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LG’s Chocolate range of super slick mobile handsets have been around for quite some time. They tend to represent a rich sophisticated feel with the glossy black finish, red trims and the glowing red touch sensitive navigation system. Here’s a closer look at one of the latest in the range, the BL20 that employs all the traditional Chocolate series motifs. Form Factor Like most of the other Chocolate series handsets the BL20 is a slider with a smooth black glossy coat and a touch sensitive navigation and shortcut system. The rich red keypad and side with its large keys makes for a visually appealing, comfortable to use system. The slider itself is extremely smooth and glides up or down with ease. The 2.4-inch display is easy on the eyes even in bright sunlight. Feather touch buttons have been sued for the volume/zoom and the camera keys located on one side. Instead of including a 3.5mm socket on the handset to kept it as slim as possible, LG has gone with a universal micro USB slot on the side for PC, handsfree and charger connectivity. The handsfree has a 3.5mm adapter so you can use your own earphones if you like, though the bundled set is very capable and comfortable to use. A 5MP camera with an LED flash is at the rear and a secondary VGA camera is placed in front. The MicroSD hot swap slot is under the rear panel. It’s very difficult to dislike the design as feminine as it may seem. Features and Performance Interface The non-touchscreen version of LG’s proprietary S-Class UI is definitely easier to deal with than the one on their touchscreen handsets. This one is smooth and fluid with no lag whatsoever even if you’re multitasking. I had 5 apps running in the background and the menu transitions etc. were still as smooth as ever. The layout is similar to the touchscreen version without the accelerometer to rotate the menus. You won’t miss it. The hidden touch navigation panel provides haptic feedback if the setting is active but it can be a bit over sensitive and there’s no controlling that. A widget and Running Apps key are placed at the bottom of the navigation panel and sometimes, if you don’t have slim fingers you’re going to end up activating these in the course of navigating the systems. But it’s not something that’s a big issue. Media The music player is brilliant. Tone quality is spot on with an equal distribution of highs lows and quite a thump in the bass line. It’s also extremely loud so I do not advice using it at peak volume ever. A set of EQ presets that include 3D surround sound is also available to enhance the experience. Regular 3GP and MPEG4 files played without a hitch but without an accelerometer you’ll have to manually switch to landscape viewing. The FM radio was average at best and took quite a while to locate the available stations, most of which I had to manually set. All this in an area that I usually get pretty good reception. LG has included quite a few Gameloft supplied games with the handset to help pass the time while commuting or just waiting around for a date. They seem to have gone the Samsung way as most of the games are just demos requiring you to purchase the full version. |
Tags: LG , Chocolate , Slider , 5 Megapixel
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