It seems like a never ending story.
First we had some hundreds of iPod killers launched by different MP3 players
makers. Now the mobile phone producers are embracing the same trend with, of
course, the iPhone killers.
Maybe they should all team up and
start a “Let’s Kill iPhone” campaign or something. Anyway lately Apple had its
share of problems with angry clients over the iPhone price cut and with the
whole unlocking story so the rivals companies could not miss the occasion and
are taking advantage of the opportunity.
Right in time for the holiday
season Verizon Wireless has unveiled on Wednesday a new smart mobile phone that
resembles the iPhone in several ways.
Created by LG Electronics, the LG
Voyager (aka LG VX10000 Voyager), as the new model is called, will be offered
exclusively by Verizon Wireless.
With its large external touch
screen 400x240 touch screen, which also slides open sideways for a full QWERTY
keypad, LG Voyager features also 3G data network technology, which is an
advantage that the Voyager has over the iPhone.
Just for the moment, I might say,
because last month when iPhone was introduced in UK, Steve Jobs said that starting next
year, Apple may offer a 3 G iPhone.
But until then let’s go back to
LG Voyager. The standard version includes a 2 Mp camera and a music player with
jacks for headphones, Bluetooth headsets, and stereo speakers. The LG Voyager supports
MP3, Windows Media Audio, and AAC files and its memory is expandable to 8 GB
via microSD.
Verizon has done its home work
and the LG Voyager offers also full HTML browsing, VCAST support.
For those customers who love to
read e-mails and chat the LG Voyager includes a new mobile e-mail service
managed by Verizon and mobile a IM client
However, Verizon Wireless hasn’t
disclosed when the Voyager will hit the market, although the new smart phones
are expected to be on the stores’ shelves already before Thanksgiving.
Beside the LG Voyager Verizon
Wireless has also introduced Samsung Juke, the LG Venus and BlackBerry Pearl.
The LG Venus has two dual front
screens, the lower of which also has touch input with vibration feedback, which
make accessing the phone’s features a breeze. Similar to the LG Voyager, LG
Venus also offers a microSD memory port that accommodates up to 8 GB of
expandable memory, a music player that supports .mp3, .wma and unprotected .aac
files and a 2.0 megapixel camera and camcorder.
Samsung Juke is a nice device and
quite innovative, I might add. The trick is that Juke has a swivel design which
enables it to literally flick open 180 degrees to reveal the keypad. It
includes alsoa VGA camera with Nightshot, Bluetooth stereo support for
listening to music and the ability to access Verizon Wireless' popular services
such as VZ Navigator and Chaperone.
