RSSLG's Secret 'iPhone killer' turns up in Britain
By Michael Hatamoto | Published April 25, 2008, 12:02 PM
LG Electronics has launched its new Secret line in the UK -- a sleek, stylish new camera phone with a shiny carbon fiber casing whose emphasis is not only on "smarts" but also on "trends."
Originally leaked several weeks ago, the Secret follows the LG Chocolate and LG Shine phone models in the Black Label Series, which has helped boost LG's phone sales with more than 25 million sales worldwide.
The Secret is 11.8 mm thick, making it the thinnest 5-megapixel camera available on the market, and features 3G and Bluetooth connectivity. In addition to the 5-megapixel camera, it's able to record video at 120 frames per second directly into the DivX video format. Similar to the Viewty line of mobile phones, Secret also offers inline photo and video editing, with built-in facial editing software and automatic lighting adjustments.
The features list also includes Bluetooth, music playback, FM radio, microSD slot, sliding keypad, support for Microsoft Office files, and 100 MB of internal memory. Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube videos are bundled with the phone's built-in browser.
Users can play video games using motion-controlled technology, while using the touch-screen to browse through photos, games, music and other files.
LG will launch the Secret in Europe next month, with launches in Asia, North America and the rest of the world this summer. The company hasn't publicly announced pricing of the new phone, but analysts expect it to be one of the more expensive mobile phones available.
Moving forward, phones wanting to compete with the iPhone -- at least with its current incarnation -- will need to have 3G connectivity, a touch screen, higher megapixel cameras with video playback, and motion-controlled interaction with the phones. Users have dubbed the LG Shine as one of the possible "iPhone killers" that could at least slow down iPhone sales, but its expected high retail price may limit its deadly capability, at least for now.
Apple and LG will both find themselves competing against the Samsung F700 phone, a Microsoft Windows Mobile-based device that features a 5 MP camera, GSM, EDGE and 3G network compatibility, touch screen, and full QWERTY keyboard. The LG Secret will probably be the costliest phone competing in this niche market, with projected prices putting it at least $150 higher than the F700 and iPhone in Europe.
First of all LG stand for LOW GRADE. My aunt always buys their products. It is major crap. I stay away from LG phones and their product. LG is up the with GPX products. God forbid they should come together and merge and make extra crappy porducts. I am not convinced that this is going to be a better altenative. Personally I would stay away from anything with the LG logo slapped on it.
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|I own an LG K990 (Viewty) and it's the best phone I ever bought. The last LG I had, the 'Chocolate' was also great. Solid build quality that made my Sony Ericcson feel very poor in comparison. The last post about LG being Low Grade is simply not a fair statement.
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|Ummmm, no. iPhone killer ..... with hard buttons.
I actually prefer the Blackjack to the iPhone, touch screens kind of suck.
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|Have you actually tried out the iPhone's touch screen? It's very different from using that annoying stylus pen. I for one hate the stylus interface. When it comes to WM 6, I prefer smartphones using the non-touchscreen interface. But with the iPhone, the touch screen is sweet to use.
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|Although I don't own a iPhone, I have tried one. It's pretty cool but one of the companies I subcontract for supplied all of thier partners with Blackjacks.
We tend to send a lot of emails and IM's directly from our phones when a job is coming together so I need a hard key phone for quick and easy typing.
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|For typing, nothing beats the Nokia Communicator series... too bad they're so huge :-)
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|Every month or so, LG introduces a new iPhone killer. The Prada, Voyager, Secret...and all the others.
If they'd work on their software and stop introducing new hardware, they might have something great.
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|I am a long time Apple Fanboi (and I wear that appellation proudly) and an extremely pleased iPhone user. However, I'm not sure why many people get so hostile about iPhone competitors. I prefer that description to "iPhone Killer". I firmly believe that competition is a good thing for everybody, including iPhone users.
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|WOW!!! That's amazing!!! It looks so futuristic. (if we were still in the 90's)
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|I am not sure what LG is smoking, but this thing as about as much of a chance of killing the iPhone as M$ Zune has at killing the iPod....nil.
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|Ohhh ok eldingo....trolling once again.
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|Let's see, this LG phone has an actual keypad. Apple's iPhone has only an on screen touch keypad. Clearly the iPhone has much better visual appeal. LG's phone really doesn't look too much different than the many other slider phones on the market. As for the 5MP camera, many USA carriers place a restriction on the size of pictures that can be sent across their network via MMS. T-Mobile USA doesn't even allow a 1MP size picture to be sent via MMS on their network.
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|and the iphone can't even send or receive mms properly.
i guess as long as you're not limited by size...
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|It has 3G (like any decent phone in the last couple of years) and only a fool would use MMS in place of the web.
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|Even though I agree with you. The Zune 2 is getting better reviews then the standard ipods for music (not talking about the Touch ones though). Time will tell if it can bump Apple on the iPods though, as their market is full, Zune 2 is slowly...very slowly growing.
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|dont feed the troll please!
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|"The Zune 2 is getting better reviews then the standard ipods for music..."
According to who? M$ZuneFanboi.com? Any real reviews i have seen have all said the iPod is still king and the M$ Zune 2 does not come close. The M$ Zune 2 sounds flat, has buggy software, the software has a horrid UI which fails at cloning iTunes, only works on Windows, shoddy manufacturing and many fall apart, etc...
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|I own 2 iPods dingo, and I'd trade them both for a new Zune. You are absolutely pathetic with your Apple cheerleading.
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|What are you waiting for? You can easily sell the iPods on eBay and there are a ton of M$ Zunes people are basically giving away because they are horrible.
The resale on a M$ Zune is worse than a Ford automobile.
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|Fugly, anyone? I think so.
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|agreed
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|I am sure the iPhone is shaking in it;s boots right as we speak...Look at that thing, its horribly ugly. As a longtime users of LG phones, I would like to say that LG phones are complete trash. Especially the chocolate. They are way too annoying to navigate.
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|everytime I hear "iPhone Killer" I have to laugh. Where are the so called "iPhone Killers" that already came out? The only thing they "killed" was their profits hahaha
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|'Users have dubbed the LG Shine as one of the possible "iPhone killers"'
LG Secret is probably what you were going for here Michael.
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