It was handsets like the original Chocolate that put LG on the map. But simply playing with the big boys was never going to be enough. It takes creativity to outsmart and outdo some formidable rivals. LG never shied away from experimenting and have been repaid more often than not. There’s Black Label and Prada, some great cameraphones and a host of capable touchscreen devices to prove it.
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But that was then. The New Chocolate is new and it means it. The “Black Label” simply sticks on the BL40 but this phone seems to hold a higher purpose. It’s not merely the next of the Chocolates – it’s in touch with its times. And it does great justice to a portfolio where Viewty Smart talks to Renoir and Crystal walks with the Arena.
The LG BL40, the New Chocolate, is thin, classy and sexy but the one word that does it justice is unique. You really won’t find another phone like it out there, and only a few others have the same kind of impact.
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LG BL40 New Chocolate New Chocolate official photos
You won’t see a designer or watchmaker’s signature on the BL40 but it definitely looks like an exquisite work of art. However, neither its price tag nor its feature set will let you think of it that way. We don’t mean it’s cheap or even affordable to many, but its all round skill puts most of the boutique handsets to shame. There are only few things the New Chocolate can’t do.
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Key features
- One-off touchscreen bar design
- 4.01″ 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of 21:9 aspect ratio
- Quad-band GSM support and UMTS with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
- S-Class Touch UI with pinch zooming and gesture controls
- Accelerometer for screen auto-rotation
- 5-megapixel autofocus camera, Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics, LED flash, VGA@30fps video recording
- 1.1GB of internal memory, microSD expansion (up to 32GB)
- Wi-Fi with DLNA
- GPS receiver with A-GPS support and WisePilot satnav app
- Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, microUSB port, TV out
- Standard 3.5mm audio jack, Dolby Mobile sound enhancement
- Stereo FM radio with RDS, FM transmitter
- Full-blown multi-tasking with a decent task manager
- DivX/XviD video player
- Motion-based games
- Smart dialing
- Office document viewer
Main disadvantages
- Single-handed use not too comfortable due to the extra long form factor
- Video recording output is pathetic
- Piano black surface is a fingerprint nightmare
- Memory card slot is under the battery cover
- Web browser has no Flash support
- No video streaming over Wi-Fi (such as the mobile YouTube)
- WisePilot satnav app is only a trial version
Unlike some other fashionable handsets out there, the LG BL40 New Chocolate beauty is not just skin deep. This stunning looker has all the hardware a modern high-end gadget should have. And though technically not a smartphone, the New Chocolate’s S-class user interface offers convenient multitasking and is polished to match the sleek exterior.
LG BL40 New Chocolate live shots
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The LG BL40 New Chocolate comes with a brilliant 16M-color capacitive touchscreen enabled for multi-touch input. It also sports TV-out, Dolby mobile, FM transmitter and DixX/XviD support out of the box. All this sounds a promise for an unmatched multimedia experience. The New Chocolate display has the 21:9 aspect ratio of cinema screens.
And we are just touching the surface of the spec sheet. Next up are the 5 megapixel autofocus camera and the full range of connectivity options, followed by the useful task manager. So, it’s got the looks and it’s got the brains. Will its extravagance bring it to the top or make it a flop?
Before we delve into the colorful S-Class UI of the LG BL40 New Chocolate and start revealing its features, we’ll spin it for you and share our impressions of the design and ergonomics. Prepare for the jump!
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LG BL40 New Chocolate 360-degree view
There is no phone like the New Chocolate out there. It’s easier said than done these days, and LG do deserve credit. What makes it stand out are the unique proportions but that doesn’t necessarily mean that tall is the new slim. Handling and overall feel are hard to get right on such a handset. It’s a fine line, and we can safely say LG didn’t cross it.
While the bar form factor is hardly revolutionary, the LG BL40 New Chocolate silhouette leaves quite an impression. The LG BL40 New Chocolate measures 128 x 51 x 10.9 mm and weighs a good 129 grams. Those numbers may sound scary at first (especially the height) but with the time you get used to the unusual size of the phone. And believe us, the impact it makes is worth a couple of inconveniences.
