Alltel Wireless and LG Electronics announced on Thursday the availability of the LG 8575 Touch handset at Alltel retail stores and online at Alltel.com. The LG 8575 Touch will be particularly interesting to music lovers thanks to features such as Dolby Mobile sound system, 3.5 mm stereo headphones, built-in FM tuner, and a music player with applications that invite users to “join the band” by turning their handset into a virtual keyboard and thumping drum kit.

Features and specs include:

• 1GB of internal memory with support for microSD cards
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• Camera includes “Intelligent Shot” for improved image quality and built-in image editor
• 3 inch touch-screen display
• Text, picture, and video messaging support
• One-touch speakerphone
• Text to speech functionality
• Built-in GPS
• Web browser
• Bluetooth support
• Rechargeable battery for up to 5 hours of talk time

The LG 8575 Touch is available for a mere $19.99 after a $50 dollar mail-in rebate and activation to a 1 yr service contract on a qualifying rate plan.

Technorati Tags: Alltel Wireless, LG 8575 Touch

Another Core i7 notebook hits the market as LG introduces the new X-NOTE R590. Featuring support for either the 820QM or 720QM Core i7 processor, the X-NOTE R590 comes with:

• 4GB RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce CT 230M with 1GB RAM
• 15.6 inch LED backlit display with 1600 x 900 resolution
• 500GB HDD
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Windows 7 Home Premium

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: LG X-NOTE R590, Intel Core i7

Verizon Wireless customers – you’ll soon have three new LG handsets to choose from this summer. Verizon Wireless and LG Mobile Phones announced today that the LG enV3 would be available starting tomorrow and two other phones, the LG enV TOUCH and LG Glance, would be available starting on June 5th. Here’s the low down on the three new handsets.

Common features for all three mobile phones include:

• Text, picture and voice messaging with threaded message feature
• Bluetooth headset capable – headset, hands-free, object-push (for vCard and vCal), and phonebook access
• VZ Navigator
• Mobile Email, Mobile Web, Mobile IM, and Chat
• Chaperone Parent-capable
• Ability to save up to 10 contacts as favorites

LG enV3:

• Full QWERTY keyboard
• HTML Web browsing-capable
• Visual Voice Mail support
• microSD card slot
• Text Instant Reply feature – can automatically start a reply message when you read a message
• Media Center for storing and downloading music from V CAST Music with Rhapsody, games and more

• Internal screen: 2.60” and external screen: 1.56”
• 3.0 megapixel camera/camcorder

LG enV TOUCH:

• Full QWERTY keyboard
• HTML Web browsing-capable
• Visual Voice Mail
• Up to 16 GB microSD™ card optional removable memory
• Text Instant Reply feature – can automatically start a reply message when you read a message
• Media Center for storing and downloading music from V CAST Music with Rhapsody, games and more

• Read documents from any microSD card in several file formats including .doc, .xls, .ppt, and .pdf
• 3” external touch screen / 3” internal screen
• 3.2 megapixel camera/camcorder with autofocus, flash and image editor

LG Glance:

• An ultra-slim design with a “woven” metal back plate
• 1.3 megapixel camera

The LG enV3 will be available for $129.99 after a $50 dollar mail-in rebate and a new two-year agreement. The LG enV TOUCH will be available for $149.99 after a $70 dollar mail-in rebate and a new two-year agreement. The LG Glance will be available for $49.99 after a $50 dollar mail-in rebate and a new two-year agreement.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Verizon Wireless, LG Mobile Phones, LG enV3, LG enV TOUCH, LG Glance

Fans of Transformers will undoubtedly love this one. It’s a customized LG limited edition “Transformers” Versa phone – part of LG’s “multi-faceted marketing campaign” that will promote both LG’s mobile phones brand as well as the upcoming Transformers flick – “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”. Unfortunately the limited edition Versa does NOT transform (though I was hoping it would say.. transform into an iPhone.. I kid..) but at least you get a snazzy Decepticon logo on the front.

[Check it out via DVICE.com]

Read this in Chinese Simplified and in French

Technorati Tags: LG Electronics, LG limited edition Transformers Versa

Fans of the first generation LG Rumor will be happy to hear that the second generation Rumor – dubbed the Rumor² will be coming to Sprint starting on March 15th. The new Rumor² expands on the original Rumor by offering a full QWERTY keyboard with an additional row for easier typing, stereo Bluetooth support, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a higher resolution QVGA display. The handset also features a removable back-plate giving users personalization options.

