Foreign LG phones at CES 2009

The LG Renoir's claim to fame is its 8-megapixel shooter. It's equipped with Schneider-Kreuznach optics and has a boatload of features including manual focus, ISO 1,600 sensitivity, geotagging, face detection, smile detection, and even blink detection. It features Touch Shot technology, which lets you autofocus on something by tapping on it, and then the picture will be taken automatically. Other cool camera tricks include Beauty Shot, which reduces blemishes and skin imperfections, and Art Shot, which includes photo effects like color tones and black and white.

LG Renoir's touch-screen interface is similar to that on the LG Prada and the LG Glimmer, with the navigation icons on the right-hand side. The touch screen feels intuitive, and it offers vibrating haptic feedback. Other non-camera features include Wi-Fi, A-GPS, and stereo Bluetooth. For media fans, the Renoir's camcorder can take 120 fps high-speed video and produce 5 fps time lapse recording. It supports DivX and XVid formats among others. The Renoir's music player supports Dolby Mobile, which supposedly results in richer bass tones.

The star of the LG booth this year at CES 2009 is probably the Watch Phone, and yes, it's Europe-only for now. It's a touch-screen device, and hopefully it'll be out later this year. Features include 3G/HSDPA, a music player, a camera, text messaging, and stereo Bluetooth.

The Watch Phone is quite handsome, with tempered glass in a metal casing. It has three keys on the side, which are the Talk, Clear, and End keys. The charging connector is on the underside of the watch.

The LG Prada II has one noticeable improvement over the original, and that's a full QWERTY keyboard. Aside from that, it is as slender and sleek as ever, with impressive features to boot. They include dual-band HSDPA, quad-band GSM, Wi-Fi, a full HTML browser, stereo Bluetooth, FM radio, TV-out, a document viewer, 60MB of internal memory plus a microSD card slot, a 5-megapixel camera, and a luscious-looking 3-inch capacitive multitouch display with active Flash UI. And yes, it's Europe-only.

No, this is not the LG Watch Phone. This is actually the LG Prada Link Bluetooth Watch, which is designed to go along with the LG Prada II. The idea is so you can view incoming caller ID and text messages on it without having to access your phone. Voice communication is not supported, however, so you can't pretend it's like the Watch Phone. The Prada Link Bluetooth Watch is made from stainless steel and leather, and is water-resistant.