Hasta La Gadget!

In light of its fresh tie-up with Microsoft, we can understand how any LG smartphone not running WinMo might be perceived as a black sheep this week. Still, it bums us that the the company has launched its latest S60-powered handset — the KT770 slider — at MWC this week with little more than a brief mention on LG’s official MWC site and a couple of forlorn demo models stuffed in the corner of the company’s booth. The good news is we decided to make good on LG’s oversight and give this little beauty the love it deserves with a mention, a gallery, and a quick video of its tweaked S60 3.2-based UI in action.

The faux carbon fiber back is a little cheesy — particularly for a device that otherwise looks fairly businesslike — but with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, GPS, a WQVGA display, and a 5 megapixel camera on board, it’s hard to argue that this device can’t be competitive (put this up against the far bulkier, uglier N95, for example). The UI seemed reasonably responsive, and though we weren’t able to test the browser without a connection, we imagine the stock S60 apps work every bit as well as they do on Nokia fare. Check out the video after the break!

Continue reading LG doesn’t rock the WinMo boat, launches S60-powered KT770 on the downlow

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

LG doesn’t rock the WinMo boat, launches S60-powered KT770 on the downlow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most of its “advanced features” are being kept under wraps for the time being, but LG is showing off its strikingly-designed 13.4mm-thick GD900 this week with 7.2Mbps HSDPA in preparation for a launch later in the year. By and large, the design DNA here doesn’t break rank with LG’s sliders of the past year or two save for one very important exception: it features the world’s first transparent keypad that softly glows when open — and we’ve got to admit, this might be one of those rare instances where we’re digging sheer beauty over functionality or usability. The company has also designed a dedicated Bluetooth headset to go along with its latest work of art — but unfortunately, this image is about as close as you’ll get to any of it until the planned second-half retail availability.

Filed under: Cellphones

LG’s GD900 previewed, features transparent keypad originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, brother. Really, Samsung? Are we seriously going to have to juggle completely unrelated names based on geographic location yet again? Unless our deductive reasoning skills are just utterly shot, Sammy’s Ultra Touch S8300 — which got official earlier this week — will be known as the Tocco Ultra Edition in some corners of the globe. Nomenclature aside, what we’re really here to discuss is just how striking this piece is, and if you’re in disbelief, we’d invite you to give the read link a visit. Pocket-lint was able to score a pre-production sample over in the UK ahead of its “debut” at Mobile World Congress, and you know you don’t want to miss that.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung’s Ultra Touch S8300 handled ahead of MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If having your cake and eating it too is just how you roll, you’re probably the kind of hard-to-please son of a gun that wants a numeric slider keypad to go along with your phone’s AMOLED WQVGA touchscreen. Wait, let us guess: you also want an 8 megapixel camera, AGPS with geotagging, integrated FM radio, stereo Bluetooth, and microSD support up to 16GB. And naturally, you want it all somehow magically packed into a shell measuring no more than 12.7mm thick. Well, guess what, sweet pea? Samsung’s gone and called your bluff with the rumored Ultra Touch S8300, earning itself an official announcement ahead of MWC — and as long as a real smartphone OS isn’t on your shopping list, this 7.2Mbps HSDPA monster should fit the bill. We don’t have launch territories or pricing just yet, but see that little “Barcelona” on the weather widget there? Yeah, we suspect we’ll be seeing plenty of this one on the Mobile World Congress show floor.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung melds slate, slider with Ultra Touch S8300 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In typical Samsung go-big-or-go-home style, the world’s number two phone manufacturer is now expected to announce no fewer than nine new models at this month’s Mobile World Congress — and that’s just from the EDGE-powered middle of the range on down. Starting with the most interesting of the school (if we want to go with a fish analogy here), the pictured S5050 brings high style, a 3.2 megapixel cam, 2.2-inch QVGA AMOLED display, and most interestingly, dual SIM slots — an indication that this will very likely see duty in the Far East. Heading on downrange, the B5702 is almost as awesome but trades the high-tech display for a 2.4-inch TFT. Of course, there’s more than just sliders in the mix; you’ve also got bars like the S3310, which supports microSD expansion, a 2.1-inch QVGA display, and FM radio (an almost ubiquitous feature in developing market phones). The E2210 holds down the clamshell fort — but to get it, you’ll have to be cool with a meager 160 x 128 display and a weak VGA cam. Heading down to the very, very bottom of the range, you get into a couple candybars designed to be accessible to the world’s poorest: the E1125 and E1100, which rock 128 x 128 displays, a data-less GSM radio, and 300 / 200-contact phone books, respectively. That E1100 sounds suspiciously like the legendary Nokia 1100, doesn’t it? Anyhoo, expect this all to break at MWC, along with the usual array of moderately more droolworthy high-end fodder.

[Via GSMArena]

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung pulls a Samsung, leaks nine new models ahead of MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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