LG's LH2300 Touch Web phone says "Hello UI" in Korean

Want the Internet in your pocket? Good, because that's what LG is offering to South Koreans with its new LG-LH2300 Touch Web phone. This ain't your father's baby Internet mind you, the LH2300 features a new "Hello UI" riding atop 800 x 480 pixels spread across a 3-inch touchscreen LCD. LG didn't stop with the web though as the LH2300 also packs T-DMB mobile TV, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD memory, and a jog wheel for easy page scrolling. Its 3 megapixel camera sports face recognition and anti-shake tech. No specifics on the included "high speed" data service. Nevertheless, that front facing camera's a pretty good clue that this pup won't be riding EDGE when it launches in Korea next month for a mere $600 US equivalent.

Gallery: LG's LH2300 Touch Web phone say "Hello UI" in Korean

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[Via AVING]

[mushrooshi @ Mar 20th 2008 1:24AM]

That girl is pretty cute.

[Jordan @ Mar 20th 2008 1:26AM]

That phone is pretty cute.

[happy_penguin @ Mar 20th 2008 1:31AM]

She could sell me one of those big-ass old school phones from the 80's with 30 minute talk time. Too cute!

[James @ Mar 20th 2008 1:52AM]

She looks at you like a little kitten would...so cute.

[Reader @ Mar 20th 2008 1:58AM]

Damn, was going to look through the comments to find one about the girl, sure didn't have to look that far...

[andres @ Mar 20th 2008 2:49AM]

hell, id buy a big ass old school phone even without the cute girl

[Bertross @ Mar 23rd 2008 6:47AM]

As cute as a baby panda riding a unicycle?

[Atanas Boev @ Mar 20th 2008 3:31AM]

Nah, I dont like her index finger :)

[NineT9 @ Mar 20th 2008 3:45AM]

that girl just needs to get * by 10 guys at once, im certainly not the only one that thought this the second u saw her right?

[giuliop @ Mar 20th 2008 8:30AM]

I don't know, there's something disturbingly maniacal in that smile. I wouldn't be surprised if she was to push a button on that alleged phone, which revealed itself to be a flick knife, and then proceeded to stab you, laughing incessantly.
But maybe it's just me.

[Mickel @ Mar 20th 2008 8:45AM]

Hey, isn't that the chick from youtube; magibon.

Cool, everybody notices the cute gurl, not the phone! LOLZ!

[alkjf @ May 27th 2008 4:25PM]

every touch phone in korea looks like the iPhone to some of you,yea? let's see Apple come up with brilliant, much-used, house hold technologies!! just because the touch phone has no key pads and HAVE to look alike because of that doesn't mean everything has to refer back to the iPhone. Take the iPhone apart and let's see whose it really is, shall we?@@#! Also, when one country started off the slide phones, what did everyone start making? and same goes for the flip up phones! Just because they look the same, doesn't mean they're EXACTLY the same!! LG phones;; Samsung's also are making new phones with better abilities, so who's to say iPhone is BETTER!? It's not better, it's just there, one of the good sellers in AMERICA; b/c it's am AMERICAN phone. Hello? nationalism?! If you know what that means.. that is..Some of you ARROGANT, IGNORANT PPL should know this!! give credit to where it belongs to , LG phone is an LG phone, if they want to make it look like an iPhone, WHO CARES?>!@!!

[Forcewinder @ Mar 20th 2008 1:29AM]

Need I say it looks too much like the iphone?

[happy_penguin @ Mar 20th 2008 1:33AM]

No, you needn't say that. If they can sell an iPhone like device and make it better then good on 'em. Apple will be forced to produce an even better iPhone next time around. Competition is good.

[Speeddemon2008 @ Mar 20th 2008 1:37AM]

not to be rude or anything, but i would like to see you come up with a phone design that is quite useful and doesnt look like an iphone. one could say the iphone looks like LG's prada phone.

[biohazard1067 @ Mar 20th 2008 1:42AM]

yeah, you could. But is the Prada in any way as popular as the iPhone? Didn't think so....

