The positions of LG are not yet so impressive on some local markets, but taking into account their plans for this year the company can easily leave a rapidly weakening Motorola behind. Nowadays they've got what they've been lacking for a long time - a strong product range that is to be just presented correctly and in good time. The LG's sound approach to the matters of pricing is one of the most reasonable on the market, which is very nice. Dumping is the best method for efficient market share expansion and the company have begun to realize that at last. It's not by chance that we mentioned Samsung; in fact LG goes the same way now, but at a brisker pace.

In the past the negative emotions were based on not the best statistics of the service centers, the aftertaste of which remains until now. It will take time and working with an audience and first of all with opinions leaders to change public perception of the brand. It's this very process we observe nowadays by the example of more active presence of LG in advertising and press media. If there was nothing special to promote before, they've got a number of top products with the Viewty at the head and a great deal of assortment handsets at present. They sold 24.4 million units of mobile phones only, but taking into account the expanded portfolio, data for this year can increase very considerably.

Right now, up to 32-35 new product announces are planned for some non-operator markets, while only about 14-15 of them will appear in Europe shortly. The reorientation of LG strategy in the world is evident. If formerly the approach to marketing used to be identical for all regions, now the company tries and takes proper account of the specific character of separate markets. The European approach does not work on non-operator markets, which demand a greater number of models. At that they will keep one and the same focus for all markets - the most accent is going to be put on appearance, the functionality and moderate price being retained. The Viewty has become a kind of example and a herald of coming changes at the same time; the trend started by this model will be given further development.

Against the background of such positive prospects LG still remains the only company of the Top Five telecom brands having no specialized music series handsets in their portfolio. Meanwhile, such models have been available since the year before last when KE600 hit the shelf (and the earlier M4410 model can be also indirectly considered a music-oriented one). It's a slider with a dedicated music player button. The handset didn't become popular for a number of reasons, including because it was just formally positioned as music-oriented. The closest Sony Ericsson W850i and W830i (the latter is closer because of the lack of 3G and the EDGE support, but it was not officially delivered to some local markets) in spite of the firmware slot, no separate sound chip and some other drawbacks, managed to seriously outpace the competitor from LG. It took more than a year to reconsider their approach to music phones and create the line of KM gadgets.

KM500 has become the first sign of changes. It has been already available at retail for a quite humane price of 215 euros. This model is junior in the LG music portfolio at present, KM710 and some others are going to appear later on. As regards our hero, the Koreans have spotted their mistakes quite thoroughly after KE600. A 3.5 mm audio output, a separate sound chip, a hardware type of player control buttons and other features pleasant for any music fan will be available. At that a rather low price class and a bright design remain. The latter is also remarkable now for the metal applied, which is not ordinary for this price.

The sales package of LG KM500 is standard. Among the pleasant things we'd perhaps check a wire stereo headset with a remote control unit on it; the truth is, its quality leaves much to be desired. However, the control unit having a 3.5 mm slot, it won't make any difficulties for you to replace the stock headphones with better ones. You will also have to purchase a memory expansion card; it's not included into the sales package. The rest is a charger, a printed manual, software.

Design, ergonomics

LG KM500 is designed in the classical slider form-factor and has a relatively slim casing (less than a centimeter and a half). Other dimension and weight specifications being average, the gadget sits in hand perfectly. The slider mechanism is average; the autoslide is a bit tough - to the fancy. At the same time the quality of materials and implementation doesn't give rise to any reprimands. For a month of testing the covering got just slightly worn; the textured metal cover is employed for a back panel, which adds to the organic stylization of KM500. The handset looks very nice for its price.

As we've already mentioned, the use of metal isn't typical for this segment. It endows the gadget with a 'charge of image'; the main accent of the new line of LG products is evident. The closest Samsung F250/F330 and Sony Ericsson W580i look simpler. The casing almost does not creak on squeezing; the play between parts is minimal. The front panel tends to be easily soiled, but everything is within the reasonable limits. We liked the keypad stylization in the chess manner already known by KF600 and looking quite interesting.

The keypad isn't the most easy-to-use one - the keystroke is average, the keys are non-perfectly spaced apart. As a result it's not too convenient to type SMS messages at first and takes some time to get used to the element, but the aftertaste remains. The backlight is even and comfortable, no objections here. Moreover, in their KM500 LG have implemented an impulse LED indicator keeping time with the music. It's put above the navigation button and deceives with its pseudo-touch appearance - by analogy with Nokia N81 (N78 and others) and Motorola ROKR E8 you may automatically try and use it as a navigation area, but it's a mere plastic panel.

