LG KF300 review

LG like to mix it up, we've seen the Renoir with its 8-megapixel camera and the KS360 with its Qwerty – so what could be next? Well, unfortunately, it's a something a little more conventional. The device is called the LG KF300 – and it's a flip phone.

But is this return to basics on the LG KF300 a bad thing? We put the device through its paces to see if minimal is sometimes just as good as innovative.

The KF300 is far from a high-flier, and has already been available in some other countries. It's pitched at phone buyers after something that's not too complicated, does the job for calling and texting, but that looks OK too. The features spec is down-range, though not quite bare-bones basic. It doesn't do fancy 3G multimedia stuff, but has got a 2-megapixel camera, an onboard MP3 player, and an FM radio among its phone essentials. MicroSD card support means you can also carry up to 2GB of tunes around with you.

Design and handling
The KF300 is a slim-ish and reasonably attractive clamshell design, with some chrome edging, and an almost lenticular steel blue patterning reflecting light and catching the eye under the smooth plastic front panel. There's a small LCD screen hidden away under the panel that lights up when roused, with a clock, standby or call information displayed.

LG has focused in on 'easy to use' though with this phone's design. It's not the smallest clamshell phone around; measuring 98.8(h) x 49.5(w) x 16.2(d)mm closed, giving it quite a large footprint. Flip open the shell, though, and you see that LG's used the spacious dimensions to make it's buttonry loud and clear - the numberpad keys are big and broad, with number and letter labelling distinctly large.

Unusually too, on the other half of the clamshell, directly under the 2.2-inch screen, there's a row of buttons, marked with icons for hotkey shortcuts to specific functions - alarm clock, calendar, image gallery and favourites (users can create their own customised shortcut list of features, though the MP3 player is the out-of-the-box list-topper).

These are a key part of LG's approach to making easy the KF300's operation. It's more giving a helping hand than coming up with something completely novel or patronisingly over-simplified - LG has also included more conventional ways to navigate menus and use shortcuts. A typical navigation directional pad sits above the numberpad with standard call and end buttons and a pair of softkeys flanking the D-pad. There's also a clearly labelled button for firing up the camera.

In standby, shortcuts are assigned to the navigation pad controls (text messages, contacts, music player, ringtone profiles), which, to help users, are displayed graphically onscreen. As usual, these can be changed or hidden by dipping into the settings menu. It's all familiar LG stuff; the main menu set-up is a regular grid of icons, with further sub menus listed with numbered options next to them for quick selection.

Out of the box, menu fonts are super-sized - presumably for people with eyesight issues. This can be easily adjusted to suit your own tastes though; we found the larger size actually hampered quick scanning of and easy scrolling through menu options.

The buttons ranged under the nicely size QVGA, 262K-colour display are generally a good idea for technophobes or the non tech-savvy user who recoil from detailed phone menus. Strangely enough, they're similar to hotkey arrangements used on some of Nokia's high-end Eseries business phones. One slight issue we had was when using softkey options. When these appear in the bottom left or right of the screen, users may instinctively find themselves tapping the hotkey directly under them (opening up alarms or favourites) rather than pressing the much further away softkey buttons on the lower half of the phone. We guess that's just something users will have to learn not to do.

None the less, the capacious, slightly convex numberpad buttons make texting, number tapping and menu scrolling comfortable to do.

Features
This isn't a phone that's sold on its spectacular features run-down, but if KF300 users want to take snaps or listen to tunes, it will still do a decent enough job. The MP3 player is a standard-issue LG application we've seen on some mid and low-tier models. It's pretty basic in terms of track categories - just all tracks and playlist options - but it will play MP3, AAC and AAC+ tracks copied over from a PC or slotted in on a MicroSD card.

There's no USB lead or MicroSD card included in the box, and only 14MB of user memory on this phone, so a memory card will be a sound investment if you want a respectable amount of songs on the phone. Up to 2GB capacity cards can be used, though we did find the MicroSD card holder tucked away behind the battery pack a bit fiddly.

Surprisingly for a budget phone like this, the two-part earphones/handsfree headset supplied comes with a 3.5mm headphone adapter, so you can add your own better quality ear-gear if you want to upgrade from the standard LG set. Slotting into the side of the phone, the in-box set is reasonably good for a mobile phone, and tunes come across pretty well with a respectable amount of bass. There's plenty of volume in reserve too, though it can sound a bit harsher when cranked right up. It's not up there with the the best we've heard, but it's more than acceptable on a phone of this class. The FM radio comes through loud and clear too, and is easy to set up - adding a bit more hassle-free entertainment factor.

Like the music player, this can be played through the loudspeaker too - it has plenty of volume, but is harsh, and can be unpleasantly distorted at max level. Bluetooth wireless headphone can also be used with this phone.

Imaging
With a 2-megapixel camera without flash or autofocus system, the imaging performance of the KF300 is limited. It has the usual selection of mobile phone settings adjustments and effects options, including white balance overrides, multi-shot snapping and colour tint effects, plus  digital zoom. Shots are snapped in portrait mode, using the D-pad as the shooting button.

Image quality is pretty average for a 2-megapixel shooter, not awful for this class but with not great definition. Colours are subdued and  indoors shots in lower light have typical picture noise.

Video shooting in maximum QVGA resolution is similarly uninspiring - it takes normal low quality mobile phone footage.

The are no surprises among the other features found on the KF300; it fulfils the usual rundown of mobile tools, with email client, a straightforward WAP browser, voice recorder plus typical organiser functions such as calendar, memo, to do list, calculator, convertor, world clock, alarm and stopwatch. A couple of grown up games -  backgammon and chess - are thrown in too.

Perfomance
If you're considering a handset on the basis that it's no hassle to use, you'll probably also appreciate something that doesn't require constant charging. LG estimates the KF300 can run for up to 420 hours on standby or provide up to 5.7 hours of talktime in ideal conditions, which should translate in real usage as perfectly adequate for most typical KF300 buyers. Voice call performance is trouble-free too - phone calls were clear and suitably loud.

Conclusion
The LG KF300 is a low-key handset that won't appeal to everyone. It has a decent enough exterior without rewriting the style books, and it has a reasonable if unexciting set of down-range mobile features, including a very serviceable music player. Its main audience, though, will be those who'll appreciate the large numberpad and straightforward accessibility of the under-screen hotkeys in a reasonable looking handset.