LG today unveiled its “newest hybrid smartphone” designed especially for flip smartphone lovers — the LG Wine Smart. The clamshell phone “combines familiarity of a folder phone with an easy-to-use touchscreen and the connectivity and power of a smartphone.” The Korean company decided to launch the Wine Smart this year with improved multimedia features after the original Wine met with great success in its home market last year. With the Wine Smart, LG is targeting first time smartphone users who are still hesitant in transitioning from their feature phone.
“Our goal with LG Wine Smart was to create a smartphone that fans of flip phones could embrace,” said Chris Yie, vice president and head of marketing communications for LG Mobile Communications Company. “Consumers shouldn’t have to miss out on the smartphone revolution because they prefer a particular phone design over another. With LG Wine Smart, they won’t have to.” As for the specs, the LG Smart Wine comes with a 1.1GHz quad-core processor, a 3.2-inch HVGA (480 x 320) resolution display, 4GB of internal storage, 1GB RAM, a microSD card slot, a 3MP rear shooter, a front-facing VGA shooter, LTE connectivity, and a 1,700mAh battery. On the software side, the handset runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. The handset also comes with a 3 x 4 numeric keypad for easy and quick typing. The LG Smart Wine will be available as the LG Gentle in the South Korean market from this month. It will be making its debut as the LG Smart Wine later this month in France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Kazakhstan from later this month in Burgundy and Navy colors.
