By Tham Yuen-C

IT IS easy to see why the LG Chocolate has its name. Its long, flat slab of a body (128 x 51 x 10.9mm) really makes it look like a chocolate bar.

LG has sold 36 million pieces of its Chocolate series phones since they were first launched in 2006. The newest version is its largest yet.

Though pancake flat, it is quite a bit longer than most candy bar models. A friend remarked that it looked like a remote control when I showed it to her, albeit a very classy one with its black glossy finish.

The touchscreen gizmo is solidly built, with its screen encased in scratch-resistant glass.

The style-conscious set that LG hopes to target will probably like that.

Despite its length, the phone does not feel large, mostly because it is rather narrow.

The reason for the length, though, is so the phone can achieve a display 21:9 aspect ratio when used in landscape mode.

This means you can browse websites without having to scroll sideways and enjoy movies without having the sides chopped off.

The 4-inch high-definition screen of the phone, with 345 x 800 pixels resolution, is brilliant and sharp, which makes it ideal for watching movies.

LG has also made full use of the length by customising some of its applications to show information in dual-screen mode.

For example, when using the e-mail application, the phone will display the list of e-mail messages in your Inbox on the left. As you scroll through the list, the contents of each e-mail will be displayed on the right. A nifty feature.

Navigation-wise, the phone's touchscreen is rather responsive. The applications took a while to load but that could be because of the phone's software.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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