Competition in the touch-screen cell phone market is bound to heat up in the U.S. now that LG Electronics (News - Alert) has introduced two new models with advanced features at a competitive price.

Voyager and Venus are the two new touch-screen phone models from LG which were launched on Sunday. They are to be marketed by Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless, the number two mobile phone carrier in the U.S.

LG, which is the world’s number five in mobile handset manufacturer, is the first Korean company to enter the touch-screen phone market in the U.S.

In comparison to Apple’s iPhone (News - Alert), Voyager seems to be more hi-tech, particularly with its foldable keyboard which makes it easy to send messages. Users will also enjoy watching mobile TV on its 2.8 inch LCD screen and listening to music on its dual speakers.

Meanwhile, Venus, with its “Interactive User Interface,” is a first in the cell phone industry. It allows interaction between two screens (upper and lower) while navigating.

Both Voyager and Venus are excellent for experiencing Verizon Wireless’ Vcast video and music services. Both offer a removable 8GB memory card which can accommodate up to 2,000 music files.

Voyager, with its foldable keyboard, and Venus, with its “touch sensitive slide navigation,” will make for good competition against the HTC touch-screen phone being offered through Sprint (News - Alert) Nextel, as well as Apple’s iPhone, supported on AT&T’s wireless network. Of course, LG is marketing both of these phones as being great Christmas gifts.

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Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.