LG announced the debut of its new Vu handset at CTIA Wireless today in Las Vegas. The device is one of the first two that will support AT&T's Mobile TV service launching in July.

Equipped with a 3-inch touchscreen and "minimalist" scroll bar interface, the Vu is reportedly a not-so-distant cousin of the Korean company's KS20 Prada phone in design. The 3G Vu offers HSDPA support like its designer counterpart, which offers speeds up to 3.6Mbps in Europe, but only 1.4Mbps in the United States.

The attraction of this handset is its ability to serve as a portable "live media" device, as it supports both the MediaFLO mobile TV standard and XM streaming digital radio. Several BlackBerry Phones offered by AT&T also now support XM broadcasts, an option that commands an additional $7.99 per month.

Additional features of the LG Vu include full HTML browsing (missing from earlier versions of LG's own Web browser), Bluetooth 2.0, instant messaging, and media player capabilities.

The Vu will be available from AT&T beginning in May, although the carrier has yet to announce pricing details. Based on LG's Prada phone, however, the Vu won't come cheap and will likely be priced higher than Apple's iPhone due to its 3G and mobile TV features.