LG Chocolate KG800 PC connection, ringtones, wallpaper, file transfer: mobile phone review 2

Monday, May 22, 2006

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UPDATE May 2007: if you want info on the LG Shine KE 970 phone - general review, photos, manual and software download, Gmail access and browser tips, and tips on connectivity (including transferring MP3s) and syncing the KE970.

With your KG800 Chocolate multimedia phone you get a USB cable to link it to your PC or Mac plus a CD of PC software (see part 1 of my review of this gorgeous phone for general pros, cons, tips etc. For a photo of how Lara Croft might wear this phone, see this post!). It also has Bluetooth connectivity. But its file storage capacity is limited to 128 MB.

This post is meant for the LG KG800 Chocolate phone but I've heard that a lot of this applies to other LG phones too. I've not tested that personally so if you want to try it do so at your own risk. The software (and manuals) for the main LG phone models in the UK, like the KG320, KG810, KG920 etc, can be downloaded from the uk.lgmobile.com site.

You can:
A. copy to your Chocolate phone MP3 or other audio files for ringtones or for the MP3 player, or transfer pics, videos and text files to it for viewing or as wallpaper
B. backup to PC the photos and videos that you've taken with the phone
C. use the phone as an extra removable drive, to transport files between different PCs
D. use the phone as a modem for your PC e.g. laptop (LG Internet Cube)
E. copy or synchronise contacts, diary and notes between phone and PC (LG PC Sync)
F. get extra ring tones and wallpaper from the supplied software (LG Contents Bank)

But a major source of problems for users is that, when using the USB cable between phone and computer, there are two, yes two, entirely separate methods of connection, reflecting 2 different modes the phone can operate in:

as a removable drive, like a USB flash drive or USB key (what LG call "mass storage mode"), or
as a modem.

To do A to C, you can use the phone as a removable drive - just connect it via the USB cable to your PC or Mac (yes this USB drive element works fine with Macs, see these comments), covered below. See the My Stuff section of the manual and also this separate "USB mass storage" manual.

But for D to F, getting a working connection between the Chocolate phone to your PC isn't as straightforward as it should be, because you have to use the phone as a modem for D to F to work, which means installing modem software on your PC (the LG software is PC-only, sorry Mac/Linux users) and taking some other fiddly steps to get the phone to talk to the LG-supplied Contents Bank software. So I deal with the best way (for Windows XP anyway) below.

Basic USB connection - for MP3s etc

If you just want to do A to C above, FIRST make sure the phone is on and in the basic state it's in when you first power on (i.e. on the "home screen", and not in any menu items). Do not at any stage close the phone slider, always leave it open.

Then, connect the phone to the PC or Mac via the USB cable. You should get a message on the phone screen with a yellow background saying "Do not disconnect the cable without the proper operation USB If you use modem select Connectivity-modem". Again keep the phone open.

The KG 800 will appear as an extra "Removable Disk" in My Computer/Windows Explorer (or the Mac equivalent), with a folder called My Media which has some subfolders (your mileage may vary):

Music
Others
Photos
Text and
Videos.

(It may not work in Windows 98 unless you install drivers - I have XP which doesn't need them, and I don't know if LG provide drivers or not.)

You can then copy music, image or video files etc from computer to phone and vice versa via My Computer/Windows Explorer or other file manager (there's free software to convert 3GP to AVI if you want to transfer videos to your computer and play them there). (I don't know if this works for Windows 98 users or if extra software needs to be installed first for this.)

See the "USB mass storage" manual for useful step by step pictorial info and instructions on this USB removable drive mode.

But some folders on the Chocolate are annoyingly invisible, so you can't transfer e.g. voice recording files from phone to computer, on my system at least.

Also no system files are visible, and there are a few gotchas to watch for:

Folder sensitivity - where to put music files and other files

MP3s and other audio files: you must copy MP3s to the Music folder, video files to the Videos folder within My Media, text files to the Text folder, or they won't play or display. The types of music files the Chocolate can play are listed in Part 1 specifications.

Don't create any subfolders to put your MP3s in, or your MP3s won't be found.

Photos and pictures: Don't copy pics to the Photos folder (which is reserved for pics taken with the Chocolate), you won't be able to view them there - put them in the Others folder. (You can however copy pics from the Photos folder to your computer for backup or viewing.)

The phone won't display JPGs bigger than 460k or GIFs over 100k.

You can use pics you've uploaded into the Others folder as wallpaper, see further below. But if you want to use an image as wallpaper it can't be bigger than a certain size (the official LG info is contradictory, I'm not sure if the limit is 100k as per pg. 6 of the storage manual or 30k as per p.73 of the main manual). See part 1 Specifications and also Images.

Files for transporting

If you're using the phone as a USB key type device, put the files in the Others folder - that's the best place for them.

Disconnecting

You shoudn't just unplug the phone or cable when you're through, with a PC at least. Most people will be familiar with the process but if not, in your system tray at the bottom right of the PC screen you need to rightclick the

icon, then choose Safely Remove Hardware:

Then you'll get a popup box something like this (depending on your own setup):

You want to choose USB Mass Storage Device, but beware if you've more than one removable drive attached to your PC to pick the correct one for the phone. When you highlight it in the list and click Stop and you see this, you'll have got the KG800 phone:

Click OK and you'll see:

Now you can disconnect the phone or its cable from the PC.

