LG KS360

LG KS360 is a mid-ranger that will easily catch your eye with bold colors and quirky controls. LG have managed to create a handset that's cunningly full of character, though it's kinda hard to think of it in the hands of a grown-up. It does seem like a toy at first glance and those color combos are to die for if you are of certain age and attitude.

Yet quite unexpectedly, LG KS360 is quick to serve a bunch of nice features such as a large and vivid 2.4-inch display, full QWERTY keyboard, a 2 megapixel snapper and… believe it or not… a wee tot of touchscreen.

This midrange phone isn't exactly hard to keep your cool about and the flashy paintjobs don't help much either. But we were pleasantly surprised by the ergonomics and performance of the KS360. So while we gear up to put the LG KS360 through its paces, you better get yourself ready to be surprised too.

The LG KS360 will be available in several color combinations, some of which will be exclusive to various carriers - the full list of color options includes Black and red, Black and silver, White and soft pink, and Titanium and bright blue.

Key features

-Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support

-Large 2.4" TFT display of QVGA resolution

-Full slide-out QWERTY keyboard with screen rotation

-Touchscreen dialing

-2 megapixel camera

-Stereo Bluetooth

-FM radio

-microSD memory card slot (up to 4GB)

-Threaded SMS

-Attractive 3D image gallery

-Office document viewer

The young and texting-savvy are two obvious targets of the slide-out QWERTY KS360. And while 18+ is not very likely, bill payers are given some sort of say with pay-as-you-go. The manufacturer is teaming up with operators such as Orange to offer the devices with the added value of free messages and free access to social community websites such as MySpace, Bebo, and FaceBook on Pay-as-you-go basis.

Currently the handset can be found for around 80 GBP (140 US dollars or 99 euro) at Orange UK (the pink color version is one of their exclusive deals too). So if you are looking for a LG KS360, we guess your carrier's retail stores are the place to start.

The unusual form factor puts the LG KS360 into a really narrow market segment currently cornered by the T-Mobile Sidekick family (the Sidekick Slide - a joint effort of Danger and Motorola - being the recent model at T-Mobile UK).

What both devices have in common are lively colors, QWERTY keypad and the young targeting, but with a decisive difference. T-Mobile is offering the Sidekick only on a Pay-monthly basis, while the KS360 is available on Pay-as-you-go. Additionally, the Sidekick Slide is way larger and heavier than the LG KS360.

That said, the KS360 probably has solid chances of market success for being adequately equipped and quite properly focused. It's also a nice performer, as you are about to find out. Join us after this very small jump as we explore the looks and feel of LG KS360.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Telephony The LG KS360 offers smooth and problem-free performance when it comes to the most essential element of a phone - making calls. It offers good reception and in-call sound, with pleasing voice quality on both ends of a call.

One of the treats of the LG KS360 is the touchscreen dialing - a dedicated key starts the dialer for you to tap in a number. Each press is marked by vibration feedback. The touchscreen functionality works only with fingers, so there's no need to fear accidental presses in your pocket.

Unfortunately, LG KS360 does not sport Smart Dialing - a feature that automatically looks up contacts, whose numbers contain the digits you type in.

Messaging is fancy LG KS360 handles all of the most common type of messages: SMS, EMS, MMS, and email and even tops those with Bluetooth messages.

The first three message types share a common editor. There is a counter showing the number of symbols remaining to the limit of 160. When that limit has been exceeded, the editor turns another page, which should serve as an indication that the message will be sent in two chunks.

All you need to do to switch between different types of messages is insert some multimedia content - like a photo or an audio track for example.

The fact that all messages share an editor on the LG KS360 has a somewhat negative impact on user-friendliness. Now all sorts of unneeded options pop in the way when you are trying to send a simple text.

A really nice feature of the messaging department introduced first by LG is the threaded messaging which not only shows your SMS in threaded balloons, but enhance those with the contact images of the senders.

A certain drawback is the attachment limitation of the email client, which doesn't allow you to send full resolution 2 megapixel images taken with the LG KS360 camera as attachments.

A second downer is the lack of SSL support. It makes using popular mail services such as Gmail impossible with the native email client.

Luckily, at least as far as Gmail is concerned, LG have pre-installed a Google package on the KS360 that gets you access not only to Google search, but also to Google Mail.

So generally, as far as common messaging needs are concerned, the KS360 is a decent performer - especially with the QWERTY keyboard, but the email management leaves much to be desired.