The very recent LG Chocolate BL40 reaching us for a review has us than excited to take a ‘bite’ off its wide feature set. Because the company’s penchant for blessing mobile phones with attractive names like Chocolate and Cookie may have certainly caught the fantasy of enthusiasts over time. The phone landed in India around the last week of January 2010. We for one couldn’t wait to land in the LG Chocolate terrain with this latest Black Label addition. Here’s a comprehensive review.
The phone arrived with claims of it being the world’s first full cinematic screen mobile and boasting of a wide array advanced functions. In a nutshell, features include a 4” touchscreen, S Class UI, 5MP Autofocus camera, MP3 player, FM Radio and Flash support. The phone is also enabled with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi while extending its support to GPS connectivity and 3G HSDPA 7.2MBPS networks. Supporting a number of languages, the phone is also bundled with complete email functionality including Microsoft Exchange.
The LG Chocolate BL40 reached us in an attractive red and black box that complemented the color of its chassis. It read ‘Open Here’ just like a perfect gift. Along with the phone, the package included a travel adapter with the USB cable, headphones and the CD guide. The unique appearance of the phone should hold the fantasy of fashion-forward users. With a stylish design which revealed no buttons on the front, the elongated structure certainly gives the phone a very distinct appearance.
Without any keys on the fore, a speaker is located just above the touchscreen, followed by the front-facing camera. Right on top of the phone is the 3.5mm headphone jack next to which is the power on/off cum lock/unlock button. On the left panel is a USB port with an LED light which is lit red when the USB cable is connected or when you charge the phone through the cable. Right below it is a dedicated music button that lands you directly in your music library, though it might take more than a push of the button to do so.
While an elongated volume up/down button on the right panel should help you adjust ringtones as well as the touchtone, a dedicated camera button is just below the volume button. We quite liked the very thoughtful and neat incorporation of the buttons into the edges. For those who keep color on top of their list when choosing a phone, the glossy black appearance with the top and bottom edges dressed in a red plastic chassis are appealing. Though sleek, the LG Chocolate BL40 is a wee bit too long and takes more than a glance to complete a brief runthrough. Its length added by the slight bulkiness could further render the phone inconvenient to snuggle into the pocket. Around 128 x 51 x 10.9 mm in dimensions, the phone weighs 129g.
Switching on the phone led us to an impressive-looking S-class user interface. The rather intuitive interface showed off four neatly organized sections namely Communications, Entertainment, Utilities and Settings with each menu of each function having relevant shortcuts. Equipped with an accelerometer, the 4” touchscreen was capable of aligning the menu in the portrait or landscape mode. Spending some more time with the phone and we grasped that the touchscreen was not as responsive as we would have liked it to be. While taking quite some time to transform from the landscape to portrait modes, the interface reveals a QWERTY keypad and a regular alpha-numeric one in the corresponding modes.
We could customize the homescreen to 3 different settings while a distinct multitasking widget on the left corner enabled us to minimize applications. The function lets you minimize up to 3 applications simultaneously. Navigating through the menus wasn’t much of a hassle though typing messages, we must say, was quite annoying. Those new to the touchscreen phenomenon in particular would have wished it be not just simpler but also friendlier. Offering a superior voice quality, we engaged in conversations that were loud and clear though.
Moving on to the connectivity support offered by the phone, Wi-Fi as well UTMS connections were quick, seamless and without any interruptions. The Internet browsing experience comes complete with a multi-windows option that allowed us to open quite a few windows simultaneously. If you’re among those who can’t stop their twitching fingers from posting updates on various social networking sites, the optimized Web pages will surely hold your attention. Besides a simple touch and swipe of the fingers enables effortless toggle between windows. Furthermore web browsing is made easy thanks to the plethora of advanced settings like adding bookmarks, multi-windows, history, re-setting zoom and more. While a hands-free mode allowed quick Bluetooth connectivity, plugging in the USB cable also allowed seamless transfer of content.
