LG's $100 Ally crashing Verizon stores on May 20th, pre-orders start tomorrow (update: now with specs)
By Darren Murph 
posted May 12th 2010 9:24AM
posted May 12th 2010 9:24AM
Update: Nothing in particular to write home about, but LG has just unveiled the Ally's nearly complete spec sheet. [Thanks, Rey E.]
Verizon Wireless and LG Mobile Phones Connect Customers to the Superhero Within
New LG Ally Smartphone Prepares Customers for the Adventures of Today and the Thrills of Tomorrow
BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and SAN DIEGO, May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless and LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A., Inc. (LG Mobile Phones), today announced the LG Ally™ will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning May 20. The first Android device from LG, the Ally is the perfect assembly of futuristic, stylish design and 3G Android power for customers looking to tackle life's most challenging feats and everyday ventures. Verizon Wireless customers can pre-order the phone at www.verizonwireless.com beginning May 13.
Key features:
* Ergonomic silver-and-black outer case
* Large 3.2" tempered glass touch screen featuring touch vibration for tactile feedback
* Full slide-out QWERTY keyboard with simultaneous touch screen capabilities
* microSD™ slot for up to 16 GB of memory
* Wi-Fi Enabled® (802.11 b/g/n)
* Bluetooth® 2.1 capabilities with unlimited pairing and support for the following profiles: headset, hands-free, object push, stereo, audio/visual remote control, file transfer, phonebook access, basic printing and instant sharing of photos and videos
* Built-in MP3 and WMA music player with music library, repeat and shuffle features, as well as stereo sound via headset or Bluetooth
* One-touch speaker phone and speaker-independent voice commands
Additional features:
* Five customizable home screens with shortcuts to text messages, e-mail, apps, favorite social networking sites and widgets
* Access to up to 38,000 apps from around the world in Android Market™
* Luminous sensor designed to adjust LCD backlight brightness depending on light conditions
* Proximity sensor instantly locks touch screen buttons while talking on the phone
* S-GPS support for enhanced location accuracy in addition to turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps™
* Access to updates on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook®, etc.
* 3D App launcher and Live Wallpaper
* 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera and camcorder with flash that includes:
o Five different camera resolutions and three different video resolutions
o Zoom up to 4.0 times
o Macro Mode for detailed, up close pictures
o Panorama for three guided sequential shots
o Scene mode for auto, portrait, landscape, sports and night settings
o Image editor with zoom, rotate, resize, crop, added frames and stamps
o Customize brightness, white balance, shutter sounds, color effects and use a self-timer
o Choose between mute and unmute to record video with or without sound
o Optimize video quality with normal, fine or super camcorder settings
o Video recording time up to 16 GB
Pricing and availability:
* The LG Ally will be available for pre-order online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning May 13. It will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on May 20. Pricing will be $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
* LG Ally customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk Plan and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access. Email and Web for Smartphone plans start at $29.99 for unlimited monthly access.
* For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
no t-mobile...
i am a sad panda :(
**yawns at the Ally**
@skyblaze It saddens me that the Kin is the same price as this. Poor show Microsoft, you had a chance. Why wouldn't someone just get this?
@aubreyq
I will give the "A+" for effort and having Android on there, but someone @ the LG Styling Department must have the Delorean / Flux Capacitor set @ 2005 - 2006.
@David Bailey If you price it as high as a smartphone, you blew it.
@SLINC
I don't think it's stunning, but it's not annoying. It's utilitarian. My 30-year-old Crescent wrench looks just like the new ones at Home Depot and it gets the job done.
@SLINC
More like 2001.
@etwashoo2
Maybe more on the side of one of the "Inventory Readers" you see when Retails Stores bring in that outside company to count their Shiiit.
@A25i
LOL, back when a Tape Desk in a Car was "High End"
@A25i
Dammit, TAPE DECK!
@SLINC
lolz remember when the detachable face plate was the cooooolest thing. Yup, I had a pull out TD. Wanna fight about it? :)
@etwashoo2
When I first read that, I thought you slipped and told us Crescent was the next Android pastry from the Google bakery!
But yeah, I love how in techland a device that is still under a year old is considered ancient technology!
LG and Samsung just don't get it when it comes to western cell phones. Not counting the hardware guts, the style they use just does not fly here IMO. HTC should fly to Seoul and put on a clinic for both of them to attend.
@A25i
Did you put your Faceplate in the Plastic Case and carry it around with you as if it held the cure for cancer?
And you WANTED people to ask what was in the case so you could show them your Tape Deck of Power!
@treats Just because you dont like how it looks doesn't mean no one else will. Speak for yourself. 'Sides, it's not about form, it's about function, I think this phone will function fairly well.
are those blister keys? -seriously? who wants a bunch of cracked and peeled keys in six months--that's crap.
