LG to debut its first Android smartphone with social features in Q4

The newly announced LG-GW620, the first Android-powered smartphone from the South Korean consumer electronics giant, is scheduled for a Q4 launch. It’ll pack in a 3-inch touchscreen, slide-out full QWERTY keypad, and new social features targeting Facebook and Twitter fans.
LG has officially announced its Android foray with a brand new device somewhat cryptically named LG-GW620. It’s the first-ever Android smartphone for LG, the company that’s been heavily relying thus far on the Windows Mobile platform in its phones. The LG-GW620 also signals a change in direction towards a two-tier smartphone strategy that will see LG utilizing both Android and Windows Mobile in future devices.
The company provided little detail beyond stating that the phone will feature a 3-inch touchscreen and the full QWERTY slide-out keyboard. Promo images shown in this article shed a little more light, revealing a mini USB port, volume up and down buttons, the sleep/wake button, and a round iPhone-like button positioned below the display, alongside the Home and Back buttons.
There is also a stylus, indicating that the phone will not exclusively rely on a finger-based input after all. The QWERTY keypad slides out on the left, providing heavy message users with spacious keys for the physical, tactile-based input.
Dr. Skott Ahn, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, said that additional Android phones will follow in the years ahead, adding that the LG-GW620 will:

appeal to first-time smartphone customers by offering a new and different kind of user experience. Our objective is to provide a wide selection of smartphones to satisfy the diverse preferences of today’s consumers.

The LG phone will debut in select European markets in the fourth quarter of this year. The company is expected to post full specs ahead of the release. LG remained mum on whether it will bring the LG-GW620 to the U.S. market later this year. Last month, LG pledged to bring at least 13 new Windows Mobile smartphones by the end of 2010.
Read more at the LG press release

Novell gives C# .NET developers iPhone solution with MonoTouch

The iPhone may be a very popular platform with millions of users and tens of thousands of apps, but if you plan on developing for Apple’s device you have two choices. The first is to learn some Objective-C and attempt to develop your app from scratch, where as the second involves using an engine such as Unity, Torque 2D, or Shiva. In both cases a developer is going to have to learn something new and if they have existing apps they want to migrate it could mean a lot of work and a few headaches.
Novell may have a solution, however, if you currently work with .NET and C#, which a lot of application developers do in comparison to those that work with Objective-C. Novell already produce Mono, which is a .NET platform solution supporting C# and will deploy to a number of operating systems from a single code base including Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris, UNIX, and Mac OS X. The Mono project is open source and available for anyone to download and take advantage of without charge, but Novell also provide paid-for MonoKit solutions.
Now Novell are offering MonoTouch 1.0, which allows developers to take a C# .NET app and easily port it to the iPhone and give the ability to have that app interact across the different platforms Mono already supports. Novell are providing everything a developer needs with MonoTouch including compilers, libraries, and tools to support your app. They even see MonoTouch being used for games as well as business app development. You will still need a Mac and a developer license to get your software on to the App Store though.
Unlike the open source Mono project, MonoTouch isn’t free and will cost $399 for a personal license or $999 for a corporate license. In both cases the license doesn’t need renewing, but you are limited to 12 months of updates with additional payment expected to keep that support going there after. A free evaluation copy is expected to appear shortly and MonoTouch is supported by a website offering installation guides, documentation, and tutorials to get you up and running.
Read more at InfoWorld

Apple tablet: Custom chips, 3G, long lasting battery, due in February 2010

Apple has tasked component suppliers to deliver parts for a rumored tablet by December, so the 9.6-inch multi-touch device could launch in February 2010, a new report claims. It should sell between $800 and $1,000, packing in custom chips, 3G module, and long lasting battery.
According to Taiwan Economic Times, Apple has contracted a number of component suppliers to provide parts for its rumored tablet device. Echoing previous rumors, Taiwan Economic Times cited “industry sources” claiming that partners have been tasked to deliver parts by December, leading the publication to conclude that the device will ship in February of next year, priced between $800 and $1,000.
A few new details were also revealed. The tablet will pack in a 9.6-inch multi-touch display (provided by Wintek) and “long lasting battery pack” (courtesy of DynaPack), in addition to a built-in 3G HSDPA module and custom P.A. Semi system-on-a-chip. Apple apparently contracted DynaPack to provide up to 300,000 battery units a month which carry a “higher gross profit.” Wanchin Electronic and Layers Scientific-Technics will provide mini coaxial cables and power chokes for the device, respectively.

Read more at Taiwan Economic Times.

Geek.com podcast 27 - Joel and Palmsolo go mobile

Geek.com’s podcast is back for episode number 27. This week Sal is taking a much needed vacation and in his place we have Matt Miller (a.k.a. Palmsolo). We start off by talking about some tech news and then roll into a discussion of mobile devices and what Apple will be offering up this week. We now know what the company unveiled but at the time of the podcast, we were just guessing.
If you’re familiar with Matt Miller either from when he was writing for Geek or from his blogs (mobile-gadgeteer, Smartphones and Cell Phones, NokiaExperts) you know that he loves mobile devices and knows a lot about them. So, what happens when you get two mobile guys on the same podcast?

You can download the MP3 here or subscribe using iTunes
Learn more about our podcasts at Geek.com/podcast

WSJ to charge for mobile access to news

If you’ve been a reader of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) from your mobile device you may not like what News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch said at a Goldman Sachs conference. According to a Reuters report, Murdoch stated that the newspaper is expected to begin charging for mobile access in one to two months. News Corp owns the Wall Street Journal in addition to other news properties such as the Fox News Network.
The article states that mobile access is expected to cost $2 a week for those who don’t already subscriber to the WSJ and $1 a week for those who do. Those who subscribe to both the print and online version of the paper will be able to get mobile access for free. The Wall Street Journal already charges for access to news over its traditional website.
This is not unexpected news, especially when you consider that the mobile access to WSJ news was a back door around the subcription required to read the articles from a PC. Honestly, I would expect more newspapers to take on the WSJ model. Though advertising revenue may be making a come back newspapers need to refill their coffers after taking a bath due to falling subscriptions and revenues.