LG Wine Smart release date, specs, price: new flip Android smartphone to be released in international markets

Last month, South Korean company LG Electronics unveiled its low-cost LG Gentle flip smartphone in South Korea. The LG Gentle was expected to be available only to the local market, and costs about US$165, according to earlier reports.

LG Wine Smart in navy colorLG News Room

GSM Arena reports that LG had decided to change its plan and launch the new LG Gentle to international markets under the brand "LG Wine Smart". According to the LG News Room, the LG Wine Smart is expected to be available later this month in countries such as Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and France, among many others.

LG News Room said in regards to the new flip phone, "The Wine Smart combines the familiarity of a folder phone with an easy-to-use touchscreen and the connectivity and power of a smartphone."

"Thanks to the positive response to the original Wine Smart introduced in Korea last year, LG optimized the latest model with more advanced multimedia features to make the transition from feature phone to smartphone as seamless as possible."

Vice President and Head of Marketing Communications Chris Yie of LG added that the company's aim was to develop a new smartphone for those consumers that are interested in flip phone designs.

In terms of the specs, the LG Wine Smart runs on the new Android 5.1.1 Lollipop (OS) operating system and sports a 3.2 inch HVGA IPS LCD touch screen with a 320 x 480 pixel resolution.

The LG Wine Smart has a 3.15 mega pixel camera on the back along with a secondary VGA. Inside, there's a Quad-core 1.1 GHz processor, 1GB RAM and up to 4GB built-in memory storage. The phone is powered by a 1700 mAh battery and is expected to be available in burgundy and navy colors, according to GSM Arena.