@iptydafu I think they look like real keys. However, I also have eye glasses.
@iptydafu
No, they're not blister keys.
@iptydafu Most LG qwerty phones I've used (specifically the ENVY series, from which this phone seems to be taking it's design keys) had really, really nice button keyboards.
Really nice. I heart my Sprint Hero but I miss my ENVY's keyboard every time I pick it up.
@cicada I agree, my sister has an enV2 and its keyboard is pretty nice.
It's a bit......ugly
@ajwoodhouse YUP! Screw the Ally, this is what I want: http://www.mobiletechworld.com/2010/05/12/lgs-windows-phone-7-prototype-is-also-out-in-the-wild-today/
and NOT the aolha like every webiste though lol soooo aloha must be on track for sprint still like the rumor said a few weeks ago. More choices always good on sprint
It's just me or this phone looks VERY similar to the SE Vivaz?
@Verythrax
yes curves at the sides................but vivaz is sexy and this is ugly
That photo is from the future!!
@whySoSerious Great Scott!
sad that this thing has bluetooth and radio, and better wifi & camera than my laptop
@TylerJHilliard
No, the sad thing is that you have an Apple.
See what I did there?
I really don't get why they chose THIS phone to be allied with Iron Man 2...Iron Man is supposed to be about crazy ass technology and new stuff...this phone has the same shitty processor as the Palm Pixi (MSM7627)! Fail!
When will they realize that we don't like the d-pad, especially on the right side! All it does for me on my Moto Droid is it throws of my typing because my right thumb has to really stretch across the keyboard.
@Acqua206
Stop crying right now!
I said the same comment then got down-ranked into oblivion,
even though I had posted with the keyboards fixed:
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7240/lgim2.png
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/4435/lgim2a.png
Grr!
@Acqua206 I hate that!!! It's my biggest pet peeve. I don't even use the D-pad for anything except tiny forms on the browser. They need to throw one of those optical trackpads on it or just remove it.
looks to be worth $100..bring on the EVO !!!!
When will Engadget EVER learn that the hardware price of a smartphone means absolutely NOTHING?
This phone, like every other smartphone on Verizon, will cost you an additional $30 a month for data on top of whatever talk/text plan you're using.
So in the long run, it might only end up costing you about $100 less than a Droid Incredible, Blackberry, etc. And Engadget always comes out and says "wow it's soooo cheap". Do you guys ever look at the numbers in the long term? The price of the hardware is irrelevant when every smartphone has the same data fees and other charges.
@osterzone
I definitely agree with you that the upfront price is not even close to the total cost of ownership... and very few people ever even look at that. The reality is that any smartphone is going to cost you almost $1000/year what with all the monthly costs piled on to hapless consumers by US carriers.
I personally had no intention in wasting that much money on a phone until the gf said that I should join her family plan. With that I'll be paying LESS money than my current plan, and get a data plan which I did not have before.
Because of that I am taking a close look at this Ally.
@osterzone,
While that may be true, let engadget not put the price and see what happens. you'll get comments saying "what is the price?" I think they do a great job.
@osterzone
It could just be that the writers here make the assumption that most of us already know approximately what the total cost of ownership is on a smartphone, so they just don't add it to every article. Someday I would like a smartphone, but I just can not see myself using it enough to warrant $30 per month as a premium on my phone contract.
I wish I could get one of these phones as just a phone with a data block on the plan... I would think of it as a PMP/PDA/Phone.
@dscribe
I'm not saying they don't do a great job.
But more often than not they love to talk up the phone's hardware price as a selling point, when in reality over a 2-year period that price means nothing.
They also have to realize that $100 is not the real price of the phone.
Most ofus are locked in a two-year plan already (thank you Droid, iPhone, Incredible, Nexus One, etc) so we'll be coughing up a $300+ early termination fee if we're not already Verizon. Otherwise, we're at least going to to pay full retail for the device if we are on Verizon already.
What's the full retail price? These things usually start at over $500.
@osterzone
Thank you.... 2 yr contract cost of ownership is the important number!
Makes me wonder why people still have "The Network" (or the 'oTher' network)
Let's see: Sprint all in plan Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile, Data AND Text (450 land line mins) $69.99 tell me who is in the ballpark of that??
Sprint has Android and webOS... and as they joked... the iPad or iPhone, I mean iPod Touch when you buy their MiFi in 3G or 4G variety! (Way less than an $800 3G iPad)
Oh and of course the android powered HTC EVO 4G (actually running 4G cell speeds not just a 4th Gen phone like the iPhone 2.7G I mean 4G coming out this fall)
HTC EVO 4G and Sprint's $69.99 plan should make hopefully make Engadget conversations about $100 phones and all this seem like the big waste of time that it is! (and I'm guilty of partaking in)
(No I don't work for Sprint... but I have had them for a long time and am happy to see them go from the expensive business plans, which is why I'm with them, to the affordable all in plans)
@kapryt Cost of ownership of the Evo would be about $350 over the life of the contract and have a larger upfront cost.
