LG KS360 review: Of teens and twitters

Unboxing the LG KS360

The LG KS360 retail package has enough to get you going. A charger, a headset and a data cable is what you get. No memory card is pre-bundled here, but those are already ridiculously cheap so you can get one easily.

LG KS360 retail box

LG KS360 360-degree spin

The LG KS360 is a compact device with turn-head color combos. It's obviously targeted at the younger tween-and-teen audience. Measuring 101.5 x 51 x 16.8 mm the KS360 is definitely not a slim device, but it's still rather pocket-friendly.

Design and construction

LG KS360 is notable for its rounded edges and the unusual round keys. The front panel is taken by the large 2.4" display of QVGA resolution.

While the handset is really affordable, cutting budget corners didn't seem to affect the screen. You may be surprised to know that it actually has touchscreen functionality, which is only available though with the phone dialer.

LG KC360 has an excellent display

There is a bunch of controls below the display, but even if the crammed layout of round knobs and flatbed keys may suggest otherwise, they are all easy to use with excellent tactility. The cross-haired navigation keys are notable for having the Up and Down keys and confirm center detached from the side scroll controls.

The flatbed key under the left arrow is assigned to open the phone dialer - an on-screen num-pad that enables touchscreen dialing, as we already noted.

Slide out the drawer-like hardware QWERTY keyboard and the screen changes its orientation to landscape automatically. All the front controls under the display are duplicated on the QWERTY keyboard so you can not only type but also navigate the interface hassle-free.

The keys below the display are excellent • Sliding out the QWERTY deck auto-rotates the interface

LG KS360 has an excellent QWERTY keypad with well spaced keys and excellent touch orientation. The only issue we had was the backlighting of the blue-colored KS360.

The main function symbols on each key have a blue backlight, while the secondary characters (numbers and punctuation) are backlit in bright orange. As a result the secondary ones are quite more prominent in a low light environment and may affect your typing speed as the main ones are a bit hard to recognize.

The other versions of the device, which have the same backlighting pattern but different color keyboards, don't have any of those issues.

The QWERTY keyboard has excellent ergonomics but backlighting hurts usability with the blue version

The microSD card slot and the LG universal port for connecting charger, headphones and data cable are located on the left-hand side of the LG KS360.

On the opposite side are the volume rocker and the shutter key. Now, given the sliding QWERTY keyboard, the left side of the device is actually the top side in landscape position. It just seems the shutter key location was chosen with left-handed users in mind. When shooting in landscape it's your left index finger that falls on the shutter knob.

The left side features the microSD card slot and connectivity port, the volume rocker and camera key are on the right

There are no controls at the bottom and top of LG KS360. You will find the battery release knob topside and the mouthpiece at the bottom.

The bottom and top feature no controls

The loudspeaker and the camera lens are easily visible on the back of the device. The 2 megapixel snapper of the KS360 doesn't have a LED flash (not a big waste) and is only sided by a mirror for self-portraits.

Backside is the camera lens but there's no LEd flash

Removing the battery cover is a breeze. Under it is the 800 mAh Li-Ion battery. The LG KS360 is said to offer up to 5 h of talk time and up to 430 h of standby time. Those are above average figures, while the battery capacity doesn't seem to be above average. Unfortunately, we can't advise on the real-life battery performance of the KS360.

The battery is really large but also really thin

Overall, we are impressed with the ergonomics of LG KS360. We should also point out the very good build: it's an all plastic piece of gear but neat and commendably sturdy. The handset handles nicely, the slider action is smooth and solid, and surfaces (except the screen) are fingerprint-proof. The handset is not thin at all, but remains compact, light and easy to handle. It's also got an excellent display - one of the best we've seen by LG, and all keys are tactile and friendly.

LG KS360 has excellent ergonomics