Well, well, looks like LG's got more in its Android bag than just that
GW880 for China Mobile. Vodafone was casually displaying the Android-based Etna at its IFA booth, and while we don't know too much about the QWERTY slider, we do have some basic specs -- you're looking at 3-inch touchscreen, a five megapixel camera, and what looks like a pretty stock Android install. No word on price or release date, but LG is supposedly
launching three Android sets this year, so we're hoping we'll find out more real soon.
Update: LG tells us that the Etna will be available in Germany "before Christmas."
[Via
MobileTechWorld; thanks Whois]
posted September 7th 2009 1:34PM
I could care less about all these keyboard smartphones that do this and that. Just get a BLACKBERRY!
What if they want bigger keys or a landscape keyboard? What blackberry can you recommend for those people?
Sacapuntas, you missed the point man, don't THINK like some kinda asshole, JUST GET A BLACKBERRY! Can't you read!? Geez!
"...and Geeks all over the world put their lives aside as they witness the re-emergence of the Blackberry fanboy..."
At least he isn't an iPhone fanboy. It's nice to see someone put their guard up over a different phone for once.
BlackBerry software is just as bad as Windows Mobile. Just ask the BlackBerry Storm users.
I'll get a blackberry when the OS doesn't suck so hard it generates a mini blackhole in the area.
Looks like a Pre with a lanscape slider.
Amazing! Even though what you just shared is technically opinion you still managed to be wrong... funny.
If you're referring to the typo, then THAT'S funny.
If you instead think that I misused the term "slider" then YOU'RE funny.
The phone has a landscape, sliding keyboard. That the phone couldalso be referred to as a slider means nothing. The phone has a landscape slider.
I believe that Adam is referring to the fact that it looks NOTHING like the Pre. At all.
So says those who newly discovered smartphones with iPhone and Pre.
"Apple invented the smartphone". So every tablet-type of smartphone must be a iPhone-clone.
"Palm pre invented the slider". So every phone with a slider must be a Pre-clone. Even though probably the first smartphone with a slider was the HTC 6600, sold as Verizon PPC6600 in 2004. The first PDA with a slider was probably the Sharp SL-5500 Zaurus in 2002.
Looks more like an HTC 6700 clone (I think the first smartphone with a horizontal slider), first marketed in 2005-2006, sold as the Sprint PPC-6700 or Verizon VZ6700.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Apache
ouch!
You folks are hysterical, unobservant and delusional.
@deyanimay, yes it was painful to watch tmarks11 be THAT wrong.
My first smartphone was a Treo 180. I had two of them. I've also been following HTC since before the original Touch. Is that long enough ago for you?
The LG, above, has its screen set higher in the device, just like the Pre. Also like the Pre -- as well as the iPhone and not much else -- has a single center control. The lack of buttons also means your HTC Apache is a FAIL.
The corners are also heavily curved like the Pre and more-so at the bottom, or so I thought, but that appears to be from a slight distortion in the image.
And, of course, it's black as are more than half of all devices, ever.
That it looks like other devices, too, means nothing. It does look like the Pre, even if only a little.
Thanks for the Low Ranking. I'll wear it with pride.
ok, my apologies, you aren't the idiot johnny-come-lately fan boy.
That being said, I don't think it "closely resembles the Pre" at all. Ignoring the horizontal slider vs the vertical slider issue, just the shape of it doesn't match the Pre any closer then it does several other similar curved shaped handsets. The Pre looks like it is fatter and shorter (perspective wise), the Etna has a black border around the screen, whereas the Pre screen extends all the way to the bezel. The front bezel on the Etna looks like it is inset made of brushed aluminum instead of just smooth black plastic.
ok, modern looks mean it doesn't have the four pre-programmed function buttons on the front (big mistake IMHO), but that doesn't make it a pre-clone.
Yeah, they are both curved on the corners. hmm...
More specs please, might have a winner here.
If it got a zenon flash, this is my new phone.
There's nothing wrong with vanilla android, however nice the Sense UI is.
I totally agree. Seems like just because Android is easy to customize, everybody expects stock Android to disappear. I think that would be a damn shame, because after using iPhone, Android, Blackberry, WinMo, TouchFlo, and HTC Sense, I think that the stock Android UI is the best out there. I love to see new ideas and variations, so I'm glad that Android is so easy to customize, but stock Android is still a brilliantly usable mobile UI.
