LG's Voyager And Venus Get Release Dates

Verizon's answer to the iPhone, the LG Voyager, and it's sister phone, the LG Venus, have solid release dates for the US.

The Voyager, featuring a touch interface exterior and a full QWERTY keyboard interior, will be launching on Nov. 21 for $299 with a 2-year contract. The Venus, a slider phone featuring a touch pad for navigation, will launch on Nov. 19 for $199 with a 2-year contract.

While it seems clear to me that the Voyager is a trying to compete with the iPhone, I'm not completely sure that it will succeed in that fight. It does have an advanced web browser (read: not a crappy, mobile web standard), it is still not a full HTML browser. It's more similar to the xHTML format that Sprint customers have become acustomed too. The bigger selling point here is the full QWERTY keyboard for browsing and texting and vCast Mobile TV (which allows you to watch channels like Fox, MTV, and Comedy Central directly on your phone live).

The Venus looks like a fun slder with a bit of touch interation thrown in. I'm reminded a bit more of the LG Chocolate when I see this phone, but the interactive touch pad sets it apart. I found the Chocolate's touch controls to be misplaced and the wheel to be a bit less than helpful, so hopefully the Venus can fix a few of those problems.

I will most likely be picking up the Voyager on the 21rst, but I'm definitely going to wait untill I get in store and have a chance to play with it. I'll report back once I do get a chance to feel it out. Anyone else have plans to try either of these phones out?

[via Engadget]