You'll know this device as the
4.8-inch revolutionary intent on making us fall madly in love with MIDs all over again (or should that be for the first time?). Good thing then that we now know it as the device that bears a thousand Engadget fingerprints. The
Moorestown-powered GW990 from LG has finally
become official and we have to say it is exactly the huge slab you might imagine it to be. In terms of specs, it comes with 16GB of built-in flash memory and 512MB of RAM, with 720p video output possible should the 1020 x 480 screen resolution not be enough for you. Chunky, sturdy and curved in all the right places, it's an appealing device even if it suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Powered by Moblin and primarily marketed as a 3G device, we were told by LG that -- behind the 1,850mAh battery and alongside the MicroSD expansion slot -- your SIM can make a home, and some such AT&T appendages have already been spotted inside this... smartphone? The UI at present is just a standard S-class layered on top of Moblin, giving us no cause for excitement, but we were reassured that LG will be offering many other OS options when the device shows up in the second half of this year. Anyhow, enough blabbering from us, check out the gallery below and don't forget the vid after the break.
posted January 7th 2010 9:23PM
What the N900 should have been?
@UMPCman N900 should also be a phone so it can't have that big screen and also it has a keyboard
@lifenexus My bad. This has sim too. But tge n900 is more pocketable. This Is just long. N900 is a proper version of what it is. It's an open source Linux based on arm.
@UMPCman
I still can't figure out whether this thing is a smarter-than-smartphone, a mini tablet, or a smartphone without the phone functions.... I'm so confused.
BTW Nokia's N900 is a fat boy.
@darkmax me niether... It is just another os. N900 is fat as it has a keyboard that has half round keys and spring loaded mechanism unlike the droid which has flat keys.
Thats the reason phones like n900, htc touch pro2 etc are fat.
@darkmax This phone, IMO, is the result of Intel pushing back against ARM (as in the ARM Cortex A8 CPU in the N900) with Moorestown.
A couple years ago, Intel announced the MID concept by showing off some prototype designs, two of which had everyone talking for a few weeks. One of those was a wide screened device like the one here. (The other was a more standard tablet design, but the screen rotated 90 degrees into landscape orientation to reveal a thumb keyboard underneath.) At the time, Intel said that it wasn't just a concept, but rather that the device(s) would get built.
The LG GW990 is basically that Intel design for a MID, but in the form of a phone. It uses an Intel CPU and Moblin as the OS. Smartphones these days are basically MIDs that make phone calls.
@cobaltage The Moorestown chip will mean the GW990 is capable of playing HD video and of 3D gaming, and of course there%u2019s the usual high-end smartphone functionality too. That means WiFI and A-GPS, along with a digital compass and 5-megapixel camera.
@UMPCman
I tried out the n900 for a full weekend and it left me mighty unimpressed , in fact I gave it back and kept my much superior HD2 , but this thing is mighty tempting though specially if is gonna run the latest androids or that mesmerizing new win7series stuff; but somehow I tend to favor the Dell 5 incher MID/smartphone.
I just hope that it makes it to the market first becouse I know that I'm gonna fall for the first one I can wrap my mitts around.
Well, unless it happens to show up with some glaring gap specwise or some awful reviews or both.
@UMPCman And that's why technology is evolving, right? I believe this will kick A$$ some tablets: http://bit.ly/lg-gw990-concept-feature
But, will it blend?
@mikethebigo
dadanananaaa nananananaaaaaa
@TonyMontana2367 you know that really is a piss poor way to convey the tune
@wako
lol you're right. it hurts the eyes.
@TonyMontana2367
batman?
Nope, it's the intro tune of "Will It Blend?". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI
Dadanananaaa nananananaaaaaa :)
@Nick Meijer Aaah, thanks for clearing that up. I already wondered what the lyrics of the latest Lady Gaga song have to do with this...
Wow! Mr. Greasy Fingers, trim those nails!
@Brando Well damn, Mr. Anal Retentive. His nails aren't that bad.
what browser? not interested unless its firefox mobile.
@chrislevin
This thing's x86, you could run desktop Firefox for Linux.
@chrislevin
X86+Moblin.
Don't you even have a clue what it means ?
Desktop application running natively HELLO ???
@chrislevin Firefox, Chrome, Konqueror. Whatever you can fancy for desktop linux.
Can't wait for the video. I'll delectat all over that business.
Cool I was confused at first i thought it was an Ipod until i read the title. It even has a micro sd slot to bad the iphone doesn't it just doesn't make sense.