It's good to see LG finally getting some Android devices to market. They are apparently building another Android smartphone for China Mobile, so now there are two.
LG's smartphone, combined with the HTC, Samsung, Motorola & Sony Ericsson smartphones, is starting to create a substantially large target for Android app developers.
WANT! This is the form factor I've been waiting for in an android phone. This looks nicer than the Morrison which what I've had my eye on for awhile now
Exactly my point too. Been waiting for an Android phone with a slider keyboard. More space than a Blackberry; much more than a Palm Pre. Now need to know what networks in the U. S. it will be available from.
Looks cool
cool
Hmmmm. So its the Motorola Sholes for CDMA people and this for the GSM lovin's. alright, thats cool
"I could care less about all these keyboard smartphones that do this and that. Just get a BLACKBERRY!"
Some of those keyboard smartphones that do this and that ARE BLACKBERRIES!
..........I...I just....nevermind.........
HTC really set the standard for Android phones with the Hero. I mean, any company doing Android phones with the normal Android is going to look pretty lazy compared to HTC and what it did with Sense.
Verizon...
Is it just me or is everyone getting tired of constantly seeing so many LG and Samsung phones? Anyways, it looks okay. The 5-row is definityley welcomed. Though I wouldn't count on an LG phone to be my next. I'm already eyeing on a GSM Sholes.
I've been incidentally loyal to HTC thus far, but I don't really give a crap about the brand. The 5th number row is a pretty key feature here. The first brand to have a good keyboard like this along with the other specs of the N900 and a decent OS wins in my book. Android is currently my first choice, but Maemo could work out if they have a decent development and installer pipeline. I think some company on the development back-end should be working to make cross-compatible distribution a one-button process between Android, Maemo, LiMo, and maybe even WebOS, as they all share similar Linux embedded roots with some minor UI differences. I really wish the OS to become a non-issue, so we can start buying based on hardware instead -- more like the PC market.
I've been loving all this Android news lately. ^.^
Likewise, and the fact we seem to be seeing some reasonable sliders coming out as well - this and the Motorola Sholes are what I'm thinking about. Contract on the G1 comes up in December, so I'll be looking for an upgrade around then!
Looks like a G3....lol
something that is *really* bugging me about Android at the moment is that all the handsets are - for all intents and purposes - identical. They all have the same CPU, they all have roughly the same amount of RAM, and thus far, they all have the same size screen.
I suppose that can be spun as a positive, but thus far all that's differentiating between the different handsets is pretty much the camera. I guess manufacturers had better start working on their build quality if that's the way it's going to be...
I'm starting to get bored, too. I'm sticking with my Google Ion until there is a true second generation in Android hardware.
So, uh, the fact that it has a 3" instead of 3.2" screen and a sensibly-placed keyboard (word to your mother, HTC Dream) doesn't differentiate it at all?
@Destricto_Ense: Like I said, internally it's probably the same. The outside is kinda niftier than the Dream/G1, but ehhhhh... I'd rather have a faster CPU and more RAM.
Of course, I'd also like it a lot more if manufacturers stopped talking about releasing Android handsets and actually, you know, released some.
If I'm not mistaken, most of the android phones since the Dream have had more RAM. Granted, they have the same processor, but that's still something. Then there's the fact that this is one of the few android phones with a keyboard. You make a good point, though, they do all look a bit the same.
I agree unfunk. Android had my interest at the G1, and has continued to lose it more and more after every hardware release. Hardware is just as important as the software IMO. There's a perfect harmony in very few devices, where the hardware is as powerful as it can be without generating too much heat or power, and the software utilizes that hardware as much as it can without taxing it.
At least they are bringing back the slider, I was getting annoyed that everyone has been abandoning the keyboards after 1.5.
ewwww yuckyness
Strange how this only gets reported now and not much detail...lots of reporters were sleeping at IFA.
Looks very good. I reckon the screen is more like 3.5" judging the photo. Needs some custom UI though.
the keyboard looks nice...
Dear T Mobile....please?
OK LG, you have my attention . . .
just put the new posters out in carphone warehouse today for this phone although it isnt in stock in stores yet, figure it must be out sometime this month if it is being advertised.