Pedro Matias sets new texting record at LG Mobile World Cup (video)
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted January 15th 2010 9:59AM
posted January 15th 2010 9:59AM
Showcasing the "fastest, most accurate" text messengers (according to the corporation that dreamed up this little publicity stunt), the LG Mobile World Cup Championship went down yesterday at Gotham Hall in New York City. We're proud to say that the American team fared well -- grabbing second place and winning $20,000 in the process -- although in the end the cup went to South Korea. Additionally, history was made when Portugal's Pedro Matias set the new World's Record for texting by typing a 264-character text in just 1 minute 59 seconds (besting the previous record by 23 seconds). Of course, each Mobile World Cup must have its share of controversy -- in this case, Engadget Mobile's very own Chris Ziegler led a silent protest during the awards ceremony. The group was reportedly upset over the use of QWERTY phones (the LG enV3 in this case) to break the record. "The only true test of texting skill is a numeric keypad, without T9," he said. "Hell, it's the Morgan Pozgar affair all over again. Is nothing sacred?" PR and video after the break. [By the way, we totally made the last part up.]
THE FASTEST, MOST ACCURATE TEXTER IN THE WORLD IS CROWNED AT THE LG MOBILE WORLD CUP IN NEW YORK CITY
Team Korea, Receives $100,000 and World Champion title following global texting competition
SAN DIEGO, CALIF., January 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ - LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc. (LG Mobile Phones) hosted the first ever LG Mobile World Cup, which concluded yesterday with Young-Ho Bae, age 18, and Mok-Min Ha, age 17, from Korea as the winning team. The duo took home the title of LG Mobile World Cup Champions, and split the $100,000 in prize money, after beating out 24 participants from 12 other countries after an intense five game series.
Contestants competed for the title on some of the latest and most innovative LG mobile handsets including LG enV3, LG BL20 and LG GW520.
"It is amazing that our team won the world title! Every moment in every round of the texting game was just awesome!" said Young-Ho Bae. "We are very thankful to LG for the chance to participate in the world texting championship. It's an additional delight that we got to meet new friends from different countries in one of the most exciting cities in the world."
Morgan Dynda and Kate Moore from the United States placed second splitting $20,000, and Juan Ignacio Aufranc and Agustina Montegna from Argentina placed third splitting $10,000. In addition to the main competition, the players attempted to set a new Guinness World Records® record for fastest texting, using the LG enV3 handset. A new record was set by Pedro Matias, age 27, from Portugal who typed a 264-character text in just 1 minute 59 seconds, thus shaving 23 seconds off the previous record, set by Finland's Arttu Harkki on April 27, 2005.
The LG Mobile World Cup took place on January 14th in New York City at the historic Gotham Hall. During the competition, players competed in various texting missions, including break the wall, monster popping, moving pillar, running relay and racing replay. In each mission, contestants were tasked with the challenge of typing in phrases on their LG mobile devices exactly as they appeared on nearby LG plasma screens with no typos or abbreviations while trying to be quicker than their opponents.
Finalists selection for the LG Mobile World Cup began in May 2009 with a series of national texting contests across 13 countries including Canada, Indonesia, Portugal, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Korea, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. After several months, 26 contestants were chosen to compete in teams of two in the hopes of becoming the word's fastest texter.
About LG Electronics, Inc.
LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE: 066570.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances, employing more than 84,000 people working in 115 operations including 84 subsidiaries around the world. With 2008 global sales of USD44.7 billion, LG is comprised of five business units –- Home Entertainment, Mobile Communications, Home Appliance, Air Conditioning and Business Solutions. LG is the world's leading producer of flat panel TVs, audio and video products, mobile handsets, air conditioners and washing machines. LG has signed a long-term agreement to become both a Global Partner and a Technology Partner of Formula One™. As part of this top-level association, LG acquires exclusive designations and marketing rights as the official consumer electronics, mobile phone and data processor of this global sporting event. For more information, please visit www.lge.com.
About LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company is a leading global mobile communication and information company. LG creates handsets that provide an optimized mobile experience to customers around the world with its cutting-edge technology and innovative handset design capabilities. Increasingly, LG is pursuing convergence technology and mobile computing products. LG will continue to take leadership in the mobile communication environment with stylish designs and smart technology. For more information, please visit www.lgmobilephones.com.
Team Korea, Receives $100,000 and World Champion title following global texting competition
SAN DIEGO, CALIF., January 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ - LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc. (LG Mobile Phones) hosted the first ever LG Mobile World Cup, which concluded yesterday with Young-Ho Bae, age 18, and Mok-Min Ha, age 17, from Korea as the winning team. The duo took home the title of LG Mobile World Cup Champions, and split the $100,000 in prize money, after beating out 24 participants from 12 other countries after an intense five game series.
Contestants competed for the title on some of the latest and most innovative LG mobile handsets including LG enV3, LG BL20 and LG GW520.
"It is amazing that our team won the world title! Every moment in every round of the texting game was just awesome!" said Young-Ho Bae. "We are very thankful to LG for the chance to participate in the world texting championship. It's an additional delight that we got to meet new friends from different countries in one of the most exciting cities in the world."
Morgan Dynda and Kate Moore from the United States placed second splitting $20,000, and Juan Ignacio Aufranc and Agustina Montegna from Argentina placed third splitting $10,000. In addition to the main competition, the players attempted to set a new Guinness World Records® record for fastest texting, using the LG enV3 handset. A new record was set by Pedro Matias, age 27, from Portugal who typed a 264-character text in just 1 minute 59 seconds, thus shaving 23 seconds off the previous record, set by Finland's Arttu Harkki on April 27, 2005.
