SEOUL - SOUTH Korea's LG Electronics on Monday unveiled what it described as the world's first watch-shaped mobile video phone.

The '3G watch phone' model has a touch-screen dialling system with a camera and a speaker built in to enable users to make video calls over a high speed internet connection, LG Electronic said in a statement.

It also recognises voices, transforms text to speech, has a Bluetooth function and plays MP3 music.

The product has a 3.63-centimetre screen and is 13.9 millimetres thick. It will be on display at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from Jan 8 to 11.

LG Electronics said it plans to launch the handset in European markets sometime next year.