Mobile News

LG announced the BL20 in just a few days ago, but we already have a test unit in our office and here it is - one of the first ever reviews of the New Chocolate in ready!

First we have to flashback to year 2006, when LG introduced the KG800 also known as the LG Chocolate. It was the first ever handset with touch-sensitive navigation keys and it also marked the beginning of the Black Label series of the company. Later the Black Label was joined by Shine and Secret. Today LG continues the line with the new BL40 - a 4" touchscreen device with amazing features, which price however won't be very affordable. That's why the manufacturer decided to introduce a lower-end version of the New Chocolate and make the brand accessible for more people. That's how appeared the LG BL20!

I have to begin the review with the design, as this is the accent, the leading idea by the new BL20, which is definitely one of the most attractive handsets out there. LG BL20 makes everyone go "WOW" when seeing it in your hands and it's for a reason! The New Chocolate is one of the slimmest 3G devices with HSDPA support as its profile measures 12.3 mm. BL20 comes with a polished black cover, while the keyboard is dressed up in red. The most amazing part of its outer look is the touch-sensitive area under the display, which light up in vivid red light once the handset is unlocked.

The functionality of BL20 is as of a typical mid-range handset, but there are a few very nice extras, which are able to make you wanna buy it immediately.
The handset has a 2.4" QVGA screen with up to 262k colours, but it looks brighter and more vivid than the average displays with such characteristics. It's a great field for displaying your images, taken with the 5 MP camera, which features autofocus, LED flash and a very special mode of shooting, making the photos just like from a copy machine.
The MP3 player I found very convenient as well, as it is pretty similar to the one of Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It allows you to browse your files by name, by artist, by album etc. and you could also make your own playlists. The device is a great substitute of a music player - its battery is very strong, its microSD slot takes cards of up to 16 GB, but there's no 3.5 mm jack. Fortunately LG has provided its model with A2DP Bluetooth profile, so there's a good alternative to to conventional headset.

The LG BL20 also comes with the familiar S-Class 3D user interface, a convenient shortcut to a widgets menu, FM radio, 256 MB of built-in memory and a very good browser.