The LG Mobile World Cup took place on January 14th in New York City at the historic Gotham Hall. During the competition, players competed in various texting missions, including break the wall, monster popping, moving pillar, running relay and racing replay. In each mission, contestants were tasked with the challenge of typing in phrases on their LG mobile devices exactly as they appeared on nearby LG plasma screens with no typos or abbreviations while trying to be quicker than their opponents.
Finalists selection for the LG Mobile World Cup began in May 2009 with a series of national texting contests across 13 countries including Canada, Indonesia, Portugal, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Korea, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. After several months, 26 contestants were chosen to compete in teams of two in the hopes of becoming the word's fastest texter.
About LG Electronics, Inc.
LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE: 066570.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances, employing more than 84,000 people working in 115 operations including 84 subsidiaries around the world. With 2008 global sales of USD44.7 billion, LG is comprised of five business units –- Home Entertainment, Mobile Communications, Home Appliance, Air Conditioning and Business Solutions. LG is the world's leading producer of flat panel TVs, audio and video products, mobile handsets, air conditioners and washing machines. LG has signed a long-term agreement to become both a Global Partner and a Technology Partner of Formula One™. As part of this top-level association, LG acquires exclusive designations and marketing rights as the official consumer electronics, mobile phone and data processor of this global sporting event. For more information, please visit www.lge.com.
About LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company
LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company is a leading global mobile communication and information company. LG creates handsets that provide an optimized mobile experience to customers around the world with its cutting-edge technology and innovative handset design capabilities. Increasingly, LG is pursuing convergence technology and mobile computing products. LG will continue to take leadership in the mobile communication environment with stylish designs and smart technology. For more information, please visit www.lgmobilephones.com.
This competition is a disgrace because it's encouraging youngsters to get even more sucked into texting/sms'ing. It's the biggest source of disturbance in lecture halls!
Downrank me, but TRUTH BE SPOKEN!
@Hitman Well...if SMS is the ONLY reason you type on your phone, then maybe you're right...just sayin'...
Ok I couldn't help but laugh & I'm sure I'll get downranked or something b/c you'll think it's BS & I have no way of proving it, but I figured I could beat that "World Record" & totally did by far. I typed 494 characters including spaces & 389 characters not including spaces in 1 minutes 45 seconds on my G1 keyboard...All my sentences were coherent with out spelling errors...If I of all people can type that much faster than the "World Record" I know there's bound to be tons of other people who can completely blow that out of the water. What a joke...
@Pupitmiser
Let's embrace(sarcasm alert) the fact with both hands: Most teenagers and even young adults these days like to SMS or text(here in America).
And, about your texting speed, I bet you're fast. But they're using a numeric keyboard, instead of a full qwerty. That might or might not make a difference to your speed.
@Hitman Thanks for the correction; Makes perfect sense now. I wasn't positive as the remark in the post seemed to elude to the fact that it was a QWERTY that beat the record. my mistake.
@Hitman then why was there a silent protest because there was the use of an lg env3? if you look on the lg site they actually have the phones that winners have, which if you look back all of them are full qwertys
whats considered a phone? Can I use a laptop that has phone capabilities?
Not many realize this, but their thumbs were all stuck in that position for hours after the contest.
Girl on the left is so sexy.
Ok my first comment from my iPhone.alls I hav to say is good job and havin fun wail enjoying gadgets is well and good but why the stupid amounts of money for prizes makes no sense to me $100,000 could be better spent in the world.
@FLASHINC uhhhm, cry more hippy.
@jandrea95 I SUPOSE THAT WOULD BE MORE FUNNY IF I WAS AN AMERICAN BUT AM NOT AM FROM ENGLAND.am jus sayin thats alot of money for a stupid thing as the fastest texteder in the world.
@FLASHINC
Then you should go get a job that makes you that much money to then give to the world. I'm sure LG makes more contributions($) to the world then you'll make in your lifetime.
@FLASHINC So are you saying that the world needs to eliminate ALL contests and competitions because YOU feel the money can be spent better some place else? And just how much $$$ do you contribute to charity each year? If I go by your logic, then this is how it should be: I'm in debt and it is now required that you give me all of your money because I can put it to better use than you can.
This reads like an Onion article.
someone competent at morse code can still beat texting in terms of getting a message across quickly and it was invented in the 1830's - 1840's
@Nicnac
I came here to post a similar comment...Morse code will win out over text messaging every time in terms of speed.
not surprised 3 out of 4 are females
@(Unverified) 4/4 you mean.
The Korean girl doesn't look impressed. At all. It looks like she's about to kill someone. Or go to sleep. Ah well, what's the worst that could happen if you mix those two up...
@gingerninja It's probably because she doesn't think this is a big deal or something, or the fact that she did it while she was asleep, and now she just woke up for the photo shoot.
This is truly a sign of the apocalypse. I wish swift death everyone involved. The contestants, the corporate sponsors, the audience. Everyone.
@Solidstate89
Surely not the readers of the article?!
Uh, idk about you guys but 264 words in 2 minutes is pretty fast, i just timed myself and only got 83 WPM on my Bold 9000 and my thumbs were flyin everywhere lol
here in Portugal, we are very good with fingers
ihihihi
I can go just as fast on a numeeric keypad with T9... is that a bad thing?
Why is there a photo of american a japonese guys when the topic says the name of the portuguese guy? anyway, congrats to all, it must be fun all those countrys fighting for the same thing.
the chick on the left wants me
GOGO Poerugal :)
Hello engadget. Report the stuff and leave your stupid opinions out of these articles. Thanks losers.
[PT]
Portugal por aqui?
Muito por causa dos pré pagos desde 97
[EN]
Portugal around here?
It´s because we have pre paid since 97
Hmm the video says they typed a message in their native language. Are some languages faster to type than others? Was that taken into account? Questions...
she doesn't look 14