The LG Wine Smart is an Android smartphone disguised as an old-school flip phone.
It wasn't that long ago that the flip-phone, or clamshell handset as it was known in the US, was the epitome of modernity. If you didn't have a Motorola Razr, you were no one. But then the smartphone revolution happened and the flip phone was consigned to the technological history books alongside Betamax, cassette tapes and the Mini Disc Walkman.
And while LG isn't attempting to resurrect the form factor with its new handset, the LG Wine, it is trying to offer consumers more choice and the chance to make a more individualistic technological statement.
The company calls it a hybrid smartphone as it runs Android Lollipop and therefore the latest apps, and has a 3.2-inch touch screen as well as old-school numerical buttons. It offers WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G/LTE connectivity and memory expansion via MicroSD card and also boasts front and rear cameras. However, both are very basic. The front-facing camera is simply webcam quality while the rear-facing unit is 3-megapixels.
It won't win any photography awards but the flip phone does offer some benefits over its smarter brethren -- it has a proper keypad for fewer typos and faster messaging and because its buttons are covered by the screen when not in use, pocket calls are practically impossible.
LG launches Android smartphone disguised as an old-school flip phone-TNews - IBNLive Mobile