The LG software on the CD

To use the free ringtones and images provided by LG, and also in order to transfer Java games/apps from PC to phone, you have to install the LG software first. (Unfortunately for Mac users, it's PC only.)

The LG software on the CD (also downloadable) comprises:

Contents Bank - extra free ringtones and pics (for wallpaper etc) you can download to your Chocolate phone (you can use Contents Bank to transfer Java games to your phone too, after some tweaking - see below)
Internet Cube - to use your KG800 as a modem for your laptop to access the Internet
PC Sync - to access and edit your phonebook, schedule and memo on the PC
USB modem driver.

Contents Bank is the most useful for most people. But to get Contents Bank to work you need to:

install the required software including the modem driver, AND
follow a very precise order of steps to put your phone in modem mode and connect it to the PC (fiddly, I know, but get it wrong and it won't work).

I repeat: to use the Contents Bank software properly, you have to install it plus the modem driver, even if you don't plan to use the phone as a modem (that's a bit of a misnomer), because you do in fact have to put the phone in "modem mode" in order to for the Contents Bank software to work. (It's easiest and probably best just to install all the software in one go.)

Here's the howto. (Click on any of the pics to get a larger image.)

DON'T try to connect phone to PC yet. (Well you could, but you'll be limited in what you can do with it, i.e. just A to C in the list above, until you finish the steps below. Plus, if you try to use LG Content Bank etc, without installing the modem driver, you'll get Error CME-250 and other things...)

First, do this:

1. Install the software from the supplied CD (or download it from here, unzip then install). It should run automatically when you insert the CD but if not just view it in My Computer or Windows Explorer and doubleclick Setup.exe. I'd skip the intro if I were you... pick the KG800 phone, English seems the only choice on my CD.

Then when you get to the following, make sure EVERYTHING is ticked particularly the last item, even if you aren't planning to use the Chocolate as a modem for your laptop (you'll see why later):

2. Check it's installed properly by inserting the CD again (or clicking Setup.exe) and picking Modify, making sure it's all ticked and trying again. It took me several gos to get the modem to install, go figure.

3. Do NOT try to connect the phone to the computer yet - this is important, Contents Bank and PC Sync won't work if you try to connect the phone to the computer before you do these next things. Switch the phone on. DON'T plug in the USB cable yet. Go to the menu Settings, Connectivity, Modem and pick Yes for "Do you want to activate modem"? Do NOT slide the phone closed, leave it open (and keep it open during the entire process). Do NOT launch Contents Bank or PC Sync on your PC yet, leave them closed.

4. Go back to the main "home" screen of the phone by pressing Back, Back and Back on the phone (UPDATED 8 Apr 2007: Alan reports that, on his phone anyway, backing up turns his modem off; in his case he connects to the PC straight after activating the modem and it works. Do whatever works for your phone, obviously, and if one way doesn't work try the other ). Leave the phone on (and slider open - don't close the slider at any point during the attempted transfer or you'll kill it). Again make sure Contents Bank and PC Sync on the PC are NOT open. Now you can connect the phone to PC via the supplied USB cable. (If you haven't installed the modem driver properly before, you'll get all sorts of new hardware found etc errors. Just try step 2 again till it works!)

5. Then, and only then, should you fire up LG Contents Bank or PC Sync - there will be shortcuts from your Start menu to those programs, as usual. (I'm not going to cover Internet Cube in this post). Leave the phone open throughout.

LG Contents Bank

The next thing you need to do, after (NOT before) you've installed the software, activated the modem on the phone and connected the phone to the PC as detailed above, is to check the Contents Bank connection is correct - in the Contents Bank's Tool menu, pick Option. Under Setting, click the dropdown list for Port and choose the one that says LG USB Cable (COM something - mine is 9 but yours may differ, the main thing is to pick LG USB Cable):

Baud rate doesn't really seem to matter. Then click OK, and in the main window click the Connect icon in the middle of the window.

You can preview ringtones (menu View, Melody or click the

icon) or images (menu View, Picture or click the

icon).

Check out the folders on the left for ringtones you can listen to ("Buzz", "Classics", "LG Creations"):

Just doubleclick on a ringtone name to hear what it sounds like:

When you hear a ringtone you want, just click on it on the left (you can hold down Ctrl and click more than one), then click the Download icon in the middle of the window to download it to your Chocolate phone. If you get a Timeout popup dialogue box you may need to click Connect again to make sure the phone is properly connected (as if you connect the phone, then don't do anything for a while, the connection is terminated). (If you keep getting Timeout errors, try disconnecting and turning the phone off and shutting down Contents Bank. Then go through steps 3 to 5 above and then launch Contents Bank again. It may take several tries, be warned!)

Those ringtones are all in MMF format or MIDI format. If you want to use your own MMF or MIDI ringtones, before you connect the phone just copy the desired files to the RingTone subfolder of your Contents Bank folder on your computer (on mine it's C:\Program Files\LGGSM\LGContentsBank\Contents\RingTone\ with subfolders for Buzz, etc). You can even create new subfolders on your computer, as long as they're in the LGGSM\LGContentsBank\Contents\RingTone folder.

For wallpaper, again you can open the different folders on the left (there are different themes like cute animals (kittens, awwww), vegetables if your thing is holding ripe tomatoes in your hand or if you prefer courgettes, etc):

Click on a filename to preview what one looks like on your phone:

Again you can choose more than one file by Ctrl-clicking on them, then click the Download icon in the middle of the window to download them to your KG 800 (they'll go in the My Stuff, Images folder).

And as with MMF or MIDI ringtones, if you want to use your own pics as wallpaper, one way is to save them into the C:\Program Files\LGGSM\LGContentsBank\Contents\Picture\ folder of your computer (including creating subfolders within Picture if you wish) and transfer them to the phone with Contents Bank. See further below.

You can also use Contents Bank to delete any music or photo files that you previously downloaded to your phone - just select the file on the right and click the Delete button in the middle.

To disconnect the phone in this mode you don't need to safely remove hardware, you can just unplug it.

How to use downloaded audio files as ringtones and images as wallpaper

Ringtones. On the phone itself, to use your downloaded ringtones (1) go to the profile you want (menu, Profiles, pick the profile like General which is the default), choose Personalise, Ring tone, My Folder (this method will also let you pick as ringtones MP3 files transferred to your Chocolate's Music folder via the removable drive method) - or alternatively (2) go to My Stuff, Sounds, highlight the one you want, Options, and Set as ringtone. Obviously you'll need to activate the profile to get the ringtone associatd with that profile.

If you've changed a profile to include a particular ringtone and activated the profile, but it still rings with a different ringtone, check who's calling and are they in a caller group. Get to Caller groups via the Contacts menu. After you select a group there's a Group ring tone option. Check what that ringtone is. If there is a different group ring tone for a group, that will override whatever ringtone you set for the profile, so you need to change the group ring tone too.

Wallpaper. To choose a downloaded pic as wallpaper go to menu My Stuff, Images (or Others, if you downloaded the pic via the basic USB removable drive connection), pick the one you want, View, Options, Set as wallpaper (if you want to use an image from the Others folder you may get a "Copy to Images to set as wallpaper. Continue?" message - of course you should pick Yes). Another way is Settings, Display, Wallpaper, My Folder but it's not as good as that limits you to choosing pics in the Images folder. There are size limitations for wallpaper. Both GIF and JPG files will be fine as long as they're not too big - the official LG info is contradictory, I'm not sure if the limit is 100k as per pg. 6 of the storage manual or 30k as per p.73 of the main manual.

Some pics may look cut off in the Preview view in Contents Bank on your PC, but don't worry - after you transfer them to the phone, if you view them and in Options choose Set as wallpaper, the phone will scale them down to fit. The proportions may look a bit odd as a result, but it's better than not being able to use your own pics at all. Perfectionists may wish to scale the pic to the right resolution on their computer before downloading it!

(You'll see that My Stuff now has extra folders not mentioned in the manual - after Text there will be Images and Sounds folders.)

US phones, miniSD cards and music files

US phones have a mini SD card slot, lucky Americans (UK phones don't). Here's some helpful person's tip on how to play MP3s or other audio files from the SD card: create a folder on the card called "my_mp3" and put the music in there and it should work. The music essentials kit also apparently works for transferring sound files to the Chocolate. Thanks for the tips. If only my version took expansion cards!

LG PC Sync - contacts

Once you've done steps 1 to 4 above, IN THAT ORDER (especially step 3 THEN step 4 NOT the other way round), and keeping the phone slider open always, you can also launch PC Sync (click the pic below to enlarge it):

Again you choose the Option menu and pick the same numbered COM port as you did for Contents Bank. The main thing this does is to load your contacts info from your phone (both phone memory and SIM) into your PC.

Now although this program is called PC Sync, and there's an Outlook tab and Express (for Outlook Express) tab, so far I've not been able to read anything into PC Sync from Outlook, let alone synchronise contacts between phone and Outlook 2003 on my PC (the instructions say it's compatible with Outlook 2000 so maybe that's why - though Outlook Express doesn't work either).

The right side of the window shows the contents of your Chocolate cellphone. The left side of the PC Sync window represents your PC.

On the right (representing your phone) in the bottom half there are 2 tabs: Mobile and SIM. Clicking the Mobile tab (after you've correctly connected the phone as described above, of course) will show the contents of the contacts in your phone's memory, and the SIM tab displays the contacts in your SIM card's memory.

On the left (PC), in the bottom half there are 3 tabs: Phonebook, Outlook and Express. Phonebook will be the copy held on your PC of your Chocolate phonebook. The Outlook tab is for the contents of your Outlook address book (e.g. Outlook 2003), and the Express tab for the contents of your Outlook Express contacts. You'll see that if you click the Outlook tab (or if that doesn't work first click the Outlook tab then click the Read button in the top left quadrant), the PC Sync software reads in and displays the contents of your Outlook contacts (I think Outlook doesn't even have to be open for it to do that) - it may flash up "Adding data" and you may get messages like the following (with Outlook 2003 anyway):

You should tick the box in the "Allow access for" line and select a time period in the dropdown (max i.e. 10 minutes is best especially with a large address book), then click Yes. If you don't PC Sync won't be able to read in your contact details from Outlook. And if you have too many contacts it may not be able to read them in either (that's the problem I had when first trying all this. When I moved most of the contacts from Outlook into a separate file, it was fine).

After it's read in the details of your Outlook (or whatever) contacts, they'll show in the bottom left quadrant. Tick the ones you want to copy across to the phone or Select All to copy all of them. Important: if the phone is not already open, slide it open and keep it open throughout! (thanks to Anon). On the right, in the bottom right quadrant, click the Mobile or SIM tab depending on where you want the contacts copied to on the phone.

Then in the middle of the window click the >> button. (It works the other way round to transfer contact details from phone/SIM to Outlook/phonebook, using the <<). PC Sync also provides a handy way to create new contacts and edit existing ones using a larger and quicker PC keyboard. Just use the New and Edit buttons in the top left quadrant. There's a File, Save as CSV file and also Load from CSV file option but I've not been able to get that to do anything yet... Of course ideally I'd like to be able to use this to backup my contacts to my PC, if nothing else. I got "Success to save" on trying to save but I haven't found the file (if it's meant to save as CSV). You can view and edit your Calendar and Memos too, see the tabs at the bottom of the window. Again you can just disconnect the phone in this mode without using Safely remove hardware when you're through.

Troubleshooting PC connection problems, improving connectivity

Timeout..., Initialising please wait..., Other application used this port. Failed to open... - sound familiar? Consider the suggestions in this post. That post also deals with possible ways to improve connectivity e.g. increase size of files transmissible via Contents Bank to the phone in modem mode.

Bluetooth connectivity

You can also connect the KG800 Chocolate to your PC via Bluetooth (Settings, Connectivity, Bluetooth).

I managed to get it to work with my PC's Bluetooth USB adapter (a Belkin F8T008) and even paired the Chocolate with my PC (just type in any number for the PIN, and the same number on the phone).

I got PC Sync to work over Bluetooth, loading contacts from phonebook to PC (in PC Sync make sure under Option you pick the right COM port for Bluetooth, just experiment and see). But note that according to the manual "you can only exchange data within the phonebook" over Bluetooth. I think that means that only PC Sync works properly with Bluetooth.

Certainly I couldn't get Contents Bank to work over Bluetooth, not even when picking the right (I thought) Bluetooth port, and I came to know and hate Error CME-250.

I also managed to transfer files over Bluetooth from the phone to my computer (by drag and drop from my My Bluetooth Places window - yours may differ) - but it just wouldn't work the other way round, I couldn't copy files from computer to phone.

Files of any type, it seems, can be sent via Bluetooth e.g. music, pics, to another phone. You can also receive files via Bluetooth and they should automatically be saved in the right folder, but I've not managed to test that yet.

Some commenters have helpfully posted their experiences with Bluetooth headsets - please see those comments for howtos.

One general warning though - always remember to switch Bluetooth off when you've finished (or in the sub-Settings set Visibility so only paired devices can view your Chocolate), or else you could be "bluejacked" with joke messages or worse.

Java - transferring Java apps to your phone via your PC

If you want to download Java apps e.g. games to your KG800 over the USB cable rather than doing an OTA (over the air) download using the browser on your phone (which costs in data charges), now see this post.

[This post was generally updated on 29 August 2006, mainly to add detailed info about syncing with Outlook/Express, and the Java section - with many thanks to the people who commented. Further updated on 2 October 2006 for the Java post, thanks to Anon! And another update on 1 Jan 2007, mainly to expand on ringtones and wallpaper, and again on 2 Jan 2007 to link to a new troubleshooting post, etc.]

UPDATE May 2007: if you want info on the LG Shine KE 970 phone - general review, photos, manual and software download, Gmail access and browser tips, and tips on connectivity and syncing the KE970.

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277 Comment(s):

"Now although this program is called PC Sync, and there's an Outlook tab and Express (for Outlook Express) tab, so far I've not been able to read anything into PC Sync from Outlook, let alone synchronise contacts between phone and Outlook 2003 on my PC (the instructions say it's compatible with Outlook 2000 so maybe that's why - though Outlook Express doesn't work either)."

That's my problem, too!
Have you got any solution for it, or maybe an idea why it doesn't work?

I'm enerved...

Your article is good-writing work. I like reading it!

I would hope for an anwer!

greets - cia

(By cia, at Friday, May 26, 2006 2:27:00 PM) Edit Comment

I think it's a mistake from LG electronics.

Pc Sync isn't able to synchronize anything...

cia

(By cia, at Friday, May 26, 2006 9:53:00 PM) Edit Comment

First of all, I would like to thank you for your excellent and complete article. Thanks to the information you wrote, I have been able to finally connect the KG800 to my computer. The instructions in the handbook where not totally clear, and, if you do not follow the correct order on the installation of the software, activation of the modem on the phone and connection to the USB port, you cannot find the proper port on the supplied software.

I asked a question on the official web page of LG before I found this blog. Let's see how long it takes them to reply (if they do). Although that appears to happen with all official sites (it has already happenned to me with Philips and with Sony, it takes ages for them to reply).

Regarding PC Sync, I managed to do a sort of synchronization. And I mean a sort of because it does not really synchronize (as e.g. a PDA does) but it makes some type of "mix" with the data read from Outlook and the data read from the phone. So, e.g., after doing said synchro, you have all the data from your phone in Outlook (doubled if you have data from the same people), i.e. it appears to add the data from your phone into Outlook without checking if the same names are already there. Anyway, I found it a quite useful tool.

(By Anonymous, at Sunday, May 28, 2006 9:31:00 AM) Edit Comment

Thanks for the article. It helped me install and use the software and drivers. Unfortunatly, for some reason my chocolatebar does not allow me to search trough my contacts anymore. When I choose the option it just blocks. I have to close and open the slider to get access to the menu again.

(By Anonymous, at Sunday, May 28, 2006 12:42:00 PM) Edit Comment

Click on Outlook and then on the 'Read' button and it should read the contacts you have in outlook and display them in this window. Select the contacts you wish to transfer and click on the right arrow shown at the very centre of the PC Sync application. This should transfer contacts from outlook to your phone. The same can be done with the Schedule and the Memo.

(By cia, at Sunday, May 28, 2006 3:00:00 PM) Edit Comment

PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHH

I've done everything right I'm sure, time and time again, from reinstalling checking my ports etc.. but when i click on 'connect' in LG contents bank i just get a window saying initializing... please wait. i'm still waiting

(By Anonymous, at Sunday, May 28, 2006 8:22:00 PM) Edit Comment

Does the phone have voice activation and speed dial. The manual seems pritty basic. Samsung D900 seems very similar?

(By Anonymous, at Monday, May 29, 2006 8:14:00 PM) Edit Comment

Cia, thanks for your comments. When I said PC Sync didn't work for me, I meant that when I click the Outlook tab and then Read, nothing happens (sometimes I get a message in Outlook that a program is trying to access Outlook email addresses - which is fine, I know it's PC Sync that's trying to do that - but when I click Yes to allow access, still nothing happens. Other times I don't even get that message). Do you have Outlook 2002 Cia? My suspicion is that it will read in the contact details fine from Outlook 2000 but not later versions of Outlook.

(By Improbulus, at Monday, May 29, 2006 10:23:00 PM) Edit Comment

Anon, I'm glad my post helped you connect - I agree, the manual's not much help at all and if you get the order of things wrong then it won't work at all.

As for PC Sync, I agree, I can get contacts from the phone added to Outlook if I select the desired contacts on the right and the Outlook tab on the left, then click the double left arrow in the middle to add them to Outlook. What I can't do is read contact info from Outlook to the tab on the left, then copy them to the phone. It could be because due to a previous attempt to synchronise with my Psion 5mx I have too many contacts in my Outlook, but I've cut them down yet and tried again and no joy - it won't populate the left hand side with existing contacts from Outlook.

(By Improbulus, at Monday, May 29, 2006 10:36:00 PM) Edit Comment

Anon, I don't know why your contacts are no longer searchable - try LG support?

Other anon - sorry, no idea, if you've done it in the right order and selected the right COM port before connecting you should be OK. Again, try LG support?

Final anon - no voice activation I'm afraid. Yes there's speed dial, you can allocate only 8 speed dials though.

(By Improbulus, at Monday, May 29, 2006 10:39:00 PM) Edit Comment

I have Outlook 2003 and it still works now.
I also got the message that a program is trying to access outlook email adresses, but than I can choose for which timeframe I want to allow access. When I say "for 10min" pc Sync uploads all my contacts from Outlook. Maybe you'll have to change your configurations in outlook itself.

My problem was, that I didn't see the arrows between the windows to confirm starting the synchronisation...

By the way, sorry, for my terrible English...

(By cia, at Tuesday, May 30, 2006 2:25:00 PM) Edit Comment

Had this phone a week and i have gone from loving it to loathing it in that time...the only good thing i can say about it is that it looks GREAT...sadly thats it for the good...now on with the bad!..battery life for a start is rubbish, and as you get little or no warning the phone is apt to turn itself off...lasts me about a day and a half tops. I have been unable using XP to use the software in any other but a basic way, as in i can drag and drop files into the phone folders but have been unable to synchronise any of my contacts or any other phone information so i guess i can't really comment on that, i would add that i have not had similar problems with my Nokia phone or Sony Ericsson phones. Even adding contacts (a basic function I would have thought for a mobile phone!)has proved problematic. Even in Korea i'm sure Names begin with a capital letter so why is the lower case option the first choice given in the Name field, meaning that for every name entered you have to scroll through abc to get to ABC to then have to scroll through 123 to get back to lower case entry...this wouldn't be a major problem if i could enter contacts through my computer but as mentioned i can't get the software to work...and reading comments online i'm not the only one! The next problem i encountered was that when i save numbers to my SIM card all my contacts appear twice, even when i have set my default phonebook...i don't want to see my contacts twice...and whats wrong with alphabetical order...I know it's not necessary for calling or texting but it is usual. Additionally you cannot add just any jpeg to a contact name, it has to be a picture taken on the phone in 72x72 format...great for the people i see face to face every day...not quite so good for the people i don't...and consequently need to phone or text!
Texting and sending messages isnt a major problem..the T9 predictive text works ok except that yet again Abc is not the default setting so you have to scroll through to capitalise after a full stop, also if you fail to notice a word spelt incorrectly there is no option to highlight it and change it...you have to delete it and type it again..a little niggle but shows a lack of attention to detail! Bluetooth sending also isn't a problem...receiving however is..for some reason the phone fails to recognise the file formats of most things i've been sent...a video I made of my nephew at Christmas on my Nokia phone which i have sent numerous times to friends and relatives is apparently an unsupported file type...but when i forward it from my chocolate phone to any other phone i can then view it...how convenient! Similarly, i am unable to view most videos sent by media message and if i try to save them they are placed in the Others folder by default...and sadly you cannot view them or move them from there...perhaps the computer software would enable me to move the files or view them, but yet again i can't use that! Also it would appear the phone is incapable of viewing high resolution pictures bluetoothed or media messaged from other phones..I can forward them to my nokia phone i have had over a year to view them...but to be honest I CAN'T BE ARSED and nor should i have to! My bluetooth headset also doesn't like the chocolate phone (its a Motorola H700, six months old and the mutts nutz as far as i'm concerned) in a call it works fine but the phone does not allow last dialled number redial or the ability to end a call on the headset, you actually have to end the call using the button on the side of the phone or go into the call registry to redial the last number...which kinda takes away the handsfree element of using a bluetooth headset!! and once again i have to add that this hasn't been a problem on any other phone i have used it with...The MP3 player works well...the remote control for it doesn't, its rubbish, and the least said about the earphones the better, the nicest thing i have to say about them is that at least you can plug a more aesthetically pleasing pair into the remote jack. The camera seems to work ok...its nigh on impossible to take a self pic tho due to the touch sensitive panel (if you have this phone try it for yourself to realise what a bad piece of design work this is) but for taking other peoples pictures it works ok. The Organiser function i have barely touched...i notice it has no Birthday feature so if you can remember all your friends birthdays from year to year you can go and update them periodically...if you can do that though i can't really see why you'd need an organiser. The alarm feature is also badly thought out...firstly you have a poor selection of alarm tones (which i suppose works if you want to be woken up with an urge to throw your phone at the nearest hard surface)MP3's cannot be used as alarm tones...and also if your phone is switched off or in silent mode the Alarm doesn't go off....(most of my friends think this is not a problem but again i will say that even in silent mode or when switched off my Nokia and Sony phones alarms would always go off...and they had a snooze feature which again the LG doesn't offer). Finally given that the one plus side of the phone is that it looks so good, why would i want to put it in the manky suedette pouch that is supplied with it...why couldn't it come in a stylish leather case designed for it like the Motorola RZR does!! I guess at the end of the day if you don't care that the phone you are using is rubbish but looks gorgeous then hang on to your Chocolate...to be honest you'll be too busy watching reruns of Footballers Wives to use it much anyway, but if you want a decent phone that's had some thought put into how and why it is to be used i'd seriously recommend looking elsewhere (Nokia, Sony, Samsung...even Alcatel goddamnit!)Thankfully mines going back to Carphone Wharehouse tomorrow.

(By Anonymous, at Tuesday, May 30, 2006 9:04:00 PM) Edit Comment

Thanks for your detailed comments Anon. I agree with a lot of what you say (see part 1 of my review), and you've mentioned a few negatives I hadn't highlighted too.

Cia at least has got Outlook sync working, but I haven't been able to yet (not even with setting timeframe for access to 10 minutes, I should have mentioned before that I'd already tried that). I don't think it's my Outlook config as I do get the same message and option to allow access for 10 mins. It just doesn't read them into PC Sync!

(By Improbulus, at Tuesday, May 30, 2006 11:45:00 PM) Edit Comment

Forgive me if I missed anything, but I am so frustrated right now. I have installed everything in the correct order, yet when ever I start up Contents Bank, it does not let me select the LG USB cable. It doesnt even show up on the list, even though I have installed, uninstalled, reinstalled.. I honestly cannot work out what is wrong with it!

(By Anonymous, at Wednesday, May 31, 2006 6:33:00 PM) Edit Comment

Anon, two things.

First, you must have installed the LG USB modem driver as mentioned in my post. Keep trying (ticking Modify as I said) until you know it's it's installed. (If it hasn't, when you activate the modem on the Chocolate then connect it with the cable, you will get new hardware errors).

Second, you must do things EXACTLY in the order I said in my post. If you launch Contents Bank before you activate the modem and connect the phone, you won't see a USB cable option under Port in Contents Bank at all - it just won't appear in the dropdown list for Port.

The LG USB cable option appears ONLY if you first install the modem driver correctly, activate the modem on the phone, connect the phone to the PC via the cable, THEN open Contents Bank and select Tool, Option, LG USB Cable.

Hope that helps.

(By Improbulus, at Wednesday, May 31, 2006 11:40:00 PM) Edit Comment

Interesting comments - I got the phone, wowed by the appearance of course, then plunged into disappointment at looking at the features... but then learning to live with them. PC software took some experimenting with, but now works fine and syncs with outlook. Phone function is fine - contacts sorted and work fine. Took me some time to figure out how to 'hang-up' but thats something new to learn to. No voice activation is a pain - but i have never found a phone that is reliable at 80mph on a motorway that will capture my voice commands perfectly anyway..

Camera works well, no complaints, and I use the side button to take pictures as the front panel buttons are not sensitive enough, at the time needed.

My only qualm? cannot seem to download java apps and games. LG do not seem to able to help neither.

Otherwise.. for what is has.. it is so light!

Footballers wives?

(By Anonymous, at Thursday, June 01, 2006 10:29:00 AM) Edit Comment

this article rocks...

(By forestgiant, at Friday, June 02, 2006 10:46:00 AM) Edit Comment

Hi there, first of all I’d like to thank you and others that take time to write articles like these.
The LG Sync software in my opinion is absolutely rubbish, however if you follow this article to the T you should be fine. I’ve just connected the phone to an Acer Windows XP Laptop. The problem I had was with the LG Contents bank “Initializing”, but starting the modem before connecting the phone appeared to resolve the issue. I did also re-install the software once or twice.
The phone is like a few girls I’ve met; looks awesome on the outside, but has some annoying problems underneath.
No load speaker
Awful text input
Very poor sync software
Nothing I can’t live with though. It's the best looking phone I've ever seen, worth putting up with the problems. I’m sure that LG will improve these in the new models.
Thanks again guys.

(By Anonymous, at Friday, June 02, 2006 11:07:00 PM) Edit Comment

Ohh yeah and the keys have no backlight, what the h*ll is that about.....?
Starting to be annoyed with the stupid design problems, if I wasn't getting a free PSP I think this would be going back in the post :-(

(By Anonymous, at Sunday, June 04, 2006 12:54:00 PM) Edit Comment

Just to say - the keys do have a rather nice backlight so not sure why yours don't. Maybe you have power saving mode on?

(By Anonymous, at Sunday, June 04, 2006 11:44:00 PM) Edit Comment

Hmmm, no it's definitely broken, ok ok, i had power saving on, now I'm just back to the rubbish t9 text input that's annoying, other than that, great phone :-)

(By Anonymous, at Monday, June 05, 2006 10:34:00 PM) Edit Comment

Thanks for the comments. Glad you liked the post, whitesugar and Anon. :)

I, too have learned to live with the lack of features/usability for the sake of the looks. And that point about using the side button for the camera is a good one. I too can't get the few Java apps I've tried to download - with the exception of the Opera mini browser, which does work (see Part 1 of my review).

Glad you sorted out the backlight issue Anon. I agree entirely about the bad T9 implementation.

(By Improbulus, at Friday, June 09, 2006 8:56:00 AM) Edit Comment

To answer C-Bass's email query which went:

"Hi there,

Just read your blog about the chocolate phone from LG.

I can't seem to connect this bastard via the USB cable no matter what I try to do. Keep getting timeout errors.

You got any tips I could try? I did everything that you suggested on the blog but no luck."

Hi. It's not just what you do but when you do them. The order of doing things is vital. You need to do things exactly in the order I said, e.g. activate the modem before connecting the cable, etc. Worse comes to worse, you could try uninstalling and reinstalling the modem driver?

(By Improbulus, at Friday, June 09, 2006 9:40:00 AM) Edit Comment

Thanks, got it.

I didn't realize you couldn't have the software open before plugging the phone in. The rest of the steps I followed exactly.

For anyone who complains about the software sync etc,.

I've had the same issues trying to connect the RAZR via cable. USB works like a charm, but do a quick google for RAZR and USB cable and tell me it's a non-issue.

Seems to me that most of the phone sync software out there is junk.

(By C-Bass, at Friday, June 09, 2006 9:22:00 PM) Edit Comment

Just want to relate my Motorola H700 bluetooth headset experiences which is different from the earlier post.

To dial the last number called, I tap the headset twice and it will make the call. After the first tap, you have to let the KG800 activate that number ( takes less than a sec ), then tap the headset again to call. To end a call, I just tap the headset, no problems here. A note here, I have *authorised* the paired bluetooth H700 under the *connections* settings - maybe earlier poster omitted this step ? If a call comes in with my headset off, just flip the power on AND tap the headset to make the connection. Actually I like the H700 performance with my KG800 better than with my O2 mini.

Hope it helps.

(By Anonymous, at Tuesday, June 13, 2006 9:49:00 PM) Edit Comment

Hi everyone, I must say this. This is a great article. I do not think even the fellas in LG knows more about this phone that you do.

Now to my questions:
I have possibly reinstalled the disc given a few million times and I still can't get the bloody Bank to work and neither is the Sync. With the Bank it keep saying that its initializing but nothing ever happenes. With the Sync, I can read my contacts from Outlook (2003) but I cant read anything from the phone, so i doubt it is connected. And the arrows in the centre is not lighted up so i cant do any transfering btwn phone and outlook. I am really frustrated.

I understand that some of you have managed to get it working, care to give some tips? I was so upset when I heard that it isnt compatible with Outlook 2003 but since some of you manage to get it going, so there is still hope i guess? crossing my fingers. thanks a great deal.

(By Health and Health, at Wednesday, June 14, 2006 4:23:00 PM) Edit Comment

its me again. after i wrote the comment above, i managed to get it working, both the bank and the pc sync, so its not true that its not compatible with Outlook 2003.
now the other problem i face, when it was working and while i was happily downloading files from the bank, it timed out!!! and hadnt been working since. i reinstalled everything and now i am getting the "initializing" prompt again. i remembered that when it was working, the comport was 10 and now its comport4, should it change?

Joanne

(By Health and Health, at Wednesday, June 14, 2006 5:50:00 PM) Edit Comment

Hey id just like to thank the poster of this helpful information that has helped me to connect my LG KG800 to the contents bank! Thanks very much, so much better instructions than the manual itself :D
I dont suppose anyone knows how to use contents bank to transfer pics off the mobile phone to the pc as i cant seem to work out how to do it if it is at all possible? Many thanks

(By Sarz, at Sunday, June 18, 2006 2:57:00 PM) Edit Comment

hi. great site. i have other problems with my usb connection:

(1) first the good thing: if i connect the cable i get access via file explorer to the mobile. just like an usb stick. no menus no software. great.

(2) now the bad thing: if i try to use pc sync or the contents bank i cannot get the connection. i have chosen 'LG USB Cable(COM4)' as connection. behavior is really strange:
- contents bank: i click on 'connect', no dialog, nothing happens. i click again: error message 'Other application used this port. Failed to open 4 port'. Grmpf
- pc sync: i click on 'read', wait dialog appears, waiting waiting..., then error: "No reponse from mobile. Please check connection or baudrate". Funny to mention that you cannot modify the later in this app.

but anyway: HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!

has anybody had the same problem?

huge thanx,
p

(By Anonymous, at Sunday, June 18, 2006 3:21:00 PM) Edit Comment

Just a quick question can the actual LG Sync Program actually Syncronise between your phone and Outlook or do you have to transfer the data manually?

Thanks Maestroguru

(By Maestro, at Monday, June 19, 2006 3:17:00 AM) Edit Comment

I am having same problem as the last persons did
I am able to connect with the windows explorer, but when I try to do with the modem I get the anoying message Cannot open COM 4 port..I have spend like 10 hours with this. and I am already frustaded. I test the LG modem under modems in control panel and works perfec. I hope somebody can help

(By Anonymous, at Tuesday, June 20, 2006 8:38:00 PM) Edit Comment

I have issues with USB connection but it works perfectly fine if I use bluetooth to sync with my outlook 2003. The first time it failed after importing about 20% of the contacts but the second time works fine. Make sure you delete the 20% of the contacts you imported or you will get duplicates.

(By Anonymous, at Wednesday, June 21, 2006 10:52:00 AM) Edit Comment

The instructions above worked perfectly first time!!! Im using Windows XP sp2 with Outlook 2003 and the LG usb cable and i was able to sync my outlook contacts list with the LG using PC Sync. It is GREAT!!! Not only that but on my phone i can now see multiple contact details per name such as address, email, phone numbers, etc...

I also tried sending an email and it was brilliant. Didnt require any of the crap nokia pxt or mms settings that you usually have to download to get gprs working.

Only downside ive seen so far is that there is some limitation on how many people you can assign per group in your contact list.

Man i cant wait to start loading games onto this thing.

JJ

(By Anonymous, at Thursday, June 22, 2006 3:17:00 AM) Edit Comment

Is it possible to create NEW phone contacts in the PC Sync software and send it to the phone?

If possible can someone please tell me how it works?

Thanks

(By Anonymous, at Thursday, June 22, 2006 3:17:00 PM) Edit Comment

deos the phone have bmg mode??which is whild you do other things in your phone u could listen to music??i think it's called multi tasking function. i heard korean version has this function on this phone.please reply thank you.

(By danny, at Thursday, June 22, 2006 6:57:00 PM) Edit Comment

i recently received a samsung e900 upgrade and although its similar to chocolate it didnt look as good and the touch screen was too sensitive and even picked up from my face when on a call and beeped annoyingly, i sent it back and got a chocolate. after reading reviews i was in two minds i even played about with a friends one as i wasnt sure. i have to say that nokia is still my fave for overall use but take a look at the latest ones.........looks are nothing compared to the chocolate! its great for people who call and text, i'm not a computer genius but still worked out how to download mp3 which to the naff standard ring tones. if you have a pc at home you only need a basic phone and if it looks this good who cares if it doesnt do much else. people seem to forget.... its a mobile phone!

(By Anonymous, at Friday, June 23, 2006 10:26:00 PM) Edit Comment

Got this phone the other day... LOVE IT!!!...much better than any other nokia, motorola, sony phone i have had V3 etc.... Just wanted to note that it doesnt only connect to a pc.. I just plug the usb into my Apple macbook Pro and its as easy as pie. Drag the music from itunes into the songs folder and in around 4-5 seconds the transfere is complete.

(By Anonymous, at Sunday, June 25, 2006 3:53:00 AM) Edit Comment

Getting really frustrated. I used this article when I first got the kg800 to successfully use the ContentsBank.

Now, when I try to activitate the modem, and then connect with the USB cable, then open up ContentsBank, I get the dreaded "initializing...please wait".

I don't know what changed between then and now. So, when I activate the modem on my phone, then connect the USB, nothing happens: the screen on the phone just remains as my wallpaper....and the computer doesn't even recognize the phone (it's not there when I click "my computer")

I have no idea what is going on. I've re-installed the software, I've powercycled the phone, i've taken out the sim card, i've crashed the phone, everything.

(By Anonymous, at Monday, June 26, 2006 12:22:00 AM) Edit Comment

Has anyone figure out this "Other application used this port. Failed to open 6 port" thing?

I installed and ran the ContentsBank on a friend's computer and it worked just fine.

But every time I try to run it on mine, I get the error message that I wrote above. I've uninstalled and installed so many times. It makes no difference.

(By Anonymous, at Monday, June 26, 2006 4:26:00 AM) Edit Comment

Is there anything i can do to get a louder text alert?

Thanks Emma

(By Anonymous, at Tuesday, June 27, 2006 1:28:00 PM) Edit Comment

Thanks for the great blog!

(By Anonymous, at Wednesday, June 28, 2006 12:44:00 AM) Edit Comment

I had problems with both the contents bank and the pc sync. I found a re-install and then a modify (the usb modem driver seems to get installed even if you click remove!) worked. I then got a comm port busy error so I changed the device settings for the comm port (whilst the phone is plugged in) in device manager. I chose comm port 20 and things then sprang into life...

(By Anonymous, at Friday, June 30, 2006 4:23:00 PM) Edit Comment

Hi

I am in US and managed to get this phone a couple of days ago. I

A Consuming Experience