@Dsi2play
The lack of ability to expand the memory makes a lot of sense, as well as the unchangable battery does. At least to Apple shareholders.
@Dsi2play
think for half a second about pirating music/files and you understand why it doesn't have a (btw, ugly looking) SD slot.
It also complicates the SYNCing process when you have all these different inputs. Why are you guys so obsessed with these clunky technologies. Just sync your camera to your computer via USB.
@Wesscoast
Hey, Jobs me, We dictate to the producer how we want to use our technology, not the other way round. What is clunky for you is perfect for me. God, i cant stand homogeneous technology!
@Andurilan
lol thats supposed to read "Don't Jobs me"
@Andurilan
A simple "Don't Jobbie Jabber me" would have been sufficient.
@inquisitor the unchangeable battery is changeable--just like ipods.. you buy a little tool on ebay with the battery, 10 min later you're good to go.. although, the power management is SO good on the iphone.. mine is 2+ years old and I abuse it horribly (quickie 5-10 min charges when I forget, using the non-approved faster firewire charger from my old ipod, etc) at one point it had been 100+ days since a full charge.. but it's rock solid. I have 2 iphones, my buddy has one, all the same story. Expandible ram? You mean like on andoid? ..so that even 16GB SD card can't hold apps (without a hack..) and so the phone/message apps will crash upon reboot after loading 30 apps? The reason why apple chose closed memory expansion, like anything apple does, continuity of user experience. You'd all blame the gadget for flaking out when you bought a class 2 card rebranded as a class 6 on ebay, or when sandisk f'd up a production batch, or you'd complain about it not working with your old 1GB microSD card from your LG EnV.. the memory slot is also a gateway to hacks (ahem, PSP + GTA=oops, although apple is failing hard on app piracy protections right now also) The 64GB ipod touch is only $100 more than the 32. By committing to no user expandible memory, apple saves countless man hours trying to support third party items that cause issues (lockups, lost data, poorly ripped mp3s, etc. etc..) In the long run, apple is making killer profits and offering 64GB touch tablet in a package thinner than a 60GB notebook hard drive a couple years ago.. $399.. It's silly to deny such a wonderful gadget because of a logo, just as much as it is to buy a mediocre gadget for it's lack of one.
------
Now, for once and for all, you can put these concerns to rest because someone explained why...now go get the comfy chair.
i am sure it will run the browser that runs on maemo. it support gtk and qt. so firefox should not be an issue.
is that an LG GW990 in your pants or are you just happy to see me? ;)
@s2upid its an LG GW990... sry.... :(
@s2upid
Hmm...it's me looking for WM7 to mate.
I have literally been waiting for an Atom powered phone since Intel leaked those roadmaps that showed Atom as a 22nm true SoC by 2012. if only Intel and nVidia would play nice, they could partner up and destroy all the ARM band-wagoners
What OS is this? Windows Mobile or what?
@TheRogueFFAngel "The UI at present is just a standard S-class layered on top of Moblin, giving us no cause for excitement, but we were reassured that LG will be offering many other OS options when the device shows up in the second half of this year." - direct quote from article that you may or may not have read above before commenting
For some reason I can only trust htc with
my smartphones..I csn never trust an lg product..
@xberxinfinity HTC had some major problems with Taiwanese worker abuse a couple years back. South Korea on the other hand is very strict about that kinda stuff, hence LG/Samsung have clean slates [pun semi intended]. hopefully humanitarian causes influence your brand preference
@mtvis4luzers
That is.. quite disheartening..
BUT, the only thing influencing -my- brand preference at the moment is quality.
@mtvis4luzers Straight up I'm Mexican, we got it bad too but no one really cares so why should I haha, they should be happy they got jobs!
Very sexy. But I'm not so sure about the "Smega pixel" camera.
I won't lie, I like dells slate better..android ftw
@xberxinfinity
Android better than than a standard x86 OS? which includes ubuntu, Win XP *facepalm* death to all fanboiz
I'd tap that... (touchscreen)
Maybe I'm just judging the size wrong, but that looks too big to pocket carry to me...
It's not very portable. I don't think this will ever fit inside my jeans pokets.
@dedparrot I think JNCO`s will be making a come back *shudders*
That looks like a nice device.
Much like the all-so sexy Dell Slate, this is just too big to be a normal boy.
This seems really business-e or someone interested in nice video playback
Unless its wave face im not happy.