LG ships GD880 with first non-smartphone HTML5 browser
updated 09:35 am EDT, Wed April 7, 2010
LG Mini GD880 has desktop-level web
LG this morning said it had officially launched the GD880 with a surprise software feature in store. The device is the only non-smartphone with an HTML5 web browser, nicknamed Phantom, and can see Gmail or other advanced pages with accuracy approaching the Android and iPhone browsers. It shares similar WebKit roots and loads pages (as many as 10) much more quickly than usual browsers in the class.
Other more advanced tricks are also part of the software, such as push e-mail, Flash support for YouTube, and over-the-air sync with both an Internet sync service and a local Windows PC.
The Mini's hardware design centers on minimalism with a completely button-free front face and a 3.2-inch touchscreen that pushes the display almost to the edges. While it doesn't have a smartphone OS, it does have the hardware features and comes with a 5-megapixel camera, 7.2Mbps 3G and Wi-Fi; assisted GPS versus native is its only apparent sacrifice.
Europeans get the phone first, with unnamed carriers adding the Mini this month. Other areas will get it later, but whether this includes the US wasn't mentioned.