It is backlit red when inactive or white and a bit brighter when the player runs (even in the background mode). At that in the latter case the indication isn't constant, but of an impulse type – it's more or less intensive depending on a rhythm of the played music. This feature doesn't add to the functionality, it's no more than just an effect. But it will come in very handy for a target audience such as the youth is. Not a selling point at all, but as a nice extra - why not? Especially as this feature can be anytime switched off at your desire.

Since the times of KE600 LG have abandoned a scroll-wheel and what is more the block sports a more traditional implementation, which is to the ergonomics' advantage. Besides, as we've mentioned, dedicated player controls were added. They include the three elements embedded around the navigation button. The controls may seem inconvenient at first, but you'll actually get used to them very quickly. As soon as in a couple of days you will handle the player without looking at it. The launch button is placed nearby, on the front panel as well. By analogy with the said Sony Ericsson it deactivates the player when pressed once again.

The side controls are typical - the interface slot and the audio output to the left, the camera button and the sound volume rocker to the right. It's a strange feature of KM500, but the onboard FM-radio won't work with ordinary headphones; a headset with the firmware connector is "a must". It's inconvenient and not quite usual for music-oriented models (the closest example is Samsung F250 also equipped with two audio outputs). The lack of the memory card hot swapping is one more construction drawback of KM500. For this simple procedure you'll have to remove the battery and thus switch off the handset.

The only color variant available at present is black, which is most favourite in some regions of the world. For those interested in alternative color designs, a white (and black – for your choice) KM710 and a glossy KM330 will be released soon. The latter makes an especially strong impression for a low-end price segment, where it is going to be positioned. Thus, LG tries and fills every niche on the market of music solutions. We'll dwell upon the market perspectives of the KM series in a more detailed way in the following part of the article and now let's give a detailed examination of the key element of KM500.

Let's compare with LG KE600:

Let's compare with Samsung F250:

Audio capabilities

KE600 might have been indirectly called a music-oriented gadget, but such a set of features is not already enough nowadays. The new KM500 quite meets all modern requirements, sporting a 3.5 mm slot on the body, a control unit on a wire, a separate sound chip as well as an enhanced A2DP support thanks to the Bluetooth unit. As regards the quality of sound the new product by LG resembles Samsung very much; it's a good level. Moreover, the software nearly equals to that of the Korean neighbour.

The player offers average functionality, but all the necessary features are available and there are some extras. By the latter we mean, for example, album covers and a rating. Certainly, the background mode is in its place as well as some typical opportunities like various equalizer and playback settings, etc. Player skin is available, but one shouldn't expect customizable player skins like those with Nokia S40 5th Edition devices; you may choose from the two modes - either a cover or a spectrum analyzer.

Sorting is available, but it's not a pinnacle of desires either, considerably yielding to the said Sony Ericsson. There is an opportunity to choose either all tracks at once or at random as well as by playlists, by performer, by album, by genre. Playback modes as such are two in number - Shuffle and Repeat. Due to the dedicated player buttons you can control the process directly without the help of the playback mode function, which is very convenient. However as for ergonomics, this solution on the whole yields to Nokia and Sony Ericsson so far, but is already on a level with Samsung.

The FM-tuner application enjoys a stylish and quite logical implementation, but it's not too functional. In particular the bookmark list is enough to store only ten stations. Auto scan is present. It's possible to set either the headset (including a wireless one) or the speaker as a sound output. The volume of the latter is good, but still inferior to that of the market leaders. As we've noted, the necessity to employ strictly the firmware headset as an aerial is surprising, the 3.5 mm slot cannot be used for that. You can make use of either the stock variant or a more affordable standard LG headset. The quality of reception is excellent in both cases.

Let's finish the audio capabilities overview with giving the official position of LG on KM500 - the company consider this model remarkable first of all for the opportunity of joint listening to the music. Here are a few quotations from the press release: "With the installed Bluetooth TM technology, two people can share wirelessly and simultaneously access LG KM500's music and additionally two more listeners can plug into the phone for a total of four audience members." "If users prefer the traditional method of listening to their favorite songs, the LG KM500 also has a 3.5mm audio jack that accepts universal wired headphones."

And further: "Whether celebrating and listening with friends and family or escaping to that short break in your work day alone, the LG KM500 gives users the freedom to travel in their mind to the mood they desire through favorite songs at the touch of this handheld mobile phone," said Dr. Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. Personally we doubt strongly that a family in the evening or even more so a company at a party will gather around the handset and jointly listen to music. May be due to some mental distinctions it's not easy to imagine this.

