US$ 183 US$ 135.00

A touch-screen model may not be that far from reach anymore! The LG KP500 is the new budget champion with a 3” (240 x 400) fully functional touch screen. Being the small brother of the LG KC910 Renoir, it shares much of the feature set (and expectation) of the much more expensive LG KC910. Let’s dive into the touch experience!

The package comes with the phone, a charger, a battery, a USB cable, a handsfree and a manual. The minimal package is nothing too unusual for a budget phone.

The phone is a lot smaller than the LG KS20, and other smartphone. It only weighs 89g and is 12 mm thin. It is one of the lightest and smallest slab phones out there.

From left to right: Answer, Home, Reject buttons. This is all the keys you will ever need with a touch model. Apparently Apple thinks otherwise and decided to take away the Answer/Reject keys on the Apple iPhone 3G, causing great difficulty in answering/rejecting the call when you are taking the phone away from your pocket. With the physical answer/reject keys on the LG KP500, you can do it much conveniently (and handsomely).

The phone has 48MB internal memory, so you probably need to expand storage with a microSD card (upto 16GB is supported). The microSD card slot is conveniently located on the side of the phone. It is protected by a cover against dust and moist.

The camera is where the LG KC910 and LG KP500 differ a lot. The 3MP camera sits quietly on the back of the phone without a lens cover or flash support. It also lacks autofocus so I wouldn’t expect too much on its photo quality.

The Active Flash UI is an improved adaptation to Samsung’s TouchWiz interface found on Samsung models (such as Samsung F480 ). You can customize the home screen in whatever way you like so that it is less boring to look at your phone. To align the icon instantly, shake the phone and the icons will move to their rightful place. You can also use the stylus to help you with input and dragging the icons. Operation is largely the same as the LG KC910 and you can learn how to navigate through the interface by watching the YouTube movie below.

The communication page here. The same as other Samsung device.

When it comes to input, the phone has a standard 9-key predictive T9 input and a virtual QWERTY keyboard. To launch the virtual QWERTY, hold the phone horizontally with the left side facing downward.

Although the LG KP500 is a budget model, it is full of features. The Active Flash UI is fun, and more importantly, beautiful. The operation is smooth and there are a lot of input methods available. The lack of Wi-Fi and 3G means that you cannot exploit the screen fully with mobile web browsing. Fortunately it comes with quadband GSM which guarantees worldwide functionality. It is fun, it is friendly on your purse, it’s got a touch screen!

LG KP500 Cookie Touchscreen Phone Video Review