To you and the OP, engadget continuously makes comments towards the cost of ownership, it just comes in the form of reviews, editorials and podcasts. These are news bits, small posts, not breaking everything down.
Also, like another poster said, people want to know the price and as the original sticker price is the only thing LG has any ability to control they went and congratulated LG for producing a competitive and cheap phone with a good OS. This is a good article even though I have no interest in this phone. I think you two have tried to take a step back and look at the big picture, but in some ways, you actually missed it. Again, not that you don't have a legitimate point, but these things are taken care of elsewhere and don't belong in every article.
@juanvaldez oh yeah, and those same costs (350 over 2 years) occur whether or not you have 4G and use skype or any other video conferencing. I definitely want the top end kinda phone, but it doesn't mean because it has all these bells and whistles that your typical person needs to think "oh, well it's a small fraction" when a majority of the fraction is already included in their buying decision. What I mean is we shouldn't count approx $40 of voice service x 24 months because there is no getting around it, we can however talk about how good a phone is at making calls if you want to make calls - queue iPhone comment. We can talk about how good a phone is at surfing the net if you want to surf - 4G need not apply here because if you have it you should go for it if you want to pay the extra 240 a contract and if not you should maybe wait. Or how rich the media/games are if that's what made you take the smartphone plunge.
So, if you want a smartphone, buy the phone that will get the most out of what you pay, but don't think everyone wants to pay for every bell and whistle they wont use, just like some people can use a netbook these days as their sole device.
This is how Android overtook the iPhone OS.
@AaronX +1
@AaronX
That comments proves you're smarter than Steve Jobs.
@AaronX
Can you clarify that please?
I mean honestly as an Apple Supporter I find the irony delicious.
You guys say the iPhone is overhyped and in some cases not even a "smartphone".
yet you turn a blind eye to the fact that there are 95% shitty android phones....so called feature phones.
On top of that we've got probably 100s of android phones out there in the world vs the 1 iPhone.
Lastly when Apple was on top and #1 (which I still believe it is) numbers didn't matter. Its all about quality. Etc etc...
Not that android is supposedly on top NOW numbers matter...
Hypocrites
@TheLondonExchange Why do you set yourself up? I am the biggest Apple fan you will see, but i don't go around bashing other products.
@ashleythehottiest
1st off I don't believe for a second you're an Apple supporter or fanboy.
More importantly I'm so tired of you android fanboys accusing me of bashing android.
I'm not bashing android. I'm simply pointing out the obvious. There are literally hundreds of android devices out there.
There are jewels like the droid (although its slower than the iPhone when it comes to web browsing), droid incredible, and the Evo 4G.
Those are the only phones in the same league as the Palm Pre Plus or the iPhone.
And those are a VERY SMALL SMALL percentage of the android phones in existence...
Thats ALL I'm saying.
1 phone (an incredibly sliick, fun, and very fast phone) vs hundreds of mediocre android phones with a few crown jewels mixed in.
But hey accuse me of bitching for no reason. The hypocrisy of you android fanboys/Apple Haters is unbelievable.
@TheLondonExchange
He JUST said: "I'm not bashing android. I'm simply pointing out the obvious"
Below are just a FEW quotes directly from the man himself.
"yet you turn a blind eye to the fact that there are 95% shitty android phones....so called feature phones"
"Android is so overhyped..."
"If you want the iPhone join AT&T. If not stop bitching and go enjoy your shitty android phones. "
"I just think android is an overrated, overhyped, piece of crap OS. "
"Go and get android and enjoy your inferior product."
"And its pretty sad that android on its own has to be covered with lipstick to even be passable as far as looks go"
"Not everyone is impressed by your shitty android devices..."
"Android is shitty however while webOS actually has class"
"Android is a hot mess"
"Even though I hate android and you android fanboys"
"however I'm not a fan of android nor of the android trolls on this blog"
"another day another android failure"
"I do NOT like android (bordering on hate duh to the android fanboy bitching)"
He seems to call people fanboy a lot, revealing his distinct lack of awareness of irony or the definition of hypocrite.
He also made THIS bold claim just over one month ago: "I won't go into MS posts or android posts" A promise he promptly broke at the next available opportunity.
You will notice readers, I'm not addressing him directly. I'm simply imploring YOU, don't talk to him. Don't reply to him. Don't fall for his goading.
He is the quintessential troll. He's fishing for a reaction from you, he isn't looking for a reasoned argument. He has nothing better to do. This is his fun. Starve him of the attention he so dearly craves. Cut off the oxygen of conversation he lives by and he will duly fade away like all the other trolls before him.
TL,DR: Ignore the twit.