14 DAY TRIAL // The very first Levi Strauss branded mobile phone to feature 3G connectivity (and the second ever Levi's handset) is now offered by Orange France, under the name of Levi's The Original 3G.
Like the other existent Levi Strauss phone, simply named Levi's The Original, the new one doesn't pack advanced features and is, first of all, a fashion phone. Or it tries to be, anyway.
Levi's The Original 3G has a slider form factor, it measures 95 x 46 x 17,1 millimeters (when closed), weighs 95 grams and offers tri-band GSM connectivity (900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) as well as UMTS (2100 MHz) for 3G data transfer speeds. Furthermore, the phone packs a 2 inch TFT display with 176 x 220 pixels and 262K colors, a 2 Megapixel camera with flash, video and digital zoom, Music player (MP3, WAV, AAC, AAC+ , AMR and MIDI), Video player (MPEG4, H263 and H264), Bluetooth 1.2 with A2DP, USB and microSD card support. The battery included in the 3G Levi's is a Li-Ion one that should provide up to 4 hours of talk-time and up to 198 hours of stand-by time.
Overall, Levi's The Original 3G looks pretty nice, but apparently it's just a re-made of another phone released by Orange, namely Orange Berlin. The Berlin handset brings about the same features and it looks alike, except the fact that the Levi's 3G is a bit re-stylized and comes with the Levi's logo on the back case. So, in the end, it turns out that the Original 3G from Levi's is not that original.
Anyway, the phone can be bought exclusively from Orange France, for 279 Euro (about $440) without any contract agreement, or less with a contract. For the first 100 buyers, Orange offers a 1GB memory card and a "jeans pouch" to put the handset in, while for the next 200 buyers, France's largest mobile carrier offers only the pouch.