LG have dipped their toes into the Android market with the LG Etna, LG’s first Android-based smartphone. The Etna, or LG-GW620 to give it its less-sexy title, looks very similar to the Motorola DEXT, another new Android phone, with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. However, the DEXT differentiates itself from the competition with Motorola’s new MOTOBlur user interface, which makes the DEXT unlike any other Android device on the market.

So what about the new LG Etna? How does it differ from other Android devices?…

Unfortunately, I’ve no idea! LG were so keen to reassure Microsoft that they’re not running away from Windows Mobile, that the Etna’s press release mentions its other Windows Mobile phones far more often than it does the Etna!

All we get are vague assertions that the LG Etna will “…support social networking functions right out-of-the-box” (which it would do, as that’s what Android’s all about!) and that “…the LG-GW620 will appeal to first-time smartphone customers by offering a new and different kind of user experience.”

And annoyingly, that’s about it. Further digging across the Web reveals it’s got a 3″ touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera and will be sold by Vodafone, but that its implementation of Android won’t be that much different from the T-Mobile G1.

Still, it’s nice to see LG dipping its toes into the Android waters, even if it’s not exactly committing to the platform at the moment. And with two more Android devices set to be released by LG before the end of 2009, hopefully we’ll see something more exciting real soon.

[Source: LG EngadgetMobile]