The SD280 launched by LG might not be so special, but it's the first equipped with "non Qualcomm" chip, developed by EoNex chipmaker. With Qualcomm's near-monopoly on the CDMA chipset technology, most companies hoping to produce any CDMA mobile phones had no choice but to turn to the Qualcomm giant.

When the release of the chipset was announced in October, EoNex said, "The chip will mark an important turning point in CDMA handset market around the world that has been dominated by Qualcomm for the last 15 years." An SK Telecom official was quoted as saying, "We don't openly advertise the handset because we are concerned about Qualcomm's response."

he EoNex chip is only 2.5G, with 3G chips in testing right now, but they're cheaper than the Qualcomm alternative, which makes LG excited to get the modems, but scared of Qualcomm's reaction, fearing they might withhold their EV-DO chips.

Right now LG have only sold about 5000 handsets so far.