3GSM blog

A take gander through the LG GD900

(Credit: LG)

If the Invisible Woman needed a cell phone to call the other members of the Fantastic Four, or if Wonder Woman wanted a handset for her namesake jet, they'd be wise to check out one of the latest phones from LG.

The GD900, which LG debuted at the GSMA World Congress, is billed as the world's first transparent-design phone. We're always skeptical when any company claims to have a "first in the world," but in this case we admit that we've never seen anything like the GD900.

The HBM-M580 matches the clear design.

(Credit: LG)

Of course, not everything on the slider handset is transparent--when you think about it, a see-through display would be difficult to pull off--but the rear slider is translucent and the keypad gives off an eye-catching show. LG will also offer an accompanying Bluetooth headset, the HBM-M580.

At this point, we can't say whether the GD900 will rely on more than just looks. LG is keeping the feature set under wraps for now, but we should know the full specs in the second quarter of this year.

We knew it was coming, and sure enough the LG Arena made its glorious debut on the opening day of Mobile World Congress 2009 here in Barcelona. The Arena is LG's flagship model of 2009 and includes a number of high-end multimedia features and more noteworthy, a cool 3D user interface called S-Class.

(Credit: LG)

The S-Class UI was designed to further the advantages of touch-screen phones and also make them easier to use by providing four customizable home screens. The system uses a cube layout so you can program all four sides of the cube to include shortcuts for your favorite applications. To rotate between the screens, you simply flick your finger on the screen similar to HTC's TouchFlo interface.

In addition, there are a couple of other UI tricks. First, LG offers something called Elastic Lists, where you can touch any cataloged or listed item, like a contact, and the Arena will blow up that item so you can view and edit more information right on the spot, rather than having to open up another screen. The other feature is called Reel Scrolling. It places menu items on a film-like reel and you can then just drag your finger across it until you get your desired point.

Turning our attention back to the LG Arena specifically, the cell phone is all about multimedia. It's the first handset to use Dolby Mobile technology to enhance the sound quality of music and video, no matter what format. The Arena also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, equalizer settings, and a built-in FM transmitter so you can wirelessly stream your music from your device to your car or home stereo.

With a 3-inch, WVGA touch screen, photos and videos also take center stage. The LG Arena can play DivX or Xvid movies and is equipped with a 5-megapixel camera with video recording. The Arena has 8GB of internal memory, which can be expanded up to 40GB with the microSD expansion slot. Other highlights include Wi-Fi, 3G support, and a rated battery life of up to 30 hours of MP3 playback and up to 12.5 days of standby time.

The LG Arena will initially be available in Europe starting in March and then make its way to other parts of the world. North America was not specifically mentioned--blast! I did stop by LG's booth on Monday to check out the Arena as well as the company's other phones. When I was finally able to make my through the throng of people, I was quite impressed with the S-Class UI. Check back soon for my hands-on photo gallery and have a look for yourself.

First up: the LG-GM730.

(Credit: LG)

LG Electronics made a number of announcements at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009, one of which was its alliance with Microsoft to make Windows Mobile the primary operating system for the company's smartphones. As part of the agreement, LG said it would create a tenfold increase of Windows Mobile devices in 2009, and it got things started with the introduction of the LG-GM730.

LG expects to ship the GM730 during the first half of 2009, so unfortunately, it will run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition. But the company said it would release a Windows Mobile 6.5 version in the second half of the year.

What you do get right away is LG's new S-Class 3D user interface. S-Class features a cube layout with four customizable home screens that you can rotate through with the flick of your finger. It slightly reminded us of HTC's TouchFlo interface on the original HTC Touch, but much, much cooler.

Unfortunately, we don't know much else about the smartphone. We do know that the smartphone will have Internet Explorer Mobile 6.0 and is 0.46-inch thick. LG plans to announce more specs soon and hopefully some news about a North American release. Wishful thinking?

Expect to see more Windows Mobile devices from LG, like the LG Incite.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)

Alongside the introduction of Windows Mobile 6.5, LG announced on opening day of the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 that it will make Windows Mobile the primary operating system for its smartphones and promised to significantly increase the production and distribution of such devices in the years to come.

In addition, Microsoft and LG have committed to creating joint research and development teams to work on these phones and ensure a tight integration between hardware and software.

