And by "variant", they mean ready to download songs via V-Cast at $2 a pop.

I usually just skim over phone stuff on Giz, but this one actually made me stop and read. That is a badass looking UI!

Looks amazing...

It wouldn't have hurt if they tried to design something that doesn't look like the "other" phone. At least remotely.

Wow. IF this thing has Wi-fi im interested

The problem with this is the OS. If it were running Palm, WM or Linux I'd fall myself to get one, but without something that is relatively open for development, I can't imagine this is going to do half the things I want it to with any degree of ease or efficiency.

This may prove to be an iPhone competitor, but it will only compete in the same way other mp3 players compete with the iPod. Yes, it will have nice features, and will probably be swell to use. It isn't going to be an iPhone, however. It simply isn't going to have the ease of use, the iTunes integration, and a billion 3rd party accessories. The iPod / iPhone ecosystem is going to be very tough to compete with for a long time to come. Verizon will gum it up with their crapware and ridiculous music / video fees. Yeah, Verizon will screw this up... just watch.

Yeah, that keyboard looks so iPhoney. Should be a cool alternative. What's the opposite of fanboy?

I would like this but I don't think it's true or even makes sense, rant they coming out with the LG Voyager in early November? It has a touch screen and keyboard, wouldn't this thing detract from it? Also end of the year is real soon, why have they been marketing the 3 new phones for months (Voyager, Juke..) and there has been no buzz about this? I CALL B.S!!

@twistyaction:
Fangirl. duh.

Why is everyone looking for THE iPhone killer?
It won't be one lone device.
It'll be a gang*.
HTC
Nokia
Samsung
LG
Sony Ericsson
Meizu
etc.

*BANG!

I didn't buy an iPhone for two major reasons; the touch keyboard is simply not very good compared to actual tactile buttons, and there is no corporate email push. This thing obviously has the keyboard, so if it has the email as well, I'm 90% sold. Although when you factor in the hellacious Verizon interface, it may balance everything out.

Why can't anyone make a phone that I want to buy???

Video: [www.phonedog.com]

I got to play with the Vodafone version recently - it's GSM and was running on ATT in San Francisco. It's pretty sweet. I use an iPhone daily and honestly the F700 touchscreen isn't in iPhone's multitouch league. But it's quite nice ... and it's got a real QWERTY board and a 3mp camera (hopefully the US or unlocked version will have a 5mp as originally announced).

@Atelier: I've been wondering that same thing for the past 5 years. Though, as mentioned above, if Verizon doesn't mess with the UI (and it's a *usable* interface) this could be it. I'm assuming it's got EV-DO, the biggest (well, 3g) reason I didn't jump on the iphone to begin with.

why would they go with verizon if verizon is already getting the voyager which is pretty much (and i say that loosely) the same device: front large touch screen, slide/open brings up full keyboard, potential iPhone killer. i dont know, Sprint hasnt got much love lately (i dont even give them love), and they have a really nice, really easy to use interface. i dont think its the reception thats Sprints problem, i think most of their newer phones cover the antenna/reciever with plastic which will obviously make the signal weaker, especially if its where u put ur hand to hold it.

P.S. why do u guys cares about the UI of this IF it goes to Verizon? havent u guys seen the interface of the voyager and venus? plus the new chocolate has multiple UI's built in!

i'm so getting the european version cuz verizon will probably replace the original OS with their hedious one.

My big question for Verizon: Does it have wifi? If so, this may just be my next phone.

I'm all for open competition and not looking for any "killers" of sorts. Just a little creativity wouldn't hurt. LG has their own form factor and easily distinguishable from the other phone. Besides the keyboard, the closed shot is a pretty blatant P Diddy sampler. Shrug.

@twistyaction:
now now, play nice Twisty. Sounds like someone hasn't had their butt tickled in a while.

