. is there a way i could like get the screen to work. like blow dry it? let it sit for a few daYs? but there hasnt been any water damage at all.
HELP! im despertate.
first of all, all of you ppl are dumbshits. If there was no fuckin problem when u first got ur phone, and then it broke like 3 weeks after….that means u mistreated it that lead to its destruction. ive had mine for a ver long time and it works out fine. fortunately I DIDNT DROP IT INTO WATER or CHUCK IT OUT MY WINDOW and go like shit it deoesnt work no more. ima answer sum questions here.
1) If your phone turns off randomly, go to the setting that changes ur power save mode. or if it completely turns off… just turn it back on.
2)and if u cant turn on the phone….ur a fucktard, make sure u got full battery, slide OPEN the screen ad hold the little END button on the right side or watever button u have for around 4 seconds.
3) ITS NOT A MP3 PHONE DAMMIT PHONES CANNOT BREAK ON THERE OWN CUZ IT HAS NO MIND PPL!!!!
7) do not fucken use bluetooth when ur phone comes with a perfectly fine usb cable…. isnt that kinda obvious? if the bluetooth seems slow then use the cable…
8) SMALL VOLUME WHEN TALKING?? u simply click the volume up button WHEN UR IN THE MIDDLE OF A CALL>.
9) to change the ringtoe of the phone so its longer, go get a longer ringtone… it should constently repeat ringtones 5 times… so if u have a 30sec ringtone, it should ring for around 2 and ahalf minutess…
10)and in the beggining some RETARD said that he thinks the memory is too small. i agree. BUT HE ALSO SAID THAT HIS OLD PHONE IS 82100 kb. AND HE WANTS A PHONE THAT HAD MORE, NOT LESS, MEMORY. 82100 kb is equal to 82mb. and the chocolate has 128 mb.
11)SCRATHES DONT COME FROM NOWHERE. dont put other stuff in ur pocket along with the cell, especially sharp stuff or small things like sand, or scraps of paper. or ur wallet in the same pocket as the phone.
OKAY NO MORE TALKING FOR U FAGS WHO BROKE THE PHONE URSELF AND THEN SAYING “OMG WAT A RETARDED PHONE, WONT WORK” IF U FUCKIN DROP IT IN A POOL IT WILL BREAK!!!
hey
well ive had my chocolate fone since the 18th of june for my birthday and a couple of months down the track i accidently drop ma phone a couple of times and then we went over my mums friend house and her daughter took my phone to take some photos of her self and then she gave it back and a couple days later my phone started to stuff up and ive still got it but i can’t slide it up and when i do my screen gose white and when i slide it back down it cause like a rainbow colour throught out the whole screen so i turn my phone off and then turn it back and then it’s normal again
can anybody tell meh whats wrong with my phone please if u know whats wrong can u tell me on
babee_huney_buney@hotmail.com
thank you
i loved this fone wen i first got it (although i realised that i had absouloutly no memory on it as i couldnt even put one short song on my mp3, but i changed the SIM card and it worked great after that) but about 7 months after i got it the touch screen started to get a bit iffy. the touch sensitive wouldnt work. id have to slid it up and down numerous times to get it to work. and THEN the phone screen just went a bright white light and wont even turn on anymore i love my fone its so easy to work, or at least it WAS. if anyone knows if this is fixable in fone shops yano PLZ tell me 🙁
I’ve had this phone for a while. Whilst I have not had problems with the screen, it turns itself off in the middle of phone calls or writing a text message. Even if you can just turn it on again as Chuck (14/10/07) suggests, it takes time to find the network again. Then you try to write the message again… and it turns itself off again.
The camera isn’t great either – it lags before saving the image, but that’s probably to be expected from a phone.
I hate this phone in June for my birthday.
The screen keeps going white so I have to take the battery off and it it back on and restart the phone. Also I was texting off it the otherday and the button on the back for the battery fell off!
I really wouldn’t bother with this phone.
I’m getting a new phone Friday.
I will never get another LG!
IF ANYONE HAS HAD PROBLEMS WITH THEIR LG PHONE GOING MULTI COLOURED.. READ THIS
Its because the strap on the inside of your phone which connects the two pieces has either slipped or broken, in which case you can either pay to get it fixed (Around £30 in the UK) or ditch it.
I’ve ditched mine. The screen kept going white, and sometimes multi coloured, and now wont go back to normal. I’ve already had it fixed once. I’m not paying for it to happen again.
WORST PHONE IN THE HISTORY OF PHONES.
i am getting this phone for x-mas (2007) and ive done a lot of research on them. (etc.talked to phone expert and lg workers also done some research on the net).
This phone seems reliable with a brilliant memory and a excelant camera.
people have been commenting that the battery is poor and only lasts for around 3 days at the most. all you have got to do is put it on charge every night.
The memory holds up to around 30 songs all at least 4 mins long wich is more than a lot of phones.If this isnt enough memory for you consider buying an ipod or a mp3 or mp4 because it is what it says on the box a phone!.
