Today Verizon has put out a press release for several of their new LG phones for the summer. Here are some photos and details on their iClone, the LG Dare VX9700:

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT WITH HOT NEW LG PHONES FROM VERIZON WIRELESS

Touch-screens, Music and More Offer Customers an Array of Mobile Options

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – For the hottest looks and coolest features in wireless phones this summer, Verizon Wireless is expanding its LG line-up with three devices that offer unique features with loads of possibilities. The LG Dare™, LG Decoy™ and the new LG Chocolate™ 3 are scheduled for their debut on the nation’s most reliable wireless network through July.

“These summer phones join our other popular LG phones – the enV2™, the Voyager™ and the Venus™ – to offer our customers an array of applications, downloadable games, music and other content that is unparalleled in its variety and ability to enhance customers’ lifestyles,” said Mike Lanman, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “By unveiling these devices now, we are giving our customers the opportunity to choose the device that’s right for them, backed by the most reliable wireless network in the nation.”

LG Dare
From the sleek, slim appearance, to the all touch-screen operation, the LG Dare will be the talk of the season. Loaded with multimedia functionality, this 3G V CAST-capable phone has VZ NavigatorSM, V CAST Music, and a 3.2 megapixel still and video camera that automatically adapts to low or unevenly distributed light for better quality pictures. The photo editing tool lets customers turn their photos into personal masterpieces with features that include borders, landscape and a fun doodle feature right on the screen. Customized photos can be uploaded to a social networking site directly from the phone. The intuitive and graphical contact list allows customers to find the right number with the flick of a finger for speedy texting, e-mailing and phoning. Favorite contacts can be reached with a drag and drop photo interface. Additional information on the LG Dare will be available later this month.

Once again, Gizmodo gets all the goodies. This time it’s the soon to be released Samsung Instinct for Sprint. Giz writer, Wilson, walks through the ups and downs of the newest iClone, the Samsung Instinct.

Personally, I’ve been anxious for this one because I’ve been on Sprint for nearly ten years and had no interest in switching to AT&T just to get the iPhone. My biggest attraction to the Instinct was its web browsing which, from this review, sounds like it turned out rather poorly. Dang.

You can read the full review at Gizmodo, but here are a few of the highlights:

E-Mail: Feature phones most typically have bad e-mail programs, some of them hidden away where you can barely find them. The message? Do Not Use! But on the Instinct, the e-mail program is really easy to setup, with all the major webmail providers preconfigured for instant log-ins.

GPS Navigation: Usually, I’m down on cellphone turn-by-turn GPS navigation, but Telenav has finally gotten it right, ahead of everyone. AT&T and Sprint both use it, but this is the first time I’ve really been happy with it, even in areas of questionable phone coverage.

Video Player: At the top of the TV/Video menu, there’s a “My Videos” option, where you can see stuff you’ve recorded or sideloaded. I dumped in four different kinds of videos, and while my .avi, .mov, and .mpg failed, the one that worked was a .mp4.

Web Browser: I gotta say it: The Instinct’s browser is an ABYSMAL failure of design. It’s not that I’m surprised. Nobody has pulled off the mobile browser quite like Apple has. But for some reason, despite Sprint’s EV-DO Rev. A network, the browser is slow slow slow, too slow to do much of anything.

Unfortunately for me, my second biggest interest in the Instinct, after the web browsing, was the video player. How can a video player not handle .avi or .mov? .mp4 is a start, but why not the rest Samsung?

The Samsung Instinct hits stores Friday, June 20th, 2008.

Samsung’s i900 just got its official announcement from Samsung today, which included the news that it’s now going to be called “Omnia“. Gizmodo got the specs:

Network: HSDPA (7.2 Mbps), EDGE / GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Display: 3.2” WQVGA TFT LCD (240 x 400)
Camera: 5 Megapixel CMOS, Auto Focus, Image Stabilizer, Geo-tagging, Auto-Panorama Shot,
Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), Face Detection, Smile Detection
Video: DivX / XviD / H.263 / H.264 / WMV / MP4
Video recording: Video Editing: Trim video, Audio dubbing, Live dubbing, Add subtitle, Image capture
Audio: FM Radio with RDS, MP3/ AAC / AAC+ / WMA / OGG / AMR
Bluetooth Stereo Headset (A2DP)
Value-added Features: GPS, TouchWiz UI, MS Office Document Viewer, Advanced PIM Apps, Push Email, Auto Rotation, TV Out, Connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0 / USB 2.0 / Wi-Fi
Memory: 8GB / 16GB Flash + External Memory slot : microSDHC™
Size: 112 x 56.9 x 12.5
Battery: 1440 mAh

The Boy Genius Report has snagged themselves the first released image of the upcoming BlackBerry Thunder from RIM. From the looks of it there will only be four physical buttons, the rest will be touchscreen interaction.

The LG Dare, also known as the LG Dare VX9700, is a variant of the LG Prada and set to be exclusive to Verizon when released in early July.

LG Dare specifications:

• 240×400 pixel touch-screen
• 3.5mm headset jack
• HTML browser
• 3.2MP Schneider Kreuznach autofocus camera with flash
• VGA video recording
• Bluetooth 2.0
• microUSB port
• support for microSDHC memory cards (up to 8GB in size)

Hands on photos of the LG Dare captured by PhoneArena:

Samsung’s yet to be released iClone, the i900, escaped into the wild with these photos captured by pconline.com along with details reported by Gizmodo:

And that 3.5-inch touchscreen is supposedly a WQVGA resolution display, at 240×400 pixels. The phone is quad-band, 3G and HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps, with wi-fi, FM radio functionality and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR. There’s 16GB on-board memory, it’ll run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and there’s a microSD slot for expansion.

The new Samsung Instinct is set to release for Sprint on June 20th. Sprint has released a series of videos demonstrating why they believe this phone isn’t just the best iClone, but also the long awaited Apple iPhone Killer:

Watch the rest of the videos at YouTube: http://youtube.com/thesprintinstinct