LG GM730 packs a Windows Mobile surprise

After the LG Arena KM900, the announcement of the LG GM730 took us by surprise. Boasting LG's recently announced S-Class user interface, the GM730 is very similar to the Arena except for one rather big difference -- it runs on Windows Mobile.

According to an LG representative accosted by Crave, the GM730 will be one of the company's first phones to run on Windows Mobile. Microsoft just announced a deal with LG that will see up to 50 of the company's devices run Windows Mobile over the coming year. From what we saw today, we hope that Windows Mobile 6.5 is all it's cracked up to be.

As with HTC's TouchFLO 3D interface, the GM730's S-Class finger-friendly interface menu system sits on top of Windows Mobile. From what we saw this morning, it more or less works, but a few bugs remain. While LG said that the bugs will be squashed over time, we fear the interface is still going to be fiddly to use when it comes to market.

What's really interesting about the LG-Microsoft partnership is that LG is also part of the Open Handset Alliance. Now that LG has partnered up with Microsoft, we're not sure whether the company still plans on making an Android phone. We sincerely hope it does.

With this touch-friendly Windows Mobile phone, you get HSDPA, GPS and, on the back, a 5-megapixel camera.

The GM730's smooth edges means it slips easily into a pocket.

Here's the spec list that was next to the demo GM730.