LG KF700 review: A touch of slide, a touch of scroll

Unboxing the LG KF700

LG KF700 comes in a really nice retail box, much in the line of the original Black Label series and LG Chocolate. Each piece of the package contents has its own little box. You'll find a charger, USB data cable, a headset with a remote that has a 3.5mm audio jack on it, and finally a screen protector.

Unboxing the LG KF700

LG KF700 360-degree view

LG KF700 is a medium-sized handset measuring 102 x 51 x 14.5 mm and weighing 110 g. It's not slim by any standards but still manages a nice fit in hand.

Design and construction

The LG KF700 is a nicely looking device - its slender oblong shape is not something you see everyday. At 110 g the KF700 is definitely not the lightest of handsets. But the overall feeling you get is of one compact little gadget.

The display follows the same ratio as the body itself (1:2) and has a diagonal of 3 inches. Its resolution is 240 x 480 pixels (that's Wide QVGA res), which isn't too common. Custom-made wallpapers will be your only option if you have your eyes set on this slider.

Speaking of sliding, that's exactly what you have to do to reveal the hidden keypad. The keys are styled in different shades of grey and form the signature LG pattern well known since the original LG Chocolate. The keys are large, oblong and with nice press feedback.

The large touchscreen display and the sliding keypad

The right side of the device houses the proprietary LG connectivity port - this is where you plug your headset, charger and USB cable. On this side you also get the camera key and the touchscreen lock key.

Right side: this is where you plug all the peripherals

The left side holds almost no controls except for the special scroll wheel/OK key combo. The scroll wheel lets you flip through menus while the OK key is used for confirming the selection. Pressing the OK key in standby mode or in the main menu will bring up a special customizable shortcut menu.

The metallic scroll wheel offers smooth action, and the OK key is tactile enough and solid to press. A certain disadvantage - at least to us - is the fact that you can't press the scroll wheel itself to make an action. We are used to that solution with its frequent implementations in numerous smartphones and PocketPC by various manufacturers. But it may be just our crabby selves.

Left side: the scroll wheel is clearly visible when the phone is upside-down

The bottom part of the LG KF700 features no controls whatsoever. The top one though has accommodated the microSD memory card slot. The card is hot-swappable and that's the way it should be.

We can confirm that the LG KF700 doesn't have issues handling 8GB microSD cards. The card is instantly available to the user with no initial scanning needed.

The bottom side features no controls, but the top side houses the microSD slot

The back of the LG KF700 features the 3 megapixel camera lens and the LED flash. Next to it is the metallic scroll wheel. Regardless of its questionable usability, the scroll wheel is quite a nice accent to boost the rear view of the phone.

Removing the battery cover reveals the LGIP-570A 900 mAh Li-Ion battery - the manufacturer promises up to 280 h of standby time in a 3G network and up to 3 h of talk time. In reality, the LG KF700 manages good three days of operation with a single charge - used rather sparingly of course.

The camera lens and the scroll wheel at the back • the battery performance is ok

Held in hand the KF700 might not look the smallest chap around, but you gotta believe us when we say it's really compact - especially whth the keypad slid in.

Held in hand the KF700 is really compact - it's almost unnaturally narrow though

The backlighting of both the KF700 keypad and the display is good. However LG displays still suffer under direct sunlight - especially with fingerprint smudges all over its face.

The backlighting of the display and keypad is excellent