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While Motorola, HTC and Samsung have been talking up Android, LG has been rather quiet and has focused mainly on new Windows Mobile products. Now it has come out of the shadows on the Google OS, with its first Android handset, the LG-GW620.

Rather like Motorola, LG sees Android as a simple, friendly platform that will appeal to first-time smartphone users, as the features of previously top end handsets start to seep into the mainstream. Homescreen access to familiar services, especially Google's, and tight integration with social networking and messaging applications, are important in attracting a new breed of consumers to smartphones.

"The LG-GW620 will appeal to first time smartphone customers by offering a new and different kind of user experience," said Dr Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications. "Our objective is to provide a wide selection of smartphones to satisfy the diverse preferences of today's consumers. This Android phone is just one of many smartphone models we plan to introduce worldwide in the years ahead."

LG's offering, then, falls far short of its proprietary superphones or its 3D S-Class user interface, in terms of hardware punch or software complexity. But it provides a usable, attractive phone for the mass market and emerging economies. It features a 3-inch full touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keypad and will be available in European markets first, in the fourth quarter. Carrier partners, pricing and technical specifications are still to be confirmed.

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