LG and Verizon Wireless preview Decoy Slider phone

LG Electronics and Verizon Wireless unveiled the LG Decoy Slider -- a 3G cell phone with a built-in detachable Bluetooth 2.1-enabled headset -- at a Bluetooth press event in New York today.

NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - At a Bluetooth SIG press event today, BetaNews witnessed a novel approach to the concept of headset pairing. With LG's new Decoy device, the headset can be slipped in and out of a holder at the the top of the back of the handset.

Giving users a place to store the headset aboard the phone helps prevent the headset from getting lost, noted representatives in the LG booth. Also, the Decoy Slider phone and headset can conveniently be charged at the same time.

Unlike most Bluetooth-enabled phones on the market, which still support Bluetooth 2.0, the Decoy Slider complies with Bluetooth 2.1, BetaNews was told.

Bluetooth 2.1, the latest edition of the specification, adds capabilities that include Secure Simple Pairing, for easier pairing between Bluetooth devices, and Encryption Pause Resume (EPR) -- a feature that allows an encryption key to be refreshed, for stronger encryption on connections that are up for about a day or longer.

Through its support for Verizon Wireless' 3G wireless network, the Decoy enables downloads of Verizon Wireless' VCAST Music from over two million songs, along with VCAST Video for streaming news and entertainment.

The Decoy Slider also includes Verizon Wireless' VZ Navigator, for GPS-enabled visual and audio directions to destinations; a 2.0-megapixel camera and camcorder; and a microSD memory port. Availability is now slated for mid-June.