Other features and specs of the LG Rumor² include:

• microSD memory card slot
• Preloaded with Sprint Navigation providing voice and on-screen turn by turn driving directions
• Support for Microsoft Exchange Server and IBM Lotus Notes via Sprint Mobile Email Work
• Support for AOL, Gmail, Windows Live, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail
• Measures 4.4 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches and weighs 4.23 oz

The Rumor² will be available in two colors – Black Titanium and Vibrant Blue – with the Black Titanium coming out first on March 15th and the Vibrant Blue model following up on March 29th. Price wise, the Rumor² will be available for a price of $49.99 along with a new two year agreement and after a $50 dollar mail-in-rebate.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Sprint, LG Electronics, LG Rumor2

Samsung isn’t the only mobile phone vendor out with a solar power enabled handset this year. LG Electronics gets into the gig by announcing their own eco-friendly handset with a built-in solar panel battery cover. 10 minutes of solar exposure will provide roughly 3 minutes of talk time. Of course if you leave the handset out in the sun long enough, you’ll never have to recharge the phone again (sounds like a great device for Southern California residents!). No word on other specs or prices but the new eco-friendly phone is due to come out in Europe by the end of the year.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: LG Electronics, Solar powered mobile phone

Yes.. more LG Electronics news. This time, we’re shifting our focus to that cool LG Electronics 3G Touch Watch phone that was demo’d at this year’s CES 2009. The new LG-GD910 is the world’s first “market-ready” touch watch phone with 3G video telephony (VT) service and GSM network capabilities – at least that’s what LG claims.

On the outside, the 3G Touch Watch looks like a high end watch thanks to the use of materials and elements typically found in watches from top manufacturers. The watch features a curved tempered glass face, high quality metal casing, and measures a mere 13.9 mm thick.

All this beauty hides one technological beast. You get the following specifications:

• Quad-band GSM phone
• WCDMA and HSDPA 7.2 support
• 1.43 inch QVGA 128 x 160 touch-screen display with support for 260K colors
• VGA camera
• 2GB of internal memory
• Bluetooth 2.0 support
• RF Band : 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 2.1GHz, 1900MHz
• Supports text messages, making phone calls, and of course telling time
• Voice recognition features
• Built-in speaker
• Flash Interface
• built-in MP3 player
• Voice calling
• Text-to-speech functionality
• Built-in phonebook and scheduler

The LG 3G Touch Watch will be coming out in Europe by the end of the year with Orange being the first to offer the phone to its customers.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: LG Electronics, 3G Touch Watch, LG-GD910

Announced a week ago, LG Electronics revealed additional information about their new flagship multimedia handset – the LG Arena (LG-KM900).  Here’s what you need to know about the handset:

• 3D S-Class User Interface featuring a cube layout with four customizable home screens allowing quick access to features simply by flipping the cube with the flick of a finger
• Elastic Lists designed to make it easy to browse through contacts and catalogued information. When touched, list items stretch like a rubber band to provide more detailed information, options or easy editing. This eliminates the extra step of switching to a new screen, saving time and making it easier to browse to other choices as well.
• AMD processor on the inside
• Tactile analog alarm clock and radio tuner allows you to “feel” the clock hands or dials when moving them
• 850/900/1800/1900/UMTS 2100, HSDPA 7.2 support
• First handset to feature Dolby Mobile surround sound
• Built-in FM transmitter
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• 3.0 inch full touch-screen display with WVGA (480 x 800) resolution 
• Capture DVD resolution video
• Record 120 frames per second slow motion video
• 8GB internal memory and a microSD slot with support for up to 32GB microSD cards
• Bluetooth 2.1 support
• Battery life of 30 hours of MP3 playtime and 300 hours of standby time
• 5.0 megapixel camera with auto or manual focus
• 3G HSDPA 7.2 network and Wi-Fi support
• Supports Google Mobile Services including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and Google Blogs
• A-GPS and geotagging
• Multi-touch capabilities for the display
• Measures 105.9 x 55.3 x 11.95 mm
• Tempered glass over the touch-screen
• Available in silver and black titanium color schemes

The Arena will be available in Europe starting in March and then globally.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: LG Electronics, LG Arena LG-KM900

Are you bored of colorful mobile phones? Looking for something a tad bit different? How about a transparent phone? Yup.. that’s right.. a transparent phone (because we all have a thing for see-thru items right?) Well, that’s exactly what we have with the new LG Electronics LG-GD900 slider handset.