@alywa: There is no need to compete with the iPhone because they've already captured a lot of the market share they are going to get with the 1 million units shipped. It's a great phone for the type of people that read Reddit and love Apple, but to think that a touchscreen phone that costs $500 will have any sort of impact comporable to the iPod is ridiculous. No average consumer is going to be buying these phones. There will be no purchase from the Aunt and Uncle as your christmas gift like we see so often with an ipod. Hell, Motorola has shipped 50 million Razrs, they don't need to be better than the iPhone.

@ShaneO83:

Go ahead and squirrel away your comment. You will be proven very, very wrong.

Do you really think Apple is going to stop at the iPhone (as it is now)? Do you not imagine they have an iPhone nano, and a cheaper, more vanilla music phone in the works? They will all have the iPod connector (dock connector), and will work with each other's accessories.

Apple has opened the Pandora's box of revenue sharing with the carriers. They are going to be getting millions and millions of phones out there, because they make them money, and they bring in new customers for the carriers lucky enough to get to sell them.

The cellphone landscape is changing, and the big guys know it. Apple is in position to take a ton of market share from Moto, Nokia, etc... Wall Street is aware of this, hence Apple's current stock prices.

@alywa: I agree with alot of that but it's hard to imagine a product hierarchy involving a ipod/phone with mass appeal and an iPod. It's seems as if they would canabalize the iPod sale. But maybe they just plan on squirreling away the iPod.

@ShaneO83:

It doesn't need to have as mass an appeal as the iPod... it adds to the ecosystem already established by the iPod.

Pretty much everyone has a phone, right? And there have been 100+ million iPods sold, right?

So, are there 100+ million chargers out there? Yep. They work on both the phone and iPod. How about 100+ million iTunes programs running on PC and mac? You bet. How about the millions or car adapters? Music and video on computers already ready to be transfered? No setup hassles, no tech geekery just go get an episode of The Office onto your phone.

Apple and ATT made activation of the phone a much better process. iTunes contains all of the drivers needed to make the phone work with the computer... no missing sync, no broken connections... it just works.

Going on a trip? Why take the iPod and your phone?... just bring the iPhone. At a friends house and are talking about a new album? Just buy it via iTunes Wifi Music Store. No silly price gouging, and it simply syncs back to your iTunes, ready to be used by your phone, iPod, stereo, etc.

Apple hasn't even scratched the surface of its potential with the iPhone. Just like it took until the iPod mini / 4G iPod for them to really take off, just wait until the $149 iPhone nano is here (pure speculation, but based on trends).

I would not want to be a Motorola shareholder right now. They are about to have their lunches eaten.

Here's the problem: even if Verizon does get this phone, a lot of the features that make the GSM version rock so hardcore are probably going to be removed because Verizon is going to put their proprietary OS on the phone.

It'll have the same lack of Bluetooth features (when compared to the GSM variant). Since it doesn't appear to be a smartphone, I very much doubt that it'll have Wi-Fi. Most importantly, Wi-Fi cuts into their profits (the money they make by you paying for Mobile Web).

The LG Voyager is going to have an HTML browser (first for a non-smartphone from VZW), but I wouldn't be remotely surprised to see this have WAP.

Hopefully they'll give the 5 megapixel camera, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them bring it down to 2.

The phone's amazing, but Big Red doesn't have a track record of leaving phones unmolested. Once you remove all the killer features that make this phone unique, it could very well just end up being a LG Voyager clone made by Samsung.

I hope that won't be the case, but I'm afraid that it will be.

That phone is hot!!! MUST SELL N95

isnt the F700 supposed to be GSM? but if they come out with a CDMA version, i'm hoping and praying that sprint gets their greasy little fingers on it. either that, or put google's smartphone OS onto the mogul.

but god fucking damnit (this is a gawker site, i can curse all i want), that UI looks fresh and clean. and i'd describe myself as a very slight samsung fanboy, but this beautiful phone would increase my fanboyishness ten-fold.

That phone is hot! Might get it over razr 2...

That's pretty cool...I mean hot.

I find it acceptable.

man I wish T-Mobile would for once get a phone that didnt look like a toy, this one would be great to have, tired of lame sidekicks