The LG KS360 is an interesting little handset, one that has aspirations far beyond its social roots to become more like 'My First SmartPhone' for the popular kids rather than yet another youth-oriented mobile.

Initial impressions of the KS360 are that it is just another handset aimed at youngsters with its day-glo colour scheme and seemingly gimmicky touch screen interface. The low cost and quirky design might put some off, but as soon as the slide out keyboard presents itself, with the screen orientation quickly switching ready to accept some text, you know that it means business.

Facebook business, but business nonetheless.

The looks of this phone are certainly striking, with the outer fascia flanked with rounded buttons in a setup reminiscent of the Sony Ericsson W850i. However, unlike the Walkman phone, the buttons extend to the navigation also with four equally tactile buttons surrounding a central 'OK'.

Want to make a call? Just press the bottom left button and the touch screen interface springs to life on the 2.4 display, offering a numerical keypad with warm and buzzy haptic feedback. A welcome surprise from what was pitched as an entry-level device!

The only disappointing thing is that this wonderful touch screen is hardly used by the phone's other functions, forcing us back to the getting the keyboard out for scrolling through menu lists and using programs. The keyboard continues the theme of curves, aspaciouss three-row affair with comfortable rounded and raised buttons that feel just the right side of cozy.

A few of the keys double up as a numerical keypad and navigation buttons, so there is a bit of switching between modes for adding contacts or phone numbers to a text. Overall, the lack of dedicated keys isn't too much of a hindrance to a phone that we got a decent speed out of when writing texts and e-mails.

The KS360 is easily set up to receive both e-mails and IMs from services like MSN, as well as accessing all of the big social sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.  Mail forwarding using POP or IMAP means that you won't miss any Gmail messages or friend invites.

As for the interface, it is definitely impressive, with all sorts of gorgeous transition animations, slider sound effects and pretty themesall of which we hated as they made us feel so old! There is a media player and a selection of games, and the microSD support means that music on the go is possible once some memory is added to the 15MB on board.

The curved design and sturdy build become assets when holding it during a call, it has that kind of smart phone heft, which makes it very ergonomically pleasing to use. Call quality is fair, and reception using both an Orange and o2 SIM was very impressive regardless of location during our testing.

The included browser is a tad sluggish both in terms of use and the loading of sites, but the stalwart saviour of Opera Mini makes the KS360 far more intuitive and brisk to use online.

As specs go, the phone is fairly standard with a 2-megapixel camera, and the lack of 3G connectivity or Wi-Fi is something to be aware of, as social site butterflies may rack up a pretty large bill if they use the web too much Battery life does well without these drainers though, so you get a good couple of days with typical usage.

For the market the LG KS360 is aiming at, it is arguably one of the most impressive handsets we have seen. The touch screen keypad, the e-mail support and the slide-out keyboard are all very impressive, the build quality is pleasantly surprising, and the bargain price make it easy to recommend.  

It may not be the most robust and feature-rich phone for lucky kids to get their hands on, but this is certainly an ideal phone for tech and text savvy youngsters to enjoy.

And yes, it is available in pink!