One of the most prolific handset manufactures, LG, presented a wide array of hot devices at their MWC 2009 booth, in Barcelona, and the company's head display at this year's Mobile Congress was obviously the LG KM900 Arena, officially announced last week. Featuring the fresh 3D S class user interface, LG KM900 Arena promises greater functionality and more eye-candy effects than ever.
The huge 3-inch WGA TFT touchscreen display supports 262k colors and 480x800 pixel resolution. It is said that no other phone interface resemblance the iPhone's UI like this one does. If that's the case, we'll be looking at the most expected handset of the year, if nothing else more exciting appears. I mean, we’re talking about a snappier and faster interface than previous Renoir, Prada and Viewty ones, thanks to the integrated hardware acceleration and better CPU.
Other characteristics of the device include: HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, built-in GPS, built-in 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus and video capabilities, MP3 player and Document viewer (DOC, XLS, PDF). The only drawback seems to be the low autonomy of the 1000 mAh Li-Ion batery: 300h standby and 3h and 50m talk time. There are no official dates for its launch and no info regarding its price for the moment.
Another appealing LG device announced and showcased at the MWC 2009 is the new LG GM730. Unusual for the Korean manufacturer, this one is a smartphone running on Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system. Furthermore, the phone also features tidbits of the same 3D S class UI, over the Windows Mobile 6.1 platform. It seems to include the same amazing 3-inch touchscreen display with support for only 65k colors and 240 x 400 pixel resolution. Other features include: HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, microSD slot card for memory expansion (up to 16GB), Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, MP3 player, 3.5mm audio jack, Document viewer (DOC, XLS, PDF), built-in GPS with A-GPS function, built-in 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus and video capabilities.
It seems that LG is trying to cover all major demands on the market since it also announced a smartphone running on Symbian S60 rel. 3.2.3 platform, KT770. The sleek quad-band handset features a unique joystick that seems to be very sensitive and responsive. Other than that, the new LG KT770 slider has an impressive data sheet: 2.8-inch display (262k colors and 240x400 pixel resolution), 2GB/1GB internal memory, microSD slot card for memory expansion (up to 16GB), HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, built-in 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus and video capabilities, camera geo-tagging, face recognition and smile shot, built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS function, Mp3 player and Document viewer (DOC, XLS, PDF). Although the device doesn't feature a very big display, I'm not that sure that the 950 mAh Li-Ion battery will be able to offer too much autonomy.
LG KC910i Renoir, which has also been showcased at the MWC, is only a revamped version of the older KC910 Renoir. The only differences between the two are the back cover, which has been reshaped to look better, the interface of the camera and the newly added automatic lens cover, which lacked in the previous version (it only featured manual lens cover). Other than that, there are no visible changes in functionality, so if you already own the old version you might wanna stick to it.
Not new to the MWC exposure, the highly awaited GD910 wrist watch phone made its second appearance at this year’s MWC, after it has been showcased last year at the same event. Still, it seems that the device is really working and we will soon be able to see it in action on the market.
The technology behind LG GD910 allows voice commands and video calls, as it is 3G compatible. The device features a small 1.4-inch TFT touchscreen (262k colors and 176x220 pixel resolution), HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP connectivity, MP3 player and Flash UI. It also includes a CIF, 352 x 288 pixels used for video-calls, text-to-speech capabilities, which eliminates the need to type, and speech recognition. The wrist watch phone carries a small battery that assures an autonomy of up to 247h in standby mode and 2h of talk time.
I guess we will be seeing more LG devices this year, especially those low- and mid-budget handsets that were announced but not showcased at the MWC. Also, LG promised to release around 50 smartphones running the Microsoft OS until 2012, which seems to be quite a lot.
14 DAY TRIAL // 
