Four new phones coming for holidays from Verizon

Computerworld - Verizon Wireless will offer four new wireless phones aimed at holiday sales, including the LG Voyager, which offers both a touch screen and QWERTY keypad, the carrier announced today.

While some reports have described the LG Voyager as Verizon's answer to the touch-screen capabilities of Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone, which uses the AT&T network in the U.S., a Verizon spokesman objected to that characterization. "It's more than a touch-screen phone. We've had 18 music phones ... and touch-screen phones as well, including the Chocolate, which has sold 3 million," said Verizon spokesman Tom Pica.

All four new models will be on sale before November, with the first -- the Samsung Juke -- available in about two weeks, Pica said. Pricing has not been announced. The other

Verizon's LG Voyager cell phone

The LG Voyager, which is exclusive to Verizon, will offer a larger external touch screen than other touch-screen phones available from Verizon. And when the screen is flipped up, a full QWERTY keypad will be available underneath. There are actually two screens, with the outside screen a touch screen, and the inside screen activated with the keypad, Pica said. Both screens are 240 pixels by 400 pixels in size.

The Voyager also features an HTML browser, can play a variety of music formats and supports Verizon's VZ Navigator service. It includes an SD memory slot for up to 8GB of storage and a 2-megapixel camera, as well as support for Bluetooth stereo.

The Juke is the smallest of the phones Verizon is offering, although exact dimensions were not available. It will flick open and swivel 180 degrees to reveal a keypad, provides 2GB of internal storage and supports several music player formats to allow a user to load up to 500 songs. It also features a camera and Bluetooth stereo support and will be available in blue, red and teal.

The Venus by LG is described by Verizon as a phone for "fashion-forward customers" with dual-front screens. The lower of the two screens has touch-navigation capability. A slider phone, it comes in black or pink, with a dedicated music key for easy access to music. Up to 8GB of storage is possible with micro SD cards.

Business users will be generally familiar with the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 from Verizon, which is being offered in silver. It includes an HTML browser, e-mail access, messaging and calendar functions, and a 2-megapixel camera. Built-in GPS will allow access to VZ Navigator, Verizon's mapping and audible turn-by-turn navigation.

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