gadget blog

I was recently looking for a new cell phone and of course my 10 year old daughter had to approve it first. I wanted a flip phone that is easy to use, a good camera, Bluetooth compatible, GPS, and music. My daughter wanted an MP3 player, a camera and video, easy texting and "something cool looking".

I decided on the LG 8600. It was a great price and had everything on our wish list. I was replacing my cheap old Motorola; the Chocolate is thinner and has a black shiny shell. That was a great selling feature for my daughter, yes it apparently looks cool. She was also very excited by the music abilities; it has a music player that plays MP3 and WMA songs which is easily accessible with touch-sensitive music keys on the outside. It has quite a nice MP3 music player, my daughter just loves it. I should warn you though it does not come with a USB cable to download MP3s from your computer. Downloading songs from the web onto the phone is a big argument in our home. She wanted to be able to listen to music, understood, but I don't want to pay the ongoing download fees. With a young daughter, I had to really watch the download costs and impose a strict limit. As you guessed it, in the end I bought the LG USB cable to solve any future aggravation.

The screen is nice and big too, a sharp and clear 220 by 176 pixel display. This screen has great resolution and seems clearer than I'm used too. It's not blocky when I watch video, and the sound nicely syncs with the video. It comes with a complimentary game but my daughter has since uploaded a few of her own, she thinks it's easy to use for texting and gaming. Menus and files are easy to open. Telus included a 1GB memory card, a card reader/writer and stereo headsets. It was preloaded with Telus mobile music, Navigator, mobile radio and email.

The phone has a 1.3 mega pixel camera at the top, the camera buttons and rocker volume buttons are on the lower sides. These are easy to reach and very convenient when accessing either device. I love it because it's less fumbling, and my daughter loves it because she can play without anyone noticing.

The phone comes with some great basic applications include Gps, Calculator, Alarm Clock, Scheduler, Notepad, EZ Tip Calculator, World clock, and a Voice Memo. My old phone only had the bare basics. The contacts file has the standard five hundred entry phone book with the options of picture ID, mobile phone unit, home phone, email address, and the home address.

Overall, both my daughter and I are very happy with our new phone. It's sleek and cool with very easy to use buttons and we love the phone and MP3 player. Telus gave us a hot price, along with a great plan for my business that includes lots of text so my daughter can keep in touch with her friends, I can't believe all her friends with their own phones, I guess I will be getting her, her own phone soon. I really like this phone and would recommend it to my friends and any other parents.