What would a day without a new touch-screen phone story be at Engadget? I wonder if we’ll ever know… Nevertheless, we’re still excited about what LG is calling the most affordable touch-screen phone around. While we aren’t sure exactly what that means yet (LG hasn’t released a price yet) we’ll hook you up with some specs and features in the meantime.

• Thickness: 11.9 mm
• Weight: 89 grams
• 3 megapixel fixed focus camera
• 3-inch wide touch screen display
• 240 x 400 pixel resolution
• microSD memory card slot
• A2DP (Stereo Bluetooth)
  
• FM Radio
• an accelerometer for auto screen rotation and gaming
• virtual landscape QWERTY keyboard
• office document viewer
• availability in black, brown, silver, or gold

Downsides? There’s a stylus included, which suggests awkward usability, and there’s no 3G enabling to be found. For the bottom line, we’ll be looking to Europe for the debut in about a month, hopefully to be followed by some U.S. availability.

Since July, Californians have been unable to hold their cell phones while driving the car. How, then, could it be necessary to enact a law prohibiting texting while driving? Apparently the Bluetooth-headset-boosting law of the summer left a giant loophole for the least intelligent, and most avid-text-messagers, to jump through. If you follow the letter of the law, you can still place your phone on the dash or console or passenger seat and text away.

Sounds pretty scary… but have no fear! The Terminator has come to save the day. As of this upcoming New Years Day (1.1.09) Californians will no longer be able to tap away at their teeny tiny letters and numbers while driving. I think it’s safe to say we’ll all be a little better off.

From the LG Prada to the Samsung P520 Giorgio Armani, luxury phones seem to enjoy a limited, but prosperous, corner of the cell phone market. As reported by Engadget today, LG has sold one million handsets of the Prada since its March 2007 debut. Not too shabby, eh?

With the insides of a standard LG handset, but the outsides of a chic, smooth, full touchscreen, and complete with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the Prada has its ups and downs. You’re inarguably paying more ($849 for the unlocked version, considering no US carrier is offering it) for the form, not function. With a pretty unimpressive set of features, you’ll be the envy of the town, but maybe not the most connected.

If you love the look of the Prada, but aren’t quite ready to take the near-$1K plunge for a phone that barely does more than your old slider, you may be in luck. In Q4 of this year, LG’s set to come out with the Prada II (pictured above) which is rumored to feature the following:

Still not 3G-enabled, but it looks a lot better than the original. We’ll see if this luxury phone lives up to its category by the end of the year.