Lucky Goldstar has pre-empted Mobile World Congress, just like many others already have and no doubt many more will this week by unveiling to the unsuspecting public a new handset they’ll be taking to Barcelona next week. It’s a mobile phone they’re calling the LG Arena or the LG-KM900, if you want to get all technical.

This new mobile was actually leaked on Friday, much to the perturbed people over at their PR company so we’ve subsequently learnt this week.

LG is touting this phone as having a ‘groundbreaking’ 3D user interface, which we can’t really see in the 2D images so we’re not entirely convinced at this point it is all that innovative. The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding or at the first hand experience of the device.

The LG Arena will be officially unveiled at Mobile World Congress, with all the accompanying delights of HSDPA, WIFI and A-GPS and the ability to even playback DivX video. Wahoo!

It appears from little we’ve been informed to date, it’s a touch screen based phone much like their Renoir. It’s been reported elsewhere the phone only has a 5megapixel camera, where all their latest ‘flagship’ models have 8MP and this supposedly falls into that aforementioned category. However, we’re sure they’ll spin this somehow, someway and somewhere to make ground on the issue.

We’ll all just have to wait and see what comes out of their press conference next week. Expect us though to bring you the full skinny, the complete low down, the full enchilada – everything you needed to know but were too afraid to ask about the Arena.

Details have been listed on Play.com of the actual in store date of the N97, much much earlier than expected – March 31^st. Hurrah!

Spotted by Pocket-Lint is this revelation of revelations over the stores website seen here, heavily pre-empting any official announcement by Nokia themselves.

Only a month ago we brought you news the online store Expansys known for jumping the gun, had listed the N97 for pre-ordering with no delivery date attached or even costing. It looks like all that has now changed.

Play.com has it the Nokia handset will be available only in white, SIM free for the princely sum of £479.99. Although any of this has yet to be confirmed by Nokia, and we really doubt they will do this close to Mobile World Congress. It’s still a good price for the handset we believe, we’re sure the queues will have started already.

Some are calling this the very first phone designed solely for left handed people, as the cursor touch pad is on the left side of the keyboard. It was MIR that first made this outlandish statement and we’re standing our ground on the matter too.

The model that’s the closest handset to the Nokia Communicator series that we’re likely to see for a while, comes along with a possible massive 48GB of storage, a full QWERTY keyboard and a 3.5-inch touch screen

If this UK date has any worth to it, this has surely thrown somewhat of a large monkey wrench into Nokia’s big big announcements at Mobile World Congress this year.

This is a shame as if there are any more leaks of this nature, it will hardly be worth going to Barcelona as all the news will already be out by then.

Stay tuned for more leaks, or a confirmation on the N97 date by the Finnish.

UPDATE: We’ve just had the official word from Nokia; Play.com are way way way off base here. Stay tuned to more info from Mobile World Congress on the arrival date *cough*

The Finish phone maker’s latest handset, the 6208 Classic has been snuck out via their China website. A phone that just happens to be their very first touch screen mobile, running on the series 40 platform. Hurrah!

Reports of the new phones existence has picked up momentum recently over at unwiredview, with them officially spotting the phone showing up on the Nokia.com.cn website.

From the breakdown of 6208 Classic handset, it’s a dual input based mobile from them – as the picture clearly shows.

First off, it has a standard alphanumeric keypad as the main text and number input source and secondly, it’s a touch screen based mobile.

Running from the Series 40 platform seems a bold choice for them, with other models of late being based around the Symbian S60 editions. This could be seen though as a lite touchscreen model for Asia and the emerging markets, that might never see the light of day elsewhere in the world.

We’ve been told the touchscreen models are very key in Asia, as the character recognition for the phone needs to be spot on around the subtle nuances in their written languages.

The added feature of the stylish stylus at the rear seems a nice touch, and it makes the phone standout with its futuristic design and the way it’s housed.

6208′s screen is a 2.4-inches with a 320 x 240 pixels QVGA display, plus a 3.2 megapixel onboard camera. The phone comes in as being Tri-band EGSM, with 3 and a half hours talktime and 300 hours standby.

The Nokia site has it that it will be on sale in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Middle East, North Africa and India. Where it’s ideally spec’d out for those regions and seems very suitable too, after reading in detail the specifications.

How and where it will fit its self in to Nokia’s portfolio elsewhere in the world will be of interest.

We’re guessing if it does ever come out in Europe or North America, it will probably be a network exclusive model where it could be more preferably suited there than anywhere else.

The most positive aspect to take away from this is that it’s a Series 40 handset, with a touch screen.

We’re looking forward now, and hopefully it won’t be the last, to see other series 60 features to come down the line.

A posting over at Gizmodo via the original source of a Tmonews forum item has a leaked image of the RIM roadmap, with a new Bold model on the horizon with a touch screen in a slider casing.

There’s nothing much more to tell other than what the picture above shows, but still it’s an interesting rumour none the less.

In all practicality, we can’t really see the benefit of a touch screen in the Bold’s current housing. Unless RIM are open to crosspollination of their range, which they might very well be if the latest phone is anything to go by.

With the Curve 8900 we’ve seen the old model Curve from last year updated, to house a screen of the current BlackBerry Bolds likening.

Working on that principal and that principal alone, perhaps a screen somewhere in between the Bold and the Storm could be of use in this supposed new handset.

Seeing as it’s also designated to be housed in a slider format this could be much more of a feasible solution.

Of late we’ve seen the BlackBerrys break out of their corporate monstrosity mould, to adopt a much more consumer focussed design.

One model of phone they haven’t actually brought to market yet is a slider, so perhaps the concept isn’t as wild and unbelievable as it first appears to be.

A few years back you wouldn’t have believed RIM would have produced a candybar shaped mobile any more than you would have believed a full touch screen handset, minus a keyboard.

Even the thought of a flip phone wouldn’t have made sense to most, now look at the sales. It’s actually doing rather well.

With a product codename of ‘Pluto’ we’re guessing the rumour this model’s design isn’t so out-of-this-world after all.

The rumour mill has gone into over drive with the sighting of a new Nokia phone, a full touch screen mobile – not even a week after their symposium in Barcelona started.

Slashgear amongst others, starting with them, have all picked up on this story and run with it like the Olympic torch.

We passed this along to be confirmed by our newly gained and most excellent contacts now inside Nokia. Who in turn passed it along to HQ in Finland, where the answer came back that no one was clued in on the model.

With the official word being that it just looks like a ‘marketing concept shot’, which we concur with. As we’re unsure of a handset coming out that boasts a “Direct UI simplifies interaction with standard strokes and gestures”.

Some other news came to light just as we were writing this up, in the form of an update on the main news site.

They’ve also had the image confirmed by Nokia, where it just appears to be a shot showing off the latest UI and its features.

A feature set that does look very familiar to the one we saw supported on the N97, which we extensively used last week.

Perhaps it’s more than just a concept mock up after all and could be a definite glimpse into the future.

Does anyone have a Flux Capacitor so we can find out? McFly? McFly?

See here for more on the story.

Firstly, I should point out, the iPhone didn’t work. It’s by no fault of Ewan or I, but more like the Antenna is dead. I tried it out on O2, Virgin, Orange, Vodafone and other networks and it just wouldn’t get coverage.
Despite this, I have to say I grew close to the device.

Although I couldn’t text, e-mail, phone, browse or anything that the iPhone was mainly designed to do, I could use the functions of the device. I particularly found the QWERTY keyboard useful, and brilliant.

I hate touch screens, but the keypad was for the most part absolutely brilliant. I had a couple of issues with the fact I couldn’t have it in landscape mode whilst texting or writing notes; but even so, brilliant.

I was equally surprised at the ease of use. My Grandma instantly fell in love with it, and was even thinking up ways in trying to persuade my Grandad to buy her one! I did find the lack of options and settings annoying; I like to have full control over a device I have, and I wasn’t impressed with the lengthy settings menu with little depth.

Annoyingly, I found that the iPod on the iPhone was disappointing; the sound quality from the built-in speakers was horrific. The amount of energy it drained from the battery was equally appalling, and iTunes drove me utterly insane. However, I do have an iPod compatible Altec Lansing speaker device which I had never used with an iPod before. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality, but that was only because it was better than the worst I imagined it would be.

I can’t say I definitely like or even love the iPhone, and nor can I say I hate it. I have enjoyed using it. I will admit I was wrong about the touch screen interface, it won me over; actually it pretty much won over everyone in my house.

I can’t vouch for the whole quality of the phone either, and although Antenna issues exist in many phones, my research into the problem, and general issues with iPhones generally aggravated me.

You won’t see me in the Carphone Warehouse or O2 store signing up for a lengthy contract for the device, but it has certainly opened up my eyes to some of its features. If I can, I will try and definitely get a device with a good QWERTY keyboard, and simple interface; but I will also need something that suits my needs.

It’s a shame it didn’t work entirely, because I would have loved to have found out whether the applications, browsing abilities and the like could have also won me over?