LG unleashes Optimus 7

While LG released the Quantum for AT&T here in the States, the company also released the LG Optimus 7 and the LG Optimus Q7 for the rest of the world. The Optimus Q7 is essentially a rebranding of the Quantum for the global market, with essentially the same specs--a slider form factor, a 3.5-inch WVGA display, a 5-megapixel camera with a 720p video camera, and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

The Optimus 7, on the other hand, has a 3.8-inch WVGA display only, a 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording and playback, a 16:9 aspect ratio for movies, plus the usual 1GHz processor and 16GB of internal memory. It comes with the DLNA-based Play To feature, which lets you share multimedia files wirelessly with other DLNA-enabled devices just by accessing the picture, video, or music "hubs"--no need to dig through menus here, according to LG.

Other apps include ScanSearch, an augmented-reality app that lets you view real-time information as you're shopping, dining, or just walking around a new neighborhood. There's also voice-to-text, which adds a voice control interface to functions like updating Facebook and Twitter or composing e-mails. All of these new apps are available as "Live Tiles" on Windows Phone 7.

Of course, like the other Windows Phone 7 devices, the Optimus 7 will also have access to Microsoft's Xbox Live and Zune services so you can access your favorite games and music right on your mobile device.