LG KF510 review

LG's been plenty busy with touch controlled mobiles since its Chocolate phone debuted back in 2006. With chic touchpad-operated sliders and top-line touchscreen mobiles, LG has tapped into the growing trend with some seriously eye-catching models like the KF750 Secret, KF600, KU990 Viewty and KC910 Renoir.

The KF510 is another addition to the touch-activated lineup, replacing conventional navigation pad and control keys with a touch sensitive control array. Like the Chocolate phone, the KF510 delivers its strokable-control package in a smart, minimalist design. Cased in tempered glass and chrome-trimmed metal bodywork, the KF510 has a stylishly slim but reassuringly solid, quality feel to it.

However, despite its elegant looks and touch operation, the KF510 isn't a top-end do-everything type of handset. It doesn't support 3G for high-speed multimedia services and video calling, relying instead on slower GPRS and EDGE data speeds. Features include a 3-megapixel camera, music and video players and FM radio, among a steady roster of typical mid-tier applications and functions.

Design and handling
Feel and touch are undoubtedly the key selling points of the KF510. The quality materials used give it substance in the hand at 110g, although it's just a sliver under 11mm thin.

The slick-action slide down numberpad is large too, with nicely responsive conventional buttons, while the phone's screen is a reasonably-sized 2.2-inch QVGA 262K-colour display. There are no buttons to break up the graduated colour front panel, though; the touch sensitive controls only glow into view when the phone is active, such as when the slider is slipped open.

Functionally, the touch sensitive keys do little more than a regular navigation pad and control buttons would. Of course, It's the way they do it that's the attraction (or not) of this type of control method. The touch buttons glow white through the black or red casing, with four small directional keys and a select button set in a cross pattern, with additional twin softkeys plus call and clear buttons conventionally arranged.

Brush your fingertips on virtual button and you get flashy visual light action to show the key's been activated, plus a bit of haptic feedback (a slight vibrating buzz). The lights on the pad form large directional arrows as up/down/left/right buttons are being pressed, or twinkle around the select key or other buttonry as they're being tapped. And if you're scrolling down lists by stroking the pad, you get double arrows flashing. It's not exactly minimalist chic, but will certainly grab attention.

Whether you're hot or cold on this type of touchpad will depend on how you take to its sensitivity. It's reasonably responsive as you tap it, and doesn't take much getting used to; as it mimics a regular control pad set-up, you're unlikely to go too far wrong with it.

However, because it responds to light touching, you could find stray fingers activating or double-pressing keys in a way they wouldn't with a physical navigation pad. For example, when texting, an imprecise brush of the thumb when editing can end up sending incomplete messages. The odd accidental dab won't be a disaster (and the pad locks when closed) but you could find it slightly frustrating or annoying at times.

Features
That touch sensitivity plays it straight for menu navigation. Operation is straightforward, and in conventional style, there are shortcuts mapped to directional keys, while the main menu is based around a familiar grid of icons (or optional list), plus scroll down lists of numbered sub menu options.

The KF510 has a modest 16MB of internal storage, so you'll need to add an optional MicroSD card if you want to listen to more than a few tunes or expand memory for photos, videos and other content. Cards up to 4GB capacity can be slipped into its slider-covered side slot.

Unusually, the phone has a fast access side button that doubles up for both camera (long press) and MP3 player (short press). Although the camera doesn't have the full 5-megapixel-powered gadgetry of its top-line cameraphones, it's still a capable shooter, with a good selection of adjustment controls, and an autofocus system that enables you to get sharp and precise close up shots and mid-range snaps.

Generally, detail is pretty good for a 3-megapixel cameraphone, and colours are vibrant. The auto metering system wasn't always spot on with high contrast shots though, and indoors shots weren't quite as good as outdoors images, even with the limited-range photo light flash. Video capture is disappointing though; its maximum QVGA resolution footage is poor, looking particularly jerky.

The KF510's MP3 player is a decent enough straightforward affair, with tracks sorted into standard categories, and simple, no-fuss controls on the touchpad. You can use a bunch of equaliser pre-sets too to tweak sound. However, sound quality is average through the supplied headphones, and we thought top volume could have been higher.

LG uses its own proprietary headphone socket on the side, but redeems matters a bit with a standard 3.5mm jack adapter on its two-piece supplied earphones, so you can add better quality headphones to boost sound quality for the music player or FM radio. Bluetooth stereo headphones can be used too, or there's an in-built loudspeaker, which is typically limited mobile phone quality.

Lack of 3G limits the browsing experience, though the browser can give full or mobile optimised screen view options and has a good cursor action to help navigate pages. And you get another light show while the phone's downloading... Waiting for larger pages to download over 2.5G can be frustrating, however. A Yahoo! suite of apps (oneSearch, Mail, Messenger and Address Book) are also pre-loaded to add to the web-based feature count.

Typically for a mid-tier mobile, email is supported, and there's a multi-format document viewer for attachments. Standard organiser functions and tools are included too, and LG PC Suite software is supplied for syncing with a PC and downloading files.

Performance
There's no noticeable power-sapping effect from the touchpad control system, and lack of 3G, Wi-Fi and other juice guzzling gadgetry means you get a steady battery performance. LG reckons the KF510 can keep going for up to 400 hours on standby or 4 hours of talktime, and we managed a comfortable three days of typical usage between charges. Call quality is perfectly fine too.

With the KF510, LG hasn't pushed the boundaries much further than it did with the Chocolate phone. Naturally, it has a bit more in its features locker, and the touchpad operating system has been refined - and flashed up - from first attempt. However, the lack of 3G to boost its multimedia and web browsing performance is a shame, and there are few wow-inducing features under the bonnet.

On a practical level, the touchpad does little more than an easier-to-use standard phone control pad can, and some will find the touch sensitivity fiddly and frustrating to use. But the KF510 is a undoubtedly an attention-grabber of a handset, with its twinkling touchpad and solidly crafted, minimalist styling delivering plenty of eye-appeal.