LG KF600 dual-display sliderphone

The web browser is standard-issue mid-range phone fare, offering a reasonable mobile internet experience, with the ability to view full web pages. Without 3G, complicated pages aren’t rendered too quickly.

Yahoo! Go 2.0 software comes pre-loaded, providing a widgets-style option for getting web-sourced updates, information, news, email, and mapping from one application. The InteractPad adopts another navigation pad-style configuration for this too, and the application works well on this phone.

Nice'n'slim, Jim

LG has included email support, including a document viewer for standard Microsoft Office attachments, and the usual selection of personal information tools.

Making voice calls on the LG KF600 doesn’t necessitate any touch trickery. The solid numberpad works well, though you can flick your finger on the InteractPad to whizz through contacts. Call quality was consistently high, with clear and problem-free audio at all times.

With two screens on the go, we were keen to establish whether battery life was an issue here. LG quotes up to three hours' talk-time, and a standby duration of up to 300 hours, which isn’t the longest projected running time for a non-3G phone. We found that with our average use we had to recharge the battery every two days, so two screens are here no more of a battery drain than one would be.

Verdict

With its InteractPad system, the KF600 pulls together elements from both touchscreen and physical controls in a functional way. It’s certainly not trying to be an iPhone or a Viewty. The context-sensitive controls of the InteractPad do what a traditional phone nav-pad and soft-menu keys do, but in a visually attractive way.

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea – don’t expect a pure touchscreen experience - but nonetheless the KF600 is an interesting device that brings some fresh thinking to how you interact with a phone - without overturning conventions completely.