This is LG's Arena KM 900 which at least one analyst says could be a real competitor to the iPhone. Caroline Gabriel, of Rethink Wireless, wrote that Apple's offering "still stands head and shoulders above all the other touchscreen phones, because other handset makers just don't seem to get what touch is all about. Until now, with LG showing off the Arena."

The user-interface provides four customisable home screens by presenting them as the vertical faces of a cube, which can be turned rapidly with the flick of a finger. 

Nested menus are avoided where possible; instead LG has introduced something called Elastic Lists , which expand when touched to provide more information and options.

The device also senses the orientation of the phone, so screen objects align themselves automatically to suit how you are hold it.

The same cube interface is on another LG phone, the Windows Mobile -based GM 730. LG says it will be used in all its high-end phones, offering customers a wider choice of models than Apple.

The Arena comes with Dolby Mobile sound, 8GB of memory  expandable to 40Gb; a 5-megapixel camera; full widescreen VGA screen resolution on a three-inch screen, and DivX and Xvid video format support.

It is scheduled to become available next month.