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Design and construction
The LG BL40 New Chocolate rides heavily on the piano black gloss of the original. The thin metallic lines on the sides and the Ferrari red accents on the top and bottom add another touch of class.
As to the shape, well, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but then it was never meant to be. One thing’s for sure: if you want to be noticed, very few phones will do it for you better than the New Chocolate.
The few hardware buttons on the LG BL40 New Chocolate make a nice job of blending in with the seamless styling of the phone.
Above the display we find the earpiece (which doubles as a loudspeaker), the video-call camera, proximity and ambient light sensors. It does sound crowded but in fact all those things are hardly noticeable against the classy black finish.
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The LG BL40 New Chocolate looks its name up front
The left side of the LG BL40 New Chocolate has a single key which opens the music player. The microUSB port is on this side as well, and it’s got the same latch cover as the LG Crystal – it’s probably the most convenient microUSB cover introduced by any handset manufacturer so far.
The music key and the well masked microUSB port
The right side of the BL40 New Chocolate accommodates the volume rocker and the shutter key. While the other side keys are as thin as the ornamental silver frame, the shutter key is wider and rounded, and quite comfortable to use.
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Shutter key and volume rocker on the right
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The top hosts the 3.5mm audio jack and the Power/Lock key. Both are easy to access and nice to use. The Power/Lock button is a little more prominent than the other hardware keys but it’s also probably the most used physical button. Since there aren’t any hardware call buttons on the front we thought it could’ve made sense for the Power/Lock button to reject incoming calls. It turns out though that using the on-screen controls is actually the only way to do that.
The top of the BL40 New Chocolate – Power/Lock key and standard audio jack
The red bottom looks like a mirror image of the top – good symmetry and nice contrast. At times you may find yourself wondering which way is up. All you get at the bottom is the mouthpiece.
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Just a mic hole at the bottom
The back follows the same “less is more” mantra as the front. The 5-megapixel camera lens is here alongside the LED flash and a hole for an extra microphone – this allows the BL40 New Chocolate to record better audio for your video clips.
A rather conspicuous logo testifies for the Schneider-Kreuznach certification . There’s nothing to protect the lens from scratches though so you’ll need to be careful with it.
5MP camera with Schneider-Kreuznach certified lens
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The back cover comes off easily in a slide to open fashion. It holds firmly though, no wobbles or creaks. Underneath is a 1000 mAh Li-Ion battery, the SIM card compartment and the microSD card slot. A side-accessible card slot would’ve spoiled the seamless look of the handset really, so we guess the compromise is not too big. The card is still hot-swappable. The LG BL40 New Chocolate handled a 16GB microSDHC card trouble-free.
The battery is quoted at 400 hours of standby and up to 6 hours of talk time.
A look under the hood
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All that glossy plastic on the back however comes at a price. There isn’t a fingerprint that it won’t catch and the screen isn’t any better. Out in the sun, the New Chocolate often looks a smudgy mess. Make sure you take the time to wipe the phone clean – this is a handset that needs to always look its best.
Apple or chocolate?
The BL40 New Chocolate feels heavy in the hand but not unpleasantly so. It will take you some time to find a convenient hand-hold position in which the four corners of the screen are within your thumb’s reach and the head-heavy phone doesn’t risk slipping off your hand.
To sum it up, the peculiar shape does take its toll but the impression the phone makes and the exclusive feel are well worth it. It’s an elaborate piece of equipment that looks absolutely sharp and makes sense. By the way, the unusual shape and size surprisingly make the phone extra comfortable to hold during phone calls.
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LG BL40 New Chocolate held in hand
Movies love the Chocolate screen
With touchscreen bars, the front is usually dominated by the screen, but “dominated” is nothing short of an understatement here.
The display is amazing: short for high-resolution, capacitive, multi-touch-enabled, 21:9 widescreen
The screen is of course the centerpiece of the entire phone. While a 21:9 aspect ratio is common in cinema and relatively rare in TVs, in mobile phones it’s one of a kind. And along with the regular functionality, the BL40 New Chocolate capacitive screen also offers multi-touch.