Information about the phone is scarce at this time. About the only thing LG has revealed is the fact that the translucent keyboard glows a cool color when opened and that the phone comes with a dedicated Bluetooth headset pictured to the right. We’re sure that folks attending MWC will probably get much more info on the phone.

The LG-GD900 is due to come out during the second half of this year (at which point we should be hearing more about what the phone can offer). The real questions will be – how much will this sleekness cost? Do you really want a see-thru phone?

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: LG Electronics, LG-GD900, Transparent Phone

Day one at the Mobile World Congress is now over and it was certainly a big day for Microsoft and the Windows Mobile platform. Here’s my attempt at recapping the day’s major announcements for the platform which includes pics of the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 OS, info on the new Windows Marketplace for Mobile, the free online web service called My Phone, and a new alliance with LG Electronics.

First off – the big news of the day has to be the upcoming new version of Windows Mobile known as Windows Mobile 6.5. Central to the new version are user interface improvements aimed at improving the touch-screen experience of Windows smartphones. Let’s face it – Windows Mobile’s user interface isn’t exactly the most intuitive and it’s optimized for stylus pens which is soo.. 2000 of the platform. Alas.. the world has changed over the last two years as the iPhone innovative user interface has completely changed user expectations for smartphones.

Other notable improvements include a new today screen and an updated version of Internet Explorer Mobile Browser. Here are snapshots of Windows Mobile 6.5 provided by Microsoft:

Below is the new Lock screen for Windows Mobile 6.5. You can still respond to interactive user interface elements with a simple PIN even if the device is locked. Notice the icons for voicemail, missed call, and text-messages.

Next, we have the new Start screen which now utilizes a honeycomb interface layout designed for finger usage.

Finally, here’s the new Internet Explorer Mobile browser with support for Adobe Flash Lite.

Next up, we have the new (and free) Microsoft My Phone service allowing Windows Mobile users the ability to access, manage, and back up the personal information on their mobile devices to the cloud. The service offers automatic synching and backup of data stored on Windows Mobile devices and consumers will also be able to upload photos and videos taken with their devices directly to My Phone.

Here are screenshots provided by Microsoft of the My Phone Service.

Here are contacts stored on the web service:

Here’s a screenshot of photos uploaded to the service:

Here’s a screenshot of the My Phone app on a Windows Mobile device:

Finally here are screenshots of the website:

The service is currently available in a limited invitation-only beta.

New to Windows Mobile 6.5 is also the Windows Marketplace for Mobile (couldn’t they just called it Windows Mobile Marketplace or something like that???). With the Marketplace, users will be able to search, browse, and purchase mobile apps from their Windows Mobile devices or PCs using a Windows Live ID. According to Microsoft, developers will be able to offer apps to customers through the marketplace using a simple security and compatibility check from Microsoft. The new Marketplace will be included with all Windows Mobile phones running Windows Mobile 6.5.

Microsoft announced one other interesting service for Windows Mobile devices – Microsoft Recite. Recite is Microsoft’s own voice search technology for Windows phones version 6.0 or higher allowing users to use their voice to capture, search, and retrieve spoken notes and reminders. You can try out the technology preview at http://recite.microsoft.com/download/

Moving on to the partner front, Microsoft and LG Electronics announced a major expansion of their alliance which will create a “tenfold increase in the volume of Windows phones available from LG in 2009 and bring up to 26 new Windows phones to market in 2012 alone.” All told, this new alliance can result in a total of 50 new LG Windows phones. The agreement also calls for both companies to create joint teams for research and development – focusing on developing products that have tighter integration between hardware and software.

In addition to this announcement, LG introduced the new LG-GM730 Windows phone which features:

• LG’s advanced 3D S-Class cube user interface with four customizable home screens
• Flick of a finger turns the cube from one side to the next
• Simplified email setup requiring one click
• Incorporates LG signature style with “slim, seamless profile”
• Measures 11.9 mm thick

The handset will be coming out in the first half of this year with Windows Mobile 6.1 and will be upgraded to 6.5 during the second half of this year.

We have of course mentioned the two new HTC handsets – the Touch Diamond2 and the Touch Pro2..

Yes.. a busy day for Microsoft but will all this be enough to keep the Windows Mobile OS competitive against the increased competition from Symbian, Android, and of course the Apple iPhone? Time will only tell.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows Mobile Smartphones, Windows Mobile 6.5, LG Electronics, Windows Mobile, My Phone Service, Windows Marketplace for Mobile