They say "there's no such thing as a free lunch." They also say "there's no such thing as an unlimited contract-free $45 monthly unlimited plan that offers awesome phones," so we're not terribly surprised to see that TracFone's new blowout offering -- dubbed Straight Talk -- is rife with ancient Motorolas (with a RAZR V3a thrown in for good measure, of course) and an LG flip that we're pretty sure we saw McClane use in the first Die Hard. Then again, the plan becomes the one of the cheapest for unlimited voice and text anywhere -- and if you're less heavy on the minutes you can even step down to 1,000 minutes and 1,000 texts for $30 -- so we'll let it slide. But seriously, TracFone, we expect a V9 by 2012.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Sitting pretty as the number three cell maker in the world would make many of the bigger names happy -- not to mention the usurped Sony Ericsson and Motorola a bit green -- but not LG, as it's now gunning for spot number two. In an interview with Yonhap, LG's president of its mobile business, Ahn Seung-kwon, stated that the company hoped to bump Samsung to the wayside by 2012 with the help of a serious new set and a premium brand. While the gaudiness of really expensive handsets disturbs us at times, we'll admit that mention that LG's looking at a foray into the über high end of the spectrum -- with the likes of Nokia's Vertu -- piques our curiosity a good deal. And what about that serious new set we mentioned? Apparently in Q4 of this year, LG will launch a new Black Label-branded device to compete directly with iPhone, which when coupled with dreams of more success from yet another Prada device (and if we're super fortunate, some more Transformers-branded stuff) is part of the master scheme to start down the path. Will they crack it? Well, if we were betting types, we'd lean towards not likely as long as the Samsung juggernaut's standing in the way -- but we're all for watching them try.

While the free-market works pretty well when, uh, left alone to be free, sometimes it needs a push from a visible hand. Case in point, phone chargers, at the moment some 30 different types of chargers are used on handsets throughout Europe. Today, the European Commission received industry backing of its phone charger standard that relies on a micro-USB socket. The standard is now backed by all the majors (representing 90% of the European mobile market) including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments with compatible devices starting to appear in Europe next year. Or course, the micro-USB charger standard already has the blessings of CTIA, OMTP, and GSM Association which implies a broader adoption beyond Europe, someday. One charger for any mobile phone... where's the catch?

There isn't much left to say about LG's Versa that we haven't already said, but we've gotta say that this limited edition Transformers one is pretty sweet. The custom battery cover has a cool themed motif with the movie's logo and Optimus Prime himself (itself?) and release date along the bottom, while the keyboard attachment has a reflective Transformers logo on the front and more branding on the back. The device itself has been customized with backgrounds and a new startup / shutdown image, but otherwise this thing's pretty standard. The coolest part may be the box itself, which is seemingly inspired by the Allspark, and is made out of metal and covered with glyphs like those seen in the film. Be sure to check out the gallery to see this thing up close and personal, and stay tuned for you chance to win this limited edition device in the near future!

We're not sure what the LG M13 is, exactly, but we can tell you one very important thing about the mysterious device: it's awesome. We know this because the FCC has revealed some limited documentation about the recent approval, which is where we find out that it's a "Cellular / PCS CDMA / EvDO and 700MHz LTE Device." Translated, that means it'll be able to play both on CDMA networks -- take Verizon's, for example -- and also on LTE spectrum deployed in the 700MHz band, which Big Red just so happens to have recently purchased a whole lot of. This wouldn't be the first time LTE-compatible stuff from LG has garnered FCC love, but it would be the first time we've seen a device that supports both LTE and CDMA -- and considering that Verizon will have both networks operational for years (if not decades) to come, that's a pretty important feature. Any creative guesses as to what this might be, then? A modem, perhaps?

You've been able to find the Exclaim and Snap for a while now if you've dug through third-party retailers hard enough, but Sprint's finally selling them directly from its own site. The Snap -- which we'd already known would hit this week -- is a portrait QWERTY handset running Windows Mobile 6.1 with support for HTC's Inner Circle functionality to block out email noise when you feel like you're about to lose your mind; it runs $149.99 on contract after rebate. The Exclaim is a low-cost QWERTY side slider designed to do battle with rival LG's Rumor 2; it'll set you back $79.99 on contract. Finally, the LX370 is a basic numeric slider with a 2 megapixel camera, running $99.99 with your name on the dotted line.

[Via Phone Scoop]

If you've been desperately searching for a way to motion-control your brand new N97, look no further -- Zeemote's got your back. The company's JS1 controller has just added drivers for every S60 3rd and 5th Edition device on the market -- N97 and 5800 XpressMusic included -- plus a whole host of S60-based LGs and Samsungs like the INNOV8 and the KT770. Of course, that doesn't solve the whole issue of N-Gage incompatibility with many of these, but the JS1 can also be used for nifty parlor tricks like web browsing; combine that with the 5800's included desk stand and you've got the couch potato's ultimate mobile setup. [Warning: PDF link]

By and large, LG's announcements at CommunicAsia in Singapore this week have been straight-up rehashes of announcements from earlier in the year -- the GD900, for example -- but there was one diamond in the rough that should get a few people excited. The GW550 is the latest fruit of LG's strategic alliance with Microsoft to produce Windows Mobile phones, offering a 2.4-inch QVGA display, full HSPA with 7.2Mbps on the downlink, a 3 megapixel primary cam with a VGA sensor up front for video calling, and stereo speakers on board; the front cam immediately tells us that we can't expect this phone to drop as-is on AT&T, but we bet LG would just love to put something very similar up against the Jack. Any takers?

