South Korean Duo Deemed "World's Fastest Texters"

Think you thumbs are quick? Think again. LG, which has long been a supporter of finding out just who exactly can text the fastest in this zany world of thumb-friendly communicators, has just announced that Yeong-Ho Bae, 18, and Mok-Min Ha, 17, of South Korea are the (new) fastest texters on the planet. Hear that? On the planet!

The duo defeated a host of challengers to become the world texting champions at the LG Mobile World Cup in New York City, and the competition was no joke whatsoever. The two had to use LG devices (no iPhone or Droid allowed), and they trumped their rivals in a series of tests of speed and accuracy. LG then crowned 'em the champs, and handed them a whopping $100000 for their efforts.


The finals pit 13 two-person teams against one another in New York, with each team having to last through five rounds of team and individual events. All contestants texted in their native language using two of LG's current mobile phones: the LG BL20, which has a numeric keypad, and the LG GW520, which features a QWERTY keyboard. A pair from the USA placed second, and that brought home a nice $20000 payout. Juan Ignacio Aufranc and Agustina Montegna from Argentina took third place, and they netted $10000 from the competition. In addition to the main competition, the players attempted to set a new Guinness World Records record for fastest texting, using the LG enV3 handset. Pedro Matias, 27, from Portugal set a new record by typing a 264-character text in just 1 minute 59 seconds, shaving 23 seconds off the previous record set by Finland's Arttu Harkki in 2005.

If you think you can take the heat, you best start practicing now (on an LG phone) for next year's event. We get the feeling that the competition will get tougher and tougher as this thing gets more and more popular.

In a nod to how far phones have come, the record-setting text read: The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell (UK), who filed his patent for the telephone on 14 February 1876 at the New York Patent Office, USA. The first intelligible call occurred in March 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, when Bell phoned his assistant in a nearby room and said "Come here Watson, I want you." 

"All the contestants at the World Cup are at the cutting edge of mobile technology and the earliest to embrace the latest mobile trends," said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "LG remains committed to providing them with the smartest technology that fits their lifestyles."

Launched to celebrate mobile culture and advances in mobile technology, the LG Mobile World Cup has become the world's premier mobile festival, expanding from four participating countries in 2008 to 13 in 2010. Between May and November 2009, qualifying rounds were held in the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Portugal, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Korea, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. Altogether, more than 6 million people took part in the LG Mobile World Cup in 2009.

For more information on the LG Mobile World Cup in New York, please visit http://www.lgmobileworldcup.com.