LG Crystal GD900 preview

The LG Crystal GD900 is the world’s first phone to feature a transparent keypad. At the launch of the phone, LG admitted that the GD900 is something of a departure for the company as a phone that’s got an almost equal focus on technology and style.

From where we’re standing, the Crystal GD900’s style remains the proverbial sore thumb in this equation. However, there seem to have been no touchscreen functionality corners cut to fit in this second touch sensitive keypad.

A full supporter of the sad demise of all things that click, the Crystal actually has no real buttons on its front. There are softkeys to complement the 3-inch 480x800 touchscreen, but they’re touch-sensitive pads rather than anything that actually compresses under your touch.

Both the main touchscreen and the slide-out keypad use capacitive technology, meaning that they respond to finger rather than stylus control. They both felt pleasantly sensitive too, making cycling through the phone’s 3D cube interface, previously seen on the LG Arena, a breeze.

The question is, of course, what does the slide-out keypad add to the Crystal GD900 that couldn’t merely be done with the standard touchscreen?

Well, arguably not a great deal, but its merits are based more on ease of use and the fine-tuning of existing functionality rather than boasting all-new features. Two slide-out specific elements we liked were the handwriting recognition and the gestural short cuts. The former demands that letters are drawn out in a particular way, meaning that there’s a certain learning curve to writing using this feature, but it seemed intuitive.

The latter lets you use customisable gestures as shortcuts to sections of the interface- music and messaging, for example. Of course, gestural shortcuts and handwriting recognition can’t be used at the same time, so one takes over as the other bows down.

The keypad also mimicks the iPod’s touchwheel when you’re using the music player. A circular movement raises and lowers the volume. Making these same moves when using the camera zooms in and out.

All these non-numerical strings to the keypad’s bow make the actual numbers on it seem almost redundant. The simple typing out of numbers on it is the keypad’s least ambitious responsibility, but it’s one the keypad seems to perform just fine, the rumble response at each tap mitigating for the lack of a good old-fashioned button click.

The keypad also lets you surf the web without blocking out the screen. In the browser, the keypad controls a cursor, while the familiar pinch zoom manoeuvre works on both the touchscreen and keypad. We’re so familiar with guerrilla web browsing, getting stuck in with fingers and thumbs on the touchscreen, that whether the more thoughtful ‘laptop style’ keypad navigation will actually prove better remains to be seen, but the option is welcome nevertheless. The Crystal comes with built-in WiFi too, for the more hardcore mobile web surfers among you.

In the flesh, the Crystal GD900 is a less odd proposition than it previously seemed. With a metal strip lining the transparent keypad, it’s not entirely see-through. The fairly robust transparent plastic back is chunky enough to give the GD900 the feel of a standard feature phone rather than a hyper slim, otherworldly device.

This can be removed, and there’s a clip keeping the battery in meaning that you can even use the phone without the back but, slim as this makes the Crystal, it’s not really designed to be used like this. The backing also covers the microSD slot, which is compatible with SDHC card up to 32GB.

From a phone that initially seemed unreal when we first clapped out eyes on it back in Mobile World Congress back in February, the Crystal GD900 actually makes a pretty good case for itself. The only question is whether you prefer its unusual stylings over those of the more refined Arena. If you really buy into the Crystal’s transparent bits and gradient paint job, there’ll even be a Crystal Bluetooth earpiece available from June.

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