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LG on show at CommunicAsia 09

If you want to see the latest and greatest in mobile technology then look no further than CommunicAsia. Take a peek at what LG has in store for the second half of 2009.

Joseph Hanlon
Joe capitalises on a life-long love of blinking lights and upbeat MIDI soundtracks covering the latest developments in smartphones and tablet computers. When not ruining his eyesight staring at small screens, Joe ruins his eyesight playing video games and watching movies.
Joseph Hanlon
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It's a kinda magic

If you want to see the latest and greatest in mobile technology, particularly for the Asia Pacific market, then you need look no further than CommunicAsia. 2009's event showcased the best from the mobile manufacturers we know so well, including LG.

In some ways the LG Crystal is like phones we see everyday, but with its transparent sliding keyboard it's unlike anything we've seen before. The keyboard is actually an active touch panel, so not only do you use it to punch in numbers, you can also control the menus with gestures, like swiping or drawing circles.

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The business end

We've seen this style of handset a dozen times before, but never from LG. The GW550 is the company's first BlackBerry-style QWERTY smartphone and will run on Windows Mobile 6.1.

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Touch flow WinMo

If the keyboard in the previous photo had you snoring with disinterest then check out this bad boy. The GM730 has all the Windows goodness of the GW550, minus the keys.

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Guess who else has an App Store

Not to be outdone by Apple — not to mention Nokia, Palm, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Samsung — LG will launch its own application store. According to an LG rep at CommAsia the store should open first in Australia mid-July.

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Am I smart?

The LG Viewty Smart is a perfect example of a new trend we're seeing in 2009: normal phones pretending to be smartphones. Not that the Viewty Smart needs to pretend, it's got a lot going for it, in fact, it has everything you'd expect from a smartphone, except the smart bit. That's why LG put it in the product name instead.

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Watch this space

You can laugh all you want but LG is still going to release mobile phone watches. This is the LG GD910 and is a 3G touch-activated watch phone, with HSDPA capable of receiving data at 7.2Mbps. The real question is are you going to replace your Tag Hauer wristwatch with one that takes calls?

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Get some direction

Phones have had GPS receivers baked in for a while now, but we're still waiting for the perfect combination of phone and nav device. The GT500 may be just what we've been looking for, making use of turn-by-turn software called Wisepilot.

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It's not broken is it?

It probably isn't the best light to show the GB270, but we loved the fractal effect.

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It's getting hot in here

Today you would be a fool to leave your phone on the dashboard in your car on a hot day, but perhaps this is the future for phones.

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It's getting hot in here, too

Solar panels aren't just for phones, LG intends to release a whole range of accessories too.

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How do you like your phone: scrambled, poached or fried?

There's no point in packing a solar phone in anything but a recycled, bio-degradable egg carton. Plus these boxes are so damn cute!

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