By Monica Alleven
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The summer of love – er, handset wars – is off to a start with the introduction of three new LG phones at Verizon Wireless.
The LG enV3 is available starting tomorrow, while the LG enV Touch and LG Glance will go on sale on June 5 – one day before the highly anticipated Palm Pre at Sprint.
All the new LG phones offer the usual fare: text and picture messaging, Bluetooth, mobile e-mail, instant messaging and mobile Web, along with Verizon-specific services like VZ Navigator. The phones are all Chaperone Parent-capable.
The LG enV3 and enV Touch also offer a full qwerty keyboard, HTML Web browsing, visual voice mail, up to 16 GB microSD card optional removable memory, text instant reply and a media center for storage and downloads. Unique to the enV Touch is the ability to read documents from any microSD card in several file formats, a 3-inch external touch screen and 3-inch internal screen, and a 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder with auto focus and image editor.
The LG enV3 sells for $129.99 after a $50 rebate and two-year agreement. The enV Touch will sell for $149.99 after a $70 mail-in rebate and new two-year agreement, while the Glance will sell for a mere $49.99 after a $50 rebate and two-year contract.
The LG phones are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s expected in handsets this summer. Besides the June 6 launch of the Palm Pre, a second iteration of the BlackBerry Storm is expected, along with, possibly, more Android phones.
Speaking at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, Andy Rubin, senior director for mobile platforms at Google, said at least 18 Android-based phones will be on the market worldwide by year’s end. The number could be as high as 20, according to The New York Times.
In general, carriers in the United States will be slower to introduce Android phones than in Europe because of the desire for more customization.