Fido Debuts LG Gossip Pro with Gingerbread and QWERTY Keyboard

We reported last month about the upcoming release of the LG Gossip Pro at Fido, and the carrier has just added the device to its lineup of Android smartphones.

It looks like the rumors have been confirmed as the smartphone is now available for purchase for as low as $40 (29 EUR) with a new two-year agreement.

In addition, customers who want to avoid being tied by a long term contract can buy the LG Gossip Pro for $250 (180 EUR) off-contract, on prepaid or with a monthly plan only (no agreement).

According to Fido, the Android smartphone is available at Fido stores and authorized dealers and retailers.

This is the fourth Android device that goes live at Fido, as the carrier previously launched the Samsung Galaxy Q, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and LG Optimus 2X.

While not the cheapest among them, the Gossip Pro, along with Xperia pro, are the only ones powered by Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform.

The other two, LG Optimus 2X and Samsung Galaxy Q run Android 2.2 Froyo, though chances are that they will receive a Gingerbrea upgrade, or even Ice Cream Sandwich for the former, sometime in the future.

LG Gossip Pro strongly resembles the original Gossip, which is available at Fido as well, hence the name.

However, the Gossip is just a basic feature-phone that offers a portrait QWERTY keyboard, whereas the Gossip Pro is an Android smartphone.

In this regard, it looks like the carrier decided to change the name of the phone, LG Optimus Pro to make it more attractive for its customers.

Anyway, the Gossip Pro comes with a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen that supports 240 x 320 pixels resolution, as well as 150 MB of internal memory, 256 MB of RAM and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB, 2 GB memory card included).

The smartphone is equipped with an 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227T processor and packs an 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery.