In fact, the omission of GPS and decision to stick with the decent but none-too-powerful LG/Prada OS make the €600 asking price sound slightly goofy. That said, if you're tired of sacrificing QWERTYness for prettiness, well, here you go. It should be available "before the end of the year" but it'll be Europe only, at least at first. [LG via UnwiredView]

LG will be working on all the decent phone features, while Prada will be putting together crap themes, annoying ringtones and other stuff to ensure the handset is just a little rubbish. The LG Prada successor is expected to launch in Q4, 2008. We're excited. [Eprice via Unwired View]

The features the handsets will share include a 3-inch WQVGA 262K color touchscreen, 2MP camera with autofocus, HTML web browser, HSDPA connectivity, 120MB internal memory, USB mass storage mode, and up to 4GB microSD card support. Standing in at 4.25"H x 2.16"W x 0.51"D, the LG Vu is slightly on the larger side, but we can look past its inherent big bones to the 1000mAh battery, which will supply up to 3-hours of talk time. The Vu is set to go on show at CTIA, which gets underway on April 1st, or is that whole event just a well planned joke? Oh, we just can't tell. Now, hit up the link to get your eyeballs filled to the brim with Vu goodness [Phone Arena]

iPhone wins. Here's why:

The LG is smaller, sure. It's a better size, for an un-smartphone.It's the nicest LG I've ever seen. But it often uses it's touchscreen to boring effect. There is no interface advantage here. You touch buttons on screen to scroll and click around, much like a Palm or WM6 Phone. The menu design itself is similar to that on any high end LG phone, like, say the Shine. The 3-inch diagonal comes in useful as the entirety of it becomes a viewfinder in camera mode. The touchscreen let's you drag the home screen's clock around, and that fishy in the photo above is actually "touchable". And it ships with some touchscreen games. But generally speaking, it operates just like a regular phone. No revolutionary usage models here, either.

The iPhone uses it's touchscreen to zoom photos and webpages, flick scroll through long lists. iPhone has all the iTunes and data syncing integration built in, and the neato factor of coverflow. iPhone has networked widget compatibility for weather, stocks (yawn), and who knows what else is coming down the line. The Prada's sync software is rudimentary, allowing you to transfer contacts and calendar appointments. The Prada does have 3G, although that may be in Europe only flavors, while the iPhone only has EDGE and WiFi. (Since this is an import phone for the foreseeable future, it's likely.) The LG's 3-inch screen is 240 x 400. The Apple's is 3.5 inches, at 320 x 480. 8GB vs whatever you can fit into the LG's few megs of internal mem, plus the microSD slot. The browser sucks on the LG phone. LG phone has the advantage of being able to run J2ME progs. And has SMS and IM, which IMO are very obvious things that the iPhone should have. (Firmware!)

The Prada would be a good phone, the nicest non-business user touchscreen phone, I can think of at the moment. But at $700-850 bucks, it's just way too expensive. The iPhone isn't perfect, but the amount of innovation it has pushes it into another class. This is a really stupid comparison: iPhone wins. (The better comparison is iPhone to Helio Ocean of N95. – Brian Lam

iPhone [Gizmodo]
LG Prada [Gizmodo]

Another cool feature is that the phone will have dynamic icons, meaning that the icons will move around when you tap on them, so you don't have to hit them dead-on all the time. No word on when we'll see the phone, but this one's looking even more intriguing than the Prada phone. – Louis Ramirez

LG KE850 Prada Was Just the Beginning [Unwired View]

"This is a phone. And it's really nothing more than a phone. It's for those that are all about appearances. And there's nothing wrong with that."

– Louis Ramirez
Review: LG Prada [ShinyShiny]

Prada Launch Date [Mobile Today]

Some people call them iPhone clones, others call them showing up in the same touchscreen. Whoever started developing first doesn't matter anymore; we just want to know which sexy iPhonish smartphone deserves our children's "college fund" the most. Hit the jump for our Frankenpreview of the different "iPhone clones" coming to the market, and see how they stack up against the Vision of Apple.

iSoftPhone
Price: $100
What??
It's not actually a phone. It's VoIP software that just looks like a phone.
But!
Hold your Macbook up to your ear, and that hipster chick eyeing you up at Panera will never know the difference.

Neonode N2
Price: N/A
2-inch 176 x 220 display
2 Megapixel camera
GSM Quadband
GPRS
Mini-SD slot
OS: Proprietary

What? ?
The N2 uses a innovative, but non-intuitive gesture interface. But its bigger problem is its limited data capability since it lacks newer, speedier transmission standards. And without WiFi as backup, there is a limit to just how "smart" this phone can be.
But!
It's only half the length of the iPhone and weighs just a little under 2 Nanos (about half the weight of the iPhone). You have to appreciate the aggressively small form factor coupled with an interface that, at the very least, confronts the issue of impossibly small buttons.

Teclast T59
Price: N/A

3.5-inch display (VGA)
3G
Wi-Fi & GPS
OS: Windows CE

What? ?
The T59 is 100% concept renderings at this point. As far as we can tell, they haven't even built a mock-up for beautiful models to pretend to be talking to us on yet. So until we see it...let's just say we've been hurt before, ok?
But!
The largest model (as in product, not the hot model mentioned above) is said to hold a massive 16GB of music and videos, which is double that of Apple's phone and bigger than any company's options on this list. But more importantly, it sports an FM radio!

LG Prada
Price: $778

Specs:
3.0-inch display, 240 x 400
GSM Quadband
EDGE data
2 megapixel camera
microSD
OS: Proprietary

What??
The Prada lacks both WiFi and built-in storage—considering the hefty price tag (you are charging even more than Apple, LG), these features will be more than missed. Plus, Europe and Asia get the Prada first while we convince ourselves that the pink Razr is still all the rage.
But!
The Prada is a bit smaller than the iPhone, can't be worse than the Chocolate and...it's not the iPhone—as they made clear. And Apple has become so bourgeois...

Meizu M8/MiniOne
Price: N/A
3.3-inch VGA touchscreen
GSM and TD-SCDMA
3MP camera (back), .3MP camera (front)
TV-Out
OS: Windows CE 6.0

What??
This product is the real deal knock-off, actually changing their design post-iPhone announcement. Consider the MiniOne the technological equivalent to breast implants. Sure they look may look good, but do they really offer the same user experience? (That question isn't rhetorical, btw).
But!
720x480 video playback at 30fps might mean we'll actually use the Meizu for porn daily tasks, especially with its TV-out option. Maybe the more important aspect of PMPs is less regarding the 3-inch screen clarity, and more about the device's ability to interact with home theater equipment—wherever you may be.

However, the long and short of it is that most of these Apple alternatives won't see American releases soon, if at all. So even though it may seem like the market has flooded abruptly with thousands of magical touchscreen phones, the choice may (unfortunately) be easier than you'd think. – Mark Wilson

LG Prada Bluetooth Headset to Go with Prada Phone [Ministry of Tech]

NTT DoCoMo D800iDS
Yeah, they're ripping off the Nintendo DS, but where else will you see a phone with two touch-screen displays. Unfortunately, the D800iDS was not only under glass, but it wasn't even turned on. Lame.

LG Prada
It doesn't get any sexier than this, folks. Miss Spain finalist. Prada. LG. Touch-screen display. Part of my heart will stay at the LG Barcelona booth forever.

Samsung F700
I arrived at 3GSM with dreams of holding the touch-screeny F700. Well, Samsung had a nice big bucket of ice waiting for me cause not only was the F700 a no-show, but they wouldn't even let me touch the prototype.

Samsung FGH-F520
The only company to smack me twice, Samsung's second slider, the F520, was also locked under glass, and no matter how many times I pleaded, they just weren't having it. The sucker remained under the glass (and turned off) during the entire show.

iMate Ultimate 7150
A full VGA screen, QWERTY keyboard, and WM6. This smartphone is oozing with style and power, but unfortunately the goons at iMate had it locked and secured, denying me a grope. – Louis Ramirez

No LG Prada phone for ex-Tampax model (and Miss Spain '03), Eva Gonzalez. – Louis Ramirez

While it looks exactly like the phone of the moment, it doesn't appear to carry any identifying remarks, Prada logos, etc. Rumblings point to LG developing two different, near identical looking touchscreen phones: the Prada that we all know and love and a phone optimized for Windows Mobile 6. We'll have our man on the scene scrounge for more info on this little development. – Nicholas Deleon

My iPhone Exclusive: LG Prada running Windows Mobile 6! [My iPhone]

10. Possio GRETA
When it comes to ballsy innovation, no touchscreen or banana phone beats this combination fax machine, printer, copier, scanner and cellphone in one. Why they painted it the color of maroon nail polish is a question that can probably only be answered by a regional manager for Dunder-Mifflin.

9. Motorola Q9
The Jay Leno chin is gone, the color is much, well, blacker, and it's a true global phone. Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference.

8. RIM Blackberry 8800
The jury is still out on SureType, so RIM took all the best features of the Pearl (including the nipple-like navigator) and combined them with a full QWERTY keyboard. Crackberry-licious.Gallery.

7. Nokia 6110 Navigator
A GPS phone with 3.6 Mbps throughput will keep you one step ahead of pursuers, that's for sure. The $600 price tag, however, means that you are being chased by debt collectors. Gallery.

6. Samsung U100
Two words: Wafer thin. 5.9mm. Gallery.

5. LG Prada
The LG Prada is so hot right now it could take a crap, wrap it in tinfoil, put a couple fish hooks on it and sell it to Queen Elizabeth as earrings. It's going to be break-dance fighting with the Samsung U100 later tonight. Gallery.

4. Motorola Z8
A hinged slider phone that automatically switches into landscape mode? Everyone is going to want to try it once. Gallery.

3. Nokia N77
The great thing about Nokia is that they can take a bunch of features that everyone has seen before—mobile tv, push-to-talk, FM radio, micro SD slot—and freshen it up by turning the phone sideways. Gallery.

2. Samsung SGH-F520
This side-to-side and up-down slider with a touchscreen wins the award for the most iPhone-competitive handset at the show. Its Achilles heel? It will probably never be released outside of Korea.

1. Neonode N2
This phone, which uses an open software platform, probably has a snowball's chance in hell of being used outside of the homebrew mobile phone club. But the 3-inch tall, gesture-controlled phone is also a true harbinger of phones to come.

–Noah Robischon

The interface is really easy to use—it's quick and responsive, but the screen picks up smudges way too fast. In fact, the model kept swiping it down every minute or so. The phone's also pretty lightweight, though not in a cheap way. One thing that struck me was that unlike the iPhone, the LG Prada lacks a bit of color. The reason? Well, according to LG, they deliberately made color minimal cause the monochrome interface complements the "Prada experience."

So what's the conclusion? This is definitely a worthy competitor to the iPhone that we should keep our eye on.

LG Prada [Gizmodo]

LG Prada Phone Video Exclusive (Italian) [Cellulare IT]