Nokia Twist

via Gizmodo by Joanna Stern

I don't know about you, but I have always wanted to twist a phone into different positions. Er, did I say phone? Verizon's new $100 Nokia 7705 Twist won't even cost too much to do it.

Besides having a swiveling screen that opens to a full QWERTY keypad and a handy mirror on the back for checking food in your teeth, the square sized phone is pretty much your standard messaging phone though it does have a 3 megapixel camera (that can also record video). You will want to pick up a MicroSD card to store anything since it only has 256 MB of internal memory. It will pack the standard Verizon services including VZ Navigator, V CAST Music and V CAST Video. With EV-DO Rev. 0 speeds should be decent, but not blazing.

New LG Chocolate Shown on Video

via Gizmodo by John Herrman on 7/13/09

Well, there goes the rest of LG's annoyingly gradual tease campaign: the next generation LG Chocolate BL40, with a 4-inch, 800x344 (21:9!), multitouch screen has been revealed in full in a leaked promotional video.

On top of the display, we can see a few more of the rumored specs confirmed: LG's in-house Active Flash UI, Wi-Fi, 7.2mbps HSDPA, a-gps, and a 5mp camera with flash all make appearances, and we get a healthy look at the phone's software, glimpsing the onscreen keyboard, browser, Google Maps app, card-based contact system, scheduler and email app.

In terms of usability, the ultrawide screen is the obvious wildcard, but the OS will be a equally�if not more�important factor. In combination with the promise of a multitouch glass capacitive touchscreen, the simulated screen images in the video inspire confidence, exhibiting smoothness, thoughful navigation and an eye-and-finger-friendly UI in most places, although without a proper smartphone OS, the Chocolate will still be a dumbphone at heart.

As for when we'll actually find out if this thing has the wherewithal to match up with its ostentatious wackiness, all we get is a vague "coming soon," which according to previous reports, means August�though it's not clear if that's the official unveiling�which is pretty much ruined now�or the date of actual availability.