LG U830 review

The LG U830 may look similar to the LG KG810 but underneath its slick casing lies a high-speed Internet beast that will let you browse the Web at up to speeds of 3.6Mbps (1.7Mbps is currently the top speed in the UK). Fortunately, it's not all about the mobile Web -- you also get a 2-megapixel camera and an MP3 player.

It's available from 3 for free on a monthly contract.

Design
The LG U830 looks and feels like the LG KG810 Chocolate Folder, but it's a little thicker, coming in at 49mm wide, 98mm tall and 15mm deep. It comes with HSDPA (3.5G) connectivity as well as a few other new features.

It's an attractive phone that not only looks good but feels comfortable to hold and use. You will, however, need to use the bundled cleaning pad or carry a cloth to keep it nice and shiny.

The front section is a glossy piano black and houses a 2-megapixel camera, a colour screen and glowing-red, heat- and touch-sensitive music buttons. Around this fingerprint-friendly surface is a metallic silver border that clearly distinguishes the top section of the clamshell from the bottom. There's plenty of space between the two sections to prise them open easily with a thumb or finger.

On the left side of the handset is a volume rocker that controls the volume during calls and on the MP3 player. It also adjusts the camera's zoom. Further down the left side there's a charging port that doubles up as the headphone and USB port. On the right side there's a shutter button for the camera. The back of the phone is minimalist with only a spring-loaded switch that releases the battery.

On the front of the LG U830 are three touch-sensitive music keys

Once you open up the U830, there's a bright colour screen that measures 34mm wide by 45mm tall at the top of the inside section. Underneath this lies a flat keypad. At the top of the keypad section there's a square navigation button that's large and easy to press.

Flat keypads are sometimes difficult to use but the U830's is not too bad. It's still harder to differentiate between each key than on a raised keypad, but there's no lip at the bottom, which makes accessing the bottom row of keys much easier than on clamshell phones that do have a lip, such as the Motorola Razr.

Features
The U830's HSDPA (3.5G) connectivity gives you high-speed Internet access on the go. You can also hook it up to a laptop and use it as a portable modem although in order to do this you need to buy an add-on that will cost from £15 to £45, depending on how much data you want to download.

The Web browser works well with WAP sites and renders full-size Web pages acceptably with the option to view an optimised version of the page, which compresses it so that it's all in one column the width of the U830's screen.

This phone isn't just about the Internet, though -- it comes with a good range of other features, too. For starters there's an MP3 player that supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, AAC++ and WMA formats, and a video player that supports MP4, 3GP and WMV formats. You can also make video calls using the secondary VGA camera found on the inside of the hinge.

In the box you get a standard and an extended battery in case you need more power on the go

Listening to music or videos is possible using the proprietary headphones, or you can use your own via the 3.5mm adaptor. You can also use Bluetooth stereo headphones -- the U830 supports A2DP (stereo Bluetooth).