The LG BL40 Chocolate is a smartphone that demands attention even before it is turned on, with its crazy ultra widescreen display and its stylish black on red finish. However, once you do fire up the BL40 you will notice that LG has spent quite a lot of time making sure that the software user interface is as powerful and versatile as its hardware.

The LG BL40 Chocolate interface is not an entirely new creation, as it has been seen on previous touch screen smartphones from LG including the Arena. It is called the S-Class interface and is a step up from the A-Class version that can be found on entry level LG touch screen mobiles like the GD510 Pop. If you were aware of the LG Arena when it was released, you may be slightly cautious about approaching the BL40 Chocolate, as the S-Class interface was criticised for its complexity and confusing operation when it was first released. You need not fear, however, as the LG BL40 Chocolate interface has been given considerable renovation work in order to make sure that the problems of the first release are just a distant memory.

Central to the S-Class interface is its three dimensional aesthetic style and cleverly animated menu transitions. On the Arena these were hampered by a slightly sluggish processor and insufficient system memory, but the BL40 Chocolate suffers none of these drawbacks. As such the menus which you can swipe between using your finger feel smooth, with no noticeable lag or stuttering as each new screen is loaded. LG has also created a clever technique for unlocking the phone which can be modified with specific gestures drawn using the finger to not only reactivate the touch screen but also bring up a required application in an instant. For example, if your phone is locked and you want to activate the messaging application, you can just draw the letter ‘M’ on the screen and the LG BL40 Chocolate will immediately open up the required app. If you draw a circle representing the world it will also bring up access to the World Wide Web using the browser software. These little intuitive touches make using the BL40 Chocolate a joy and will also cut down on the amount of time that you have to spend scrolling through menus to find the app that you want.

The main menu of the BL40 Chocolate is built around a spinning three dimensional cube and each individual item is attached to one of its sides. You can of course switch between your contacts and application widgets directly from your homescreen if you want to circumvent the menus, but the touch screen really benefits from being applied across the entirety of the phone in a visually stimulating manner. With the built-in accelerometer, the menu screen will automatically orient itself in the correct way depending on whether you hold the phone in a portrait or landscape position and the LG BL40 Chocolate interface deserves to be viewed in the widescreen aspect ratio, which can really be filled up with 32 different icons for different options.

The BL40 Chocolate does occasionally require a little time to load various apps, particularly data-intensive ones like the contacts list, which you can fill with pictures of your mates and colleagues as well as their personal info. However, even as this is occurring the high-tech touches of the interface are put into play. The menu screen is dragged away and becomes a spinning cube, apparently hanging in the middle distance whilst the menu items for the next screen are loaded. Though this feature is being used to partly cover up the sometimes irritating load times, it does blend in well with the overall look and feel of the LG BL40 Chocolate interface.

It would have been interesting to have been a fly on the wall during the meeting in which the LG BL40 Chocolate was proposed. Presumably some loose canon from the design department came into see some of the LG executives with an A1 presentation pad, flipped it on its side and then told them that he wanted to make a touch screen smartphone that had the same aspect ratio as most feature films. It is then easy to imagine that one or two of the head honchos scoffed at the idea, but at the end of the row someone bought into the designer’s enthusiasm, hushed down his colleagues and gave the whole thing the go-ahead.

However, if you take a look at LG’s portfolio of phones over the years, it seems more likely that the BL40 Chocolate got approval from everyone in positions of power within the company. LG occasionally likes to flex its creative muscles and come up with a handset that captures the imagination. And oddly enough they seem to name their most popular mobile phones after sweet treats. The original LG Chocolate really struck a chord with phone fans when it was released over 3 years ago and several other handsets inspired by its gorgeous design were subsequently released. Then the LG Cookie brought touch screen technology to the masses and despite being over a year old is still selling like hot cookies. Perhaps customers associate foods with phone purchases far more consistently and compulsively than anyone previously thought. Now the BL40 Chocolate has arrived, with its looks that only a supermodel could pull off. But will the BL40 Chocolate be adored from afar and retain its exclusivity without turning a profit, or will it become as big a hit as its forbears?

