LG Sees Dough In EV-DO, Megapixels, Expanded GSM Line

By Joseph Palenchar On Mar 22 2004 - 8:00am

LG InfoComm is dropping into Wireless 2004 with its first CDMA 1X EV-DO phone, which will also be the company's first megapixel camera phone for the U.S. market.

The EV-DO phone and a separate VGA camera phone on display here will also be LG's first U.S. phones with integrated camera light, a bright LED that can be switched on like a videocamera light.

A total of 15 new models are on display, including two new GSM models that expand LG's GSM selection to four models from two.

The EV-DO phone is the 3.88-ounce LG8000, which incorporates a 1.3-megapixel camera. It delivers 3.3 hours of digital talk time, but the company didn't specify the battery-life impact of new high-speed EV-DO data services, such as streaming video. The camera features of the clamshell 8000 include flash, self-timer, 10x zoom and 15-second videoclip capture. The phone also features large internal and external 262K TFT color LCD screens, ability to stream and download video and music, speakerphone and USB.

The new VGA camera phone, the 3.88-ounce CDMA 1X LG7000, features flash, self-timer, rotating lens, assisted GPS and black finish.

Another new clamshell phone, the 3.4-ounce CDMA 1X LG5225, features internal antenna and ability to download Java-based applications. It lacks camera but features assisted GPS, RF-off airplane mode, 128-pixel-by-160-pixel 4K color display and external LCD.

A fourth phone, the 3.35-ounce clamshell LG1200, is the company's first GSM camera phone for the U.S. market. The 850/1,800/1,900MHz GSM/GPRS model features integrated VGA camera, 4x zoom, 65K 128-pixel by 160-pixel display, MMS and SMS, IR, instant messaging (IM) and voice-activated dialing.

A fifth phone, the CDMA 1X trimode LG5550, is a 3.89-ounce clamshell model featuring speaker-independent voice recognition, speakerphone and speaker-independent voice command, which launches such functions as contact lists and voice mail. It features external circular organic electro-luminescent (OEL) display to display caller ID. OEL displays save battery life, and the 5550 will be LG's second phone with OEL display.

Another new GSM/GPRS phone is the 850/1,900MHz clamshell LG1300. It features MMS, IM, Java downloading and 65K internal color display.

The six phones' pricing and availability weren't disclosed at press time. Details on nine other new phones weren't available.