[Via PhoneArena and Tech2]

Ready to take advantage of that new one-year contract offer from Alltel? If you are -- and you're lucky enough to live in one of the markets the carrier still serves in the wake of Verizon's acquisition -- you might want to take a good, hard look at the just-announced LG Tritan, a slide-out QWERTY set with decent specs and a killer price. For $79.99 on contract after rebate, you're getting a 3 megapixel cam, touchscreen, EV-DO Rev. A, GPS, a "full" browser (which we're hoping means HTML), and a tricky right-aligned d-pad that may or may not be awesome in practice. Too bad it's only available in 91 market areas, eh?

[Via Phone Scoop]

If you're looking for 3G, you need to drop a few more bucks on the slightly pricier Xenon, but LG's Neon carries over most of the Xenon's other features for less dough -- and you even get to stick with the noble gas theme. The QWERTY side slider features a 2 megapixel camera, touchscreen (mainly so you can input numbers without any unnecessary drama), Bluetooth 2.0, and support for up to 4GB of microSD storage, so it's a pretty capable little device for the $29.99 you'll spend on contract after $50 mail-in rebate.

[Thanks, Daniel Q.]

It won't be the cheapest way to get in on 7.2Mbps HSDPA, but it might be the coolest way -- or at the very least, the geekiest -- when LG finally begins shipping out its GD910 watch phone starting next month. Sales will kick off in Europe on Orange, followed by Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Latin America, so odds are good that this thing will be available in a neighborhood near you over the next few weeks. Practical, it's not -- but video calling through a wristwatch is pretty much every little boy's dream, so we're going to cut this phone a whole lot of slack.

[Via Akihabara News]

Three widely-expected models from LG have now gotten fully, completely, and utterly official for Verizon this morning. Starting at the bottom rung, the Glance is a low-end but surprisingly handsome candybar -- a form factor we don't frequently see from LG for Big Red -- with a 1.3 megapixel camera, a "woven metal" battery cover, and a QVGA display; it'll be available on June 5 for $49.99 on contract after rebate. Next up, the env3 replaces (you guessed it) the env2 with that now well-known landscape clamshell design featuring dual displays, dual keypads, and full QWERTY on the inside. It's got EV-DO, QVGA internal and 160 x 96 external displays, a 3 megapixel cam with video recording and flash, and visual voicemail support. It's just a smidge more expensive than the Glance, running $129.99 after rebate and it's in stores tomorrow. Finally, the big kahuna: the enV Touch succeeds the Voyager with a full touchscreen on the outside and an enV-esque QWERTY interior, rocking a 3.2 megapixel autofocus shooter, two -- yes, two -- wide VGA displays, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Touch drops in alongside the Glance come June 5 for $149.99 on contract after rebate.

Verizon still hasn't fessed up to the imminent launch of its Voyager successor, but no matter -- its retail partners are happy to do that on their own. Best Buy's product page for the VX11000 enV Touch has now gone live, offering the phone for a $599.99 commitment-free -- which, to be fair, is still way less than the Pre's $849.99 -- along with a nice, clear bunch of press shots of the front of the phone from every conceivable angle. The front's nice, the inside's great, but one unexpected touch is the crazy stylized back; it doesn't make up for the loss of VCAST TV, admittedly, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. The enV Touch isn't in stock on Best Buy's site just yet, but with the June 5 date with destiny still on as far as we can tell, it should be ready to ship any day now.

[Via CNET]

It should come as no surprise that AT&T would be eager to replace one of its more popular, longer-lasting dumbphone staples with more modern hardware that retains the original's major selling points -- so when we found documentation backing up an earlier rumor that there was a Shine 2 in the works for later this year, we didn't bat an eye. Specs on this one should include a 2.2-inch QVGA display, 2 megapixel fixed focus cam, Bluetooth 2.1, microSD expansion, and 3.6Mbps HSDPA. We've got a tiny picture of this sucker in the gallery below, but it came equipped with a big "TBD" over the top of it (which we removed), so we're skeptical that this is the final ID of the device. Moving on, the "Georgia" -- pictured above -- is a slightly higher-end slider with a 2.8-inch wide QVGA display, accelerometer, 3 megapixel camera, and MediaFLO support. We're actually more curious about the phone that was clipped out of the shot to the left, though; the little snippet you see here is all we have, and we don't have any documentation to suggest whether it's coming to AT&T. Any juicy guesses?

Update: We've had a couple folks point out now that the Shine 2 appears to be a picture of the KF510. Whether the actual device will really be a branded, North American KF510 is unclear (we're still wondering about that "TBD" that had been slapped on there). Thanks, everyone!