LG Dare Now Available!
The LG Dare is officially “for sale” on the Verizon Wireless website. If you’re the type that needs to go into the store and play around before deciding, you’ll have to wait until next weekend. With that being a holiday weekend, we’d opt for the convenience of ordering online.
Some of the features of this sexy phone are a touchscreen that comes with a stylus for handwriting recognition, a 3.2MP camera with face detection, LED flash and autozoom as well as picture and video editing tools and a nice multimedia suite. It’s looking pretty good.
Here is the “official” information from Verizon:
Dare to be different with Verizon Wireless’ newest phone - Dare™ by LG. This new handset will surpass your expectations with a large 3–inch touch screen that recognizes your handwriting and gives you tactile feedback. Zoom in closer to find a 3.2 megapixel camera/camcorder with advanced features like face detection for outstanding image quality. Of course, the Dare sounds just as good as it looks with a music player and Bluetooth® stereo. With HTML web browsing and a host of other alluring features, it’s up to any mobile challenge.
Design
- Large 3″ Touch Screen with Tactile Feedback
- Virtual QWERTY Keyboard
Camera/Video
- 3.2 Megapixel Camera & Camcorder
- Camera Resolutions: 2048×1536, 1600×1200, 1280×960, 640×480, 320×240
- Video Resolution: 640×480, 320×240, 176×144
- SmartPic Technology for Improved Image Quality
- Face Detection – automatically detects a face when taking a picture
- Panorama, Split Shot, & Frame Camera Setting
- Image Editor – zoom, rotate, crop, add frames, icons, and write over images
Music
- Music Player for MP3, WMA, unprotected AAC, & unprotected AAC+
- Preset Sound Effect Equalizer
- Multitask While Playing Music
- Create and Manage Playlists
- microSD™ Memory Port with up to 8GB Support
- USB Mass Storage
Bluetooth®
- Send all Contacts & Calendar Events via Bluetooth
- Print & Send User–Generated Pictures (JPEG) via Bluetooth
- Supported Profiles: Headset, Hands–free, Dial–Up Networking, Advanced Audio Distribution (stereo), Phonebook Access, Basic Printing, Object Push for vCard and vCalendar, File Transfer, Basic Imaging, Human Imaging Transfer
ServicesOnly Available on Nationwide Plans
- Nationwide Premium Plan Capable
- V CAST Music
- V CAST Videos
- Text/Picture/Video Messaging/Mobile IM/Voice Mail
- HTML Web Browser with Touch Navigation
- Media Center – download games, ringtones, and more
- Mobile Email & VZ Navigatorsm
General
- One–Touch Speakerphone & Speaker–Independent Voice Commands
- Calculator, EZTip Calculator, Calendar, Alarm Clock, Stopwatch, World Clock, Notebook, Notepad & Drawing Pad with handwriting recognition
- Up to 1000 contacts, 5 entries per contact
- Device Software Update – Download software upgrades over the air
Specifications
- Frequency: 1.9 GHz CDMA PCS, 800 MHz CDMA
- Data Transmission: EV–DO Rev. A
- Dimensions: 4.1″ (H) x 2.2″ (W) x 0.5″ (D)
- Weight: 3.76 oz.
- Hearing Aid Compatibility = M3/T3
- Meets FCC SAR limit. Manufacturer’s highest FCC reported SAR 1.09 W/kg at ear, 0.987 W/kg on body
- Display: 260K Color TFT, 240×400 Pixels, 2.98″
- Handset Usage Time: Up to 280 Minutes OR
- Handset Standby Time: Up to 360 Hours
- 3.5mm Headset Jack Capable
- Handset Insurance is Available
Samsung Instinct: 1 CENT Less than iPhone WITH Service
Originally thought rumored at $199.99 you’ll be pleasantly suprised, and quite frankly we’re amazed, that Sprint has priced the Samsung Instinct at $129.99. After running a HUGE, $100 Million ad campaign based on Instinct vs. iPhone, the $199 cost seemed to fall in line… but that line stands corrected!
The Instinct, which has received incredibly high praises from sources across the board, was already poised to get its fair share of looks. Now, with a MUCH lower pricing point, the Samsung Instinct for Sprint looks like it could be a real powerhouse - offering a high-end phone for a mid-range price.
The Instinct is available ONLY on service plans that come with unlimited data, starting at $69.99/month for 450 minutes and obviously, unlimited data. So lets see…
$129.99 for the Instinct
$ 69.99 for the service (at minimum)
=======================
$199.98
HAHA… Sprint and Samsung FTW!
