Our homologues were a bit too in a haste to have compared it with Samsung U900 Soul, but for the moment it reminds KF600 more (in the long term its direct rival will be KF750), as we mentioned earlier and in this case we can trace a more evident analogy with Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition. KF510 is though not a premium, but in reality its image proves its right to challenge the more expensive fashion phones. Such a positioning is explained by LG’s current policy, which is later coordinated by dumping а – even the latest news with the maximum functionality have a reasonable price. Let us remember Viewty with a touchscreen, a 5 Mpx camera and other advantages estimated at 430 roubles at the sales’ start, the comparable Samsung F490 is still more expensive.

Comparison between Samsung U900 Soul and LG KF600

But in our opinion, price dumping has two faces. The novelty is the best example of lowering the price automatically by general policy of the company. KF510 reminds the best examples of premium-class phones, subjectively it fully reminds Sirocco, it also has a steel body and chilled glass. The model is one of the most attractive offers available now on the market due to its price, but it is just the thing that cheapens it in the eyes of the 8800 owners. Despite good stuff (autofocusing 3 Mpx camera, 2.2” QVGA-display, microSD slot, FM-radio, etc.), we should not forget about the mass status and brand of LG.

Comparison between LG KF510 and Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition

As a result we witness an interesting situation– a very pleasant phone, first of all for touching, with an unequalled for similar offers of other marks thinness, but the targeted audience is unlikely to choose KF510. It limits the demand, as a result the phone becomes only a pleasant Korean fashion-phone. We shall examine the novelty from this position and think of what would happen if LG augmented its price.

The box of LG KF510 is quite standard, it is not at all premium class (while 8800 has a cradle, Bluetooth, a headset and other additions to the standard kit). There is a wire stereo headset, a charger, documentation and soft. But there is no memory card bundled.

Design and Ergonomics

LG KM500 is a classic slider having an extremely thin body with numerous metal inserts. All variants of 8800 are thicker, and here we observe a technological revolution. Even U900 Soul is thicker in spite of much plastic. Of course an allowance can be made to the camera, but even 8800 has a worse camera and 5 Mpx may be in a centimeter or a bit thicker – proved by Sony Ericsson’s model C902. As a result we see the first place LG occupies on the technologic level and quality of calls is not worse because of that. The phone catches the signal well in the lift as well as in the basement without any noises or distortions. If we forget about Motorola, LG phones are the best in this connection.

Although having average dimensions and weight, the model is very ergonomic. The slider is not ideal, the spring-action mechanism is rather tight – not everybody may like it. But the quality of materials and assembly is very good. During the testing month the cover did not fray significantly. The metal is used everywhere – on the bottom, front, sides and inside – it reminds 8800, there is even a characteristic click when closing, though it is not so loud as in Nokia’s phone. When squeezed the phone does not scratch, the parts do not get loose even when opened. The face panel is easily-soiled as well as the bottom. The checker-patter design of the keyboard looks interesting, some LG phones used to employ a similar design solution, the users like it, so it is used here as well.

The keyboard is better than anything before by LG – the keys are convenient, they are divided not perfectly, but still enough due to their relief structure. Highlighting is equal and is on the whole convenient. But not everybody will appreciate the touchpad, though the Korean producers seems to prefer using it instead of mechanic keys for its fashion and style. Nokia for example has no phone featuring a touchpad so far, though nobody will argue that it has a wide variety of different devices, is we do nor consider NaviWheel as such, and even if so, it appeared only in N81 at the end of the last year. Further we shall discuss its realization in KF510 and now let the sides. Here we find the camera/player launch key and battery/return slider on the right, as well as the expansion slot and interface slot.

On the left there is a volume key, the rest of the area on the sides is free. The expansion slot has a curious peculiarity – when the slider is closed the right side of the body covers the slot, so it is available only when the slider is open. Quite logic, it does not even arise any inconveniences. The camera/player launch key launches the cam at holding and the player at pressing. The slider over it does not lock the keyboard, on the contrary, it unlocks it and undoes / changes back an action. There are two color solutions – black and red, gender segmentation is evident. Other variants of the model are not likely to appear, for already now there is a good coverage of the audience.

Color versions of LG KF510 (Nokia N82 shots)

The producer considers the color a key peculiarity of KF510, putting an accent on it already in the title of the press release: “LG opens a new paradigm in the color of cell phones”. A half of the text is again about it: “KF510 launches a new trend in the IT industry, using color solutions as a part of modern industrial art. While the leading fashion houses introduce gradients in their collections, LG is the first one to adopt an emotional approach to phones design applying the same fashionable principles. Thus the phone remains exclusive and attractive no only as a communication facility, but also as a fashionable device. The phone will be offered in Russia in two color schemes - Stardust Dark Gray and Sunset Red. Such rich colors are achieved due to the unique technology – saturating the phone’s aluminium surface which allows to optimize the profound perception of the colored surface.” Honestly speaking, we would advise the company to make an emphasis on its thinness, metal usage and other advantages of the model, for many people the color is not a selling point at all.

Touchpad

Few there are to remember that almost three years ago LG with its Chocolate model became the pioneer among phone producers that introduced a touchpad. KF510 may be considered a so called successor of that KG800, that is why the company sticks to this element in this phone as well, but here we find its new concept, with some additions, though it did not lose its initial idea unlike KF600. Unlike the latter, this phone does not feature a standard TFT-display, but is based on seventeen diodes and of two couples of them under soft-keys, call and return keys for highlighting them.

The indication here unusually differs from Samsung E950 Phantom and U900 Soul, and even more from KF600, that has a second full-value display. Here a picture (that is to say pictograms – ticks, arrows, etc.) are shown when this or that group of diodes is activated, always different according to the situation. The number of possible forms is not so variable though.

An interesting point worth our attention is the progressive character of the panel – if you do not press, but draw a horizontal or a vertical line when in the menu it will move you to some icons. Besides, LG did its best in using every opportunity for shimmering the diodes – it happens when you focus your cam, connect the browser to the network and so on), when launching they are even lit in a snake fashion.

But it is still not at all functional or informative. The more traditional OLED by Samsung for example allows you to manage the player and the cam drawing special icons, KF510 has no such possibility, it has only a standard set of functions. Besides, when exposed to the sun the icons on the touchpad become almost invisible, and you have to press buttons at random.

Another moment worth attention is the battery. LG made a more adventurous step than Samsung and switched off not only additional functions like the player and the cam, but also messages when the battery level is low. The touchpad suffered as well, it cannot be activated at all, as a result you cannot even make a call. We can only guess why the both Korean companies dared such an ambiguous innovation and we hope than sooner or later they will return to the usual arrangement.

In the call mode the touchpad is traditionally locked and may be activated in two ways – if you press the cam the standard talk options become available, you may activate handsfree mode as well, and if you move the call slider on the right, the dialogue appears offering to finish the call. The latter may be dedicated for closing the phone. The overall system is quite logic and presents no problems.

Our colleagues hurried over calling the touchpad in KF510 an interesting alternative to the InteractPad inKF600, but LG itself does not make a difference between the two technologies, this phone also has the InteractPad, it is shown even in the menu, so you do not have to look up in the official specification. There is standard vibration for every action and its intensivity may be varied as well as the tone and the volume. You can even switch off the vibration like the sound itself. All this may be done in separate InteractPad settings in the profiles (point seven of the main menu).

The last thing to note is that the mentioned functional disadvantages concern only additional opportunities, while all the basic functions are well implemented – when pressing the central sensor the camera shoots, the side ones launch the menu and are used for navigating in it, the same with the player and the rest. The main advantage of the touchpad here is its originality unseen before on the market. As far as all the rest is concerned, the solution is not so successful as its current analogs (starting from Samsung E950 Phantom).

Miscellaneous Features

The last thing to note is that the indicated functional disadvantages concern only additional opportunities, while all the basic set is well implemented – when pressing the central sensor the camera shoots, the side ones launch the menu and are used for navigating in it, the same with the player and the rest. The main advantage of the touchpad here is its originality unseen before on the market. As far as all the rest is concerned, the solution is not so successful as its current analogs (starting with Samsung E950 Phantom).

The touchpad was the main unusual element, others are quite basic. The device is aimed for usage in three GSM networks and supports EDGE as well as GPRS. While testing there were no problems with connectivity, in this connection LG has the same functionality as more famous brands. The Bluetooth-module functions well, even in A2DP. The quality of its realization equals to that of Samsung, though Sony Ericsson’s solution is better. The wire connectivity is based on the USB2.0 standard, the rate is very good, but the slot is a case of a little disappointment, standard miniUSB or microUSB would be more practical, but they are not a characteristic feature of Korean phones.

The camera department equals to that we observed in KF600. It features a 3 Mpx autofocusing cam with a flash. The maximum resolution is 2048x1536, it is also possible to shoot QVGA-movies. The interface is new and more convenient, the set of options did not change. The ready images and movies are of high quality which is a worthy level for a stylish cell phone. The video is even better than that shot by the 5 Mpx cam by Samsung U900 Soul, particularly as far as the sound is concerned. As for the battery is is very well implemented. The charge of a 800 mAh battery in KF510 is enough for almost two days of intensive work.

The hardware platform also corresponds to its predecessor. It means that there are design schemes and a possibility to launch it without a SIM-card, though the filing system does not allow to save the data in random folders. The screensavers use flash, and the applications do not have anything particular – there is no RSS, no support of office files and so on. A good browser is still worth attention but it may be not essential for the targeted audience.

