LG launched their new Chocolate BL40 widescreen phone last night at a swanky party in the London Design Museum. I was lucky enough to get some time with the BL40 and as you’d expect it excels at displaying video on its 4” 21:9 aspect ratio screen.

The Chocolate uses an updated version of the “S Class” interface used on many of the recent LG phones. The rotating cube has been stretched and now mimics the applications and shortcuts setup on the phone. The interface is noticeably quicker than earlier LG phones such as the Arena I reviewed earlier in the year. This is no mean feat as the Arena is no slouch.

The BL40 isn’t just an awesome multimedia phone though, it also has some other neat tricks up its sleeve. The screen can work in split screen mode for certain applications such as messaging, the scheduler, web browsing and MP3 playback.

Web browsing works well with the panoramic screen allowing many web pages to be displayed full width. Pinch and Pull zoom can be used on web pages and photos. Gesture shortcuts can be setup to access phone applications and one touch copy and paste is also supported.

Although the new Chocolate has a wide screen it isn’t particularly bulky and fitted nicely into the pocket of my jeans. Unfortunately I was spotted before I could leave the venue but we have been promised a review phone a little later in the month.

The BL40 Chocolate should be available from The Carphone Warehouse and Orange from late September.

Specifications

• 4.01” panoramic (21:9) capacitive touch screen. WVGA 345 x 800 Pixels.
• Dual screen UI.
• Dimensions: 128 x 51 x 10.9mm.
• Weight: 129g with the standard battery.
• 1000mah Battery.
• Claimed: 370 hours standby (3G) and 5 hours talk time (3G).
• 7.2 HSPDA.
• Quad Band.
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (A2DP version 2.1) and USB.
• 5 Mega Pixel camera, Auto Focus and LED flash.
• 1 GB internal memory and Micro SD slot for up to 32GB of additional memory.
• Audio codecs: MP3, AAC, AAC+, E-AAC+ and WMA9.
• Video codecs: H.263/MPEG4: VGA 30fps playback and recording.
• FM radio.
• Microsoft Office, PDF and text viewers.
• TV out via optional accessory.

For more information take a look at the LG web site.