The new best cell phone?

ATHENS, GREECE -- I don't write about every new cell phone that comes out -- in fact, I comment on individual phones only very rarely. But when it ships next month, the LG Secret just might prove to be the best cell phone ever. The highest praise I've ever given phones went to the iPhone, the BlackBerry Pearl and the LG Viewty. The LG Secret combines the best features of all three.

I raved about the iPhone's touch interface (and other features), the BlackBerry Pearl's tiny form factor, and the LG Viewty's superior camera. The LG Secret will have all that, for the most part.

Full details, and hands-on evaluation, are unavailable. But what we do know looks very good.

The LG Secret is iPhone-like. It sports a large, "auto rotating" touch screen. According to the release:

"The LG Secret’s outstanding entertainment features take advantage of the phone’s touch-screen - users can access five multimedia functions which include music, photos, games, documents, and the FM radio. In addition, users can simultaneously flick through photos on the screen while listening to music. Microsoft documents can be opened easily and the handset is loaded with a Google package that enables the user to surf the Internet, log into Gmail, use Google Maps and watch YouTube videos."

"Flick" sounds like they've got some iPhone-like interface goodness going on, while at the same time besting the iPhone with an FM radio and good-to-go Microsoft Office document support.

The Secret is thin -- less than half an inch at its thickest point, in fact.

The Secret is rugged. It has a carbon fiber casing and tempered glass LCD.

Best of all, the Secret sports a kick-ass camera. As far as I can tell, it has the exact same camera functionality as the LG Viewty. Here's what I wrote about the Viewty's camera:

"The Viewty contains a 5.1-megapixel camera (with a maximum resolution of 2,592 by 1,944 pixels) with up to ISO 800 sensitivity for taking pictures in dark places, augmented by an LED flash. It has Schneider Kreuznach optics with both manual and autofocus, plus image stabilization. A second camera lens in the front enables video calls. One feature that sets the camera apart is a 120-frames-per-second video frame rate. That's about four times the rate you'll find on a standard camcorder and eight times the rate on your typical high-end camera phone. You can use that frame rate to produce smooth, super-slow-mo videos. And uploading to YouTube is just a button push away. "

If I'm right, and the Secret has the same camera as the Viewty, this is the phone of the year. Stay tuned for more details on this amazing phone as they emerge.

The bad news, as always, is that the phone won't be released in the United States for a long time, if ever. However, that won't stop underground trade in the phone for the unlocked crowd.

Here's the official LG Secret web site.