The company also announce the firmware LG XD Sound Engine full 3D sound system, however it's a kind of the said equalizer's preset, therefore it's hardly possible to consider such accent correct. Why not mention a lower noise level and usability of the universal 3.5 mm output in general as well as a separated sound chip, which adds to the volume and quality of sound by hardware – remains a puzzle. We'll offer a more detailed information about positioning when considering the market perspectives of KM500 and now let's go on to other features than audio capabilities.

Miscellaneous

But for the player the solution is quite ordinary; there is a typical set of features that's why we won't stop to have a detailed look at them. The gadget is meant to operate in a total of three GSM standards, supports the EDGE technology as well as GPRS. We didn't meet any connectivity problems during testing; this point with LG doesn't yield to more eminent telecom brands. The onboard Bluetooth unit works quite all right and also behaves nicely with an A2DP headset. The latter profile sports the quality of implementation close to Samsung, inferior to Sony Ericsson. The wire connection is done through USB 2.0; the data transfer speed is good, the only thing that disappoints is the firmware slot, a universal miniUSB or microUSB would have been more practical here, but they are not habitual for Korean phones.

The KM500 storage capacity is limited to 128 Mb, which is not so much for a musical gadget; that's why you will surely have to purchase a flash card. It's not included into the sales package, but the handset makes use of the most universally accepted microSD format, so you'll get even a high capacity data carrier at a reasonable price. Pitifully enough, as we've noted, KM500 doesn't support "hot" swapping, but we don't consider it a critical disadvantage for the majority of customers. What is more important - LG offers the regular file system, which they never did before, and the new product became the first gadget of this brand with an updated platform in this aspect.

In earlier models you had to save data strictly to dedicated folders. The same, by the way, remains in new handsets as well, for example, in KF510, which is already available at retail. The reason of such software sophistications by LG isn't quite clear; they could just shift all models to one solution and thus cut development costs. KM500 being much successive, the changes have embraced not only the file system. In particular, the device won't operate without a SIM card. It's a drawback for a musical gadget, yet it's not critical either.

No interface themes are available in the handset; there is only an opportunity to choose between the two basic color stylizations - white and black, like those with Samsung. On the other hand the wallpapers support flash-animations, that is the phone offers nice trifles in the dynamic screensavers. They vary when referred to, which also positively acts on perception. LG is very successful to use flash in screensavers; we especially liked the game embedded in the next 5 Mpix device of the company. The aim is to move a ball on the labyrinth and drop it into the hole just tilting the handset. Coupled with the onboard motion sensor, it presents a very interesting implementation - you can play any moment, the amusement is always close at hand.

The set of applications preinstalled in KM500 is standard for the LG software platform; here the model in many respects reiterates the already reviewed KF600. There are no sudden failures or, on the contrary, successes; everything is quite even. There is an alarm clock, measures converter, calculator, etc. No spices like RSS or Office files support are available. If you need something more powerful, you should take note of Sony Ericsson A200 or Nokia S40 5th Edition. Among interesting features of KM500 let's check Bluetooth message as well as Tip calculator. The browser comes with the preinstalled bookmark for Yahoo.

Coming back to considering the hardware implementation of KM500, let's mention the camera. At first glance there is nothing special about it - 2 Mpix without autofocusing, a typical average level. But in reality the quality of videos turned out to be a pleasant surprise for the moderately priced model. The resolution is QVGA and the sound isn't worse than with much more expensive devices. In particular the testing was done in night club environments and KM500 has successfully stood it, the quality of recorded sound being decent. There is certainly nothing serious to talk about, but the solution is good within the limits of its class.

The example of video recording capabilities, maximum quality
The example of video recording capabilities, maximum quality

The maximum photo resolution is 1600 x 1200; the quality is quite good, but no more than that. The settings are average in number, but all the necessary ones are included. There is a 4 x digital zoom, a multi shot (up to 9 shots), a timer (up to 10 sec), 3 special effects as well as white balance and sound/storage location adjustments. The interface is of standard landscape orientation; it's quite convenient. The gallery reminds of the Samsung solution; the slide-show is available, the truth is, it's quite simple. There is an opportunity to send files for printing via Bluetooth.

