Vodafone announced on their blog this week that they will be the exclusive Australian carrier for the LG Prada 3.0 when it launches in April.

Finally, a phone for movie stars and thin people

The original Prada was the first touchscreen smartphone, actually beating the iPhone by a few months in late 2006 and offering a very basic user interface that still looks elegant by today’s standards. The 3.0 will be sporting Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), with a similar scaled down black and white skin, all wrapped up in an impressively thin 8.5mm chassis. Like the first two incarnations of the Prada, the phone has been designed by the venerable Italian fashion house of the same name.

More Schmick than Specs

Prada 3.0 will also sport an impressive 8MP camera and enough grunt to possibly run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but really, this phone is all about the look and feel. The phone will also help remind people of LG's offerings, currently languishing in the shadow of Samsung and HTC.

More importantly, the phone will be capable of running on Vodafone’s new 850MHz network, which is currently deploying at a rapid rate, thanks to a $1bn push to put Vodafone back in the black. The network started experiencing widespread faults after the late 2010 integration of former competitor 3, and an exodus towards Telstra followed soon thereafter. Recent feedback on Vodafone’s expanding network has been positive, and their $50 Infinite plan, offering unlimited calls and texts, is leading the industry in value.