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The 21:9 aspect ratio is great in PMP terms but the 4” display is a real treat all around. The touch sensitivity is top-notch, the handset responds to even the lightest taps. And the sunlight legibility, which has been a problem of earlier LG handsets, is a great surprise. The screen has probably gotten some new sort of finish that improves things tremendously. Not least, the precious piece of hardware is well protected against scratches with its tempered glass coating.
The LG BL40 New Chocolate may not be iPhone-good in direct sunlight, but it’s close. Not to mention it has quite a few more pixels on the screen than the iPhone. The colors are vibrant – the picture quality makes watching videos and browsing photos a nice experience.
The New Chocolate standing tall
Kinetic scrolling for a sweeter phonebook
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The S-Class has an attractive and thumbable phonebook. The Contact list has tiny separators with the corresponding alphabetical letter. The phonebook displays
Contacts Every contact has the contact’s picture, name and a green call button for quick dial. Tapping on a contact will take you to a next screen with details and Call/Text buttons. The option to locally expand the contact info straight in the contact list is not available this time.
The novelty on the contact’s detail screen is recent history – all calls, messages and emails to and from this contact can be found here.
Like most of the interface on the GC900 Viewty Smart, the phonebook is highly touch-optimized. Scrolling is kinetic or as it has been called lately – it’s the flick scrolling type that comes with inertia and only needs a flick of your finger to start rolling. It’s fluid enough with only occasional motion jerks so, it’s the best we’ve seen so far from LG.
Phonebook • Editing a contact • Contact history
Of course, there is a search option and it’s available on top of your contact list. The good thing is it’s now visible at all times regardless of your position in the phonebook. This is quite handy and LG have done well to take advantage of the bigger screen . None of the previous S-Class powered handsets, or even the iPhone, have that.
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Users no longer have the option to place a specific contact on the contact homescreen by tapping the small star button. The star is still there but only to indicate your favorite contacts. The adding of contacts to the favorite homescreen is now easily available from the homescreen itself.
The telephony tastes excellent
The BL40 New Chocolate handles phone calls flawlessly, as you have every right to expect. The phone dialer works with an on-screen standard numpad.
Phone dialer • Smart dial • Making a call
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The green history shortcut is available on the dial pad and takes you to the call log. It turns into a green receiver key as soon as you punch some numbers. You can also access the call history from the main menu.
We would have preferred it if there was an easier way of getting to the call history. Your recent contacts are probably the ones that you call most frequently so having a quick access to them (such as a hardware key, for instance) would have been much better.
Rejecting and receiving calls are also two operations that are in dire need of their own hardware keys. If not for anything else, the Off key would have been quite comfortable for muting and subsequently rejecting an incoming call. Now your only tolls to do that are the sliders on the screen itself – which, believe it or not, are not that easily recognizable in direct sunlight.
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Smart Dial is of course available but it’s a disappointment more than anything else. The Smart Dial implementation on the New Chocolate only searches for contacts whose numbers contain the digits you’ve typed in the dialer. This just isn’t of much help since most people don’t bother to remember the numbers of their contacts as long as they got their names. Plus searching in the recent calls history is also a nice suggestion.
Call history
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The LG BL40 New Chocolate scored a Very Good mark in our loudspeaker performance test. Here is how it stacks up against some of the other handsets we’ve put through it. More info on our test is available here.
| Speakerphone test |
Voice, dB |
Pink noise/ Music, dB |
Ringing phone, dB |
Overall score |
| Apple iPhone 3G |
66.1 |
62.1 |
71.7 |
Below Average |
| LG KC910 Renoir |
71.9 |
65.6 |
72.0 |
Good |
| Nokia 5800 XpressMusic |
75.7 |
66.5 |
68.5 |
Good |
| LG KM900 Arena |
70.9 |
68.2 |
78.3 |
Good |
| LG BL40 New Chocolate |
71.8 |
70.6 |
81.9 |
Very Good |
| Samsung M8800 Pixon |
75.7 |
69.6 |
82.1 |
Very Good |
| LG KF900 Prada |
77.1 |
75.7 |
82.0 |
Excellent |
Candied messaging
There are two major sections in the main menu – Messaging and Email. The LG BL40 New Chocolate supports sending and receiving SMS, MMS, and email messages. SMS and MMS share the same editor.
SMS and MMS sender
The messages are neatly organized in a standard list view and sorted by date. You can choose a filter – SMS, MMS or notifications. Naturally, the Inbox is the default location when you enter the Messaging menu, but you can change it to Outbox, Sent, Drafts or My Folders. There is also a threaded view option.
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You can either type on the standard alphanumeric keypad or flip the BL40 landscape and enjoy the huge – and we mean it – QWERTY keyboard. There is touch feedback either way, and typing is very accurate. This time though the QWERTY keys are big enough and it is much harder to tap the wrong key. Each symbol you tap is clearly marked by iPhone-style pop-ups. The huge screen has allowed for larger Favorites and Contacts shortcuts on the SMS screen, which have replaced the small square buttons from the past.
The QWERTY keyboard
When it comes to email, set up on the LG BL40 New Chocolate is hassle-free. Adding an email account is a breeze thanks to the clever set-up scheme. For a Gmail account for example, all we had to do was fill in the account and password fields – the connection settings were retrieved automatically.
In case you have to setup your email account manually, there is a host of settings that you need to enter. Both POP3 and IMAP4 protocols are supported and you can set the handset to auto retrieve new mail at a preset interval with a dedicated setting for roaming. The email client supports SSL encryption too.
To make better use of the unusual screen aspect ratio, the email client has a completely new look. In portrait orientation it’s the same as in the older S-Class version, but turning the BL40 New Chocolate to landscape mode reveals a much more comfortable interface. The message headers are sorted in a column on the left side of the screen, while a preview pane on the right lets you read the selected email. This type of UI resembles standard desktop email clients such as Outlook or Thunderbird and we are sure it will be heartily welcomed by those looking for PC-like experience on their phone.
The Email section
Maximum attachment size for both outgoing and incoming mail is 2.2MB, double the 1MB limit of the previous S-Class phones.
Email settings
Quite naturally, archive files such as ZIP or RAR are not among the supported file types for attachments, but you can still save those to the phone memory when you receive them. You can open and preview MS Office and PDF attachments directly inside the email client.
Once you’ve downloaded your messages, you can use the search feature to find specific emails or you can sort them by various filters such as date, sender, priority, read/unread, subject, size, etc. There is also an option for setting multiple emails as “Read”.
Unfortunately, the messaging part of the LG BL40 New Chocolate has nothing to offer in the social networking department. It’s actually quite strange, as cheaper LG phones such as the LG Pop and LG GW520 have push social networking right out of the box.
Widescreen S-Class
The S-Class UI has already made a name as one of the major mobile platforms today. Since the first S-Class device – the LG KM900 Arena – the next implementations in the Viewty Smart and the Crystal did not bring any significant visual or functional updates. The New Chocolate though promises to change that and take full advantage of the 4″ super wide screen.
LG have got it just right and the visuals of the S-class interface are spectacular – everything from homescreen to dropdown menus rolls, sweeps in, unfolds and rotates extra smoothly with a responsiveness that suggests some powerful graphic acceleration.
Lifting the curtain
The lockscreen has also been changed and we like it much more this time. Slide to Unlock is what you get on the iPhone and on the Android bunch but the New Chocolate throws that in a upwards direction. You press at the bottom and lift the lockscreen up and it reveals the homescreen as a curtain.
Quite conveniently, the lockscreen notifies of recent events too.
The lockscreen • sliding up to unlock
The BL40 New Chocolate S-Class boasts lockscreen gestures too – similar to Samsung’s Smart Unlock. Touch gestures are more of a gimmick really, but some may find it a cool enough. There are nine fixed applications you can assign touch gestures to for a quick start from the lockscreen – contacts, call history, alarms, messaging, email, gallery, FM radio, organizer and memos. There are 12 predefined gesture patterns to choose from too.
Lockscreen gestures
Getting that Cube spinning
The Cube interface is still the base of the whole setup though technically it’s not a Cube anymore. The four homescreen panes correspond to the four sides of a tall 3D block as an actual cube would’ve looked tiny on this 21:9 widescreen. For the purpose of this review, we’ll continue to refer to that interface as the Cube.
The cube
The first of the Cube sides hosts the Widget homescreen. It offers a bunch of widgets we’ve seen on previous LG handsets – there’s a notification widget, an analog clock, calendar, world time, WeatherBug, games shortcut, FM radio widget, memo, cell info and a calculator. As you might expect, with the larger screen, there’s now more real estate for widgets and shortcuts. Unfortunately, you can’t download new widgets. That is the main disadvantage compared to the competing Samsung TouchWiz interface.
Next up on the Cube, LG have swapped the rather impractical Multimedia homescreen with a new Browser one. There you can bookmark your favorite web pages just as you can on the iPhone.
Widget and Browser homescreens
The third Cube wall accommodates the Contact homescreen, which displays your favorite contacts on a rotating reel and offer quick access to SMS/call options. All numbers and emails are easily available, and users get one-touch access to voice and video calls, and editing options.
The Contact homescreen
And finally, the Shortcut homescreen offers free space for shortcuts to various apps. We admit that the wonderful main menu is somewhat overcrowded, so the shortcuts homescreen seems quite practical for your everyday needs.
Shortcut homescreen
Tapping the Status bar at the top of the screen launches a semitransparent menu that can be used to toggle Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on and off, change profiles and view recent events.
Easy access to common settings
There’s some new stuff as well
This time around, the task manager is a little bit more user-friendly and quite resembles the one in Symbian S60 smartphone OS. You press the button, and a pop-up appears to display the currently running apps, so you can terminate or switch between them.
The task manager
The non-negotiable homescreen wallpapers have been fixed as well, sort of. In the Screen Settings menu you’ll find various options to set background images. And while you can enable or disable the wallpaper for each of the four homescreens, you cannot pick different wallpaper images for the individuals screens.
Wallpaper settings
Getting to the essence
The LG New Chocolate main menu is accessible via the dedicated shortcut on the home screen. It has the typical layout of four side-scrollable rows of menu items. In this flat structure, all menu items are accessible simultaneously without jumping tabs.
As usual, if you turn the phone sideways, the landscape menu will fit all icons on screen with no need for scrolling (but with no text labels either).
The New Chocolate’s menu icons have a bit of 3D-styling with some visual effects, but you can also use the old 2D menu if you so prefer. The alternative 2D theme is the black and white Prada 2 variety and we like it better at times. The 3D menu just looks too busy with color – but it’s definitely the flashier one demonstrating the vibrant AMOLED color capabilities.
The BL40 New Chocolate main menu in portrait and landscape mode
GPS onboard, LG Wisepilot in charge
Google Maps is the most popular electronic map software for mobile phones. It comes preinstalled on the LG BL40 New Chocolate and makes use of its built-in GPS receiver. It worked just fine and the version is designed specially for the handset’s native resolution and screen aspect.
Google Maps
But more importantly, a full-featured navigation software is finally preloaded: the New Chocolate comes with the Wisepilot for LG. The app is very easy and intuitive to use. Wisepilot takes advantage of all NAVTEQ maps, so it’s unlikely you will find anything important missing.
As with every other navigation software, the Wisepilot offers route calculations, specific searches, traffic information, weather, etc. And it has voice assistance of course. You can also log in WisePilot website made especially for LG users and plan your trips on the desktop computer and then transfer them to the cellphone. Bear in mind though, that much like with Google Maps, all the WisePilot map data gets downloaded top your mobile live as you go via the wireless network connection so unless you’re on a fixed data plan we suggest you mind your usage.
Unfortunately, the included WisePilot license is only a trial one and in our case it was valid for only a month. That may be subject to change in your region or under your carrier bundle, of course. Generally, a basic 3-month license for full Europe will cost you 25 euro, while a full-year license will set you back some good 70 euro. Extras such as Speed cameras cost another 10 bucks for a year’s license.
By the way, WisePilot for LG is available for LG Arena and LG Viewty Smart as well, so if you’re interested in getting a trial version for those, you can hop on to WisePilot website.
WisePilot for LG
Games & Apps
The preinstalled Picsel viewer handles Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. Zooming in and out is done by – you guessed it – pinching.
There is a useful option to fit the contents in a single column but it only seems to work for doc files. The viewer makes full use of the accelerometer and auto rotates to take advantage of the wide screen.
Office documents and PDF are supported
The preinstalled games on the LG BL40 are all motion-based – Racing Time 2, Dual Match, Music World, Hidden Catch Wide, Real Motion Fishing, Bubble Breeze and Musical Instruments.
Racing Time 2 is a standard racing game using the accelerometer to steer the car.
Racing Time 2
Dual Match is the most interesting game around designed specifically for the BL40 New Chocolate. It has both single and multi-player mode. You have a huge board with elastic balls and your task is to shoot the opponent’s balls outside the board. If the game is played by two players, both of them need to be holding the phone at opposite ends. Multiplayer can be a real fun, we admit.
Dual Match
Then, there’s the Music World game where you have to tap some jumping yellow creatures at the right moment in order to reveal a puzzle picture.
Hidden Catch Wide is a simple game where you need to find the differences between two pictures.
Music World • Hidden Catch Wide
Real Motion Fishing is a very simple game only meant to show off the accelerometer functionality. With a flick of the hand you angle the fishing rod and hope some fish will bite. Three attempts to score some points and game over. Simple, easy and pointless.
Real Motion Fishing • Bubble Breeze
Finally, Bubble Breeze is about making floating soap bubbles by blowing into the phone’s microphone. Music Instruments gives you a piano keyboard or a set of drums to compose tunes by tapping on the screen.
Music Instruments
There are also five additional demos in the Games section – Asphalt 4, Brain Challenge 2, Bubble Bash and Tetris. We’ve seen them many times before.
Final words
The New Chocolate packs enough skill to make comparison with some powerful smartphones almost inevitable. Now, it’s obvious the LG BL40 is not in the same league as the likes of Hero, Omnia HD or Nokia X6 but we guess it will be more than welcome for an all-star friendly. It may sound unthinkable for a self-respecting geek to so much as consider the New Chocolate against any of those smart heavyweights, but the LG BL40 won’t put up with being trivially dismissed as just another fashion phone.
HTC Hero • Samsung i8910 Omnia HD • Nokia X6
Yes, the New Chocolate is a few things short of a smartphone but style it’s got in excess. And that sets it squarely against a completely different kind of competition. The BL40 is a different breed that stands between smart all-in-ones and premium pieces like Nokia’s Arte phones and the Erdos. Still, in today’s dynamic market there is no shortage of rivals. The New Chocolate is special but it won’t hurt to keep an eye on any potential contender.
The Samsung S8000 Jet has been available for a few months now and has already won many customers. The new 3D TouchWiz interface may well be a match for the S-Class, especially on such a powerful hardware package as the Jet. The compact design and equally matched feature set (including full DivX/XviD support, full web Flash support, D1 video and an excellent 5MP camera) make the Jet quite a treat. But not really a threat – we doubt it. The Jet has the specs but hardly the charisma.
Samsung S8000 Jet
It’s been mere weeks since the release of the Sony Ericsson Aino and a lot of people are eager to see what it’s got to offer. The Aino comes with limited touchscreen functionality, a slide-out keypad and an 8 megapixel snapper. In addition to the new Sony Ericsson Touch UI, you’ll get PSP and PlayStation 3 remote capabilities.
Sony Ericsson Aino
To sum it up, the New Chocolate is not a regular update. It personifies the evolution of a company. There’s an evolutionary chasm between the Old and New Chocolate and LG have been busy bridging it all these years. The LG BL40 is the fourth S-Class handset but the first with an actual upgrade, and it just about does everything we wanted from the S-Class in the first place.
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The unique design and one of a kind display bring a whole new experience, distinguishing the BL40 from the rest of the mobiles out there. The New Chocolate packs all the company’s high-tech knowledge and has the style to compete in the premium segment. It’s technologically compelling and aesthetically bold. Premium handsets are niche products but the New Chocolate is not afraid to act as one. In the premium niche nothing is too much and the BL40 is keen to take advantage. Pushing eccentricity and specs through the roof.
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