The screen makes an ambiguous impression. On the one hand it's rather nice with a saturated color rendering and good brightness parameters as well as view angles. On the other – it utilizes only a 2" diagonal and doesn't look its best in the sun. The specs are typical for the class - QVGA, 262K. As for the power consumption, everything is quite all right here, though not so impressive as LG announce (up to 25 hours of continuous music playback). A full 880 mAh battery charge proved enough for about two days of moderately intensive usage.

Market Perspectives

LG KM500 doesn't reinvent the wheel; it's neither a revolution in its segment nor a piece of news for the industry. It's a sound mid-end product, offering a good quality/price ratio. The model is strong first of all with its successiveness – the features are sufficient within reasonable limits. The quality of sound is decent, the level of functionality is fair enough, etc. At that the price isn't higher than that of the last year's analogues by other brands, for example, Sony Ericsson W580i. The latter is quite good, but the sport functionality of the music-oriented model won't be much in demand and it costs some extra money, at least in mass consciousness. Besides W580i has got no universal audio output, no dedicated sound chip, no control unit, the quality of implementation is much worse, etc. The software-platform is stronger, that's all there is to it.

Samsung F250 is a less direct competitor. It's a lower price range model and it features respective opportunities - first of all, a lower resolution screen and only a 1.3 Mpix camera. To some extent it will oppose a moderately priced KM330 - a glossy candy bar with a flip in the manner of a much more expensive W350i from Sony Ericsson. F250 comes equipped with the track recognition function similar to TrackID of SE; the FM-radio is available with any 3.5 mm jack headphones, you are not forced to use a firmware set. However, here all the advantages come to an end. The said software is nearly on the same level, except for perhaps the lack of a fully functional Flight mode with LG.

The most important advantage of KM500 is its reasonable price. Coupled with a quite good implementation of all the rest it makes the new product a rather promising offer from LG in the mid-end segment. This gadget together with KF600 and shortly expected KF510 and KF700 will help the Korean manufacturer return to the slider segment, an awkward attempt of which was made with fashion-oriented Chocolate and Shine and even more awkward - with a musical KE600 and a number of less remarkable models. Among the handsets positioned similar to KM500, KM710 is going to hit the shelf this year as well as the said KM330 and 1-2 more devices will do the same a bit later but also in 2008.

In the company's opinion it's too early to start a new product line for such a number of music-phones, that's why LG restrict themselves to the codename of KM. For the time being the market share of this brand in a segment of similar products is minimal and won't increase strongly in the nearest future. KM500 and KM710 have enough potential to decently oppose the said Samsung models and Sony Ericsson don't look so inaccessible any more. If LG expand the portfolio of musical gadgets and develop the strategy with a separate product line label and so on, we'll get a strong player in this field shortly. For the present there is only a hint at that even taking into account the closest KM330.

We'd nevertheless advise LG to detach the gadgets into a separate series, the three models being already quite enough for that. If they skillfully present the advantages of the handsets, the latter ones will enjoy good sales against the background of much stronger brands in this segment. A curious situation is observed - LG has got both the 3.5 mm slot and the sound chip so long awaited by the SE Walkman admirers, but the company refuse to actively promote this features, restricting themselves to foggy statements about the high quality of sound in press releases and other informative and marketing reports.

At present the only weak point of the KM musical aspect remains with LG – it's a player, which is just relatively weak; the said Samsung solution is comparable, as we've mentioned. LG yield only to Nokia and Sony Ericsson in this aspect. The file system being updated, the LG software makes a huge step forward and doesn't look so archaic any more in the musical segment in particular. We hope, the company will rapidly and effectively respond to the market demand and promote KM500 in accordance with the audience's desires and not their own vision. For the moment the accent is made on jointly listening to music, which seems to us personally to be quite a disputable priority and will hardly prove to be a serious selling point in general.

SMAPE's opinion

LG KM500 is a quality mid-end slider recommended to those music fans with restricted means having no desire or resources to shell out extra money for Nokia smartphones. As an alternative to Samsung and Sony Ericsson the solution looks very decent in view of the quite low initial price. Once the latter gets down to the stable level, we can expect high demand for the model in spite of the yet moderate loyalty to this brand.

+ Reasonable price
+ 3.5 mm slot on body
+ Dedicated sound chip
+ Player buttons, control unit
+ LED indicator
+ Good battery life
+ Advanced file system
+ Flash desktop wallpaper
- Average keypad ergonomics
- No stock memory card, no "hot" swapping
- Average screen diagonal
- FM-radio requires firmware headset

Author: Dmitry Ryabinin, dm@smape.com

SMAPE.com

	Comments: