The LG KF390 is the first HSDPA 7.2Mbps mobile phone that gets Telstra's Blue Tick, which means you’ll have great coverage in regional areas without using an external antenna. Phones used in outback Australia used to be big and bulky, but ‘the times they are a changin’.’

The KF390 still isn’t the smallest mobile around, but it’s relative compact size and design has resulted in a great mobile for the bush that will still fit easily in one hand. This LG handset feels pretty sturdy and its spring-operated slider doesn’t flop around loosely like lesser models in the marketplace. Aesthetically, the handset is painted with a dark, metallic blue and is glossy on the front side. One issue you may come across is a mess of fingerprints on the glossy side, resulting in an inability to view the outer screen when the sun is shining brightly overhead.

When you slide the phone open, you’ll find a small keypad featuring big, raised keys. These are quite tactile and you should be able to type quite quickly, especially with the T9 auto-correction system.

To navigate through your menus, a five-way navigational pad takes care of the hard work, while you’re provided with several other touch-sensitive keys including music and shortcut buttons, plus two selection keys.
LG’s KF390 impresses most with its HSDPA 7.2 capability. Over Telstra's Next G network browsing speeds are quite quick, and as a Telstra handset, the KF390 provides access to tons of content like FOXTEL mobile, BigPond Music, WhereIs maps and Yellow Pages. All of these services load up with lightning speed. However, if you want to do general internet browsing, the KF390’s browser isn’t the best at rendering web site pages that haven't already been optimised for mobile phones.

The LG KF390’s call quality performance is great, with voices generally being heard with good clarity, especially when you boost the volume to its limit. If you find yourself in a situation with lots of background noise, like when mustering a flock of bleating sheep, an ultra-loud listening option is sadly not onboard.

For multimedia, the KF390 does all right, but it’s not up there with the best. The main plus is the music player, which has playback support, a preset equalizer, shuffle and repeat functions. The main cons are included headphones that only have a proprietary connection, and the lack of A2DP Bluetooth capabilities.

The LG KF390 offers features like email messaging, SMS and MMS, all of which have T9 predictive text functionality. You get a 2-megapixel camera that also works as a video recorder, and a smorgasbord of other PIM functions such as a calendar, calculator, notes, tasks, stopwatch and an alarm clock. When travelling overseas, especially to the USA or Europe, you can also use the world clock, unit converter and tip calculator.