Just as we predicted, the pricing for the Instinct is 1 penny lower than the iPhone 3G… AND you get unlimited data for that price on the Sprint Network.
This is going to make a LOT of soon to be Instinct owners and Sprint customers very, very happy. And, its going to make those planning on buying the iPhone 3G on July 11th think twice.
Here is the full press release from Sprint:
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 18, 2008–Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced pricing for Instinct, a new wireless device that offers consumers an industry-leading user experience by combining full touch-screen functionality with the fast speeds available on the largest national mobile broadband network. When the device launches on June 20, it will cost just $129.99 with a two-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate.
Customers will be able to purchase Instinct through Sprint retail stores, Web (www.sprint.com) and telesales (1-800-SPRINT1.) Best Buy is Sprint’s exclusive retail partner for Instinct from June 20 - August 28.
In order for customers to experience the full capabilities of the device, Instinct must be activated on a pricing plan offering unlimited data. Customers can choose from Everything plans for individuals starting at just $69.99 per month for 450 voice minutes or Talk/Message/Data Share plans for families starting at $129.99 per month for 1500 voice minutes to share between two lines. Instinct complements Sprint’s signature Simply Everything Plan offering both unlimited nationwide voice and data services for just $99.99 per month. The Simply Everything Plan offers premium services, including GPS navigation, email, web surfing, Sprint Music Premier and Sprint TV Premier, while letting customers easily budget for phone expenses.
Instinct was recently named “Best in Show” in the third annual Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Award competition in April at CTIA Wireless 2008. Instinct was also honored as “Most Innovative Product at CTIA Wireless 2008″ by the editors of LAPTOP, a leading mobile technology magazine. CNET also recognized Instinct as the “Best Cell Phone” in its annual Cream of the Crop CTIA 2008 awards.
The innovative device speeds up the user experience like no other touch-screen phone and brings the customer’s most-used applications and contacts within a single finger tap. Instinct has a high-tech look with large, vibrant touch-screen featuring localized tactile feedback, called haptics, which transform the virtual QWERTY keypad and other screen interactions into a sensory experience. The device also offers a Speech to Action button providing many functions using speech activation for calling, texting, picture messaging, traffic, movie, sports, news, weather and search.
As Sprint’s first EV-DO Rev A consumer-centric device, Instinct provides the ability to quickly browse the Web, access business or personal e-mail, share pictures, listen to commercial-free radio and more at broadband speeds. Instinct also provides smooth access to GPS applications including Sprint Navigation, with GPS-enabled audio and visual turn-by-turn driving directions and one-click traffic rerouting as well as Live Search for Sprint, powered by Microsoft, providing easy access to directory information on-the-go, interactive maps and one-touch click to call access.
Instinct boasts many advanced features including Visual Voicemail, allowing users to listen to messages in their order of preference and manage them with a simple tap of the screen. This device also provides support for corporate and consumer (POP3 and IMAP) email, multitasking capabilities that allow the user to play music in background mode while surfing the Internet, texting or playing games, a 2.0 megapixel camera with camcorder and expandable microSD memory of up to 8GB. Additional features include advanced stereo Bluetooth(R) 2.0, SMS voice and text messaging with threaded text, picture caller ID and Sprint Mobile Sync.
Instinct comes with everything the user needs to enjoy the device’s full capabilities right out of the box. Contents include a 2GB microSD(TM) card that can hold approximately 2,000 songs from Sprint Music Store, two standard 1,000 mAh batteries offering up to 5.75 hours of continuous talk time each, battery-charging sleeve, travel charger, USB cable, 3.5mm headphones with built-in microphone, and carry case with stylus. Customers can access the latest information on Instinct at www.instinctthephone.com.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving nearly 53 million customers at the end of the first quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.
[Via Sprint]
LG Decoy Is Up For Sale!
As expected, the LG Decoy is now for sale on the Verizon Wireless homepage:
It will cost you $179.99 with a 2 year contract and $50 instant online rebate. Not too shabby considering it also comes with a bluetooth headset that you’ll never have to charge.
It will be interesting to see how many people take the dive for the decoy when there are so many other amazing phones in the works over the next several months. If you grab one, let us know what you think…
4 New Sprint Phones Launching Sunday
Sprint is launching 4 brand new phones on Sunday, Father’s Day. And while they are technically “new”, you’ll likely think they’re about as “groovy” and “jiving” as the forced lingo your wannabe cool dad uses. ALL of the following phones feature Push-To-Talk Technology.
