It is impossible to correctly predict the next step in the continuous evolution of the mobile phones. Some time ago everybody thought that the touch screen is the ultimate challenge. Time brought the truth to the surface. With some time and money invested the touch screen technology was not even that hard to reach. Well, only for Nokia the touch screen feature was very hard to develop and include in their phones. Only now, at the end of 2009, Nokia just released (not yet user approved) the capacitive touch screen within the X6. Until the X6 you really had to use that horrible stylus to get around the menu (which basically works within slow motion on the half of the Nokia touch screen phones).
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However, the rest of the manufacturers have easily come up with good touch screens and excellent back software development. Right now, the current trend has changed its course, from the fully touch screen phones, to the touch screen plus keyboard phones. Because everybody is so into every single trend that goes on in United States, the QWERTY phones have started to conquer the Europe markets as well. These phones that I am talking about are not business phone models (were the QWERTY keyboard is necessary) but multimedia phones (at best). It all started with the release of the social networking web sites, which easily grew in popularity in a record time.
For anyone that doesn't want to use BlackBerry gadgets alternative QWERTY phones are essential. Even more, there was no point in buying a business phone only for the full keyboard. Therefore, manufacturers like
LG started to create phones with QWERTY keyboard, affordable for the mass customers. The AT&T is one of the most famous carrier phones in the United States, since 2007 when the iPhone carrier controversy exploded. Since then, AT&T started to improve its portfolio (not only the subscription offer but also the dual banded phones). LG is one of the few manufacturers that decided to brand some of their phones with the AT&T logo. Two of QWERTY AT&T branded phones from
LG, released this year, is the
LG GT 365 Neon also known as
LG TE 365 and the
LG Xenon.
The first phone,
GT Neon 365 was announced and released in March 2009. Basically this phone looks the same like the KS 360. However, the details make a true difference between this two phone models. In terms, of design, the GT 365 sports an interesting form factor, QWERTY slider from right to left. The phone is made entirely out of plastic. No special finishes will improve the phone's looks. The front cover sports a black look (not glossy plastic) with the earpiece above the display and the navigational buttons below the display.
The navigational buttons are also made out of plastic which makes them a little harder to use. This phone lack a five way key pad, but sports separate keys with the same controls (left, right, up, down, and ok). You also get two fully customizable soft keys, the key pad key (to display on the semi touch screen display the key pad to dial a phone number), the back key, the call key, and the end call key, which also contains the turn off and on function. The
QWERTY keyboard can be opened from right to left (in that moment the phone's display changes from portrait mode to landscape mode).
The full keyboard sports round keys, not very great in terms of form factor. However, you can easily text even within a hurry. A nice feature is the backlight of the
QWERTY keyboard. The build quality is not exceptional, but it works, you shouldn't have any particularly problems with this phone. It looks nice with the black - white - green - yellow combination (youthful target to say at least). The main disadvantage of this phone is that it runs in the 2G network only, GSM 850 / 1800 / 1900. With a height of 101.5 mm, wide of 51 mm, deep of 16.8 inches, the GT 365 weights about 108 grams. The phone is rather average in terms of weight or dimensions.
LG included into the
GT 365 a 2.4 inches TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, capable of rendering about 256000 colors. The only capable features of the display are the touch screen dialing, plus the OK on screen button. In terms of software, you are going to appreciate this phone since it includes anything you might need, excellent phone book, average music and video player, good calendar and other features. The onboard memory is limited to 15 MB, expandable value using the micro SD memory cards or Trans Flash memory cards, with 4 GB unit. The connectivity is not the best ensured department, since you will have to work only with GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth (the 2.0 version with the A2DP profile), and USB 2.0 connectivity. LG included in this phone only a 2 megapixel digital camera with a maximum photo resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels.
A nice feature is the photo and video editor which will allow you to improve the quality of your photos taken and videos recorded. The included battery is almost a joke with the 800 mAh Lithium Ion battery, which theoretically will allow 250 hours of standby and up to 4 hours of talk time. Basically you will not get more than 36 hours of autonomy. Overall the
GT 365 Neon is a good balanced average phone sporting a
QWERTY keyboard. If you are willing to go online with GPRS and EDGE then the LG GT 365 Neon might be a good solution. The second LG model, developed for AT&T is the Xenon.
This phone is truly an evolution from the Neon, not only in design but also in features. The Xenon was announced in March 2009, and released in April 2009. The Xenon looks really attractive with a matte plastic in lighter and darker blue with metallic effect, and the stainless steel front frame. You get the same form factor, slider but from left to right. Basically, the Xenon looks great closed and opened. The front cover sports a nice display, above it being placed the earpiece, while below the display you can find beside the "AT&T" logo the multitasking / launcher key, the call key and the end call key.
When opened the QWERTY keyboard looks very nice, with good sized keys made out of a good plastic. However, these keys are almost united between them, LG leaving almost no space. As you can imagine the usability is affected by this disadvantage. However, for someone who doesn't sport big fingers, the keyboard is accessible in usage. The feedback is well presented, and you get no flex when using the keys. Overall, the build quality is certainly remarkable, LG delivering a solid build quality. With a height of 105.5 mm, wide of 53.5 mm, deep of 15.8 inches, the Xenon weights about 108 grams. This phone is not the lightest or thinnest on the market but it will certainly be a good compromise for any AT&T user that needs a good QWERTY phone.
LG included in this phone a 2.8 inches touch screen TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels, capable of rendering up to 65000 colors. The
Xenon is really improved in the network department, running in both 2G networks GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and 3G network HSDPA with 850 / 1900. The embedded memory has a value of 80 MB, expandable if you are planning to use the micro SD memory cards or Trans Flash memory card, up to 16 GB.
The connectivity department is ensured by the Class 10 GPRS (4+1 / 3+2 slots) with a varying speed between 32 Kb per second and 48 Kb per second, Class 10 EDGE with a maximum speed 236.8 Kb per second, HSCSD, Bluetooth version 2.0 with A2DP, HSDPA with a maximum speed of 3.6 MB per second, and version 2.0 micro USB connections. However, the Xenon still lacks Wi-Fi. The same digital camera from the
GT 365 Neon was included in the
Xenon, 2 megapixel digital camera, with a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels, LED flash, with geo tagging. The camera can only record videos in QVGA mode with 15 frames per second. LG included within this phone a better Lithium Ion battery, 950 mAh, capable of 264 hours of standby time, or 4 hours of talk time. For an average user, these values mean about 2 hours of maximum autonomy.
Overall, the
LG Xenon is a good phone, definitely better than
GT 365 Neon, with an excellent design, better connectivity, and a better delivered performances. The QWERTY phones, non business, are certainly trying to deliver the new direction in the mobile phones market. However, it is highly unlike that all manufacturers are going to deliver the middle range phones with a QWERTY keyboard. Therefore, at best the middle to multimedia QWERTY phones successfully created a new range in the mobile phone market.
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