What tastes better than a cookie? A freshly-baked chip, of course. Maybe that's what LG was thinking with their brand new touchscreen based off of the popular Cookie (over 12 million units sold). Billed as the LG Cookie Fresh GS290, the phone just received its official stamp today.
The handset sports a largely youthful form factor and appears to be angling for the entry-level slice of the market. It sports a 3-inch TFT resistive touchscreen with 240 x 400 resolution, an accelerometer for auto-rotate and a "cartoon UI," as with the Cookie Plus.
Details of the Fresh GS290 include a 2.0 megapixel camera module, stereo Bluetooth, complete messaging capabilities (SMS, EMS, MMS, email), social networking integration, FM radio with RDS, a 3.5mm audio jack and microSD card expansion (up to 8GB). There's no 3G or WiFi, though, so you're stuck with GPRS/EDGE for connectivity.
The LG Cookie Fresh GS290 is slated for a European launch sometime this month and the rest of the world later in the year. It is expected to be released alongside the slightly more feature-rich Cookie Plus, although no pricing details have been announced yet.
On a side note, this battle of the Korean cheap-ass touchscreen phones between Samsung's ever-growing Corby line versus LG's similarly-multiplying Cookie probably won't end soon, would it?
[via Unwired View]
LG Telecom has just introduced the follow up to the LG Arena. Originally rumored to be the Arena Max LU9400, the touchscreen feature phone has dropped the Arena branding and will simply be known as the LG Maxx LG9400.
While not a smartphone, the company has seen fit to equip the device with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8650 CPU (which, by the way, is different from the chip that the Nexus One and the LG eXpo are using, which is a QSD8250). Yes, a high-end processor for a handset that's not running a full-blown OS. We're not sure why they did it, but you should expect speedy performance from the top to bottom of the feature set with something this powerful.
Details of the LG Maxx include a 3.5 inch WVGA touchscreen display, a 5.0 megapixel camera module, a finger-touch mouse control, aGPS, Wi-Fi and mobile TV (T-DMB). It's running what appears to be an updated version of LG’s S-Class 3D UI. Other features include DivX support, HD video decoding and, presumably, an HDMI out (where else would you watch 720p movies, after all). By the way, the QSD8650 comes in CDMA and GSM flavors, so it should be safe to assume we're bound to see this outside South Korea as well.
The LG Maxx LG9400 should be available within the first quarter, although pricing details remain sketchy. It will come out under the fledgling LG Telecoms first (presumably to drive a few new customers to the country's smallest carrier), before being picked up by both SK Telecom and KT.
[via Telecoms Korea]
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The LG Pop GD510 bills itself as the world's smallest 3-inch touchscreen phone. I'd gander it's true, though I wouldn't be surprised if some no-name Chinese manufacturer has gone ahead and trashed that record. Regardless, it's a cute little handset based on the LG Cookie and packs enough features to interest anyone in the market for a compact feature phone.
Physically, the handset is about two-thirds the size of the iPhone, which makes it really small. With a shell built entirely of plastic, it's exceptionally light too. It's got a deceptive brushed aluminum finish, which lends it some brownie points in the attractiveness department.
Screen is a 3-inch resistive panel with an impressive 400x 240 resolution. It's exceptionally bright with excellent detail. The sole multi-function button on the front panel is very stylish and is actually well-implemented.
As a phone, it manages excellent quality of calls, with natural-sounding voices and plenty of volume. Those on the other end of the line reported the same thing. Speakerphone performed admirably as well, although the sound does crackle a bit during high loudness settings. Battery is rated at 3.3 hours, lasting about two to three days of regular use.
Sounds like an awesome phone, so far? Well, it is. But things go slightly downhill from there. Data connectivity is strictly edge, as there's no 3G or WiFi. There's also no GPS. Hence, the long battery life during moderate use.
It uses LG's A-Class UI, a stripped down version of the S-Class which they use in most of their touchscreen phones. Fortunately, stripped down doesn't mean "bad," as we actually found the A-Class easier to navigate and more responsive than some of LG's other handsets.
Features include a slew of useful widgets (including various social networking services), FM radio, a very basic but good music player and a 3.2 megapixel camera. The camera doesn't have that many editing options but picture quality is reasonably sharp and colorful. Do note, by the way, that the phone only offers a proprietary audio jack. There's also a gimmicky solar panel across the back, which, lets face it, is just ridiculous. LG could have probably fit in a Wi-Fi chip in place of that, right?
Overall, though, the minimalist design of the LG Pop GD510 is refreshing. If you're not that dependent on a high-speed mobile data connection or a GPS on your phone, this actually sounds like an excellent device.
LG Pop GD510: A Good-Looking, Minimalist Touchscreen Phone3.6875noel2010-02-20 13:52:55
Phone ReviewsLG Pop GD510: A Good-Looking, Minimalist Touchscreen Phone
LG announced another addition to their popular Cookie family of touchscreen handsets. Billed as the LG Cookie Plus GS500, it's an entry-level feature phone that boasts slight improvements over the original KP500.
Looking to compete against the widely successful Samsung Corby, LG endowed the new device with a similar cartoon-like, widget-heavy UI. In fact, the promo pictures show icons that look suspiciously familiar to anyone that has used Samsung's entry-level number.
The biggest update for the Cookie Plus is 3G connectivity, paving the way for faster browser page loads, better performance from web-connecting apps and, hopefully, streaming media support. Social networking is a primary focus, with both the SNS (which supports Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other social sites) and the LiveSquare apps onboard. Most of the hardware set should be along the same lines as the original Cookie. Other details mentioned in the press release include a 3.2 megapixel camera and an FM tuner.
In a not-so-surprising move, LG also announced that the company will be releasing a slew of Cookie-branded handsets in 2010 (each one likely to bring only slightly different features from the rest). Yep, a strategy that directly copies a page from what Samsung has began doing with the Corby (e.g. Corby, CorbyTXT).
The LG Cookie Plus GS500 will debut in 45 countries beginning with Italy and France this coming May. No pricing details have been given. They also mentioned a second Cookie handset in the press release, dubbed as the LG GS290. No details yet, but they're priming it for the UK sometime in March.
[Press Release]
LG Cookie Plus GS500 Announced, Adds 3G And More Social Featuresunratednoel2010-02-10 12:39:41
NewsLG Cookie Plus GS500 Announced, Adds 3G And More Social Features
LG just unveiled a new feature phone that touts a lighter, more compact frame than regular touch-based handsets. Called the LG Mini GD880, they bill it as “the smallest and slimmest 3.2-inch full touchscreen phone on the market today.”
Physically, it resembles the similarly-compact LG Pop, with its general shape and textured accents. The button-free face probably helped reduce the overall dimensions too. Despite the size, it doesn't hold back on the capabilities, rattling off a specs sheet that sounds much like any full-featured touchscreen device in the market today.
The LG Mini GD880 comes with a 3.2-inch resistive touchscreen, a 5.0 megapixel camera module, aGPS and FM radio. It supports both 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and Wi-Fi, ensuring fast broadband access availability majority of the time. Other features detailed during the announcement include LG's Social Network Connect (a social networking app), Social Network Feed (which aggregates social-based updates to the home screen) and a Social Address Book (which syncs with contacts in your online profiles).
For the most part, LG has done great things with their feature phones. As such, there's every reason to expect the same here. The main selling point, however, remains the lack of size and bulk, which has plagued most touchscreen phones with a feature set matching what this device has on offer.
Expect the LG Mini GD880 in European stores this coming March. No pricing yet, but it will likely be very competitive.
[via Phone Arena]
LG Mini GD880 Touts Being The Smallest 3.2-Inch Touchscreen Phone On The Marketunratednoel2010-02-09 10:45:42
NewsLG Mini GD880 Touts Being The Smallest 3.2-Inch Touchscreen Phone On The Market
