SEOUL, South Korea - World's third-largest handset manufacturer LG, which shot into spotlight with its affordable touchscreen phones last year, recently announced its latest touchscreen mobile phone - the LG GD510 a.k.a. "Pop".

The device, which LG claims to be the market's most compact touchscreen phone, is encased in brushed aluminium casing giving it a  classy look.

The South Korean manufacturer, which has been concentrating on its smartphone segment in the past months, has now turned its attention to the mid-level segments. While the LG GD510 has the looks of a high-end device, the specifications have been toned down in order to cut down on the price. Primarily aiming to fill the gap between high-end touchscreen phones and mid-level non-touchscreen phones, the GD510 brings the best of technology and aesthetics at the price of mid-level mobile phone.

Another mid-level phone is the LG GW300, a full QWERTY candybar device primarily targeted at the texting needs of today's youth.

LG GD510

While the competition is inundating the market with touchscreen phones crammed with features, LG has taken the opposite route by keeping LG GD510 as simple as possible, concentrating on the usability and aesthetics of the device.

The compact features a 3" WQVGA screen that extends almost to the edges, giving the illusion of glass unibody. The 4.8mm bezel ring along with the brushed aluminium body adds to the aesthetic appeal of the device. Keeping things simple, LG has included just one hardware button below the screen which plays multiple roles depending on the mode of the phone

The stylish device sports a 3 megapixel camera for capturing quality photos and videos, and supports wireless sharing of media. The multimedia device supports most of the popular file formats, and along with 8 GB of internal memory, provides best of its class multimedia support.

While the press release doesn't mention anything about solar charging panels for the device, official images show a solar panel on the hind side of the phone. The panel may ship in as an accessory as images of back panel sans the solar panel have also been released by LG. The move towards solar panel is an interesting move by the company in a domain which has been dominated by its close rival-Samsung.

The LG GD510 will be available beginning mid-October in Europe, followed by periodic releases in other markets.While the exact pricing has not been revealed by LG yet, the device is expected to be priced differently in different regions.

LG GW300

Image courtesy of Mobileburn

Revamping its non-touchscreen line-up, LG announced the LG GW300, an attractive full QWERTY candybar handset largely targeting the social networking needs of today's youth.

The GW300 sports a 2.4" display, Bluetooth, a microSD memory card slot, FM radio, and a 3.5mm audio jack extending the multimedia capability of the phone.

The on-board Facebook app allows users to  easily update status messages and check on friends. Users can also save their favorite contacts to their homescreen with LG's LiveSquare application.

The LG GW300 will be offered in the UK by O2 and Orange, while pricing and availability information have not yet been announced.

 Print This Article