LG Electronics has unveiled the fruits of a cell phone design partnership with Italian fashion goods maker Prada.
The front face of the LG-KE850 phone is dominated by a large touch-screen display and little else, which at first glance means it looks a lot like Apple’s recently announced iPhone.
A comparison of the tech-specs reveals that the Apple product is superior in several areas, including screen resolution, data networking ability and internal memory although the Prada phone does offer at least one thing missing from the iPhone: a memory card slot. However given the iPhone’s capacious internal memory this might not be of great importance to some potential users.
The two handsets are about the same size although the LG handset comes in smaller. The Prada phone is 99 millimeters long by 54mm wide while the iPhone is slightly larger at 115mms by 61mms. Both are about 12mms thick.
The phone is the product of a design collaboration between the two companies. Prada not only had input on the phone’s exterior but also on key elements of the user interface, including the touch interface, ring tones and pre-loaded content. LG didn’t disclose any further details of what content will be present on the device.
The phone is a tri-band GSM model (900/1800/1900MHz) with support for EDGE data transmission.
It will go on sale first in late February through Prada shops in the U.K., France, Germany and Italy. It will cost around €600 ($775). In March it will begin appearing in stores in Asia including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, said LG. A version for the Korean market is due out in the second quarter.
LG has no plans to put it on sale in the U.S., said Judy Pae, a spokeswoman for the company in Seoul.
Technical Specification Comparison between LG-K850 and Apple iPhone
| LG-K850 | Apple iPhone | |
| Screen size | 3 inches | 3.5 inches |
| Screen resolution | 240 pixels by 400 pixels | 320 pixels by 480 pixels |
| Camera resolution | 2 megapixel, LED flash | 2 megapixels |
| Music playback | MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, RA | MP3, AAC, Protected AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV |
| Video playback | MPEG4, H.263, H.264 | MPEG4, H.264 |
| GSM | GSM 900/1800/1900 | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 |
| Data communications | GSM EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 | Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, GSM EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 |
| Internal memory | 8M bytes | 4G bytes or 8G bytes |
| Memory card | Micro SD | none |
| Document viewer | ppt, doc, xls, pdf, txt | TBA |
| Battery life | up to 3 hours talk, 300 hours standby | up to 5 hours talk, video, browsing; 16 hours audio |
| Size | 98.8 mm by 54 by 12 mm | 115 mm by 61 mm by 11.6 mm |
| Weight | 85 grams | 135 grams |
| Price | €600 (US$775) | US$499 for 4GB model, $599 for 8GB model with 2-year Cingular service contract |
| Availability | February in Europe, March in Asia | Mid-year in U.S., Late 2007 in Europe, 2008 in Asia |