[James @ Mar 20th 2008 1:48AM]

That doesn’t look like an iphone. If you’re just saying that it looks like one because of the full touch screen then you should say that the iphone looks like the prada phone or any one of the other similar phones. So if anything they are making a phone which looks like a phone they unveiled two years ago.

[zomg0t @ Mar 20th 2008 1:50AM]

@ biohazard1067
So now popularity takes priority over release date? I suppose Mac OS copied quite a lot from Windows then...

[Matt @ Mar 20th 2008 1:52AM]

Yeah, but is it's popularity relevant at all? Didn't think so...

[happy_penguin @ Mar 20th 2008 1:53AM]

James, that is at least as close in appearance to the iPhone as the iPhone is to the Prada phone. They're all like peas in a pod. But I don't think that's a bad thing. I love the form factor of my iPhone and if someone else can do it better it's a good thing. Someday, perhaps sooner than later, some other company will come out with some revolutionary design to buck that design and when they do people will snatch it up just have they have the iPhone.

[James @ Mar 20th 2008 1:59AM]

I just dont see how it looks that much like an iphone at all unless from now on any touch screen phone with a screen of 3 inches or greater copied the iphone. The buttons on the front and the overall appearance just dont seem all that iphone like to me. Personally i think the iphone looks way better but thats my opinion coming from a tilt user.

[Taylor @ Mar 20th 2008 2:13AM]

3G and a front facing camera?
It won't look like the iPhone when users are video-conferencing or downloading web pages without waiting all day...
-Taylor

[happy_penguin @ Mar 20th 2008 2:20AM]

It looks like the same type of form factor as the iPhone and the Prada phone to me. Again, if they can improve on that it's a good thing.

[LordFarkward @ Mar 20th 2008 3:37AM]

i'm also with james... in fact when i first saw the phone i thought of the N95-8GB, can't say why, but probably because the button layout accompanied with a big screen

[happy_penguin @ Mar 20th 2008 4:25AM]

LordFarkward, let me ask you this: Are there any other phones which have done this type of touch screen before the Prada, which hasn't been all that prolific as far as I know, and the iPhone which is very prolific? I'm asking honestly because I really don't know. I only know the iPhone. If there haven't been such phones then I argue that this is like the iPhone and again I don't think that is a bad thing.

[trumpton @ Mar 20th 2008 6:38AM]

The iPhone looks like the four year old Sony Clie TH55 if you're going to star that nonsense.

[Mike10010100 @ Mar 20th 2008 10:18AM]

In the evolution of cell phones, companies and manufacturers are realizing that the most effective form for a cell phone to take is to have a full touchscreen so that the keyboard layout can change, and so that they can get the most amount of screen space possible.

Saying that this copied the iPhone's form factor is like saying this to another person:

"Hey! You! How dare you copy my simian ancestry! I'm the only one who can walk on 2 legs! That's it, get back to walking on four legs!"

[100eyes @ Mar 20th 2008 1:49AM]

800 by 480? Sick.

[John Bailey @ Mar 20th 2008 6:03AM]

Still usable though. Its the same as the N800, which is pretty good.

[Jeff @ Mar 20th 2008 3:27PM]

i think he meant "sick" as a good thing. ...you know... "siiiick!"

[EDALBNUG @ Mar 20th 2008 2:14AM]

This phone reminds me of Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1. Same screen size, same touch screen function. I doubt this LG phone will stick to Windows Mobile system though.

[biohazard1067 @ Mar 20th 2008 2:15AM]

zomg0t, No, I'm just saying, who cares about the prada? honestly, they're all just phones, like what you want. But ask anyone on the street which they know more about, and most likely it'll be the iPhone and not the Prada. Oh and the Mac OS thing, what does that have to do with anything? I'm sure more people have heard about Apple then the Prada, so that makes no sense.

[Speeddemon2008 @ Mar 20th 2008 2:25AM]

and i really didnt mean anything by mentioning the prada except that it had the same form factor. i could care less about the prada, only ever heard about it on engadget. i was only trying to make a point. im just tired of everyone saying that phones of this form factor look like an iphone.

[James @ Mar 20th 2008 2:36AM]

Speeddemon was commenting on forcewinder who was claiming that they are taking ideas from the iphone when in all reality they are just making a new phone with this form factor as are many other companies. I can see that because of the success of the iphone the demand of these styles of phones has risen but this doesn't mean that everything in of this form factor is a copy of the iphone.

[Speeddemon2008 @ Mar 20th 2008 3:02AM]

thank you james for clearing up my point!

[daniel @ Mar 20th 2008 6:07AM]

That's LG's marketing campaign.

Quote from the Chosun Ilbo:
"In order to pique consumer curiosity, the company employed a "mystique" marketing strategy, providing as little information about the product as possible. To that end, it adopted a "three no's" policy -- no showcases, no TV commercials and no discounts.

First, instead of holding a product showcase, LG only told the press when it would release the phone -- and only when it was asked. Second, it didn't create any TV commercials, but placed ads only in newspapers and upscale magazines. Third, it offered no tantalizing price reductions at all.

"We have maintained the release price of W880,000 since it was released a year ago," an LG executive said. "Some sales agencies give discounts to their regular customers, but that's at their discretion; LG does not offer any reductions."

The company also changed its sales network and the way it displayed the product. It limited the number of retailers carrying the phone to 20 stylish Prada shops worldwide and 300 department stores. It had the phone displayed in a transparent box separate from other products when sold through wireless agents. The intention was to literally set the phone apart from other products and increase curiosity by not allowing consumers to touch it -- thus fueling their willingness to purchase.

The company also provides enhanced after-sales service for the Prada phone. If the phone breaks within a year after purchase, LG pays up to W200,000 in repair compensation regardless of whose fault it is.

An LG Electronics executive said, "The Prada Phone is a product for those 30 percent of consumers who want to belong to the upper five percent. We will maintain our 'mystique' marketing strategy." "

If you haven't heard of it, it's definitely not aimed for you. :P

[boe @ Mar 20th 2008 2:53AM]

It may be staring me in the face but I don't seem to see it... What OS does it run?

[Ewoks FTW @ Mar 20th 2008 3:09AM]

I am sorry to say, this, but that chick's smile looks like its being held at gunpoint.

[Atanas Boev @ Mar 20th 2008 3:34AM]

Yes, jog wheel! Hear that Nokia? I wish N810 had a jog wheel, its horrible to scroll webpages on this device.

[mattclarkie @ Mar 20th 2008 4:31AM]

Still running XP, get with the times, that is so 2001.

[Jeff @ Mar 20th 2008 5:27AM]

Comments in summary: girls at gunpoint are hot; the iphone is a rectangle.

I love you guys.

[xthaox @ Mar 20th 2008 6:08AM]

is that her middle finger pointing at the phone? :O

[richard knights @ Mar 20th 2008 6:09AM]

her eyes are saying "you will never do me you saddo nerdy geeks"

[frankXchange @ Mar 20th 2008 9:20AM]

Cute girl, cute phone - LG knows its market.

[Frank @ Mar 20th 2008 10:43AM]

This sounds cool, oh wait, it already exists.. its called the iphone and it costs half of that.

[Big Al @ Mar 20th 2008 10:55AM]

EDGE?? Umm... There's no GSM in Korea.

SKT, KTF and LGT went CDMA -> CDMA2000.

Aftewards, SK and KTF started WCDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA, but LGT evolved RTTx1 to EVDO-Rev A.

According to an article I read, the LH2300 is going to be used to kickstart LGT's countrywide Rev.A release.

It looks ok, but it'll be enough until i can get my hands on a 3G iPhone in Korea someday.

[Jeff @ Mar 20th 2008 3:29PM]

Maybe someday we'll see this thing on Sprint.

2012?

[ric @ Mar 20th 2008 2:06PM]

hopefully it'll run WM6.1 - so the extra features will end up ripped out as .cab files and made available for other devices.

[Spencer Lavery @ Mar 21st 2008 9:22PM]

If it's anything like the Viewty it won't even be fit for a paperweight, without doubt the worst smartphone I have ever owned/used/seen/heard of.

[XVII @ Mar 29th 2008 4:42PM]

LG rocks, atleast they have creativity.