There's something to be said about the way carriers are coping with the current economic climate. This week alone, we've seen a good number of slider QWERTY phones up for release. Obviously, simple feature phones are getting more attention than they otherwise would under better financial climates.
We've already seen Samsung's TouchWiz UI on a couple of non-smartphone QWERTY devices as well Nokia's latest XpressMusic release. A few more handsets geared towards the text-obsessed crowd that rolled out the last two days include Virgin Mobile's Kyocera X-tc, Sprint's LG Rumor 2 and Alltel's LG Banter. For the price these things go, they actually look pretty good and will make useful backup phones in case you dropped the iPhone at the pawnshop for some emergency cash.
The Kyocera X-tc sports a QVGA display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth and a microSD slot, all in a 4.37 x 2.05 x 0.68 inch frame. Available now for $99 with no contract, it comes with email, Facebook and MySpace support onboard.
Sprint, on the other hand, is throwing up the LG Rumor 2 starting March 15th for $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. Specs include a QVGA display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, microSDHC support and on-board GPS. It will come in two colors, Black Titanium and Vibrant Blue.
Sporting some resemblance to the Rumor2, the LG Banter has also been released, this time under a two-year plan with Alltel. It fits a two-inch QVGA LCD, a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth and a microSD slot, along with AOL and Yahoo! messaging on board. Alltel is pricing it at $50 after mail-in rebates.
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