Hasta La Gadget!

LG on Tuesday provided a sneak peak at the LG Ally, a new Android-based smartphone that will be available on May 20 from Verizon Wireless.

The Ally features a 3.2-inch touch-screen, microSD slot, and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. That keyboard is quite spacious, with easy-to-use, raised keys that will likely satisfy those who find themselves fumbling on other, smaller slide-out options. The Ally comes pre-loaded with the standard Google apps like Gmail and Maps, as well as a “Socialite” widget that will let users aggegate social networks like Twitter or Facebook. It will run Android 2.1.

Five icons are lined up along the bottom of the homescreen, though they can be customized and switched out for other options.

The Ally is being released in conjunction with the movie Iron Man 2, so the phone comes equipped with an “augmented reality” app that will animate an accompanying comic book. Activate the app, aim the phone at images in the comic book, and the drawings will “come alive” and move around the phone’s screen.

LG said it will release additional specs – like what type of processor it is running, camera specs, and pricing — early Tuesday morning. Check back on Gearlog and pcmag.com for details at that point.

But first, check out additional pics of the Ally after the jump.

The Android OS may be flourishing in the U.S., but the “Google Phone” is clearly not. Sprint has decided not to sell the Google Nexus One only months after saying they would, a move that isn’t terribly surprising following the death of the Verizon Nexus One. Sprint spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein confirmed to Gizmodo Monday that the company wouldn’t be selling the Nexus One because of the “upcoming availability of the award-winning Evo 4G.”

It appears both Sprint and Verizon shied away from the Google Nexus One because they could instead have their own branded Android phones with just as much power or more. The Evo 4G, an Android 2.1 device with a 4.3-inch LCD screen and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, is widely expected to be released in a matter of weeks. Verizon has the HTC Droid Incredible, a well-reviewed Android 2.1 phone that is PCMag’s new Editors’ Choice for Verizon smartphones.

Apple’s iPhone has seen quite a jump in global smartphone market share, according to new numbers from market research group, IDC. Last quarter, the handset accounted for some 16.1 percent of the market. The iPhone claimed 10.9 percent for the same period, a year prior.

The iPhone also saw a large jump in shipments, moving 8.8 million units–that’s up 131.6 percent from the 7.3 million phones it shipped a year prior.

RIM, on the other hand, saw a bit of a drop off in its market numbers, from 20.9 to 19.4 percent. That said, the company still increased shipments, from 7.3 million to 10.6 million units.

According to the numbers, smartphones now account for 18.8 percent of all cell phones shipped. that number was 14.4 percent a year prior.