LG KF600 review: Twice the fun

Design and construction

The dimensions of LG KF600 are 101.2 x 50.7 x 14.1 mm. Definitely not the smallest phone around, but it's about what you'd expect in a slider. In all fairness, squeezing that second display in has made it rather tall but the fair 14.1 mm thickness do make up for that. The weight of 107g is nothing special either. A size comparison between LG KF600 and Samsung E950 would be in favor of the latter but, after all, its touch pad is obviously smaller.

LG KF600 360-degree spin

Thanks to the InteractPad navigation, there are no hardware keys on the front panel of LG KF600. Its surface is completely smooth and, in the rare moments when it's not smudged with fingerprints, it looks really nice. Hate to break the bad news, but the glossy front is a real smudge magnet. Endless hours cleaning your KF600 guaranteed.

The earpiece is placed dead center at the top of the front panel. Below it is the 2" display that we'll come back to a little later. The InteractPad completes the list on the handset's front.

LG KF600 front - earpiece, 2" display and the InteractPad

The left side of the handset hosts two keys. The volume rocker is placed right above the dedicated music key. Music fans will most likely appreciate the MP3 player shortcut, which is another indication of the young target audience of LG KF600.

The left side of the phone - volume rocker and the dedicated music player key

Moving on to the right side of LG KF600, we find the USB port, also used for connecting the charger, and the dedicated camera key. Unluckily, the USB connector is the well-known proprietary LG version that works with LG supplied accessories only. The more popular miniUSB could have saved users some hassle, but that's not that big of an issue.

USB port and the dedicated camera key on the right side of LG KF600

"...All in all we're pleased with the construction quality of the phone - some good quality materials have been used and it shows. What we are not particularly happy about is the fact that the slider doesn't actually lock in neither position..."

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The top and bottom of the phone are both quite simple. The only thing to find on the top is the lanyard eyelet. The mouthpiece is all you get at the bottom.

LG KF600 top and bottom - neck/wrist strap eyelet on the top

The material used on the back panel of LG KF600 is excellent. It feels nice to the touch and won't get any fingerprints. In addition, it provides for a good enough grip, so the phone won't slip off your hand.

The back panel is made of really nice material

The 3 megapixel camera is the most important thing you will find on the back panel. It has the LED flash on one of its sides and the loudspeaker on the other. The final thing to find here is the external antenna plug. Unfortunately, there is no protection for the lens against scratches.

3 megapixel camera lens, LED flash and loudspeaker grill on the back panel

Opening the battery cover reveals the 800 mAh Li-ion battery. It's quoted at 480 hours of standby and 4 hours of talk time. In reality it turned out to be enough for about two days of moderate use. Probably here is the place to warn you that although the SIM card may be ejected without removing the battery this in fact is not a good idea. The phone automatically turns off upon such an action and prompts a restart when SIM is inserted.

LG KF600 with the battery cover removed • the 800 mAh Li-ion battery

The big disappointment with the hardware of KF600 is the memory card slot placed under the battery. Every time you need to insert or remove your memory card, you will have to switch off the phone and take the battery out - the same holds true for the LG Viewty. We are not quite sure what LG engineers were thinking but this is by no means comfortable. If you frequently change cards or use a card reader for transferring data this can be quite a nuisance.

The non-hot-swappable memory card is a real problem with the LG KF600

All in all we're pleased with the construction quality of the phone - some good quality materials have been used and it shows. What we are not particularly happy about is the fact that the slider doesn't actually lock in neither position. Any time pressure is applied on the edges it moves and gives that cheap wobbly feeling that no one really likes.

The phone in hand