LG KF700 preview: First look

LG KF700 360-degree view

Design and construction

The LG KF700 is a nicely looking device - it's not the thinnest one around but its slender oblong shape is not something you see everyday. At 110 g the KF700 is definitely not the lightest of handsets too. But the overall feeling you get is of one compact little gadget.

The display follows the same ratio as the body itself (1:2) and has a diagonal of 3 inches. Its resolution is 240 x 480 pixels, which makes it rather uncommon too. Custom made wallpapers and possibly Java games will be your only option if you have your eyes set on this slider.

Speaking of sliding, that's exactly what you have to do to reveal the hidden keypad. The keys are styled in different shades of grey and form the signature LG pattern well known since the original LG Chocolate. The keys are large, oblong and with nice press feedback.

The large touchscreen display and the sliding keypad

The right side of the device houses the proprietary LG connectivity port - this is where you plug your headset, charger and USB cable. Here you also get the camera key and the touchscreen lock key.

Right side: this is where you plug all the peripherals

The left side holds almost no controls except for the special scroll wheel/OK key combo. The scroll wheel can scroll through menus (one line per scroll unfortunately) while the OK key is used for confirming the selection. Pressing the OK key in standby mode will invoke a special customizable shortcut menu.

The metallic scroll wheel offers smooth action, while the OK key is a bit stiff at press. An added disadvantage - at least for us - is the fact that you can't press the scroll wheel itself to make an action. We are used to that solution with its frequent implementations in numerous smartphones and PocketPC by various manufacturers. But it may be just our crabby selves.

Left side: the scroll wheel is clearly visible when the phone is upside-down

The bottom part of the LG KF700 features no controls whatsoever. The top one though has accommodated the microSD memory card slot. It's a good thing that the card is accessible without removing the battery.

The bottom side features no controls, but the top side houses the microSD slot

Held in hand the KF700 might not look the smallest chap around, but you gotta believe us when we say it's really compact - especially when the keypad is closed.

Held in hand the KF700 is really compact - it's almost unnaturally narrow though

The backlighting of both the KF700 keypad and the display is good. However LG displays still suffer under direct sunlight - especially with fingerprint smudges all over its face.

The backlighting of the display and keypad is excellent