LG’s latest super-snapper cellphone has broken cover, and from the spec-sheet at least you’d think this was the handset to quash all point-and-shoot digicams. The LG GC990 Louvre is tipped (despite LG’s own denials; see after the cut) to launch later on in 2009, taking the place of the existing LG GC900 (aka the Viewty II), and brings with it a 12.1-megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics, Xenon flash and what the company suggests is ISO 3200 sensitivity.
Another day, another phone roundup, so let’s dive right into it, shall we? First up, is the latest in the land of the iPhone. It seems a new rumor is floating around about an iPhone with a unibody and one with nano-like color options, which we’re pretty excited about if it turns out to be true at WWDC09 this year.
LG have reported their financial performance for the first three months of 2009, and while handset sales declined by 7-percent year-on-year, overall operating profit for the company as a whole increased 2.8-percent to $324m. The real success was seen in LG’s home entertainment division, with strong LCD demand pushing sales for the period up 18.6-percent to $3.05bn (for a profit of $10m).
We’re so used to seeing the spec list, press photos, leaked hands-on videos with pre-production samples and early reviews of new cellphones that it’s something of a surprise that the LG Viewty II has remained so discrete. So far it’s just been a few snaps and a partial spec sheet to whet our anticipation; not bad, since according to Electricpig the touchscreen handset itself is set to hit Orange UK in June.
Live images of the LG Viewty II, aka the LG GC900, have emerged, following on from the handset’s specifications which were revealed last week. In fact, it seems as though the device was under our noses all the time, or at least at Mobile World Congress, where LG were quietly displaying it under glass.
According to newmobile, you’re looking at the specifications for the successor to the LG Viewty, the LG GC900 Viewty 2. You’d be looking at a photo of the handset itself if LG weren’t so uptight about images leaking out; all we know is that the Viewty 2 most closely resembles the LG Secret, only minus the slide-out number pad.
Vuzix have announced availability of the AV310 Widescreen Video Headset in Europe, together with the new AV230XL which uses OLED displays for brighter, better contrast images despite requiring less power. The AV310, which was launched in the US in September, produces a 16:9 image equivalent to watching a 52-inch screen, and is 3D capable; the AV230XL, meanwhile, is equivalent to watching a 44-inch screen from nine feet away. Both are compatible with the iPhone and iPod, as well as other portable electronics such as DVD players, smartphones and PMPs.
Shortly after the news of the new silver edition of the LG Prada phone they are performing the same color change on the Viewty. The Viewty has sold over 550k units since its inception and that is apparently the reason they are launching a new color.
Despite being left out of the Android fun & games, Nokia seem to be doing alright for themselves; over at Symbian-Freak they’ve been playing with a prototype of the upcoming N82, the latest in the Finnish company’s high-end cameraphone range. It should be enough to cause ructions over in the LG Viewty camp, too, with 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics, xenon flash and autofocus.
SlashGear Japan