LG seems to have kept in mind the significance of a camera in the average mobile users’ life with this handset. It’s equipped with a 5.0 megapixel camera that quite enthused us with its results and features. Wrapping in Autofocus, there are 5 scene modes onboard namely Portrait, Landscape, Auto, Sport and Night. Allowing you to capture images with or without flash, the light settings can also be played around with. The imaging experience is additionally enhanced with zoom, Auto and Macro options and the Red Eye Reduction function. Besides using the dedicated camera button on the panel, you can even touch the camera icon on the right screen when on the function to snap photos.
There’s a relevantly placed shortcut to the gallery that permits an instant view of the captured images too. The unique video camera option includes auto and night scene modes as well. Inspite of handshakes and disturbances, the video quality didn’t disappoint us one bit. 3 recording modes mainly Normal, MMS and DNLA, the video interface and a shortcut to the video gallery are some other attributes included. Interestingly the camera and video settings are fashioned in a rotating wheel like tool with a simple spin of the tool letting us choose the required settings. We also espied a front facing main camera that delivered a lower resolution.
Hardly any of us can claim to not have incorporated at least a few Google widgets and tools in our routine lives courtesy the surging need for communication and connectivity. LG only seems to affirm of this thought with its dedicated Google function that bundles in Google Maps, Google Search, Google Mail, YouTube and Blogger. Music gallery, games and movie maker are some of the attributes featured in the Entertainment menu. The FM radio reception was one of the few attributes of the phone that actually left a sour taste in our mouth with way too many disturbances complementing it. With Wisepilot for LG, the phone also shows off a social networking tool that includes shortcut to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
As we headed to the Games and Apps function, we were welcomed by a wide array of interesting titles in the games section. This included 3 demo games namely Asphalt 4: Elite Racing, Brain Challenge Vol2 Stress Management and Bubble Bash trial version. Brain Challenge, a demo brain enhancement program required us to quickly identify fractions, numbers and such, to reveal if we were fast or slow at doing that. The very addictive section also bundles in a lot of fun stuff like Racing Time 2, Dual Match, Music World, Hidden Catch Wide and Bubble Breeze. We’d like to mention the Bubble Breeze app in particular which comprised of a special blowing function that let us blow bubbles (yes, just like when we were kids) through the base of the phone literally into the screen. You can touch them to gain points. A fun musical instruments game onboard additionally let us play the piano and drum live.
Finally the utilities section packs in standard functions like an Organizer, Alarm Clock, Memo, Voice Recorder and more. The bundled headset is a nice accompaniment with ear plugs that seat themselves deep in the ears. Proffering advanced audio quality, it also shielded against external noise to some extent. The phone includes 1GB memory which can be expanded up to 32GB and should satiate most needs. The battery was one quarter that had us really complaining. The phone starved out pretty early in the day and needed to be charged a couple of times on heavy usage. Also the power saving mode appeared to be of no help in practically saving the battery. Besides setting off the auto brightness of the screen, it couldn’t do anything more to offer more juice.
Pros: The large vivid screen with high-resolution complemented by the unique design of the phone is definitely a stand out. Besides, we also thought the multitasking option was pretty useful. The speakerphone and headphones are enhanced to deliver optimum audio quality.
Cons: None of the settings offer confirmations which we felt was rather weird for a feature loaded phone. Besides heating up, the phone’s battery life too was disappointing. While the interface of the unit we reviewed lagged quite a few times, the touch response also was poor. As for the screen, it seemed like a magnet for dust and fingerprints. The phone was just too long and certainly not pocket-friendly.
On the whole, the attractive LG Chocolate BL40 ensures entertainment while on the move. At least boring business trips should never be the same with the engaging games and fun applications. Nevertheless the Rs. 25,000 price tag and poor battery might just see enthusiasts changing their minds. At our end, the phone scores a decent 8 out of 10.