Review: LG Rumor Touch
With the slide closed, the LG Rumor Touch looks like any unassuming tablet phone, except that it's a little more squat and much more thick. The slide mechanism is solid, and the phone snaps open with a sharp clack. The QWERTY keyboard hidden beneath is a generous, 5 row layout, with a full line for number keys up near the top half and a full row for the space bar, shift keys and other symbol keys down at the bottom. The back of the phone has a subtle soft touch finish with a nice pattern painted onto the plastic. It isn't a standout phone, but it feels solid and tightly constructed, never cheap.
Beneath the touchscreen you'll find three buttons; a back key, a home key and a phone key. The home key was a bit confusing at first. It jumps to a blank standby screen or a shortcut list, but not to a main menu, which would be my preference. All three keys are real buttons, not touch buttons, and I much prefer the real thing.
The LG Rumor Touch feels decidedly more left-handed than right. The slide opens to the left, which means that the three main buttons are on the left side when the keyboard is exposed. The camera button is on the left side, as well, meaning right handers must hold the camera inverted or shoot with their left hand. The right side of the phone gets the power / lock key, the microSD slot and the 3.5mm headphone jack. So, if you're holding the phone in your right hand while listening to music, the headphones will be jabbing into your palm, but it's more comfortable in the left hand. I don't think any of these design choices are negative, in fact I'm sure left handed people might be looking for a phone that fits their preferred grip.
Kudos to Sprint for holding manufacturers to standard ports, especially on feature phones like the LG Rumor Touch. Besides the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, the Rumor Touch also charges via a microUSB port at the bottom of the phone.
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LG Rumor Touch / Banter Touch
