When we were at LG Headquarters in January, the product managers hinted at a LG Windows Phone 7 Series coming out soon in the next couple of months. I really didn’t expect LG to be showing one off only a couple of weeks later, but I see the benefit in announcing the prototype ahead of the pack – look at the buzz it’s already generated on the web.

Their inviting international tech bloggers for the LG GW620 / Eve Bloggers Forum in Seoul and now giving the world a sneak preview of the what’s to come on one of the world’s most read gadget sites, shows that LG recognises the importance of harnessing the power of social media. I’m hoping other vendors adapt a similar mantra as that will mean more international junkets for me!

Back to the LG Windows Phone 7 Series – it looks like they’ve kept it to a similar form factor as the LG GW620. It’s smaller than the iPhone, has a QWERTY keyboard and only slighter thicker than the iPhone (which is great given the inbuilt keyboard). According to Engadget the most obvious differences (without having the final version to review properly) are the 5 Megapixel camera and additional phone buttons on the front-face. I’m confident that LG will do us proud when they finally announce the final version.

Via Engadget

My buddy Beatrice Tan, who I met along with many others at the Seoul LG Blogger Forum last month, just tagged me in a YouTube Video that shows some of the awesome fun we had on the day we did an Amazing Race type event.

Each team had a dedicated professional video and camera man assigned to capture the major highlights of each team’s adventure for the day!

For those who want to skip to the parts where I’m running around like a crazy lunatic, singing Karaoke or playing my role as Sneezy Dwarf (Our team was called SW7 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and I actually had a cold too) – jump to 2:49 and then to 7:03.

I’m back! Actually I was back yesterday but did not have time to blog at all due to work (went from airport to meeting!) and catching up with family.

Below are some of the photos that I took on Day 1 of my 4 day trip to Seoul, Korea for the LG Blogger Forum where we discussed the latest LG news (looks like some of it was leaked already) and share our feedback on LG’s first Android phone the LG GW620.

In summary, I’ll say that we had a blast.

Huge Thank You To LG Electronics

LG showed us exemplary hospitality thanks to the organisation of Mr.Chang Moon and other LG representatives from France, Sweden, Netherlands, Canada, Russia, SINGAPORE (thanks Wayne) and of course the ever so lovely Kelly Choi from LG Australia. They did everything to make sure that we thoroughly enjoyed both our Seoul and LG experience. Thank you all!

So here are photos from Day 1 of my Seoul adventure:

With ticket in hand, I was all set to make my first trip to Seoul.

Snow In Korea!

Our first meal in Korea was at Marisco Restaurant Seoul Korea

Quirky decor, great food and awesome company made the night memorable.

The Ibis hotel where the internet died within an hour of the LG Bloggers checking in. Coincidence?

Welcoming reception inside the Ibis reception

Welcome Pack from LG Electronics

Ibis Hotel Room 1801 Bokeh Party

I’ve completed 85.6% of my packing for my Seoul trip tomorrow. For those who don’t know, I’ll be attending the LG Blogger Forum where 35 other international power bloggers from around the world will be gathering to talk about the LG GW620 and to have a workshop where we’ll provide concepts that make up our dream phone

I just realised that I haven’t written a review on the LG GW620 despite making a YouTube Video a couple of days ago. So below are some of my honest thoughts on what I liked about the phone and how it can be improved.

What I liked about the LG EV / GW620:

• Compact size: Even though the screen is smaller than the iPhone (which I am currently using) I liked the size of the phone. It seems to fit better in my hand and therefore I feel more like it’s in my grip – less chance of accidentally
• QWERTY Keyboard: I’m fairly confident that people who didn’t know that the GW620 came with a physical keyboard would be surprised it did due to its slimness. The keys are of a decent size and I like how LG have incorporated up, down, left and right arrow keys. Takes a little getting used to but once you know where everything is, I believe one can type faster than via a touch screen
• Android OS: Although the phone I got was running version 1.5, I had a personal glimpse of what has attracted so many people to the Android platform. Menu and interface are intuitive and despite having a slower processor than many of the newer Androids was still reasonably fast. Having everything like calendar, email and maps all Google isn’t bad either
• 3.5mm Stereo Audio Port: For obvious reasons such as I can use my favorite Sennheiser headphones with the GW620
• MicroSD Expansion Slot: the LG GW620 can accommodate up to a 32GB MicroSD memory card which means you’ll be able to load heaps and heaps of your favorite photos, music and files
• SNS Manager: Being able to get a unified view of your Facebook, Twitter and Bebo (who uses Bebo?) is the way that things should be. Incorporating social media accounts with address book contacts also makes a lot of sense
• 5 Megapixel Camera with LED Flash: Takes decent photos and with the LED flash lowlight conditions are no longer a no-no.

What Can Be Improved on the LG Eve / GW620:

• Latest Android OS: My Eve came with Android 1.5 and the current version is 2.1. The latest version has incorporated many bug fixes as well as some nifty functionality like speech-to-text and living wallpapers!
• Get Rid Of Resistive Screen: Screen seems much less responsive than the iPhone’s. I also don’t see the need for that physical feedback. One only has to look at the iPhone to see how little that means to users. Surely it also places unnecessary burden on the battery too
• Faster Processor: How about a 1Ghz Snapdragon?
• Even More Slimmer: If LG could make the device even more thinner with the keyboard I think it would appeal to more people
• Multi-touch Screen: It will allow users to do tasks on the LG GW620 more naturally using multi-touch gestures. I found it a eye-opening experience going from my iMate 8502 Windows Mobile device to the iPhone interface
• More Powerful Battery: Although it comes with a 1500mAh, bumping this up higher and giving users more talk-time, surf-time and play time will definitely keep them smiling longer
• Front Side Video Camera: To allow users to take video logs since it seems to be the way things are going

Again these are my own personal points of what I liked and what can be improved on the LG Eve / GW620. If you have any other ones that you feel should be included please let us know via the comments below.

I’ve been having some internet issues at home so it took a while to finally upload my video of the LG Eve (aka LG GW620) Android Phone.

In this video, you’ll see me talk about some of the highlights of LG’s first Android phone and what’s inside the box. I’ll do a full write-up in the next couple of days – just wanted to give you a glimpse of what I’ll be talking about. This very phone will be one of the main points of discussion at LG headquarters in Seoul next week, so if you have any ideas on how to improve the phone or what you liked about it, I’m very keen to pass your feedback on.

Can you please help me by rating and leaving a comment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Andf7anj198) on what you thought about the phone?

It’s a late warm summer’s night here in Melbourne and I’ve just finished my LG Eve (aka LG GW620) unboxing video. Don’t have time to watch 855MB uploaded to YouTube so I’ll have to do it later.

In the meantime here’s the LG Eve advertisement that will give you some insight as to what I’ve been playing with for the last couple of days and will be discussing next week in Korea.

YouTube – LG GW620 – The Friendly Smartphone (ad).