It looks like Motorola's hard times have been particularly good for LG, as it has now moved (by some accounts at least) into the number three position among the top five handset makers, just a quarter after it passed Sony Ericsson to take the fourth spot. That comes after LG moved an impressive 27.7 million handsets in the past quarter, a full third of which were sold in North America. LG is also particularly quick to boast about sales of its pricier touchscreen phones, which totaled some seven million. Among those, the Viewty was the top seller, moving more than two million units, followed by the Venus with 1.6 million, and the Voyager with 1.3 million. It's apparently not all rosy for the company, however, with it also warning that the slowing economy could cause its average selling price to fall by 26 percent.

Korea's Electronic Times is quoting a mysterious LG "official" as saying that the company's Voyager -- the high-end touchscreen flipper currently on Verizon -- will be making the leap to both AT&T and Sprint before the year's out. Although that isn't necessarily an outlandish thing to believe (Verizon's exclusivity period probably lasts 12 months at most, after all), it implies that at least two additional versions of the Voyager would have to be in the works: a CDMA piece without MediaFLO for Sprint and, of course, a GSM variant for AT&T. The news comes on the heels of LG's triumphant claim that they've shipped a whopping 1.1 million Voyagers since launch -- a pretty impressive number considering that the phone just launched at the very tail end of 2007 -- and a number that could pretty easily triple if these other carrier deals turn out to be legit.

[Thanks, Jeremy]

So, first the bad news: you've gotta trek all the way down to a Verizon shop to get your Voyager updated to the latest rev. Now, the good: it's probably worthwhile. LG's latest and greatest firmware for the Voyager superphone appears to bring a host of fixes and enhancements ranging from better battery life (or so they say, anyway) to an improved browsing experience. Let us know how it goes if you go get 'er flashed, k?

[Via Boy Genius Report]

There is certainly a substantial amount of hype built around LG's latest stab at the QWERTY phone market for Verizon Wireless -- the VX10000 Voyager -- and it isn't without merit. For starters, the feature-packed candybar sports a 2.81 inch exterior touchscreen paired with second display of equal size and a full keyboard on the inside. In the media department, the handset features a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus, video camera, expandable memory via microSD up to 8GB, and VCAST services of both the Music and TV varieties. Do the features stack up in Verizon's favor? Does the Voyager live up to the hype or will it fall short of expectations? Continue reading to find out.

Here they are, the product waifs, which can only mean one thing: the LG VX10000 QWERTY Voyager and LG VX8800, AKA Venus, slider are official. The dual-display Venus (2-inch main on top and 1.49-inch haptic VibeTouch touchscreen below for navigation) is up and dancing on Verizon this morning for immediate availability. Same $200 fee after online discount and 2 years of your life inked in blood that we already saw on pre-order. The Voyager with its 2.8-inch VibeTouch, external touchscreen (and 2.8-inch internal) is still on track for its 21st launch for $300 plus 2 year contract. Don't worry, we'll remind you come Wednesday.

[Via LG]

Read -- LG Voyager on Verizon
Read -- LG Venus on Verizon

Well, it's finally here: meet the LG Voyager, successor to the enV and arguably one of the best QWERTY handsets on Verizon to date. Pretty much everyone walks away with a feature or two here that they're gonna love: EV-DO, VCAST TV, a 2 megapixel camera, two amazingly large displays, expandable memory via microSD, touchscreen exterior display and a full keyboard all make the cut. But hey, enough of the small talk -- head off to the gallery, check it out, and stay tuned for our full review!

Trying to wrap your noodle around the concept of a pink LG Venus? Us too, and naturally, visuals help -- the more, the better. On that note, we're pleased to present a handful of pictures of the pink Venus with a couple of its darker, statelier cousin thrown in for good measure. The black will launch first -- November 19, if you recall -- with the pink following on December 11 for $199 after a $50 rebate has been applied. QWERTY more to your liking? Fret not, as we're hearing the Voyager follows up on the 21st of November for $299 with the same $50 rebate.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

For some of us, the LG Voyager could be the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel that Verizon customers have been hoping for. Stacked to the gills with features like EV-DO, VCAST TV, a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus, expandable memory via a microSD slot, an exterior display which touchsrceen capability and another interior display that reveals a full QWERTY keypad, it's certainly designed to please almost anyone. Even though some of the features appear a little quirky -- like only being able to rotate the phone clockwise while snapping pics -- we're sure that you'll find great info in the quick start guide while you wait ever so patiently for its release.

Counting down the hours until the Voyager makes an appearance on Verizon? If so, here's something sure to tide you over. Apparently, the handset's datasheet has made its way onto the intarweb, and it's got just about every detail you could ever want -- save for a price and pinpointed release date, of course. Highlights include a 2.81-inch external touchscreen, VibeTouch tactile feedback support, V CAST Mobile TV, dual integrated speakers, a two-megapixel camera, microSD expansion slot and VZ Navigator preloaded. If you've undoubtedly got this one on your must-have list, hit the read link and eat your heart out.

[Via MobilitySite]

We've caught boatloads of noise detailing Verizon's pipeline for the remainder of the year (and possibly into early '08), but exact launch dates have been harder to come by. Granted, the carriers often don't know these until the last minute anyway -- network test failures and supply problems being what they are -- but Boy Genius Report has scored a spreadsheet that should at least start to give us a rough idea of what we can expect for the next few months. The Samsung i760 finally (and we do mean finally) launches on October 19, followed by the Juke two days later on the 21st. The first of November sees the BlackBerry Pearl 8130, LG VX5400, and Palm Treo 755p (probably right about the same time Alltel gets it), with the LG Venus coming just a short few days later on the 4th. The 15th sees two new shades for the G'zOne Type-S -- black and "burgundy / gold" -- alongside the Samsung u900 "FlipShot." The ultra-cool LG Voyager and G'zOne "Type-Sptt" (possibly just a Type-S without the cam) slide in on November 18, with two new VX8550 shades dropping on the 21st. Whew! Now, the real question: how many of these dates are actually gonna hold?

We got to spend a little alone time with each of Verizon's new phones for the holidays, and we found plenty to like. We started out with the Samsung Juke, which is meant as an entry level music device. There's no EV-DO on board, and therefore no V CAST Music Store, but as a "phone that happens to be a low-end 2GB DAP," it should do just nicely, and A2DP is always nice. We could go for a stronger spring action flick motion, and when open the phone seems quite awkwardly long, but it's all solid and usable enough. The Pearl is just a Pearl, so we'll move on. The LG Venus has quite an interesting interface, that we suppose will be a love it or hate it affair. There's adjustable vibration feedback to your finger presses on the bottom touchscreen, but unfortunately you can't adjust screen sensitivity, and we had sometimes had trouble with getting the beta hardware Verizon was showing us to register our finger presses. Otherwise the phone is a thing of beauty, and has one of the best looking UIs we've seen from the likes of Verizon and LG. The camera interface is particularly polished, with options galore and some interesting usage of the touch screen for cropping and sending pics. Finally we have the LG Voyager. In most objective senses, the phone is pretty dang large, but somehow it's easier to overlook that fact when you're staring at dual screens and an immense QWERTY keyboard. The screen was quite responsive to our button presses, and there was no lag between using an app in touchscreen mode and opening up the phone for a QWERTY session. The HTML browser leaves a little to be desired -- after taking ages to load a fractured form of Engadget, we couldn't hardly scroll down it to save our life -- and it's pretty clear that the Voyager is less a smartphone out of the box than the iPhone is, despite its marvelous keyboard, but there's certainly a lot of potential.

Verizon isn't kidding around this fall, with four new fashionable phones, a couple of which might divert a few iPhone dollars from archrival AT&T. It's those exact four that Engadget Mobile got the scoop on last weekend, the Juke, Pearl, Venus and Voyager. A few of the details have changed, but the basic gist is the same. The Samsung Juke is the first "flick" phone to hit the States, and arrives with 2GB of built-in storage, A2DP (which shows up in all these phones) and a VGA camera, and comes in blue, red or teal. Verizon's BlackBerry Pearl is the first Pearl to get EV-DO and a 3.5mm minijack, and also adds Verizon's VZ Navigator service, which is standard across these phones. The Venus slider sports an interesting dual screen setup, with the bottom providing contextual touch controls and the top one acting like all normal-like. Venus, with black or pink color options, is the real fashionphone of the group, and rocks a boring 2 megapixel sensor, but there's a microSD slot for up to 8GB of expansion. Finally, the Voyager (pictured) does it all, with a full screen touchscreen on the outside, and a second screen on the clamshell interior, facing a gargantuan QWERTY keyboard. V CAST Mobile TV makes an appearance, as does a microSD slot and 2 megapixel camera. All of these phones are supposed to be out by Thanksgiving, but no word on price or exact dates -- though the Juke and Pearl are hitting first, to be followed by the Venus and then the Voyager.

Apparently due to launch in a couple of weeks, Verizon is prepping a phone blitz of fairly epic proportions. The new Samsung Juke, BlackBerry Pearl, LG Venus and LG Voyager are due for simultaneous arrival on the market, and are sure to turn heads. On the far left is the "Juke," Verizon's name for that U470 we spotted a couple weeks ago, which is supposed to arrive with 2GB of storage, A2DP Bluetooth and a 1.3 megapixel camera. Next up is the "new variety" Pearl rumored since August, with a 2 megapixel camera, A2DP and a 3.5mm audio jack. One to the right is the dual screen "Venus" slider, also known as the LG VX8800. The phone rocks miniSD expansion, A2DP, a 2 megapixel camera and some interesting touchscreen capabilities, including vibration feedback. Finally we have the beast of the bunch on the far right, the LG Voyager, also known as the VX10000. The phone sports a large external touchscreen, along with a lateral-clamshell form factor that opens up into a QWERTY keyboard and another well-sized screen, both screens are QVGA. Verizon is bragging of a full HTML browser, along with the expected microSD expansion, 2 megapixel camera, A2DP and some built-in stereo speakers.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]