LG New Chocolate BL20 Review

Introduction:

Having introduced the new Black Label Series style by previewing the LG New Chocolate BL40, we now have the chance to take a closer look at the heir apparent to the all famous Chocolate. Meet the LG New Chocolate BL20, aimed at eager followers of fashion trends, who spend a lot of time in front of the mirror and would never, and we mean never, confuse a Ferre´s dress with something by Gucci (thanks, Google). Aside from its stylish overall design, you shouldn’t expect surprises from the LG New Chocolate BL20. Still, you´ll be getting a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and Schneider-Kreuznach optics, microSDHC card slot and HSDPA.

Design:

The LG New Chocolate BL20 stays true to the new, trendy style of the Black Label Series and in case you´ve read  our preview of the BL40, you already have a pretty good idea about the style of this slider. It is almost immaculately rectangular and we must say its black color goes perfectly with the red numeric keypad, upper and lower body. Alongside of the original Chocolate, the New Chocolate BL20 is taller and wider, but slimmer. It feels solid and comfy to use, even with the slider open and we have to say the phone gets respectably big in this case. The metal framing on either side contributes to a more sophisticated overall look. Our unit runs final software version, but bear in mind the retail device will come with slightly rounded edges.



You can compare the LG New Chocolate BL20 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The TFT screen measures 2.4 inches, has a native resolution of 240x320 pixels and delivers top notch image quality. Our only gripe relates to its love for fingerprints and you will have the phone all covered in them in seconds, which basically means you will have to clean it quite often.

The touch-sensitive buttons typical of Chocolate handsets are below the screen. They feature great touch sensitivity and light up in red, much in harmony with the overall color solution. Generally, the bad thing about this type of keys is you can easily press an adjacent button and activate something you don’t mean, which tends to be annoying. Fortunately, this is not the case with the BL20, since there is enough room in between the buttons. The key that calls up the multitasking menu is in the lower left corner, while the widget button is in the lower right one.

The mechanism of the slider feels really tight and we like that, but it tends to give off an unpleasant sound when being opened. Not that this is much of a problem really, because the more important thing is the numeric keypad is really handy. Dialing numbers on it is a pure joy. Our only gripe regards the uppermost button row, the one where the send, end and delete keys are. They are located close to the edge, so people with thicker fingers may find pressing them a bit uncomfortable. However, keeping in mind these buttons are used less frequently, we can definitely rate the keyboard excellent. But this is not all. When open, its color makes the LG New Chocolate BL20 look really exquisite.



The interesting thing about the new chocolate is that the volume rocker is also touch sensitive. LG, however, has showed ingenuity in making it slightly raised and not completely flat, so you can easily feel where it is. Getting your press registered takes certain effort, but this is good, because otherwise the volume rocker would have been really easy to accidentally touch and therefore - annoying.

The standard microUSB port is on the left hand side, the screen lock on the top and you can relish the beauty of the 5-megapixel Schneider-Kreuznach camera with LED flash if you take look at the back of the handset.



The LG New Chocolate BL20 looks just as stylish as the BL40. With its slider closed, however, it´s far more compact. It stays true to its name and wouldn’t look out of place in the company of handsets with even the fussiest design. We think LG has done a great job in coming up with a proper addition to the series, because the BL20 is a handset with uncomplicated, yet expressive design.

Interface and functionality:

Software itself is not of crucial importance when it comes to a device that relies on its outer appearance to appeal to customers. Certainly, this doesn’t mean we should snap back to the last century and end up being unable to take pictures or organize our daily grind using calendar and task manager. Despite the fact the interface of the LG New Chocolate BL20 doesn’t deliver anything unheard of, it covers the bare minimum of functions typical of modern cell phones and even tries to improve on certain aspects.

Once you get to the main menu, you will see the same cool-looking icons that we already know from the New Chocolate BL40. If you venture forth, however, you will find yourself in a relatively boring submenus visualized as lists. Unfortunately, there is no way you change this via the settings.



The phonebook stores up to 1,000 entries and each one can be assigned a picture, several telephone numbers and various details like home address and office position. The phonebook is easy to use, although we believe the one found on Samsung devices is a bit more intuitive.





In terms of organizer functionality, the BL20 features mandatory applications like Calendar and Tasks, but adds a new function called Photo Memo. It will allow you to take legible photo notes by using the phone camera. You need to take a picture of the text (any text really, be it something printed or handwritten), then the phone will process the image so as to make the background as white and the letters as black as possible. The function works great and the result in 90% of the cases is a pretty easily readable text. It´s of utmost importance that you get the text in focus before making the photo note itself.



The calendar allows entry of various events, you can determine their type, start and end dates, recurrence pattern and the precise moment for the alarm to go off.

The fast menu makes for a nice extra feature and stores shortcuts to overused functions.



The idea of the mini-applications, as implemented on the LG KC780, has been improved on. The BL20 comes with more of these and they are referred to as “widgets”. Our unit sports six (alarm, notes, calendar, VIP contacts, weather and RSS). Being able to call them up from any screen with the dedicated widget button is not only a nice extra feature, but makes the widgets handier and more useful.