First up is the the LG LX400, is a clamshell with push-to-talk Q-Chat feature, 1.3 MP camera, GPS and bluetooth that will set you back $79.99 with a 2-year contract and rebates:
Next we have the Samsung Z400 which claims it is rugged enough to pass Military Specification 810F for conditions such as dust, temperature and altitude. Doesn’t this sound like the upcoming Motorola Adventure for Sprint? These two will likely go head to head, with the rugged nature being the top selling point. $99.99 with 2 years and rebates.
The Sanyo Pro-200 and Pro-700 are pretty run of the mill as well, but do boast e-mail support. The Pro 200 runs $49.99 with 2 years and rebates. The Pro-700 is the exact same phone but ruggedized to pass those Military Specifications 810F you keep hearing about.
[Via Sprint]
Real Pictures of the BlackBerry Thunder!
Rumors of the BlackBerry Thunder have been spreading like wildfire ever since the BGR dropped news on the upcoming and unannounced device. He created a “mockup” of what HE thought the device would look like, many people confusing it for official pictures.
Now the BGR has the REAL pictures and he wasn’t far off. Emblazoned with a Verizon Wireless logo, the phone is rumored to be a lifetime exclusive on Verizon’s network.
Just when you thought the weekend was slipping away with nothing notable happening… The phone has all the buttons we expected… Send, Menu, Escape and End with a few odds and ends here and there. It looks as beautiful as we thought it would, but a few questions remain. Mainly:
- Is BlackBerry capable of putting out a highly competitive product with the BlackBerry Thunder since it is their first ever attempt at creating a touchscreen? Or, can we expect it to have flaws that the BlackBerry brand can’t overcome?
- We want one… when does it come out?
It’s amazing how one guy got the scoop on EVERYTHING for this phone… finding the rumors before anyone else, announcing them, making an oh-so-accurate mock-up, disputing claims of others that it didn’t exist and now releasing these.
Big props to the Boy Genius Report!
LG Decoy Priced & Dated
The LG Decoy, a neat little slider with a built in bluetooth headset that stays charged, has been priced and dated for Verizon Wireless.
The Date: June 16th
The Price: $179 with 2-year agreement
For those not planning to commit to an extra 2 years, it’s looking like $349.99 without any contract and $299.99 with a one year rebate… minus of course the $50 instant rebate which would make it $299.99 and $249.99 respectively.
[Via phoneArena, EngadgetMobile]
LG KC550 5 MegaPixel Camera Phone
We just saw pics of a 5MegaPixel Motorola phone surface and simultaneously get torn apart for its failure to deliver auto-focus as a camera feature. Looks like LG might have your alternative.
The LG KC550 is touted as a 5 MegaPixel camera phone WITH autofocus - the cheapest of its kind on the LG product line. Like the quickly disrespected Motorola mystery phone, it is a slider without 3G connectivity. But if you’re really interested in the 5MP aspect of the camera, why would you choose the non-autofocus model?
You wouldn’t… and thats why Motorola is losing the Manufacturers arms race while LG is excelling. When the LG KC550 is released, we’re sure it will get its fair share of looks - at first glance, it looks pretty slick.
Mobile TV Standards Pursued by LG & Samsung
On May Fourteenth Two-Thousand Eight, we learned of Mobile T.V.’s fate.
Don’t ask us why we just broke into rhyme. For some reason the recent Press Release from LG, the one where they submitted an official proposal to adopt governmental mobile TV Standards, it reminded us of the Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue thing. Anyways…
The proposal was submitted to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) which company executives feel will, “help accelerate the ATSC standardization of mobile TV technology, which will benefit both consumers and broadcasters.”
They’re probably right. LG and Samsung devices have been the two leaders in featuring Mobile TV and right out of the gate, the pictures were clear, loaded fast, almost no buffering, had great channel selection and you really couldn’t have asked for much more for an infantile technology. Unfortunately, consumers haven’t been amazingly fast to put it to good use, as Mobile TV viewership has been slow to grow.
It’s kind of a no-brainer for the industry and based on the press release, the partnership will be moving forward relatively soon: “ATSC is expected to adopt the mobile/handheld DTV standard for the North American market in early 2009 following trials of the technology by the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), a group of leading U.S. broadcasters who are vigorously promoting the development and early deployment of mobile DTV.”
Lets just hope porn channels don’t start popping up or vehicular homicide rates will increase by double digit percentages.
LG Vu Now Available on AT&T Website
It appears as though the LG Vu is now available on the AT&T Website (you can buy it HERE).
The LG Vu weighs in at only 3 ounces but packs a powerful punch. It has a 3-inch Touch Screen with Haptic Feedback and plays Mobile TV like a champ. A 2 megapixel camera and camcorder are nice as well. But perhaps most importantly, using it is simple and intuitive… the thing just makes your life easier.
If you’ve got big hands you might find typing on the touch screen keyboard a bit of a hassle, but otherwise, the LG Vu looks like a real winner.
LG Decoy, Dare, ChocoFlip Get Verizon Dates
Three pretty good looking, sure to sell phones from LG have got rumored release dates that you can pencil in.
| LG Decoy
This Slider phone has a unique, built in BlueTooth earpiece for easy removal and use. A pretty neat idea if you ask us. Perhaps this should start coming standard on all devices seeing as how walking around with on the regular with a bluetooth in your ear thumbs you as a Super Geek but having an extra item in your pocket is a pain in the booty. We like it. Online: May 30th |
|
| LG Dare
Definitely the most “glam” of the three phones in question, the LG Dare is basically the LG Prada without the branding. Okay, so perhaps it’s the anti-glam. Either way, it’s a pretty slick little number. And who cares if your white undershirt is Abercrombie & Fitch or Hanes Her Way anways? It’ll have a a 3.2 MegaPixel Camera, and a Touch Screen for your Qwerty Keyboard needs. Online: July 4th |
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| LG Chocoloate Flip
Not too much to say besides it’s the heir apparent of the LG Chocolate. Hip Hip, Hooray! Hip Hip, Hooray? Eh we’ll let you decide. Online: June 24th |
[Via PhoneArena]
LG Vu Quick Start Guide Leaked
For those of you who have been patiently waiting for the LG Vu to pop into their local AT&T Stores, we have a little something to hold you over. The LG Vu Quick Start Guides have been slowly making their way into local stores and we’ve got the copies to share with you!
The 4 page document doesn’t have any earth shattering revelations, but it will get you ridiculously familiar with this beautiful handset before the phone is even available. If you want to be a jerk you could even pretend April Fools is free game all month… walk into the store the morning it goes on sale and give the salesmen a pop quiz.
“I’m from the AT&T/LG Joint Operations Corporate Training Task Force and we’ve randomly chosen this store to conduct a test grading training and preparation of employees regarding specs and features of new devices.”
Ha! As if you’ll take any additional steps that would prolong that magnetic attraction between your hand and the LG Vu.
Here’s all 4 pages of the Quick Start Guide:
-
- LG Vu Qiuck Guide
[via EngadetMobile]
New Sibling for LG ’s Chocolate and Shine
LG has announced that their incredibly popular Chocolate and Shine phones, from their “Black Label Series”, will soon have another Sibling. Its name? That’s a secret. But LG has announced some of the details.
For starters, LG boasts that this 3rd handset will sport the world’s slimmest 5MP Camera. That’s a pretty good quality camera and the pictures do look pretty slim. Hopefully it feels just as slim in your hands.
The only other thing that is truly known is the phone is a slider, which any dummy could comprehend from the pictures that were included in the LG Press Release. They announced that an official unveiling of the soon to be coveted phone will be on April 24th in Europe and the handset would roll out to other parts of the world soon thereafter. Mark that date on your calendar folks - it should be a fun one.
Here’s the actual press release from LG:
Seoul, Korea, April 7, 2008 – LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, today announces the global launch of the third LG Black Label Series handset. Successes of the LG Chocolate and LG Shine, the two predecessors of the LG Black Label Series models, together with globally renowned The PRADA Phone by LG, have affirmed LG as a leading design innovator in the mobile industry.
The design heritage of the LG Black Label Series will continue on to the third handset boasting its smart technology with the latest and sophisticated features including the slimmest 5MP camera.
Similar to the previous LG Black Label Series handsets, the latest model also carries a product concept derived from today’s trend leaders. This new concept of ‘Style that Lasts’ reflects the timeless and elegant design of the phone enhanced by stylish materials such as carbon fiber and tempered glass.
The phone will be unveiled on April 24th starting from Europe and on to the rest of the world, and the product name of the third LG Black Label Series model will be revealed at the official launch.