The iPhone's toughest enemy has arrived

Jan 18, 2007 10:20 GMT  ·  By

The LG KE850 remake by Prada has been unveiled by the two companies that worked together on its development. And, as promised when they first announced their intention, this really is something to remember because, at the moment, very few handsets are able to compete with this iconic cellphone in a good looks contest.

This is the world's first cellphone to feature an advanced touch interface and, from the looks of it, it will probably be the toughest enemy Apple's iPhone will have to deal with on today's mobile market.

The tri-band handset, working on 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz networks, sports an extra wide capacitive touch screen LCD display that makes it look even better, a Macromedia Flash user interface that will leave you wondering why hasn't anybody else thought of that before LG, a 2 CMOS sensor megapixel digital camera with Schneider-Kreuznach lens and LED Flash, a microSD memory expansion card slot, wireless Bluetooth 2.0, USB connectivity offering USB Mass Storage, a video player with MPEG4, H.263 and H.264 video files support, a music player able to play MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA and RA audio files, a document viewer capable of opening PPT, DOC, XLS, PDF and TXT files, all of these nicely covered with an EDGE flavored technology support.

Patrizio Berelli, the president and CEO of Prada, has declared that ?as we do with ready-to-wear and accessories, we were looking at a break-through. Consistent with our approach, we are not branding an existing product; rather, Miuccia and I have been working with LG to give this new phone a very strong character and unique style, both in its contents and in its design. We, just like our partners at LG, are known for the attention to detail and uncompromising quality of our products. And we find these characteristics in the new mobile phone?.

Prada has been involved in the key elements appearing in every aspect of this cellphone, in the design of the advanced touch user interface, ring tones, mobile phone accessories, pre-loaded content and, of course, the stylish leather case inspired by classic Italian craftsmen tradition.

The Prada Phone by LG will be available for prices starting from 600 Euros and will be sold by mobile dealers and select Prada stores in Germany, UK, France and Italy beginning with late February 2007, and from March 2007 in Asian countries like Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

This time, the Koreans are the ones that will have to wait a bit because this handset will be released there in the second quarter of 2007.