Price: $299.99 w/ two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate.

The Verdict: It's glossy black, so it will attract fingerprints as bad as Heidi Klum does MILF comments. The screen is bright and clear, with a good resolution—necessary, since it's the phone headlining the mobile TV launch.

The edges of the touchscreen are less responsive than the rest of it—when you flip to the QWERTY layout for text messaging, for instance, you might have to tap the space button more than once, or at least aim for the top of it (in the gallery there's a picture of me mashing the center of the key HARD but it's still not registering). The problem grew from sort of annoying to genuinely frustrating after cranking through a couple of IMs and text messages telling my posse where to meet up for Iron Man tonight.

You get a somewhat smaller, more cramped keyboard when you go into email. (Which doesn't have support for custom domains (that's the "other" services screen), including Gmail, WTF.) It also drops haptic feedback for some reason, which I thought was unnecessary at first, but I kind of missed it with the email keyboard. Still, overall I'd give the typing experience a B-.

The other big feature of the phone, mobile TV, is as good as mobile TV gets, at least in the states (which might not be saying much). Startup is quick; changing channels is snappy enough; and the resolution is decent most of the time (it can get 1996-RealPlayer bad though) though it won't rival locally stored video on your iPod or iPhone by any means. Content-wise, it has more or less what you'd wanna see in mobile TV, with the CNN exclusivity being the real clinch over Verizon's V Cast. Sony PIX is a nice idea, but five minutes of dark, moody scenes in Memento gave me a headache, so I couldn't imagine a whole movie.

Bottom line, the phone is good, but falls short of very good/greatness, for a couple of reasons: The browser could use some work (it renders Giz better than mobile IE, since it tries to replicate desktop browsing, but rendering times are awful, even on 3G, and zooming is extremely laggy). Also, built-in email is only for a few set services. The music syncing feature isn't compatible with Macs, according to the manual. That said, it is a solid multimedia touchscreen phone that does most of what it does well (mobile TV, touchscreen, XM radio) for people specifically looking for an iPhone alternative. If it was $199, it'd be a worthy value—$299 is pushing it. [AT&T]

Speaking of Sprint, when asked why they only revealed a new all-you-can-eat subscription after Verizon did—and not Sprint—he replied that Verizon is a "high quality" player, number 2 in the marketplace, and they didn't want to give them any edge. Translation? Sprint is a non-player to AT&T. What about WiMax? Ralph is "not too worried about the threat from WiMax." Poor Sprint, they just can't catch a break. [Giz @ CTIA]

LG MOBILE PHONES OFFER A NEW VU INTO MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED SLEEK TOUCH SCREEN HANDSET DEBUTS AT CTIA

SAN DIEGO, APRIL 1, 2008 — LG Electronics MobileComm U.S.A. Inc. (LG Mobile Phones) announced today at CTIA Wireless 2008 the availability of the new Vu™ by LG, a sleek and stunning touch screen handset with a view into mobile entertainment's newest offering, AT&T Mobile TV. With a large three-inch interactive touch screen accompanied by a minimalist scroll bar design, simplicity is only skin deep. The Vu by LG, offered exclusively through AT&T, is equipped with video, music, and camera features, in addition to offering first-time access to AT&T Mobile TV.

Running on AT&T's 3G network, the Vu offers access to AT&T Mobile Music which provides fast access to downloadable music from eMusic and sideloading compatibility from Napster-to-go and any unrestricted MP3 audio file in addition to streaming digital radio by XM Radio. Loaded with AT&T Video Share, Instant Messaging, and HTML web browsing with touch navigation, the Vu offers the best of AT&T's features in a stylish and fashionable handset.

"The Vu makes a strong statement about aesthetics and functionality thanks to its sleek, smooth exterior and its intuitive, three-inch touch screen technology," said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of product strategy & marketing at LG Mobile Phones. "We believe consumers will also embrace the robust entertainment options available via the Vu - benefiting so many busy lives on the go."

"With all of the entertainment and features of the Vu, including AT&T Mobile TV, this phone is a true remote control for your mobile life," said Carlton Hill, vice president of Product Management, Voice Products & Affiliate Marketing for AT&T's wireless unit.

The AT&T 3G network offers download speeds between 600 and 1,400 Kilobits per second (Kbps) and is available in over 265 markets, increasing to nearly 350 by the end of 2008, including all of the top 100 U.S. cities.

Additional features of the Vu by LG include a 2.0-megapixel auto focus camera with video record, and Bluetooth® capability for music, TV and voice. To enhance AT&T Mobile TV experience, the Vu by LG also includes an extendable TV antenna for increased reception. Please visit the LG booth (#449) to check out the Vu and other innovative LG handsets.

The Vu will be available through select AT&T retail locations or at http://www.att.com/wireless beginning in May 2008. For LG's complete handset line-up please visit: www.LGmobilephones.com.

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]