Latest phones and cell review

LG announced today that the LG Pop (LG GD510) topped one million in worldwide sales after its European and CIS launch in October 2009. Starting next month, two new phone colors, aqua blue and lime, will be added to the Pop’s palette.

“From the start we based the LG Pop on customer needs, leading us to create a compact and intuitive touchscreen phone that wasn’t weighed down by useless features,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “LG Pop offers most of the benefits of a smartphone without the steep learning curve. There’s still a huge market out there for phones that do everything right out of the box.”

The LG Pop has won plaudits for its innovative use of green technology. With the optional solar battery cover, every 10 minutes the phone spends in the sun generates over two minutes of talk time or 180 minutes of standby time. Thanks to the phone’s Eco-tree and Eco-calculator applications, users can even calculate exactly how much CO2 has been cut by using the solar battery cover.

In addition to its cheerful name, the LG Pop debuted with a new user interface that included quirky icons and a bright color scheme. Changeable rear covers (available in most regions) added to the phone’s list of customizable features. Where offered, covers are available in fluorescent shades of pink, green and orange, peanut-patterned black and silver, an XO pattern and glossy white.

LG today announced its new LG GD880, or LG Mini, featuring a slim body with 3.2-inch full touch screen design. The LG Mini also boasts a 5.0 megapixel camera featuring advanced face detection which allows uploading of pictures and videos wirelessly to multiple social networks in one simple step. The device also plays music and movies in several popular file formats and includes an FM radio. With HSDPA connectivity at 7.2 Mbps and Wi-Fi, the LG Mini can browse the internet at high speed and also provide real-time location information using A-GPS. The LG Mini will be available in Europe starting in March, followed by other markets.

“We developed the LG Mini in response to specific requests from actual consumers who were unhappy with current full touchscreen phones that are too bulky, too clunky and too expensive,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “The easily pocketable LG Mini delivers great looks at a reasonable price, along with the trendy features that people want.”

Besides a raft of staple features such as speedy web browsing and fast push email, the LG Mini also includes several unique aspects, including Social Network Connect, which makes keeping in touch with online friends even easier than on a desktop PC. Popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are instantly accessible through built-in applications and a Social Network Feed provides instant and automatic updates of friends and family members on the home screen. Updates also appear next to each contact in the Social Address Book.

LG has announced the launch of the LG GT350, a new QWERTY messaging phone with built-in applications for major social networks, all optimized for its 3-inch full touchscreen. The LG GT350 improves upon the earlier LG KS360, a messaging phone that has sold over five million units worldwide since its launch in August 2008. Both phones have slide-out full QWERTY keypads designed specifically for the textually-minded. The 3-inch WQVA screen on GT350 is now fully touch enabled, an upgrade from the partial touchscreen on the original KS360.

Social networking is a strong suit for the LG GT350. Its entire interface is optimized for social networks, providing full integration with sites like Facebook, Twitter. It aggregates information from multiple social networks onto one screen, making it easy to instantly check status updates, keep track of friends and respond to messages. For direct access to social networking sites, the LG GT350 has a dedicated shortcut key on the keypad. In addition to social networking, the keypad also includes dedicated buttons for accessing push e-mail, the web browser and instant messaging.

With real-time push e-mail, the LG GT350 immediately notifies users when they receive new e-mails. Registering multiple e-mail accounts is easy and messages are ready for viewing as soon as the GT350 intercepts them.

The LG GT350 will be available in Europe from this April and will then launch in other markets around the world. The phone will come in four color combinations including Aqua Blue, Purple, Light Silver, and Black, some of which will be exclusive to specific carriers.

Nokia Siemens Networks and LG Electronics have achieved an LTE downlink data transfer rate of 100 Mbps, the maximum speed for a Class 3 LTE terminal. The call was made using Nokia Siemens Networks’ LTE radio equipment including the Flexi Multiradio Base Station, its Evolved Packet Core network elements and standards-compliant software along with a pre-commercial LTE USB modem from LG. The speed record comes after the announcement from November 2009, when the two companies were the first to complete end-to-end LTE interoperability tests in the 2100 MHz frequency band.

“LTE is the super-fast mobile broadband technology that we are able to deliver today. It helps operators address the challenge of growing data traffic as well as delivering a superior end-user experience,” said Marc Rouanne, head of Network Systems, Nokia Siemens Networks. “We’re driving the introduction of LTE through our collaboration with leading device vendors, such as LG ,and by providing a smooth and cost-efficient transition path to LTE via a software upgrade only.”

The data call was made as part of extended interoperability tests conducted by Nokia Siemens Networks and LG in the 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz frequency bands at Nokia Siemens Networks’ LTE R&D centers in Oulu, Finland, and Ulm, Germany.

Nokia Siemens Networks and LG continue to work on testing LTE in other frequency bands and to improve performance. In addition to initiatives at its R&D centers, Nokia Siemens Networks has deployed a number of LG’s terminals in its live over-the-air field test network in the Espoo area of Finland, using real-life mobility scenarios. In addition, LG’s terminals will be used in live trials with Nokia Siemens Networks’ customers.

LG today announces its InTouch Max GW620 Android smartphone in UK, which will be offered by T-Mobile and Virgin Media from now. The LG InTouch Max boasts a 5-line QWERTY and touchscreen keyboard, making it simple to type and especially convenient for social networking. With a Social Networking Manager built-in application (Linkbook), you can also go straight to your friend’s social networking profiles from your contact list.

Other features include Auto Face-tagging, which automatically recognises your friend’s face on a tagged photo. The Face-to-Action means you can call, SMS, MMS or join your friend’s social networking site simply by touching their face in a picture. The LG InTouch Max also comes with a 5-megapixel camera that captures high quality images and videos which can be displayed on the 3-inch touchscreen and a 1500mAh battery, which promises plenty of talk and stand-by time.

The LG InTouch Max GW620 will launch today on the following network providers:

• T-Mobile Free on £20 a month, 24 month contract (with unlimited data)
• Virgin Media Free on £22 a month, 18 month contract (with unlimited texts and data)

Specifications:

• 5-line QWERTY Keyboard
• HSDPA7.2, HSUPA2.0, UMTS(900/2100, 850/1900, 850/2100), GSM(850/900/1800/1900)
• Dimension: 109 x 54.5 x 15.9 mm
• Display: 320 x 480 3.0″ HVGA 262K TFT
• Android 1.5
• 5 megapixel camera
• microSD card slot
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• bluetooth
• WiFi