LG KC560 Review

Every once in a while, a handset is announced from a mobile manufacturer that still makes you wonder aloud “Just what were they thinking?!?” Most recently, that statement has been applied to the LG KC560. The phone just shouts bling, tackiness and all round chav. Which is a shame, because underneath that awful exterior is actually quite a nice handset. But, despite this, the awfulness of the design indicates the only people you are likely to see using this handset is the Burberry-capped, shell-suited generation. So, where to start? Well, visually, the LG KC560 is horrendous. The handset utilises the colour combinations of black and gold. The main outer shell of the handset is black, with the back panel a gold colour, matching the gold design of the D-Pad. At the bottom of the front panel are some LED lights. When the phone rings, these will light up, and will also illuminate and flash in tempo with any music playing on the phone. Very disco. Also, very naff!

Apart from the gaudiness, the LG KC560 isn’t actually a bad phone, although it will struggle to hold its own in what is becoming a very crowded middle market for music and fashion devices. Tri-band GSM, the LG KC560 knows its market, and that is people who do not want to browse the web. So there is no 3G support, any data transfer is covered by just GPRS. It’s all about calls and text, inn’it. The main display on the phone is a standard QVGA TFT screen, measuring 2.4 inches from point to point, and supporting up to 256,000 colours. This is a nice size for a mobile phone display, but looks very washed out when compared to other similar ranged devices. Slid open, the handset reveals a traditional 12 key alphanumeric keypad; keys are a reasonable size and text entry is comfortable enough.

Onboard memory is set at a rather miserly 30MB, although this can be expanded up to 8GB with the option of a Micro SD memory card. The music player copes well with support for a wide variety of music formats, including MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC++ and a surprise inclusion of support for RA Real Audio files. The video player meanwhile manages with standard MP4 and WMV video files. With limited connection options available on this device, it is a pleasant surprise to find support for the latest Bluetooth 2.1 available on the handset, ideal for easy Bluetooth pairing and using a wireless Bluetooth headset. Additionally, LG have seen fit to include a standard FM radio with this device.

The LG KC560 is equipped with a standard 3.2 megapixel camera. Better than some average cameras, features include autofocus, and an LED flash is also included. On board there is a photo editor application, so pictures can be manipulated and altered as required.

There is little that stands out on this phone, so I assume this is why LG have gone for such a colour design. I am assured that there is indeed a market for such phones, and LG expect the device to sell well to a certain market demographic. As a device that wouldn’t look out of place being given away free with a McDonalds Happy Meal, they may actually have a point.