LG U400 review

Features
In a growing market for music phones, LG has made a sensible choice and put a handy scroll wheel on the U400 that lets you navigate through the your favourite songs with ease. It also lets you make a scratching noise over songs in the DJing application, but this is more of a gimmick than a serious tool.

You can listen to music with the proprietary headphones or use your own via the adaptor on the bundled remote control. You can also use the loudspeaker to play your music and use the speakerphone mode. If you want to listen to your music wirelessly you can also use a stereo Bluetooth headset because the U400 supports A2DP.

The MP3 player supports AAC, AAC+, ADPCM, AMR, MP3 and WMA music codecs and you can also play MPEG-4, H.263 and WMV videos using the video player. Aside from playing music and videos, the U400 also features a 2-megapixel camera with an LED photo light that can shoot still photos and video. One niggle we have with the U400 is that, unlike the Chocolate phone, the camera isn't hidden behind the slide and there's no cover so the lens can get scratched.

The U400 has 68MB internal memory for storing your MP3s, photos and videos on, or you can use the microSD slot to expand the memory depending on your needs. You can transfer data on to the phone via the included USB cable that comes with the phone, or you can always buy a USB card reader.

Other features include calendar, alarm clock, calculator, java games, to do list, memo pad, Web browser, voice recorder and melody composer. It also supports 3G connectivity, so you can make video calls and browse the Web faster than on a GPRS connection.

Performance
The audio quality on the LG U400's MP3 player is clear and loud and the option to use your own headphones with the adaptor means that you can use a better quality pair than the proprietary ones. The loudspeaker sounds tinny when playing MP3s through it, but it is suitable for the odd hands-free call.

The picture quality from the 2-megapixel camera is relatively good and adequate for MMS messages and viewing photos on the phone. However, due to the lack of auto focus, some pictures come out blurry and we noticed some lag while saving the picture.

Battery life is quoted at 295 hours standby time and 3.9 hours talk time. These figures vary depending on usage, especially if you browse the Web or make video calls over 3G.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Nick Hide