LG has brought 1930s cartoon gadgetry to life, with the invention of the LG 3G watch phone that will be shown off at CES next week.

It’s been touted as the world’s first 3G watch phone, not that we’ve seen many plain old watch phones around before.

Known solely as the LG-GD910, it has a 1.43-inch screen with a camera in the front to facilitate its video calling. Yes, that’s right, video calling too.

Besides having 3G on board, it’s also capable of HSDPA speeds to the tune of 7.2Mbps. If that wasn’t enough other features go along the lines of; voice dialling, built-in speech recognition, text to speech, Bluetooth, an MP3 player and a speaker.

All this whilst also being waterproof, what more could anyone want? On yes, it looks like it’s coming to Europe and Japan from LG’s Google translated webpage.

At the end of November we reported upon a Prada Bluetooth watch for use with the LG Prada phone. It was very limited in its features and ties to the actual mobile, which made us write “Only you can’t answer (calls) in true Dick Tracy fashion; when will technology catch up with a 1930s cartoon?”. How irony and technology catches up on itself.

Well, it looks like it’s here. The proof will be in the pudding though, we look forward to hearing all about it from CES or failing that Mobile World Congress in February.

See more from the LG Korean website, via Google’s translator here.

Until then, it looks good, it appears to be genuine and we just hope the future has finally arrived.

Next, flying cars.

Addressing the economy’s issues and quicker than our own government is the network 3, who has just announced a sub-tenner tariff.

In days that feel like the end of days, it’s always good to see someone’s looking out for the common man, by offering them a great deal.

The deal that comes along in the form of a free 3G phone, 100minutes/texts on any network, 300minutes of calls to fellow 3 users, free voicemail access and also unlimited windows live messenger and Skype usage.

Available from December 23rd, this Mix & Match 100 tariff seems to be the bee’s knees. How does it match up to others around? It doesn’t even have a single competitor out there that we can see.

It’s available both in-store and online, great for avoiding everyone else that’s out shopping at this time of year. And no one likes a crowd, unless you’re a pick pocket.

The way this particular tariff works, is that you can mix and match (hence the name) between 100 minutes and 100 texts, with 1 minute = 1text. Previously their best deal was Mix and Match 300 for £15, with the same mobile phone being thrown in, seen in the Sony Ericsson K660i.

A handset that comes along with a 2MP camera, obviously with 3G with HSDPA and in a choice of silver on black or lime on white – an exclusive colour for 3.

If there’s ever a time for £9 tariff, with a phone like this it’s now. Hurrah for 3!

Isn’t it about time others step up to the plate with their offerings too?

The U990, is the successor to the previous two TD-SCDMA handsets by ZTE, the U980 and U981, none of which had HSDPA. The phone is powered by WindowsMobile 6.0 (No, not 6.1) and is the first ZTE phone to feature a Microsoft OS. It features a full touchscreen and claims to have an high-speed transmission rate of 2.8Mbps and integrated EDGE, with seamless transition between the two. There’s also a front facing camera, a Micro-SD card slot and a mini-USB connector. ZTE have also thrown in GPS/AGPS for advanced navigation.

The phone is primarily aimed at the Chinese Mobile Market.

According to IntoMobile, the next addition to the BlackBerry family will be a lower end device called the Javelin, which will borrow from the BlackBerry Bold for good looks and functionality, but will mean a trade down in terms of speed in an effort to cut the final price of the handset.

My initial reaction was bafflement over why RIM would take such a backwards step, but there is a certain logic to the move: if RIM is trying to woo consumers, it makes sense to work on lower end users as well as its natural higher end heartland and presumably, there must be a few lighter data users who still wouldn’t mind having a good looking BlackBerry on their arm.

1. It’s got – surprise, surprise – 3G, which Apple is promising will mean connectivity twice as fast as the old EDGE iPhone
2. Built in GPS
3. Extra storage – it will come in 8GB and 16GB versions
4. Included iPhone 2.0 software, including support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks
5. Includes the new App Store natively
6. 10 hours of talk time on 2G, 5 hours on 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback
7. And perhaps most importantly, it’s at half the price (for US customers at least) – $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB

It seems to me that this version of the iPhone is how the device should have looked at launch – 3G connectivity, downloadable apps, longer battery life and GPS – rather than a second iteration. The only extra feature that will make me consider rushing out to buy the iPhone is that is looks like being cheaper – what do you guys think?

However, neither Telstra nor Optus has discussed what new applications, if any, will debut on the super-fast network. Still, after all the slow build up in 3G speeds in Europe, it’s good to see a couple of operators not shy about promising tens of megabits.

Currently, Australia is planning a fixed fibre-to-the-node network that will get 12Mbps to 98 percent of the population in the next five years. Meanwhile, Optus is promising to get 42Mbps (admittedly maximum peak downlink) to the same coverage level in less time. This could make Australia one of the few countries where mobile network are faster than fixed in real terms. Wow.

It’s also still got an eye on its wi-fi business: in the press release talking up the 3G network, T-Mobile has promised it won’t get distracted by all this mobile telephony and will keep on adding new hotspots to its wi-fi network across the US.

Its approach to 3G data is a bit of an odd one: the operator said “T-Mobile expects its high-speed data network will be available in those cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services”. Surely, turning on 3G is just what’s needed to get more people using data? Holding off from turning on high-speed services doesn’t exactly seem to be the best way to get more T-Mobile customers ready to pay for mobile email and the like.

To start off with, the maximum downlink available for ‘mobile broadband’ will be 1.8Mbps, going up to 3.6Mbps in June this year.

While every operator needs one of these offers in their portfolio and O2′s pricing is pitched spot on, it doesn’t look like O2 is just copying its rivals and not doing an altogether great job of it: for mobile broadband speed, Vodafone is faster and 3 is cheaper, so how does O2 intend to make its own offering stand out?

The chipset in question offers some tantalising possibilities of future iPhone upgrades, including the ability to support cameras up to 5 megapixels and supports HSDPA up to 72.Mbps.

I wouldn’t expect to see the 3G iPhone move to the top end of these capabilities straight away – after all, it would be a massive bump from the original device with its 2 megapixel camera and edge connectivity. Still, it looks like there’s still enough wiggle room to improve the device far enough to convince those who bought the first handset that it’s time for an upgrade already.

In an interview on his digital lifestyle, the FT asks Lazaridis what’s his latest squeeze? His answer: “One of our prototypes – a 3.5G BlackBerry. It’s very fast over third-generation networks that have HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access).”

Good news for all those who want their mobile email that little bit quicker.