Jan 10 2009
LG Cookie KP500
LG Cookie KP500 The highly promoted LG touchscreen has hit the markets with an aggressive pricing. The Cookie (KP 500) for me is an update to the previous attempt to cash in on the Touch hype - “Prada”. While the LG Prada was an early attempt, the Cookie is much more impressive.
Form Factor
The KP500 has a large 3-inch TFT touch screen display featuring a 240 x 400 pixel, 256K color resolution. Just under the display are a set of 3 keys - Call take, end and a center shortcut menu key that can also be used as a sort of ‘End task - Task Manager’ option to close all active applications. The stylus is neatly concealed and located at the bottom but slides out from the side. This extremely slim handset (11.9mm) has a microSD card slot on one side followed by a screen lock key and a dedicated camera key located below that. On the opposite side is where you’ll find a proprietary port for the handsfree, charger and USB and volume/zoom keys. A 3 megapixel camera is located at the rear.
Interface
Running on a Flash UI the KP500’s touch screen functionality is a bit erratic most of the time. Then again there have been times that it’s been an absolute pleasure to use. Hence erratic is as accurate a term as any. The handwriting recognition would rival any Windows Mobile device and probably end up being better.The desktopor rather ‘desktops’ are well designed with a widget pop out feature not unlike the Samsung F480’s or the Omnia’s . You can choose what shortcuts of your choice and also drop them onto the desktop.
By flicking this desktop to the side a new one swivels around. This desktop is designed specifically for quick dialing. The widget section can store up to 8 contacts, which can of course be dropped onto the desktop. The menu set up is a neat division of features according to functionality. I quite like this. It’s all very easily usable with just your fingers rendering the stylus redundant most of the time. The only time the stylus is handy is for drawing, handwriting as an option for writing messages and the browser that sometimes makes it a bit tricky selecting options or links from the screen.
Features (Specifications):
* 3 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom (Video supported)
* 3 TFT LCD, 262k colours, 240 x 400 pixels
* Handwriting recognition (Stylus operation)
* Music player (MP3/AAC/AAC+/AAC++/WMA formats) with FM
* Document viewer (TXT, PDF, DOC, PPT, XLS)
* Ringtones: 64 voice polyphonic ringtones / MP3 ringtones
* Java 2.0 games
* Phonebook (1000 names)
* Memory: 48 Mbytes plus microSD memory card slot (up to 8GB)
* Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth
* Internet: WAP 2.0, GPRS, EDGE, web browser
* Vibration alert
* Quad band
* Size: 107 x 55 x 12 mm
* Talktime: 3.5 hours
* Battery standby: 350 hours
Pros:
Great designWell priced
Cons: Touch sensitivity and accelerometer are erratic
Verdict:
LG is not the most preferred brand for cellphone users. With no great history of providing quality mobiles and poor resale value (compared to Nokia), LG hopes to sell the Cookie at a value point. The aggressive pricing with rich features is what will drive the sales. Another thing that helps would be the iPhone wannabes looking for a cheap touchscreen :)