If the LG BL40 Chocolate were really a chocolate bar, it would probably contain a high cocoa content. This would make it quite a luxurious purchase, but also a little too rich for some peoples tastes. The only way in which to fight LG’s penchant for food-based names it to come back with food-based analogies. Like many manufacturers, LG has been struggling to come up with a decent smartphone to challenge the supremacy of the iPhone. The LG response is to stick with its own proprietary operating system, the S-Class user interface. This was previously found on the LG Arena and confused many users and reviewers with the flash visuals and overly-complex menus. Things have not improved a huge amount with the BL40 Chocolate, though the screen does support multi-touch which is a nice feature. It can still be difficult to navigate the menus and there are so many different ways of doing things that a simplified system would be an improvement. Sometimes less is more.

Interestingly the S-Class OS is confusing to both users and the networks who sell on the BL40 Chocolate. One online forum poster who had just picked up the BL40 asked users of the Android Community to tell them which operating system the Chocolate actually uses. This was after they had called up various customer support lines in order to get to the bottom of the issue. One support worker had told them that the BL40 used a version of Google’s Android operating system, hence the post on the Android Community forums. It took some helpful users to tell the new arrival about the S-Class interface and also to disappoint them with the news that the BL40 had no access to the Android Market for app downloads.

Although neither the Arena nor the BL40 Chocolate use Android, there is actually a community project operated by bedroom programmers in their spare time that is in the process of porting the Android OS onto the LG Arena. The Arena as a piece of hardware is obviously considered to be worthy of the time and effort the port will require and it is likely that other S-Class LG phones, including the Chocolate, could end up with a user-created Android port. LG will never sanction the project in a million years, so if you fancy putting Android on your own phone you will probably have to be moderately enterprising yourself.

Although there is an established community linked into the iPhone and a growing Android user community thanks to the increasing number of Android-based smartphones, it is nice to see that other manufacturers have not been neglected. Part of the reason for the continued support of handsets such as the LG Arena or the BL40 Chocolate is because they are purveyors of flawed software and rather than simply being off-putting, actually encourages people to roll up their sleeves and work with others to create something better. It would be impossible for anyone to perform something similar for the iPhone because Apple rules over its flagship platform with a beautifully designed yet unflinchingly firm iron fist.

The imperfections of the BL40 Chocolate on the software side do not detract from its stunning design and high end range of smartphone hardware. In other BL40 news, it is likely that the phone could be getting a new hardware upgrade in the New Year. This has been suggested because a special Christmas Edition of the BL40 Chocolate is being released in South Korea, which has a new 8 megapixel camera rather than the 5 megapixel unit which adorns the standard Chocolate. Although there is no official word of a UK release, a boost to the photographic credentials could well be featuring on a revamped BL40 soon.

Many anticipate the latest releases from South Korean manufacturer LG with justifiable excitement. Their latest mobile phones offer some subtle innovations and some wildly outlandish developments which may shape the mobile phone market of the future.

LG GM750

The GM750 is a mid ranged touch screen smartphone that uses the Windows 6.5 mobile operating platform. That means there are plenty of applications and connectivity options packed into what is a fairly unremarkable looking phone. On top of 3G and Bluetooth connectivity you can also connect to wireless networks to access the internet and download files. Up to 16GB of storage space can be added, although it would have been nice for a heftier built in memory capacity to have been included. The 5 megapixel camera continues to reinforce LGs reputation as a producer of quality camera phones.

LG GW300

The GW300 is a slight departure for LG as a phone that is obsessed with text messaging and emailing more than any other function. It has a full QWERTY keypad and unlike most other new LG handsets has no touch screen or high megapixel camera. The GW300 is designed to appeal to the younger audience and its low price and colourful detailing reflect this fact.

LG GB220

Considering the low cost of this phone there is no lack of functionality. There is a 1.3 megapixel camera and built in mp3 playing software and the clamshell design is available in either pink or silver. This GB220 phone is aimed at the pay as you go market, but despite its budget technology there is nothing to suggest that this is anything other than a quality product for the price.

LG BL40 Chocolate

The BL40 Chocolate is the world’s first fully cinematic phone. This means that the aspect ratio of the display is the same as that in which most motion pictures are shot. This allows you to watch feature films in all their glory without any black bars or image cropping taking place. The BL40 Chocolate is also a touch screen smartphone with all of the associated connectivity and a 5 megapixel camera to boot. The interface is slightly confusing at times and offers too many ways in which to get the same thing done, but overall the widescreen lends itself well to the packed menus of the BL40 Chocolate. In addition this is one of the most attractive and striking phones that has ever been produced thanks to its monolithic, black design.

