LG’s presence at CES was largely overshadowed by their TV announcements, but there were a few bones thrown to us mobile fans. First up is the Lotus Elite (top), available in red and black, which builds on the original Lotus in a couple of ways. The external screen is now touch-sensitive. It’s still only a 2 megapixel camera and QVGA display, but it’s neat the way that the camera built into the hinge allows you to take forward-facing pictures when open, and outward-facing ones when closed. The customizable touch-sensitive external display and signature square style was nothing to sneeze at either. I was pleasantly surprised how smart this thing was for a dumbphone – the home screen had quick access to a browser, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and various Yahoo! services. You’ll be able to nab the red version on January 10 from Sprint for $99.99 on contract, with the black version arriving in February. Greg wins the bonus round for speculating that the next Lotus would be coming out at CES.
Next up is Rumor Touch, upgrading from the Rumor 2 with (you guessed it) a touch display. The overall layout makes it feel a hell of a lot sleeker than its predecessor, which felt a lot more blocky and feature-phoney. The 3″ WQVGA display and 2 megapixel camera make the Rumor Touch a marked improvement over the original, though maybe not much of one. It’ll be out sometime in the first quarter – sign up for updates here.
