LG KC780 review

Not content with releasing one 8-megapixel camera, LG has decided to introduce another to the fold – and this time it goes by the name of LG KC780.

The LG Renoir, the other 8-megapixel camera phone, went for the iPhone market with its slim design and touchscreen interface, which is certainly commendable.

But how well does the more affordable LG KC780 shape up against the market's ever growing supply of camera-oriented mobile devices? Read on to find out.

The first thing that you'll notice if you’ve experienced phones with this type of camera before is that it's suitably slim for anybody’s everyday purposes. It’s not exactly ultra-thin, but for most people this can easily fit into a pocket without any trouble. The same goes for the weight - at 119g, it's featherweight for such a highly-specced handset.

There’s nothing particularly extraordinary about slider design, but that’s fair given the fact that it is being sold as a no frills handset compared to the KC910 Renoir. There is also nothing there which gives it away as being a phone with a particularly high spec camera which most would consider a good thing. Yes, it’s not a headturner by any means, but it has a solid and reliable construction which compares well with any other slider out there
 
The main selling point about the phone is the camera, and happily, the KC780 lives up to its description on the box that it 'takes good pictures of people'. It carries some particular nifty features, such as a Schneider Kreuznach lens, autofocus, image stabiliser, red eye reduction and face recognition tracking. It also carries a ‘smile shot’ and ‘beautification mode’, just as the KC910 Renoir does.
 
LG claims that many of the camera’s technologies were built with the face in mind, and that’s probably a smart move when you consider that the main use for mobile phone pictures is for portraits and ‘Facebook style’ pictures – (drunk or otherwise).
 
The camera was tested in difficult surroundings- a drum and bass club night with flashing lights and difficult to judge lighting. And the camera performed reasonably well, though it did have trouble with physical movement. Overall, the majority of portrait pictures were excellent in quality. It also carries a video camera which saves in DivX format, but has nowhere near the number of features that the camera has.
 
The display of the KC780 is fairly standard, with a 2.4-inch screen widescreen LCD. The menu system is also fairly typical of phones of this price-range, but it does offer a cool-looking moving wallpaper as well as texts which is clear to read as well as looking more ‘solid’ than they do on phones from brands like Motorola and Sony Ericsson.
 
Call quality is comfortable, working well and clearly in all situations.

However the web browser is average, lacking 3G and only offering quadband GSM and GPRS/ Edge connectivity. The browsing experience is also quite clunky and fairly typical of what you might have expected from a mid-range slider phone.
 
There's the possibility of downloading applications like Google Mail and Maps to make browsing less than a chore, but the Internet experience was obviously never a priority when the makers were putting their thoughts into the phone’s design.
 
However, there are a number of other features which makes the KC780 feel a little more advanced than other sliders in this price-range. It has a range of advanced Bluetooth options such a Bluetooth Webcam option which allows you to connect the phone to your PC and use it as a webcam. An FM radio and voice recorder are also extra features which some might find an added bonus.
 
Sound quality is pretty good and offers a louder than usual loudspeaker option which while won’t be the source of a party, is better than usual than other phones of this type. For files and downloads there is also a fair amount of space with 140MB of internal space and the option to upgrade with a microSD memory slot.
 
The phone does offer some handy entertainment features. Using its built-in accelerometer, whichwas also been offered on handsets including the KC550, there are preloaded M-Toy motion-based games.
 
The LG KC780 is a solid slider phone, with many of the options you would expect and a few more that you wouldn’t. The thing that lifts the KC780 above the competition is the advanced camera, which doesn’t weigh it down but offers picture quality of a standard which most casual users will be very happy with.