Last night I was privileged to be invited to a small, cosy location in London 2 floors underground to discuss with LG some of their new phones recently released, and about to be released.

John Barton, the UK Sales & Marketing Manager, spoke candidly about the LG range, and there’s a summary of the devices that were discussed after the break…

The LG Chocolate BL40 (which I have recently reviewed continues to be well received), and leads their Black Label range, and is one of their top phones.  However, for those techies amongst you, read on, for the crown may be about to be lost…

The LG Chocolate BL20 (above) is the little sister of the LG Chocolate BL40, and although it doesn’t offer a touchscreen, it does perform well, and is a nicely designed stylish phones; maybe those with the BL40 will choose a BL20 when they need a smaller device for an evening out…

John also covered the LG POP (above), a 3inch touchscreen only device, where the touchscreen covers so much of the device, you really don’t think the screen can be as big as that.  It features a single Intellikey, which glows green when a call is coming in and needs to be answered, and then turns red, indicating you press the same single button to end the call.  This is a clever use of button lighting, and removes the need for a second button, giving the device a very clean look.  This is likely to retail for around £100 on PAYG, yet still features a 3 megapixel camera.

Oh, there’s an optional solar battery cover for the LG POP which should help keep the device charged (although it’s unlikely to be available until Spring next year)…

However, the two key phones for me and many of you were…

The LG GM750 is a Windows Mobile 6.5 device, and I have to say this is one of the first Windows Mobile device I could actually live with over time.  It features a combination of the Windows Mobile homescreen, but also supports an LG S-Class UI, allowing you to swip left and right and access 4 other homescreens, giving access to commonly used areas of the phone.  The majority of the functions on the device were easily performed with a finger (although a stylish stylus is included).  All the usual functions are included (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HSDPA,  GPS), and the device supports the new Windows Marketplace for additional applications.  As you can see from the photo above, this is a Vodafone exclusive for a while.

However…

The LG GW620 though was even more impressive, and was the device of the night!  This is LG’s first Android device, it’s a QWERTY slider, and features a 5 row keyboard (Nokia, I’m looking at you here!) and provides a combination of the LG UI alongside Android.  Featuring 5 megapixel camera (as does the LG GM750), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HSDPA, GPS etc but it also features some unique LG software.  Firstly, they are installing their SNS manager (Social Networking Services) software on a number of these newer phones, which brings you access to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, but links into the core phone apps wherever possible.  Also included is their Auto Face-tagging software and Face to Action technology.  Not forgetting their roots with other phones, LG have also included DivX and Xvid support in this device too.

Both the GW620 and the GM750 had good touchscreens, although as both are resistive, neither are quite as good as the tempered glass capacitive screen of the LG Chocolate BL40.  For me, the LG GW620 looks to be a key phone for LG for 2010; a QWERTY slider combined with Android should see many sales of this device.

I managed some hands on time with all of the above phones yesterday, even including the LG Watchphone (which I believe is no longer exclusive to Orange) and was most impressed with all the devices.

Alongside the LG GW520, I now have a number of these phones to review, so expect a fair few LG phone reviews over the coming weeks.  All, that is, except the Android LG GW620; this phone won’t be out until the New Year, but I’ll hopefully have a review device then to provide feedback on.

Just to finish off, well done to Vodafone, who somehow managed to get their 3G signal 2 floors underground allowing phone network access whilst I was there, and obviously thanks to both LG Mobile and the LGBlog for the invite in the first place.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Gadgets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.