Want to argue about which of among trio of sparsely-buttoned large-touchscreen devices takes the cake? Now's your chance. The contestants: Apple iPhone, HTC Touch, LG Prada. Rumble on.

The shot we've waited six months to take. (For the uninitiated, the LG Prada came first.) One more shot after the break.

The scuttlebutt from Telecoms Korea says v2 of the LG Prada (KE850) is already in the works. Sorry US readers, they're not adding the 850MHz band just yet, the new version expected to hit in April will sport terrestrial DMB mobile television. Makes sense, since our friends on the Korean Peninsula loves 'em some mobile TV tech something fierce. But man, how did they convince the Prada execs to approve a design-mucking, telescoping antenna typically needed for T-DMB reception in Korea? By the way, that's our rendering pictured up there -- not LG's -- but we'll bet it's not far off from the final product. Anyway, with the US in the throws of a Qualcomm FLO fest, our apparently pedestrian tastes look even less likely to be fed anytime soon. Well, until June anyway.

Read -- Telecoms Korea (subscription required)

We don't have much information yet, but as you may have noticed, LG is now on Microsoft's official list for Windows Mobile licensees. We have it on authority that they've got two devices planned, one of which being a Windows Mobile take on their KE850 Prada Phone. Being that Microsoft mandates Windows Mobile devices require a certain minimum of hard buttons to operate, LG is working on a specially tweaked WM6 Pro interface to make their device actually usable without all those cluttering buttons. The other device LG's working on, as we understand, is something a little more Chocolate-like. More, of course, as we get it.

Check it Apple, LG just went official with their iPhone look-a-like LG KE850 Prada phone which they proudly tout as the world's "first completely touch screen mobile phone." Er, unless you consider the ones from Motorola, HTC, and others. Still, this is more than likely a dig at the iPhone which they can rightly make since the KE850 will hit select mobile shops and PRADA stores in the UK, France, Germany and Italy at the end of February and parts of Asia before March is through. Sadly, the KE850 is a non starter for the US market since this version is limited to tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 with EDGE data. It's smaller than its fruity peer at just 98.8 x 54 x 12-mm resulting in a more compact, 3.0-inch display presumably with that 240 x 400 resolution we heard about earlier. In case you're keeping track (and we know you are), the iPhone goes quad-band GSM with EDGE and WiFi in a 115 x 61 x 11.6-mm shell sporting a 3.5-inch, 320 x 480 display. Also, the KE850 seems to lack any significant on-board storage opting instead for microSD to boost capacity. Like the iPhone, it packs a 2 megapixel camera (with Schneider-Kreuznach lens and LED flash) and Bluetooth 2.0. However, there's no mention of multi-touch capabilities, an on-screen keyboard, or the accelerometer and proximity sensors found on the iPhone. The KE850 PRADA's UI is Macromedia Flash-based and opts for a minimalist, white-on-black display as opposed to the more, shall we say, OS Xish GUI we've already seen floated. Feature-wise, the KE850 comes with a video player supporting MPEG-4, H.264, and oddly, H.263 normally used for video conferencing; a document viewer supporting Microsoft's PPT, DOC, XLS formats, PDF and TXT; an audio player with support for MP3/ACC/ACC+/WMA/RA formats; and a "music multitasking function for messaging," whatever that is. How much? €600/$778... that's how much. Still, a compelling choice for those who can't wait for the iPhone's Q4 European introduction or 2008 Asia launch. Click-on for more pics.

[Via AVING]

Sure, LG's KE850 might have some of those sexy iPhone looks and a strikingly similar interface, but the beauty's just skin deep, right? Not so fast, buckaroo. It looks like LG has been putting a lot more work into this thing than they've let on -- to be honest, they haven't let on a whole lot -- and stuffed in animated menus, purtiful video playback, touchable scrolling and other eye candy. It doesn't look quite as well put together as Steve Jobs' RDF would have us believe the iPhone is, but it's dang close, and makes Apple's offering look a lot more "evolutionary" than "revolutionary." Plus LG's KE850 is supposedly slotted for March or April, giving it a nice jump on the iPhone's planned June release date. Just tell us this thing has 3G, and check the video after the break.

[Thanks, Jonathan]

Two sparsely-buttoned large, touchscreen phones: the Apple iPhone, and the LG KE850 (which already won the International Forum Design Product Design Award for 2007). Separated at birth, or possible lawsuit number two for Apple? You decide.

While it was but a week ago that we got word of a forthcoming mobile from LG and Prada, the first round of "official photos" (read: blurred almost beyond recognition) have already surfaced, and it will purportedly be based on the mysterious LG KE850. Foregoing the typical LG-branding, this black beauty looks to have Prada's fingerprints all over it, and instead of the typical keypad, it'll reportedly sport a touchscreen display that "changes based on the application being used." Moreover, the handset will feature a predictable minimalist design, boasting an all black color scheme and a simple black / white contrasting interface. Although we don't know a great deal about the feature set just yet, it supposedly only has a minimal amount of onboard memory, and while prices have "yet to be confirmed," we're led to believe the pricetag will be quite a bit lower than we're all secretly expecting when it hits "five European countries" in March / April of next year.

Little is known about the KE850 from LG, but the folks over at International Forum Design must know a thing or two about it, seeing how they just hooked it up with a Product Design Award for 2007. And hey, with those hot Chocolate-esque looks -- though we have no proof this one'll actually be branded as a Chocolate -- who can blame them? The big draw here, of course, is a 400 x 240 touchscreen that takes the place of virtually every hard button you might find on a more traditional handset, save for Send, End, and a handful of keys on the sides. The posterior reveals a cam, though its specs remain a mystery. Does someone at LG (or iF) want to spill the beans for us?

[Via Slashphone]