LG GB102

The GB102 is one of the cheapest phones on the market that still has a colour screen and polyphonic ringtones. It lacks all but the most basic capabilities, but if you want a cheap replacement handset or are not interested in doing anything but making calls and sending texts then the GB102 should be adequate if little more.

LG GT500

The GT500 is the natural successor to the older mid-ranged touch screen phone the LG Cookie. It offers a lot more in terms of connectivity, thanks to Wi-Fi and built in GPS satellite navigation capabilities and also has a 5 megapixel camera which sadly lacks the Xenon flash of other LG models. The GT500 benefits from being extremely thin despite the large 3 inch touch screen display and all of the functions packed into its shell. The black design is simple and subtle, but it is not as well designed as some of its rivals.

LG GT505

The GT505 is to all intents and purposes the same phone as the GT500, except branded for use on the Orange network as opposed to T-Mobile. The GT505 has a slightly better housing with rounded edges and it is the GPS capabilities and built in mapping software which makes it stand out from the crowd. Although the GT505 is not a market leader it is attempting to bring some high end smartphone functionality down in price, making it available to the masses.

LG GW520

This is a messaging and 3G internet phone that has social networking capabilities to commend it. It has a touch screen interface as well as a QWERTY keypad which is hidden beneath the screen for use when writing longer messages. The keys themselves are relatively small compared to other phones of this type, which means that younger users with smaller fingers will be able to get the most out of the GW520. Social networking updates can be accessed live via the GW520 so keeping tabs on what is occurring in your online world is easy. There is also a decent 3 megapixel camera but the lack of software features that could have made this a more useful asset will put some off.

The LG BL40 Chocolate widescreen mobile phone is being advertised as if it has appeared from another world, towering over the ape-like humans of this planet and perplexing us with its innovative design. The LG BL40 Chocolate is undeniably striking to look at, incorporating the world first cinematic aspect ratio into a mobile device. For anyone who is interested the aspect ratio of the Chocolate’s widescreen display is 21:9. To the average user it just means that LG have produced a phone that is extremely long, looking more like a chocolate bar in terms of shape than any other phone in the popular LG series.

One of the best things about the LG BL40 Chocolate is that it is multi-touch compatible, thanks to the capacitive touch screen. That means you do not just have to use one finger at a time to press one button. You can use two fingers to help you navigate the menu system, browse the web and zoom in on anything that you find interesting. This is a step in the right direction for LG who are always looking to better their rivals at Apple when it comes to touch screen innovation.

Another benefit of the widescreen aspect ratio is the sheer amount of information that can be squeezed onto the screen at the same time. This proves to be particularly useful when you are using the LG BL40 Chocolate’s music and media playing software, which has its own dedicated hotkey on the outside edge of the phone itself. Tons of different albums and tracks can be displayed on the screen at the same time and the same principle applies to the menu system. You can look at lots of applications and useful links at the same time. This can make the screen feel a little cluttered and crowded at times, but reducing the amount of scrolling required when you are searching for the right app or setting can only be a good thing.

The widescreen benefits also apply when you are browsing the web or sending texts. The screen lets you view most web pages in full without having to scroll sideways if you want to continue reading the text. When writing a text message you will be able to use the split screen functionality of the LG BL40 Chocolate widescreen display. On one side the contact information is viewable whilst on the other side of the wide display is the message text itself. It is an elegant solution to what could otherwise have been a problematic feature of the LG BL40 Chocolate.

The LG BL40 Chocolate widescreen lends itself to being used to watch videos. The resolution of 800×345 coupled with the true cinematic aspect ratio means that there is no better mobile phone for watching feature films on the market. Unlike competing handsets such as the iPhone, which have to crop movies to make them fit, the LG BL40 Chocolate widescreen phone will be filled from edge to edge with bright, crisp video. If you frequently use your mobile to watch films whilst you commute or on long journeys then the LG BL40 Chocolate may well be the phone for you.

To conclude, the LG BL40 Chocolate is a drop dead gorgeous example of what can be achieved when form and function meet in what is a virtually perfect marriage. Despite the slightly sluggish and sometimes confusing menu system, which is hampered by giving you too many options at times, the new Chocolate is too attractive to dismiss.