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 The New 4NE1 is one of the first phones on the US market which is sold directly by a mobile operator, and which can be worn around the neck. The phone was launched by Sprint, and was produced by LG InfoComm, a subsidiary of Korea's LG Electronics.
Though the phone is being pitched as a wearable mobile device, in reality it seems to be little more than a normal mobile that is sold with a white strap which is attached to a plastic side plate that clips on to the phone. The new phone will sell for USD149.
It has other features that might have an impact on the users' fashion sense however, including various colored panels that can be changed as well as different ring tones and screen savers.
"It is the latest trend-setting phone in the LG line-up," claimed Michele Thenegal, director of marketing for LG InfoComm. "The LG 4NE1 raises the bar for handset manufacturers, by unleashing a new convergence in fashion and innovation."
Thenegal's comment remains to be proven, but Sprint seems to be heading down the same path as many other phone makers when it comes to devices that can be worn as jewellery and that make a fashion statement.
In recent months it was announced that Nokia had plans to roll out a line of luxury phones. These will be covered in platinum cases, encrusted with precious stones, and are set to go on sale later this year.
IBM announced in 2000 that it was working on a kind of earring that comes with a necklace, watch and ring, and which as a set make up working mobile phone that at first glance looks like ordinary jewelry.
IBM's device would see users notice an incoming call through a flashing light on their ring with the caller's ID displayed on the user's watch. Users would hear the caller's voice via the earring and would speak into the necklace to respond. IBM never launched any such phone commercially.
Other jewellery-like gadget phones are already on the market. Samsung released a mobile phone-watch in Asia last year, and in May Cingular Wireless in the US will unveil what is expected be a true necklace phone, a device industry watchers are already excited about. Sony Ericsson, too, is thought to be planning the debut of a phone that clips onto a belt and uses Bluetooth to feed calls to an earpiece microphone.
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