Not everyone thinks it's a good idea to have a mobile so small you can put a strap on it and call it a watch phone. For the older phoner, people with disabilities and the chunky-thumbed, a hearty button to push and a big display are more attractive propositions than a wonder of miniaturisation.
For such folk, there's the LG KF300 clamshell phone. It won't impress people at the bus stop, but it has some handy features packed into an easy-to-use, thin and light package. It won't badly wound your wallet either: it's available free on a £15-per-month contract with Orange.
Discotastic
The KF300 is kitted out in conservative black plastic with a chrome trim, except for the prism-like front panel, which also sports an
external screen with a big, chunky clock. We found the shiny front slightly too
'80s, but it's subtle and the handset is pleasantly thin. Despite the
plastic body, the phone feels solid and the hinge feels like it could withstand a
few thousand flips.
We put on our dark glasses, noise-cancelling headphones and winter gloves to try out the KF300 and we liked what we could see. When we flipped it open, the KF300 blasted our eyeballs with boldly labelled keys that are twice the size of what we typically see. There's a five-way function key, a plethora of shortcut keys for the camera, alarm, calendar and photo gallery, and a customisable key for favourite features.
Big and bold
As well as big buttons, the KF300 has a heap of features to make our muffled lives easier. The default font size in the menus is enormous and adjustable. Also, every menu item has a keyboard shortcut key -- something we'd like to see on more handsets.
Unfortunately, there are a few areas where the KF300 abandons its accessibility crusade. For example, the main menu screen sports detailed icons with small text labels that look lifted from other LG handsets, and they didn't change when we adjusted the text size. We'd have liked to see the accessible design carried through the whole user interface.
Easy as pie
With clearly labelled options and status messages, the KF300 is very easy
to use. Basic tasks like sending a text are straightforward, and we especially
appreciate the obvious delete key. But we found entering punctuation less intuitive
than with some other phones, which might be a problem for our
parents, who are prone to sending texts ALL IN CAPS, with no punctuation.
We also found it totally bizarre that, when dialling a number, the digits are displayed in a swoopy cursive text on a yellowish background that features a music stave. Theme-wise, it doesn't relate to anything else offered by the phone, and it isn't easy to read, so we found it irritating.
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User reviews1
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GM 7 May 2009
Good: Large keys, adjustable font, loud ring tones, size. Most of the phone
Bad: Rubbish battery life. Not so good as previous Nokia at picking up signal
Comment: This phone mostly does what it says on the box. As you reviewer says, it is suitable for older generation - thats me!! I like the large keys, large font size which allow me to send text to my kids almost as quick as them. However, some of the keys do not react quickly enough. I am on the second LG, as the first one lost the use of some of its keys. Will be interested to see if this one does. I do not care about the camera, one reason I bought it, nor the MP3, radio, video and other such rubbish. I bought the LG for what it is - a phone. Battery life is disappointing, but having switched off some of the noises, that has improved a little. I have already had a new battery from Orange, which has also improved it a little. It often drops a signal, but since I live in a house with thick walls, that can't be helped. However, my previous phone, a 20 quid Nokia, got a signal all over the house! I am quite hard on phones, often dropping them and getting water on them - so far, the LG has proved quite tough. I lke the flip lid, which prevents the screen getting scratched, and, contrary to your reviewer, I quite like the look, although that is way down on my list of needs for a phone. It is also very handy being able to read and send texts and use the phone a: without donning my glasses and b: in all light conditions, something the Nokia was completely useless at.
So all in all, it more or less does the trick. Certainly I could not find anything else near it that covered my needs.
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