The LG Quantum could be a quantum of trouble. The first Windows Phone 7 device with a full keyboard that will be sold through U.S. carrier stores, it has a balky sliding mechanism and a really bizarre keyboard layout that could kill its appeal.
Windows Phone 7 also just doesn't seem to be designed for phones with landscape-format, sliding keyboards yet. Too many of the Windows Phone 7 screens don't rotate, leaving you craning your neck to try to operate the phone at a 90-degree angle.
There's a lot to be said for a Windows Phone 7 with a keyboard. AT&T and LG said they would pitch the Quantum to businesses, where users will be digging into Windows Phone 7's excellent Microsoft Office capabilities.
But the Quantum may not be up to the task. I found the phones sliding mechanism to be sticky and grinding - it didn't glide, it didn't snap. It took some serious effort to push it the few inches to open.
And once it was open, it revealed one of the weirder QWERTY keyboards I've ever seen. At first, it seems fine - a four-row keyboard of flat but manageably clicky keys. But the shift key is a tiny little silver circle in the upper left hand corner. The upper left hand corner! The default position for a Shift key is held by an "äé" key, because in the United States, those letters are clearly used more often than the Shift key. Right? Wrong.
This is no LG Optimus S/T, that's for sure. With those low-end Android phones announced last week, LG put out simple, elegant, and solid-feeling products that look poised for rave reviews.
The sliding QWERTY form factor also puts Windows Phone 7 in a weak position because many Windows Phone 7 apps and "experiences" don't rotate into landscape mode. You're left navigating the main applications menu sideways, looking at a map sideways, or bidding on eBay while rotated 90 degrees. It's unacceptable. The Dell Venue Pro for T-Mobile at least solves the rotation problem by using a portrait-mode keyboard.
The rest of the Quantum's hardware is standard Windows Phone 7 stuff: the usual Qualcomm QSD8250 processor, HSPA 7.2 networking, Wi-Fi, and 5-megapixel camera. The Quantum has 16GB of on-board storage, which isn't expandable.
LG's contribution to the Windows Phone 7 software suite is Play To, which allows users to wirelessly stream videos, music, and pictures from the phone to DLNA-enabled TVs, stereos, Windows 7 PCs, and other consumer electronics devices. The problem with DLNA, though, is that nobody knows how to use the DLNA interfaces on televisions and stereos, no matter how easy-to-use the phones involved are.
The most interesting of AT&T's quintet of built-in apps is U-Verse Mobile, which will allow phone owners (even if they don't have U-Verse cable) to download and stream TV programs for a "small monthly fee." TV programs streamed just as smoothly on the Quantum as they did on the other Windows Phone 7 devices.
The LG Quantum will be available around "the holidays" for $199.99.