Unassuming at first glance, LG's new F9100 handset conceals a novel side-sliding thumboard: Michael Oryl gets hands-on at the CES showfloor in Las Vegas.
Just before the start of the new year, a new device from LG USA called the F9100 appeared on the US government's FCC website. Just a little over a week later, LG officially announced the F9100 at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I was lucky enough to have a few chances to play around with the new side-sliding device.
When in its normal closed mode, the F9100 looks like any of a dozen other candy bar form factor mobile phones that are on the market. Simple backlit keypad, 65k color STN display, and not much else. There are two oddly positioned buttons to the right of the display, but that alone wouldn't give too much of a hint as to what lies within the F9100.
And what lies within is a full QWERTY thumbboard. It only takes a light touch to extract the thumbboard, which slides on two rails on the under side of the top half of the phone. The purpose of those two mysterious buttons to the right of the display suddenly becomes clear once you rotate the phone 90 degrees so that you can use the keyboard: they become the softkeys.
 | | LG F9100 |
Unlike the Nokia 6800 series, which relies on square displays, the LG F9100's 128x160 typically taller than wide display becomes a landscape format display when the device is rotated for keyboard use - something that is ideal for dealing with messages. All of the system menus automatically adapt to the landscape format of the display when used with the keyboard.
LG is quite clear as to the purpose behind the keyboard: messaging. Of course you can do normal text messaging on the F9100, but the real idea behind the keyboard is online instant messaging. The F9100 we saw had support for AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, and a proprietary instant messaging system belonging to a US carrier that has not yet announced that it will be carrying the F9100. You can expect that announcement in 2 weeks, if my sources are correct.
While a bit more cramped than the keyboards found on the Nokia 6800 series, the F9100's keyboard uses a more traditional layout that I believe people will adapt to much more quickly. I found it to be easy to use, though not as much so as the more spacious keyboards found on the T-Mobile Sidekick and Motorola A630 devices.
According to LG, the F9100 will be available later this month, but did not disclose pricing information.
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