The camera prints gawjus photos with 1.3 or 2.3 camera but once again if u want something to take all your special moments on then buy a camera.
Also people are coming on here saying oh i got a scratch on it and i dont no where it come from so i have had to send it back! if u get a scratch onit its your own careless fault!.
*i hope this helped *
NOW YOU MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND!
thnxx jess..xx..
Its because the strap on the inside of your phone which connects the two pieces has either slipped or broken, in which case you can either pay to get it fixed (Around £30 in the UK) or ditch it.
Karen…
\”…There are various designs to choose from; ear buds that are similar to the headphones that come packaged with your iPod…\”…
i love my chocolate but i too have had problems since first day. i’ve had mine for just over a year and all it seems to want to do is turn itself off. it turns off while i’m texting, in the middle of a call, when i leave it alone on the table, straight after i’ve turned it back on.
yesterday we had a battle of wills when i turned it on, it turned itself off, i turned it on, it turned off, on, off, on, off and so on
and i’ve had trouble with calls where people can hear me but all i get is silence. sometimes it helps to bang it around a bit.
it’s a shame because i absolutely adore this phone but it just getting worse and worse over time
luckily my contract is nearly up so i’ll be upgrading…but not to a Viewty or any other LG phone.
omgg m sooo confusedd .. i really need help .. wen i connect da usb to da comp, da drive duznt show up =S … ii dunno if its my comp or da phone dats creating probz =(
I think the lg chocolate is a waste of money and the security setting are rubbish.It keeps on coming up with security problems
I rate this
Get ready……………….
1/10 its crap
Plus the mp3 sucks saying file empty
I’ve had this phone for 4 months and it’s a load of crap. My charger even fell out of phone when I went to take it out, mind you I did it very carefully. The volume sucks, it gets scratched easily and although it looks solid, it’s not.
I’ve had the chocolate since March and i’ve had no problems with it what-so-ever. Except this morning I woke up and turned my phone on and all my text messages had vanished! I recieved a new one and then turned my phone off and when I turned it back on the new one had gone as well! It is extremly annoying. I”ve tested it by sending myself texts and they all just get erased when I turn the phone back on! Can anyone help me with this problem, what do I need to do?
I purchased the phone from Carphone Warehouse near where I live, the only problem is I go back to university (miles away) on Saturday!
This phone sucks. I got it when it first came out and i loved it. It worked great for about 6 months. Then every time i tryed to take a pic or lisen to a song it would shut off. I got a new one and after about 3 week the screen went white. my third one stoped charging and now my fourth one will not charge eaither.verizon will not let me get a different kind of phone all they tell me is that they are sorry, and that they have one that has had no problems. bull shit. i have given up on the phone and am getting a different one. I have a friend who is on her 7th one and a friend who is on their 8th. I think that any one who has had problems with the phone should get a new kind of phone.
hey tim same with me that happens to me too! friken idiotic eh? its soooo annoying.
my fone whent al white but overal it was awwesome until it broke
my phone was great but then the touch screen wouldn’t work and the sreen just went all white if anyone knows how to fix it then plz let me know thanks xxx
I THOUGHT MY LG WAS THE BEST PHONE EVER IT NEVER GAVE ME ANY PROBLEMZ AT ALL… BUT THEN THE BATTERY LIFE BECAME SHIT.. AND THE THE MOTHERFUCKIN PHONE WONT TURN ON. EVERYONE THAT THINKS ITS GOOD AND HAS NO PROBLEMS JUST WAIT AND SEE!!!!!! ITS FUCKIN GAY
[…] “One blogger sent us 2,250 […]
the fukin fone is shite my screen does its own thing it works when it wants too.it goes all multi coloured and sometimes white.my touch screen has now decided to fukin brake as if…………………. fukin want fone harsly shit sick amount of bollocks.
Well im getting the phone todayy.
Wow a lot of shitty comments kinda makes meh edgy on getting it…A few of my friends have them with no problem.. Knowing my luck it’ll fuck up on meh. But hopefully not.
i have the chocolate phone for 2 years already and now my touch pad doesnt work anymore. How do you fix it beside calling the customer service? I dont think they will be any help since my warranty expired long time ago. Any idea??
if you do email iit to me at quynhdao_88@yahoo.com
I just love this phone since it costs me sooo much…
Great phone, unfortunately broken screen now.
Does anyone knoe where to buy cheap replacement screen.
christmas08
If the phone does the multi coloured or white thing then its because the strap on the inside is out of line or broken. this is due to impact on the outer shell. Usually from dropping it or playing hacky with it as my friend does
I have a lg chocolate phone and it barely has service…i can barely find service anywhere.
Mine just started to randomly shut off. anyway to fix this ?
I got this phone , and from my experience it is one of a kind, since i can use it for everything i need and it works for all ages.
So I Had The Lg Chocolote for a couple of days then my phone turned off when i was txting then after that it was okayyy… just like it was hoow i first got it then my End button won’t work so I can’t turn it off and when i take out the battery i charge it and it comes back on but the End button won’t work at all… how do i get it to work???