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
I wish it ran ANdriod or Apple os, man that would kick A$$
@TomBlaze
Why?
Long phone is long.
Im kind of on board with all these long phones and weird out of place devices.
its really long. but s/w looks good. no lag or anything considering its only releasing only 2nd half of the year. i think intel wants to wait for 32nm atom so that battery life could improve. plus tweak moblin to optimize battery life.
i wonder if it can play a avchd video.
Cool, kinda looks like the Chocolate BL40.
Just like the Dell Slate, I am in love with this thing. The size is just right. If this had Android 2.1 on it, this would be the longest year of my life waiting for it to come out. I would give my left nut for this thing. (No offense, Mr. Armstrong.)
@Prostate of Grace
Why run Android when it runs Linux and has an x86 chipset. You can run anything that runs in Ubuntu.
@(Unverified) Good point, I love Ubuntu. But the available Android apps makes it more appealing to me.
Which is an even cooler thing about this device - if Android lost its luster compared to Linux, I could always blow it up and switch.
So many tablets, and MIDs, and netbooks, or smartbooks, and ... screens, it's dizzying. I honestly can't keep straight what's what or who's making what with this year's CES.
Looks nice.
video killed the radio stars!
gta vice city was THE game!
So is this a phone or not? I'm a bit confused on that point...
@MRCUR
It's a "phone" wannabe. :D
FAIL
Until mobile can handle "full" version of flash then I won't even bother.
@cdf74dc9
You do understand that this is an x86 device. With a little code it could run Windows, flash won't be a problem.
@jon
Ever hear of a Nokia N900? This'll run that device's OS' successor, and also run full Flash. I'm posting from my N900 now.
MeeGo, FTW!
4.8 inch 1020 x 480 touch-screen, 512MB RAM, 5MP camera and by the looks of it a secondary camera for video calling... could make a nice hackintosh? =D... suck *that* iphone!
@chronokun it looks like the new Iphone.. can I install that OS on it?
Gezz is that thing is almost 2.35:1 aspect ratio, that's a freaking wide/tall display depending on how you are looking at it.
That's a huge bitch!
@Atomic Punk
Mangina?
I'm not sure what the purpose of this thing is. If that's supposed to be a phone, that is ridiculous. I'll take something that actually fits inside my pocket and doesn't make me look like a fool when talking on it, thank you very much.
Nice Remote Control. I love big screen sizes, but this is just too wide, not to mention that UGLY LG interface is present again. Can't wait till S-Class UI gets dumped.
Do these Google-hosted videos freeze every few seconds for anyone else? Using Chrome and it freezes on me.
@MFPrice
Might be your HW, I'm running the latest Chrome 4 dev build on a 2GHz C2D and have no stuttering even in fullscreen hd.
@MFPrice
I sometimes get that, Adobe flash sucks.
Any chance you guys are gonna use video that's compatible with the engadget app for the iPhone? All that's available to me are the images.
iPhone after viagra
@crow610
More like iPhone with all the missing functions
iPhone wannabe - weird looking kind of shape - Not easy to fit in the pocket !
I am quite interested in moblin, though the device is raises some questions about orientation. you can see the guy doing everything in portrait mode. The only reason for this dimension would be split screen functionality, possibly a left-right hand split on screen keyboard. for webviewing this dimension has as much effective space as a 3inch. I am typing this on a N900 which is just so comfortable to hold with the keyboard in landscape. to play with this bar horizontally seems very unnatural.
Too large for a phone, too small for a computer, I'll pass...
what's the name of the song in backgroud at 1:00 ??
@qlimax
Classic 90s dance tune!!
Dreamer by Livin Joy
@qlimax run it though your iphone and it will recognize the song ;-)
I have a collection of oversized bits and pieces around the house. I play with them from time to time and pretend that I am a dwarf.
So are we all gonna be carrying around these giant MID like phones in 5 years now?
I'm not sure about the future anymore..
Very impressive!
So what happened to that Youtube video in the end?
It did not work?
It uses the accelerometer--the harder you poke the faster it loads. Poking hard 3 times in a row enables super--double-turbo load speeds. It does have a dual jog-wheel on the back, you use it to twiddle your thumbs while it loads youtube.
Oh!
This will fit nicely in my right pocket to balance out the Dell Mini 5 in my left pocket.
Dude, what's up with the square pants?
ME: It's my new phones!
YES!
I just love this form factor. I can`t wait for this phone. LG BL40 is bit to small and closed but this one is PERFECT for me!