LG on Friday launched its Ice Cream Phone, or the LG-LH5000, in its home Korean market. The phone gets its name from the available body and LED light colors that are named after ice cream flavors: vanilla, strawberry and pistachio. The 3G phone also sports a 2.2-inch color screen with 320x240-pixel resolution and a 2.0-megapixel camera stuffed into a 13.6mm thick clamshell. The phone's pastel colors are lit up with built-in LEDs when messages or calls are received, and emoticons appear via an orange LED on the front panel. LG's Ice Cream phone has useful features in addition to its elaborate looks, such as multimedia file playback and video calling thanks to the screen and camera. The LH5000 will also send and receive emails, and serves as an electronic dictionary.

Pricing for the LG-LH5000 starts at an equivalent $400 and tops out at approximately $500. There is no word if or when the phone will be released in other markets.

[www.electronista.com]