LG KF600 review

Performance
Audio quality during calls was clear and didn't sound distorted. We would have liked to be able to turn the volume up more, however. The loudspeaker worked normally. On the MP3 and radio front, the KF600's no iPod, but its quality was acceptable and it'll suffice if you're looking for something that'll pump out tunes during your daily commute.

The KF600's keypad is flat and therefore awkward to use at times

For a 3-megapixel camera we expected it to be a little sharper but it didn't perform as well as we expected, particularly in low light due to the lack of a xenon flash. There is an LED photo light, but you shouldn't expect it to illuminate your photos. That said, if you just want to take photos for MMS messages and small prints, it does the job.

With moderate to high usage the LG KF600's battery lasted for about two days before needing to be recharged. Battery life is quoted at 200 hours standby time and up to 2.5 hours talk time.

Conclusion
We're in two minds about the split-screened LG KF600. On the one hand, contextual menus are a very good idea, offering users an easier way to interact with their phones, but how these contextual interfaces are accessed makes a big difference.

While the KF600's lower-half touchscreen isn't the worst we've ever used, the concept doesn't work as well as we expected. We were really frustrated when instinctively pressing the top half of the screen to access icons, realising seconds later that only the bottom half is touch-sensitive.

The screen doesn't have that instant response you get from the iPhone's touchscreen either, making it a very awkward touchscreen to use at times. Ideas like these though aren't always perfect first time round, so while we might not rush out to buy this phone, the next one might just work well enough to change our minds.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday