LG's KS20 now available in Europe

Announced in August, LG's HSDPA-totin' touchscreen KS20 was just released for retail in Europe -- France and Germany to be specific with more countries coming on the quick. Nothing new to report, same business minded, 12.8-mm thick Windows Mobile 6 handset with 3.6Mbps data, WiFi, Bluetooth, 2 megapixel camera (VGA up front), up to 4-hours talk, and built-in stylus for navigating with precision on that busy, 240 x 320 pixel, 2.8-inch WinMo interface. No prices given but we're sure your carrier will happily oblige.

[Surur @ Nov 5th 2007 2:41AM]

Brilliant! A slim device with removable battery, removable storage, 3rd party apps, 3G, A2DP, Bluetooth serial profile for GPS, video calling, and custom LG PRADA -like interface! Yes, yawn-inducing indeed.

[Jon @ Nov 5th 2007 3:53AM]

To be fair the KS20 is a bit average compared to many WM devices. But it does have a very nice design and does more than that other phone.

[Surur @ Nov 5th 2007 4:00AM]

True to a degree, but the specs is very similar to the Sprint Touch (3G, full touch screen, slim and small) plus it has WIFI too, and in many circles the Sprint Touch is being raved over.

[Ryan @ Nov 5th 2007 2:54AM]

the prettiest smartphone ever!

[XenoX101 @ Nov 5th 2007 3:51AM]

low megapixel, insignificant built-in storage, no keyboard, no gps, 240x320 is a little lo-res and lets just say LG doesn't have a great rep for their phone OS's.

Sorry for being pessimistic but this could be much better, especially for this day and age and even more especially because of the pretentiousness they are showing.

[ZSX @ Nov 5th 2007 7:18AM]

I like the dark theme they are using for the interface, and the program laucher, which looks very much like the Prada phone's, could be really useful too. The good news is that in time I am sure both with be extracted by the good folk at xda-devs for use on any WinMo phone.

While this is probably using the same touchscreen as the Viewty (it can handle both finger and stylus input), the bad news is that it appears stuck with the finger-unfriendly keyboard implementation of the basic WinMo install. I guess that means some form of third party software input panel if you really want to avoid using the stylus entirely.

[Jeff Beck @ Nov 5th 2007 10:25AM]

I have been looking into so called "smart phones" very seriously lately and I really don't like what I am seeing.

One of the biggest issues I have found is 3G availability in the United States. First let me add the caveat that I travel a lot (like 6 months at a time) and I wouldn't even consider a non-GSM phone (which removes Verizon and Sprint). That leaves only T-mobile and AT&T as US operators. Second, I want to be able to use the phone's 3G features in both Europe AND the US.

Because of the US FCC's frequencly allocation, most presently available phones will not work in the US in their 3G mode (they will fall back to EDGE if it is supported by the phone). Another gotcha with those phones is that if you have at&t as your US operator, you NEED 850mhz for normal GSM coverage.

If EDGE is fast enough for you, buy the coolest European phone and your done (I think it tops out at like 384 kbits/sec under ideal conditions but I could be wrong).

The only phone (other than an imate which I am not considering) that I am aware of is the Nokia 6120 Classic which apparently supports both HSPDA/WCDMA/UMTS/3GSM/3G on 850 and 2100 (I think that means AT&T in the US, and almost all of Europe is 2100 for 3G).

I have heard rumors that T-mobile will be launching in the 1700 Mhz band sometime in 2008, but I have also heard similar stories from them beginning as early as 2004.

What I will probabily end up doing is buying a 2.5g quadband phone with EDGE and UMTS 2100 (europe) and waiting it out a bit longer. This phone might fit that fairly well for t-mobile in the US.

[Jon @ Nov 5th 2007 11:41AM]

The 6120 classic is a nice little bugger that performs well on 3G networks. I have seen a lot of people here with the 6120 always surfing the web. The only problem is it lacks WiFi. If that is important to you then consider a E51.

[Bill W. @ Jan 4th 2008 1:44AM]

Jeff, I'm on ATT in the U.S. and looked at the coverage maps at GSM World, http://www.gsmworld.com/index.shtml, and it looks like ATT has 1900 network coverage everywhere they have 850 so would't a triband eurpean phone be ok on the ATT network. In North Carolina, they only have 1900 coverage, not 850. What do you think of a triban phone on ATT in the U.S.? Thanks, Bill

[Danny @ Jan 7th 2008 2:00PM]

Anyone know where to pick one up in the UK and how much?
I've been waiting for this phone for a while,
But I can't seem to find it anywhere.