South Korea's LG Electronics Co on Thursday launched a new mobile phone incorporating a buttonless touch-screen that resembles the much-hyped Apple Inc iPhone -- and will be in stores next month.
LG's Prada Phone is being produced in partnership with the Italian fashion brand. It is set to go on sale in late February for 600 euros (US$780) at mobile phone dealers and Prada stores in Britain, France, Germany and Italy. It comes to Asia in March.
The no-button interface with the entire phone face covered by a touch-sensitive screen resembles the Apple iPhone, announced by the US company earlier this month to much fanfare as an innovation that could shake up the industry.
Apple's iPhone is set for US release in June, and will cost US$599 for the high-end model with 8 gigabytes of internal memory -- the same as the LG model.
Other markets will see the iPhone later this year and next year.
The LG phone has a wide-screen display and can play most popular digital music and video formats, and has a 2-megapixel camera like the iPhone. Its memory can be expanded with cards.
The iPhone allows Internet use also through regular wireless Wi-Fi networks, and has a full-featured Web browser.
The LG phone is 12mm thick, just 0.4mm more than the iPhone.
Meanwhile, Apple will have plenty of room to eventually reduce the retail price of its upcoming iPhone, according to preliminary gross margin estimates by a market research company.
The iPhone will yield gross margins of more than 50 percent at the current set of retail prices, iSuppli Corp said in an analysis of presumed component and manufacturing costs.
The 4-gigabyte version of the iPhone, with a retail price of US$499,will cost Apple US$245.83 to make, iSuppli estimated.
The 8-gigabyte version, which is priced at US$599, will cost Apple US$280.83.
"With a 50 percent gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward," said Jagdish Rebello, a director and principal analyst with research firm iSuppli.
Since Apple will face stiff competition in the cell phone market, the company may need to cut into its margins to reduce pricing in the future, he said.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Apple iPhone will be available starting in June exclusively through AT&T's Cingular Wireless. Apple has said it hopes to sell 10 million units next year, or about 1 percent of the market.
That goal "seems attainable," Rebello said.
Finally Verizon Wireless has officially launched the highly anticipated LG enV. The handset has been rumored for months, with everything from photos to spec sheets being leaked. It's an update to the popular LG VX9800 which was later re-branded under the shorter and more hip moniker "The V".
The LG enV sports the same dual-face design as its predecessor and lots of other features:
* EV-DO highspeed data (V Cast)
* Bluetooth with stereo support
* high quality 2-megapixel camera
* Music player (MP3/WMA) plus stereo speakers
* microSD card slot
* QWERTY keyboard
Verizon Wireless is selling the LG enV for $149.99 with a 2-year contract and $50 in instant savings. Another photo of the phone is available below.
The new Chocolates feature the same sleek, ultra-thin minimalist style, glowing red, touch sensitive keypad and silky-smooth slider design as the popular black Chocolate, but with a tasty red or green finish. Customers now have four color options from which to satisfy their Chocolate craving - Cherry, Mint, White and the traditional Black.
They were originally designed to simply make phone calls without tying callers to one location. But today's cell phones can do so much more, from snapping digital photos to sending text messages to playing video.
You can add one more feature to the list: a sobriety test.
That's right, cell phones with built-in Breathalyzers are set to hit the U.S. market. So after a night of too much to drink, you can pull out the device to see if you're fit to get behind the wheel.
South Korean manufacturer LG will introduce the LP4100 to the U.S. market sometime in the near future — though no date is set. The company placed several models on the market in that country last year and already has sold more than 200,000 units.
The phones were previewed at the annual Consumer Electronics Show — CES — in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Here's how it works: Users blow into a small spot on the phone, and if they've had too much to drink the phone issues a warning and shows a weaving car hitting traffic cones.
"So they test it and it says don't drive so they leave their car or call the taxi," explained Sung Mee Cho of Seju Engineering Inc.
The company also sells plug-in Breathalyzer adapters for some phones. None of the models tell you exactly how much you may be over or under the legal limit, but it can keep you from making other alcohol-related mistakes.
The LP4100 also allows users to set up the phone so on certain nights and after a certain time they do not call certain people in their phone book. Think ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend.
If you have a blood alcohol level over .08, the phone will not let you dial that person. So it not only promotes sobriety, but chastity — and probably your dignity, as well.
Via ABC
Verizon Wireless announced today the launch of the newest sophisticated slim phone, the LG VX8600. Fully loaded with a robust line-up of features, the LG VX8600 includes the ability to download VCAST Music, video clips and 3D games; Bluetooth capabilities for certain profiles; a 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder; and a microSD expandable memory port - all packaged within a sleek, lightweight design.
LG VX8600 Specs View Specs
The LG VX8600 turns heads with its distinctively glossy piano black finish, glowing red, touch-sensitive, external music keys for easy access to VCAST Music and MP3 files. The VX8600 also offers advanced music playback capability, allowing customers the ability to browse, preview, download and play high-quality digital music directly from their phone. With more than 1.4 million songs to choose from at the Verizon Wireless VCAST Music store, customers can download the songs they love most, accessing their music collection anywhere they go.
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