CTIA: AT&T Announces Six Phones with Keyboards

The new keyboarded phones range from the $49.99 Samsung Magnet to the long-awaited Nokia E71x Symbian-powered smartphone and the nation's first phone with a super-bright AMOLED display, the Samsung Impression.
AT&T rolled out a half-dozen new phones with full QWERTY keyboards in advance of this week's CTIA Wireless trade show today, saying in a press release that text messaging and e-mail were the "killer apps" for mobile-phone data use.The new keyboarded phones range from a $49.99 budget device, the Samsung Magnet, to the long-awaited Nokia E71x Symbian-powered smartphone and the nation's first phone with a super-bright AMOLED display, the Samsung Impression. The new rollout of products immediately solidifies AT&T as the U.S. carrier with the widest range of keyboarded phones for text-messaging addicts and occasional e-mailers.

From most powerful to least, here's what AT&T put out today:

The Nokia E71x is AT&T's version of the Nokia E71, which was PCMag's Editors' Choice for keyboarded smartphones when the unlocked version came out last September. The E71 has been my personal choice for a phone, on and off, for months. It looks a lot like a BlackBerry, but it's slimmer, with an all-metal body; AT&T's version is black anodized stainless steel rather than the silver version we tested.

The E71x offers 3G, Wi-Fi, and GPS, and runs the Symbian smartphone operating system, allowing things like full Microsoft Exchange synchronization and Microsoft Office document editing. AT&T loaded on its own software: the E71x works with AT&T's one-way Video Sharing service, streams clips from AT&T's CV video service, supports MobiTV live streaming TV, and streams XM radio channels. The phone has a 3.2-megapixel camera as well.

The E71x will cost $149.99 and be available in late April or early May.

The Samsung Propel Pro resembles last year's Propel slider, but it's a Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone. The Propel Pro is a silvery slider with a full QWERTY keyboard but no touch screen—you navigate around the relatively standard Windows Mobile interface with a joystick. The device has a fast 528 MHz processor, which should feel especially speedy on a non-touch-screen phone; a 3-megapixel camera; tri-band 3G including the 2100 band for international roaming; Wi-Fi; and a 2.55-inch, 320-by-320-resolution screen.

The Propel Pro will be available on April 14 for $199.99.

The Samsung Impression is the first U.S. phone with an AMOLED display. I've handled this phone before, and the screen is eye-popping: colors just jump out at you from the 3.2-inch, 240-by-400-resolution screen. The phone isn't a smartphone, but the screen slides to the right to reveal a full four-row QWERTY keyboard for texting and limited e-mail use.

The Impression also has a 3-megapixel camera, 3G on AT&T's 850/1900 bands, GPS, and all of those AT&T services I mentioned above, such as video sharing and MobiTV. It's a bit heavy, at 5.3 ounces.

New technology costs money, of course—in this case, the Samsung Impression will sell for $249.99 when it becomes available on April 7.

The LG Xenon is like a less-expensive, scaled-down version of the Impression. Just like the Impression, it's a touch-screen sliding phone with a full keyboard that isn't a smartphone. It features 3G, Wi-Fi, video sharing, and a 2.8-inch, 240-by-480-pixel touch screen—higher resolution than the Impression's, actually. But the screen is a standard LCD, not an AMOLED, and the Xenon's camera is just two megapixels, letting LG deliver this phone for $149.99, on sale April 8.

AT&T knows we're in a recession, so the company is supplying two budget-priced keyboarded phones as well.

The LG Neon is a lurid green-and-white messaging phone with a sliding screen that reveals a keyboard of round, candy-colored keys. It has a 2.4-inch, 320-by-240 touch screen and a 2-megapixel camera, but no 3G or Wi-Fi. The Neon will cost under $100 when it goes on sale in late April or early May.

Finally, the Samsung Magnet will retail for less than $50 with a new contract. The Magnet is a basic quad-band EDGE phone with a slab-style design and a keyboard of small, sculpted keys below the main screen. It looks a little like a Palm Treo or BlackBerry, though it isn't a smartphone. The Magnet has a VGA camera and no real Web browser, but it has text, IM, and e-mail support. The Magnet joins the Pantech Slate as an affordable texting phone from AT&T.