LG KS360 Review

LG makes some of the most practical, feature-specific phones in the market. We saw that with the LG KU250 and the LG KP500 targeting a single specific feature at an affordable price. The LG KS360 is an attempt to take full qwerty messaging to the masses.

Before we talk about the highlights of the phone, be reminded that the KS360 is somewhat an entry-level phone and thus do not have all the bells and whistles one would expect — there’s no WiFi, no 3G or GPS inside, just Bluetooth — so you can stop right here and move on to the next page if those are a must for you.

However, if you’re willing to reconsider this handset for the sake of the full qwerty keypad and the price tag, then you may continue reading this review.

The LG KS360 has a 2.4″ (240 x 320 pixels) with multi-directional keys along with the standard function keys (see photo above). Along with that, there’s an extra key to enable touchscreen-dialing (hand symbol on lower left side). This special key activates a virtual numeric keypad so you can dial numbers by tapping on the screen.

In that mode, only a numeric keypad is available so you can’t do SMS, just voice calls. The screen has haptic feedback and is very responsive (similar to the LG Cookie) and easy to use.

The qwerty keypad slides from under to the right so rotation to the landscape position is clockwise. Though it’s not a big deal, this means that the navigational keys are positioned with your left hand and not the right hand. My first impression when I discovered this was the handset was meant for lefties.

The keypad is well-spaced from each other and each individual keys are circular and raised (embossed) a bit so typing is easier — you don’t end up using your fingernails instead of your fingers (but that really depends on how big your fingers are).

The slider is snappy and fits right well into the keypad. There is no accelerometer in here but the  screen automatically re-orients into the landscape mode when the slider is out.

As LG suggests this model works best with the mobile messenger eBuddy, I tried downloading it using the EDGE connection of the KS360. True enough, the qwerty keyboard made mobile messaging much easier (not just for the KS360 but most other qwerty phones as well).

The phone has a built-in FM tuner and MP3 player. The audio quality is decent and loud enough but still in mono so it doesn’t have that umph. The speaker is found at the back just above the camera. The music player looks nice and loads/plays the songs in a jiffy.

The camera is 2 megapixels (1600×1200 pixels) and doesn’t have autofucos so I don’t it expect to capture any good photos.

The LG KS360 is labeled under the fashion category and like the LG Cookie, it’s targeted to a specific segment, probably teens who are crazy about text messaging and/or chatting. It’s obviously not for people like me who require connectivity features but it may attract those who are looking for very affordable qwerty phones.

With a price tag of Php8,900 and comes in the color pink, I would not second-guess it.