To show its seriousness, LG said it will increase the number of Windows phones available in 2009 tenfold and will bring up to 26 new devices in 2012 alone. This means we could see more than 50 new Windows Mobile devices from LG, thanks to this agreement.

LG only released its first Windows Mobile smartphone in the United States last year (the LG Incite), so we'd be happy just to see anything beyond that, let alone a tenfold increase. In fact, the company has already announced its second device at GSMA 2009: the LG GM730. This will be a Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone that will be released in the first half of 2009, but LG added that it plans to ship Windows Mobile 6.5 devices in the second half of the year. We're still gathering more details about the LG GM730 so check back soon for a dedicated post.

By the way, do you think this is a good move for LG? Let me know your thoughts.

BARCELONA--Intel announced here Monday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress that LG Electronics will use its latest generation technology to build a new class of device called mobile Internet devices, or MIDs.

Specifically, Intel and LG will work together to build these new devices using a processor that Intel has code-named Moorestown. The devices will also use a version of the Linux open-source operating system called Moblin. The LG device is expected to be one of the first Moorestown designs to market. And Intel has said that devices using the new Moorestown chips will hit the market by 2010.

Intel and LG have already been working closely together on other products. In the fourth quarter last year, LG launched a Netbook using Intel's Atom processor. And LG also ships full-fledged notebooks using Intel's Core processor.

Now, the companies are working on a new class of product that are mini-computers that can also be used to make phone calls using a wireless Internet connection. Intel sees the category of product as something that is somewhere between a smartphone, like the Apple iPhone, and a Netbook, a scaled-down version of a notebook computer.

As the global economy continues to deteriorate, Intel, like many other large companies, is looking for growth markets. The company's bread-and-butter PC processor business is suffering as people stop buying desktop computers.

Intel sees mobile devices, and specifically the MID market, as an important area for growth. While the overall cell phone market was down about 12.6 percent worldwide in the fourth quarter, according to IDC, smartphones were actually up about 22.5 percent.

To date, Intel hasn't really played in this growing market. Instead, other players, such as ARM, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments, have divvied up considerable market share in the cell phone market.

But Intel wants a piece of the pie. So the company has been pushing this new category of device. Intel argues that consumers need a device that's more powerful than a smartphone but not as bulky as a Netbook or laptop. The idea is that consumers who buy a MID could use it to watch high-definition video, make phone calls using the Internet, or download information from the Web while on the go.

Not surprisingly, Intel's vision of a MID is exactly why many people want to buy a smartphone like the iPhone. And this is essentially the conundrum that Intel faces. It has to convince consumers that they need to spend a few hundred dollars or more on an additional device.

But since this mobile device will also require wireless Internet access, Intel is also tacitly asking consumers to sign up for yet another wireless service plan. Of course, these devices will likely have Wi-Fi, but Wi-Fi isn't everywhere. And if someone wants a device with ubiquitous coverage, he'll have to pony-up an extra fee for a service plan.

So far, wireless operators have done a poor job of providing people with a single subscription for multiple devices. Some carriers allow certain smartphone devices to be used as modems for laptops that essentially share the same data service. But some devices, like the Apple iPhone, can't be used in this way, which means that consumers who want wireless 3G Internet access on their laptop and on their phone have to subscribe to separate services.

Data service for laptops and Netbooks service generally costs about $60 a month. Meanwhile, carriers are also charging smartphone users an additional $30 a month on their bill for unlimited Internet access. All told, a single consumer could have to come up with about $90 a month just for mobile Internet access on two devices. Compare this with the $30 a month that DSL broadband subscribers pay, which allows them to connect multiple devices at much higher speeds to the Internet.

Most likely when these MIDs rollout, mobile operators will have a more affordable plan in place. Operators, such as AT&T and Sprint Nextel have already expressed interest in rethinking data plans to accommodate more devices that will access the Internet wirelessly. But one thing is certain. An expensive data plan could hurt MIDs before they even get out of the gate.

Arena KM900

(Credit: LG Electronics)

Getting an early start on the competition, LG Electronics announced Sunday that its new Arena KM900 smartphone will debut at the upcoming Mobile World Congress.

LG is touting the touch screen's user interface as featuring a 3D cube-based layout with four customizable screens for accessing the phone's features.

"The direct, intuitive, and dynamic S-Class UI will be unlike anything that has appeared on a mobile phone before," Skott Ahn, president of LG Mobile, said in a statement.

The Arena features a 3-inch WVGA touch screen with 800×400 resolution and a 5-megapixel camera that promises "DVD quality video recording." The phone will also include support for HSDPA 7.2 networks, Wi-Fi, and A-GPS.

LG plans to announce more details at the Mobile World Congress, which runs February 16 to 19 in Barcelona.

Vodafone makes itself known at GSMA.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

The GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, is winding to a close, but that doesn't mean mobile phone news have stopped streaming in. The third day of GSMA 2008 saw AMD announcing big plans for mobile phone processors, RIM's co-CEO downplaying the recent BlackBerry outage, and the LiMo Foundation possibly giving Google's Android a run for its money with its own effort at an open, Linux-based operating system. Of course, we also took the opportunity to look at phones and carriers off the beaten path.

For starters, Senior Editor Kent German explored the large Vodafone plaza (Vodafone is a UK-based carrier) and took a look at their phones, such as the Nokia 5310 and the Samsung SGH-P110, which we'll never get here. He also lamented the lackluster Alcatel presence, despite their big showing in 2007. NEC is a big phone manufacturer outside of the U.S., and Kent gave us a good look at the NEC FOMA N705i for NTT DoCoMo in Japan, which also happens to be one of the first LiMo Foundation phones.

Nokia's Remade uses recycled and renewable materials to lessen its environmental impact.

(Credit: Nokia)

In an effort to go green, Nokia has unveiled Remade, a phone that is made entirely out of renewable and recycled parts. Senior Editor Bonnie Cha also got a look at the much talked about Garmin Nuvifone, a touch screen phone with a lot of GPS functionality. Andrew Lim from CNET UK gave us a hands-on look at the luscious LG KF600 and KF700 touch screen phones as well.

One of the different devices we saw is the Polymer Vision's Readius, a phone that is also an e-book reader--the display can even be rolled up like paper. Another phone that looks very different from the rest is the Modu, which has different "sleeves" that can add to the functionality of the phone. Even though iRiver is more known for their MP3 players, this year in Barcelona, iRiver Europe announced it's breaking into the cell phone business with its first ever mobile phone, called the iRiver W7.

Readius e-book reader that's also a phone.

(Credit: Crave Asia)

ZTE, which doesn't have much of a presence in the U.S. market, is one of the largest cell phone manufacturers in China, so we had to take a look at the company's phones. Overall, we're pretty impressed--their phones ranged from the keyboard-equipped smartphone to the simple flip phone. A lot of their devices are high-end megapixel phones that support HSDPA. As for companies that the U.S. is familiar with, Palm is unfortunately rather quiet at GSMA 2008, but news is that it might debut a white version of the Palm Centro on February 19th.

We'll have more as the week goes on, but please take a look at our complete coverage of GSMA Mobile World Congress 2008 for plenty of product slide shows, videos, and more.

Though Google's Android platform is getting a lot of attention at the GSMA World Congress, the LiMo Foundation is making news of its own. LiMo is a consortium of companies working to create the an open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices. The foundation has about 30 members including Motorola, NEC, Samsung, Vodafone, Orange, LG, and NTT DoCoMo.

LiMo made several announcements at the show. Besides signing up new member companies, it showed off a number of cell phones using LiMo. They include the Motorola U9, Motorola Z6w (announced at GSMA), Motorola Rarz2 V8, Motorola Rokr E8 (announced at CES), NTT DoCoMo FOMA N905i, NTT DoCoMo FOMA N705i, and Samsung SGH-i800.

(Credit: Crave UK)

Love them or loathe them, touch-screen phones are here to stay. And LG has unveiled a whole bunch at this year's GSMA Mobile World Congress, including this curious looking phone, the LG KF600.

Why have one screen when you can have two? That seems to be the reasoning behind the KF600's design. The top screen acts as a normal display, where you can view all of your phone's content, and the bottom one serves as a navigation pad.

Unlike a normal navigation pad that stays static, though, the KF600's changes depending on what you're using on the phone. If you're in the menu, then navigation keys pop up. If you're using the music player, then--you guessed it--music keys appear. Click here to see more.

(Source: Crave UK)