LG Announces Prada Touch Screen Phone

January 18, 2007 By Geoff Duncan

LG Announces Prada Touch Screen Phone

Although it won't reach U.S. markets, LG's new Prada phone features a completely touch-screen driven interface...like a certain phone expected from a Cupertino company.

South Korea’s LG may be looking to bask a bit in the anticipatory halo surrounding Apple’s forthcoming iPhone: the company has announced its new Prada phone, a slim black and white candy bar mobile phone developed in conjunction with the luxury goods brand, and which features an entirely touch-screen driven interface.

"We at LG are exceptionally proud of the Prada Phone by LG" says Dr. Scott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, in a statement. "The two companies have worked together seamlessly towards a truly shared vision, to develop one of the most beautifully stylish handsets the market has ever seen."

The LG Prada phone is unlikely to ever see U.S. markets—it’s a tri-band GSM unit with EDGE data service—although it should hit retailers in the U.K., France, Germany, and Italy in February, and reach Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore by March, with a Korean release following in the second quarter of 2007. The phone sports a 2 megapixel camera (with a Schneider-Kreuznach lens), a built-in media player capable of handling music (MP3, AAC, AC+, WMA, and RealAudio) and video (MPEG4, H.263, H.264), along with a document viewing which can display PowerPoint, Word, Excel, PDF, and text documents. The phone sports a 400 by 240 LCD touch screen, and the phone is operated on-screen via a touch screen interface built using Macromedia Flash. The phone also offers Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, microSD storage, and Internet connectivity via mobile data services, rather than Wi-Fi. The whole unit measures just 98.8mm by 54mm by 12mm (3.9 by 2.1 by .47 inches).

Although many are comparing the device to the forthcoming Apple iPhone—and noting that it’s a bit smaller—consider that the Prada phone offers a skimpy 8 MB storage (opting instead for microSD cards), doesn’t support Wi-Fi connectivity—and the iPhone’s will pack a larger display (480 by 320 pixels) and all those stylish accelerometers and proximity sensors. But if consumers in Europe and Asia want to be able to pay for the Prada name, they will be able to do so: the LG Prada phone is expected to carry a €600 price tag (about USD $770). (If you’re counting, iPhone prices will start at $499).

Showing 6 comments

LG’s Prada 3.0 pictured and detailed ahead of glitzy launch at 9:39am 14th December 2011 [...] fashion house Prada, just ahead of its special launch event to be held later today. The original KE850 Prada was launched way back in 2007 and was followed by the KF900 Prada II in 2008. Now, three years [...]
K G Warren-Okrah at 12:11pm 13th February 2007 It's very difficult to compete with a great software and hardware developer like Apple.LG have a great produt but not really known for software and having made the prada ui software based ,i wonder how they are going to seamlessly integrate the these components of the phone working with someones software.
steve has a better product,design coundn't be sexier,history of the more powerful ox10,reliability of a music player and culture,they could add any apps they think of in the future seamleesly during product roleout.
The only problem i can think with the iphone is the network they are tied in with(AT&T has a good history with land based infrastructure.but people still skectical with cingular, don't know wherether is worth the switch)
Alltogeter the iphone is on top pants down
Kirk at 10:34am 18th January 2007 Hmm
LG:
(MP3, AAC, AC+, WMA, and RealAudio) and video (MPEG4, H.263, H.264),

iPhone:
(MP3, AAC, AC+, WMA, and RealAudio) and video (MPEG4, H.263, H.264), + m4a

and

LG:
Tri band plus EDGE (NO 3G)

iPhone
Quad Band plus EDGE (NO 3G)

LG:
8 MB Storage

iPhone:
4 GB (500 times more) storage.

LG:
$770

iPhone
$449

OH WOW

Brett, would you be in the market for a bridge in Brooklyn?
Brett at 10:11am 18th January 2007 I would take this over the iPhone:

(MP3, AAC, AC+, WMA, and RealAudio) and video (MPEG4, H.263, H.264),

That's pretty amazing actually, and it appears to be a true 3G phone unlike the iPhone.
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 10:10am 18th January 2007 I think the iPhone looks sexier to be honest.
Ian Bell and Dan Gaul at 10:08am 18th January 2007 I would have expected a leather case or diamonds, or something that yells Prada. Otherwise it looks pretty generic to me.