What is too wide width? This is a silly question, thought LG in 2009 when it released the LG BL40 New Chocolate. With a cinematic 4-inch display in a 21:9 aspect ratio, this phone was unique for its time — at that point, the average phone came with a 4:3 or 3:2 screen, while media-focused devices moved to 16: 9 to match emerging HDTV standards. But 21:9 is unheard of.
The aspect ratio determines to some extent the type of content that is displayed. The first TVs had square proportions because they mostly showed newscasters — personal pictures, mainly. The growing number of televisions in the home has prompted movie theaters to expand their range to create an experience you can’t get on your couch.
In 1953, Twentieth-Century Fox introduced CinemaScope, giving the screen an aspect ratio of 2.35 or giving it as a fraction, 21:9. Film telecasts had to either crop the image to fit 4:3 tubes or use letterboxing (which made Small TV screen is smaller). If you want a cinematic experience, you have to buy a movie ticket.
Fast forward half a century and you can have the CinemaScope experience in your pocket. LG BL40 New Chocolate had a 4-inch TFT LCD display with a resolution of 345 x 800 pixels. This is 1/3 of the resolution of HD in terms of pixel count but works out to 217 ppi. For comparison, the contemporary iPhone 3GS had a 3.5-inch 3:2 screen with a pixel density of 165 ppi, the first Galaxy phone ever with a 3.2-inch 3:2 screen with a pixel density of 180ppi.
iPhone and BL40 New Chocolate side by side
This beautiful screen had to be kept safe from scratches, which is a duty bestowed on Gorilla Glass. As you can see, on top of being massive, it also had pretty big bezels, so the whole phone measured 128 x 51 x 10.9mm (and weighed 129g).
LG BL40 New Chocolate had a 4-inch 21: 9 screen (345 x 800 pixels) with Gorilla Glass protection
Obviously, watching movies on the go was the main attraction of this phone. But something really strange happens between the prototype and release stages. When we previewed the BL40, we happily handled DivX videos at up to 720p resolution, but XviD support was shaky. At the time, we wrote, “We hope that all these loopholes will be removed in the final version of the user interface.”
That was with the pre-release unit. A month later, we got our hands on a retail unit for proper revision, and were disappointed to find that things went the other way—HD playback was no longer possible with either codec. The media player tops out at D1, which is the resolution normally used for DVDs (720 x 480 pixels for the widescreen version).
DivX and XviD videos played well and the screen couldn’t do much with HD footage (again, it had 345p on its short side, less than half of 720p HD). But the phone does support TV out (if you buy the right cable), so HD support was nice.
The media player can’t handle HD video
If you wanted to watch on the go, Dolby Mobile was available (a precursor of Atmos for phones), which worked best with a headphone connected to the 3.5mm jack.
The jack was on top of the phone, sharing the bright red panel with the power key. Everything about the BL40 New Chocolate screamed “Look at me!” The top and bottom are painted a bright red color to contrast with the piano black color of the other sides, and the silver trim that the side keys are integrated into runs throughout the length of this phone.
While the cinematic display dictated the design, the phone almost loved the music. It even had a dedicated button to launch the music player. We have already mentioned the 3.5 mm jack, but there was another way to output music – an FM radio transmitter. Bluetooth 2.1 was also available, but that was before the proliferation of high-quality audio codecs and many BT speakers.
LG BL40 New Chocolate
LG BL40 New Chocolate is equipped with a 5MP camera with a Schneider-Kreuznach certified lens. You’d think LG would have built it to shoot great home movies, especially in 21:9 widescreen.
But no, the video recording capabilities were actually insufficient – the videos had a CIF resolution (352 x 288 pixels) and the frame rate was unpredictable, usually in the 10-20fps range. This was in 2009, and the first phone with HD video capabilities was already on the market. Even a D1 resolution would have been fine, matching the phone’s playback capabilities, but instead we got the cheap feature phone processing.
Speaking of which, this smartphone was no match. It ran LG’s S-Class UI that we originally saw on LG Arena. It had a very textured look and was loaded with 3D animations. LG wanted a scene to match the screen.
The S-Class user interface focused on the visual experience
The user interface supported widgets on the home screen and had hot keys that could be dragged down from the status bar. The system could multitask J2ME applications, but there was no split-screen support—something perfectly suitable for a 21:9 aspect ratio but that needed more advanced technology than what New Chocolate was built on.
Besides movies, games were another opportunity for the ultra-wide 4-inch screen to shine. Unfortunately, at the time, app stores were just a thing and the S-Class UI didn’t have one. The phone came with several games pre-installed, all of which are motion-controlled for some reason (we think someone at LG held a Nintendo Wii controller and thought “this looks familiar”).
The most interesting game in the group was Dual Match. It is named this way because two players can play in split screen mode, both holding one phone. It was a clever use of the extra-long screen, but perhaps not enough to get into the Mobile Gaming Hall of Fame.
Offer Dual Match on LG BL40 New Chocolate Split screen multiplayer on one phone
Another fun, well not exactly “toy” but something of a musical instrument, allowed you to play a plucked piano keyboard or virtual drums.
The new chocolate also had a creative side
Some playful and clever use of the extra-long screen wasn’t enough, the LG BL40 New Chocolate was a landmark phone in the smartphone world. It was certainly a unique device—it would be years until we saw another 21:9 screen—but the lack of a sequel tells us everything we need to know about sales.
Would this have been more successful if it had been running Android on a more powerful chipset? We can only speculate and the answer is probably “no” anyway. Netflix was still mostly known as a DVD-by-mail company at the time, and those old 3G networks didn’t quite handle streaming video, let alone what it would cost the consumer.
That left the LG BL40 New Chocolate in the straits of being a multimedia phone as the user has to provide their own multimedia. Many people did just that, and many didn’t (they had iTunes do it for them). Had it launched a few years later with cheap Netflix, lower data plan costs and booming mobile game sales through app stores, “New Chocolate” might be a household name by now. But the world wasn’t ready for a 21:9 screen in your pocket.