There is no way we leave out the fact that the interface of the LG New Chocolate BL20 is really snappy. You will notice really eye-catchy transition effects on switching between menus - they all play smoothly and without any hang-ups.

A standard microUSB cable and Bluetooth 2.1 functionality deliver local connectivity, while the phone built-in browser and fast HSDPA 3.6 Mbit/s kick in when you need to access the Internet. We have to admit the browser manages to visualize both simpler and more complex websites properly and as a whole, is completely usable. Our major gripe relates to the slightly unhandy zooming…

Camera and Multimedia:

The LG New Chocolate BL20 sports a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and Schneider-Kreuznach optics. Similarly to all other physical buttons of the BL20, the camera shutter has no perceptible travel.It registers two levels of pressure – a slight press to focus and a stronger one to take the picture itself. We thought this rather peculiar at first, since the button wouldn’t budge, but we must say the guys at LG certainly know what they do, because we felt at home taking pictures with the BL20 after just a few attempts.

The camera interface is rather simplified and doesn’t sport any eye-candies. It delivers a satisfying number of functions, including white balance, effects, night mode, ISO sensitivity etc. On the overall, it feels really easy to handle.




Pictures, however, are of mediocre quality. Even images taken in broad daylight lack enough details. Colors look realistic indeed, but as a whole, the result is far from what decent 5-megapixel cameras deliver.

Things are, by far, not coming up roses in the case of indoor pictures either. The flash itself manages to provide enough light to nearby objects, but the images are blurry and yellowish, especially if taken in darker places.




The handset captures video at a maximum resolution of 320x240 pixels. The image is so blurry and the frame count so low, that we hesitantly qualify them as fit for being shared in MMS. As for all people who hope to make it big as Hollywood-based cameramen, guys, you better go for a real digital camera or at least, a camera phone with decent video capture functionality.

LG New Chocolate BL20 video sample at 320x240 pixels resolution

If you happen to like taking pictures with you cell phone, we would advise you not to let the relatively high megapixel count of the LG New Chocolate BL20 mislead you or you are sure to end up pretty disappointed.

Although the manufacturer claims the BL20 handles H.264 videos, all we could play was our own MP4/MPEG-4 files coded at a resolution of 320x240 pixels and even at such a low resolution the phone skipped frames. That is just too bad… not that the 2.4-inch display would have been great for video playback anyway.

The MP3 player of the New Chocolate BL20 filters content by artist, album and playlists, but can also show a list of all available tracks. It has a pleasing interface, visualizes album art properly and sports several equalizer presets to alter the way your music sounds.



We have to admit we like the loudspeaker and the way it plays audio tracks. If you happen to be one of those people who simply cannot help sharing their music preference with the people around them, even if the latter aren´t particularly thrilled at the perspective, the LG New Chocolate BL20 is the cell phone to have. The sound is loud indeed and the environmental will not drown it out.

Performance and Conclusion:

We have already told you about the great operational speed of the handset. Well, the in-call quality is in stark contrast to it. We felt mortified by the hollow and indistinct voices we heard and making out what the other person was trying to say was almost impossible. Those of you who opt for the LG New Chocolate BL20 will have severe troubles with normal conversations. As it turned out, things were slightly better on the other end of the line. The overall loudness was proper and people caught onto what we were saying, although they told us the sound was sharper than what they would have liked.

The battery has a capacity of 900mAh and we had to charge it up on the fourth day after moderate daily usage, which is a satisfactory result. According to the manufacturer, the battery should be able to provide about 4 hrs of continuous talk time and up to 270 hours in standby. 

Given the audience the LG New Chocolate BL20 is aimed at, we can´t really come down hard on the device for most of its flaws. If you need a decent camera – this is not your handset, if you feel like watching videos – you better stay away from it. Ultimately, the only thing the BL20 excels in is … making people notice you. And it is flat-out great at that. The glossy, black plastic and contrasting red elements create the perfect blend to attract people´s attention. In terms of technology, the BL20 isn´t anything special. But it´s an awesome fashion accessory. While we are willing to show some lenience and disregard most of its flaws, there is a single aspect that we just cannot put up with and that, ultimately, prevents us from being able to recommend the handset - the horrifying in-call quality. This is extremely important, even more so in the case of a cell phone that is not good at many things. Ultimately, our only hope with regard to the Black Label series now lies with the eccentric BL40.

If you are unwilling to compromise quality, we would suggest that you consider the Samsung Ultra S S7350 – it´s just as stylish, more functional, equipped with a larger screen and better camera. To top it off, its in-call quality is by all means, far, far better. Anyone who feels like getting an all the rage fashion statement device will be better off going for the LG Crystal GD900 that boasts a 3-inch touch-screen and its transparent keypad makes it look even more thrilling than the BL20.

LG New Chocolate BL20 Video Review: