Well, this phone has gone from a couple of pictures, an ugly design, and rumors of where it will be landing to a nice looking device and a launch date, all in a couple of weeks.
The same day we heard that the LG Aloha got a name change to the Ally, someone else found a new TV ad for Iron Man 2, showing off the Android-powered smartphone. The device definitely went through phone puberty, as it looks nothing like the phone that I really, really hated to look at. It’s not confirmed yet, but from the look of the redesign, it looks like it belongs to Verizon. Possibly AT&T too.
The redesign of the Ally looks great. The keyboard looks very usable and sports a dedicated number row, a must for me if I have a full QWERTY keyboard on a device.
LG has confirmed the Ally, and will be holding an event on May 11th to showcase the device, and some other mentionables. Oddly enough, no carrier was announced. We’re still going to assume that it will be Verizon, but it would be nice to see if it lands on more than one carrier. Verizon is sure getting all the good Android devices these days. Think anyone (except Sprint) can catch up this summer? Hopefully here are a couple of gems we haven’t yet seen.
As we’d said before, most Android traffic in the US comes from devices with QWERTY keyboards. The G1 has been around forever, and the Motorola Droid has gotten mass attention with its incessant ad campaign, so this information shouldn’t be so surprising. With the introduction of the Ally, obviously being backed by Iron Man 2, I’d expect this to get a lot of traction. It looks like a very solid device, and I’m finally excited about this device. It’s not necessarily sexy, nor does it stand out much, but it’s simple enough, and it should be a nice slider Android device.
If there is a device out there that gets to play ball this summer, I’m hoping it’s the Motorola Shadow. It’s probably the only phone I would possibly consider giving up my Nexus One for. Still, the LG Ally, should be a solid Android phone.
Check out the Iron Man 2 / LG Ally ad below:
[Via: Engadget]