You may save in the phone up to 1000 contacts, the list shows a SIM-card and the general storage available at once. There are 7 groups, you can set quick shortcuts for 9 numbers. It is possible to copy all the contacts at once from the phone to the SIM-card and back, and to delete everything. The settings allow you to show two varieties of the list – only the name and the number, and with the icon as well. The search is available by first 10 symbols. The new contact may be created in the SIM-card and in the phone at once, the choice of the storage is the first option. Apart from the name, you can type three phone numbers, an e-mail, a fax number, as well as choose a group, a picture and a tune. The latter by the way may be attributed to one contact as well as to the whole group. The call list keeps all the general information – time and date, duration of the call, name and the number of the contact. It is also possible to send a message or edit the number before the call when being in the contact list.

In the phone there are SMS, MMS and e-mail. It has 6 preset templates for text messages and they can be created for multimedia ones. There is no timer or black list like in the phone book. Traditionally for LG there is an option of text messages transfer by Bluetooth. The PIM is average – for example there may be no more than 100 notes, and only one month of the calendar is shown without any variations. But there are 5 alarms which is unlikely to be not enough. It is possible to attribute a different melody to each of them. In the folder “Accessories” we found: a calculator, a stopwatch, a converter and the time zone. The browser is very good, it managed to show even the pages hard for correct mobile view. On the contrary, FM-radio is only a regret – because of the simplifies interface the sound cannot be moved to the loudspeaker KF510 in, and honestly speaking it is an unexpected surprise.

There are no problems with the gallery – there are different variants of its depicting, including full-screen and you can set the picture as a wallpaper with one click, you can also send it using one of the ways from the list. The interface is presented as the camera application, it all resembles Nokia S60 and Samsung – without the view mode but with a slightly moving forward options panel on the right. The filing system on the contrary is rather weak. For example you have to store every file in a separate folder- now it is nothing but archaic. Besides, there is no group choice of the files for transferring, you can only move, copy and delete them. In everyday usage it is very annoying – for example if you want to send photos to your friend you will have to choose them separately.

A pleasant surprise in the software platform of KF510 is that it supports office files of the .xls, .doc and .pdf format, it is not required to convert them before it. The player is quite average, but if we take into account the status of the phone it is rather well. And still there is all you can need here – background work, equalizer, playing modes, etc. On the whole, the software in KF510 resembles more Samsung – it is not so extravagant as Nokia or Sony Ericsson, but its functionality is absolutely enough.

Market Forecast

We forecast a high demand for LG KF510, but only within its native segment. The model is very showy and creates a positive impression at once though it is easily soiled. The thin metallic body will become a serious selling point. It differentiates it from Nokia 8800 Sirocco Edition that features a comparable price on the regional market.

The company positions it very ambiguously. We might even get a class of premium products, but after failures with high prices in the past Koreans try to escape such a situation again and do not experiment any longer. On the one hand it guarantees the demand and on the other it does not attract new customers.

The current stage of brand loyalty explains such a situation – there are not enough materials or price for the premium. LG already had a similar try with Shine (KE970), that turned into not quite high sales, especially in Russia. But we should not forget that then there was no positive history in the mass opinion, there were Chocolate and waste.

Now that the market is invaded by a number of successful models, it is just the time to think about diversification of the portfolio. Not only the middle. But also the budget class as well as hi-end are required now. And LG does not have it, the most expensive Viewty and KS20 are still not the top class, and there is no premium at all.

KF510 is an example of ambiguous pricing of the whole line of products. For a higher efficiency it is necessary to examine every product separately and to project it differently onto the market. Of course the model is more vital as a fashion one, but in the long-term perspective more efficiency might be achieved by positioning it as a premium phone. Now LG aims its phones only for the middle class and it can greatly slow down their market growth rates in the first quarter, we expect it to happen in the second half of the year. Even the almost ideal KF750 Secret will not be more expensive than Samsung U900, that is not worse that it at all.

We do not explain it by the competition with E950 and U900 by Samsung, these devices are of a different ideology. One if more expensive with a 5 Mpx camera, another is cheaper and is produced more than a year ago, the thickness is incomparable. The materials, thickness and the stuff are different than in KF510. KF600 is nearer to it, but the similar audiences can be found with 8800.

LG wins in everything if we consider this competition – its appearance, hardware and software (even in spite of the file system), but there is a very serious minus that makes you forget about its advantages – the Koreans have not even begun to create an image of the premium producer. So far such models get an artificially low price, the impression LG produces will be changed very slowly. You can remember that Samsung concentrated on expensive models only after the demanded D600, not forgetting about economic class and the middle class.

SMAPE's opinion

LG KF510 stands among the best mid-end offers in case you are looking for a stylish slider. Its thin metal body with a showy keypad backlight creates a perfect image while its good camera and worthy hardware characteristics complete the image of a high-quality fashion phone though not positioned in premium class directly.

+ Metal body
+ Compact-sized build
+ Good camera
+ Reasonable price
+ FM radio
+ Flight mode
+ Themes
- Lowly ergonomical touchpad
- Impaired file system
- Easily soiled body

Author: Dmitry Ryabinin, dm@smape.com

SMAPE.com

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