DALLAS — The full touchscreen LG
Arena multimedia phone launched
by AT&T expands the carrier’s selection
of phones
with 7.2Mbps
HSPA technology
to six
and phones
equipped with
Flo TV to two.
The device
will be available
online at
.
att.com beginning
Feb. 26,
and in AT&T
stores nationwide
March 7,
at $199 with
two-year contract
after mail-in rebate consisting
of a $50 AT&T promotion card.
LG unveiled the phone a year ago
at the February 2009 Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The
AT&T version operates in 3G mode in
AT&T’s 850/1,900MHz bands but not
in the foreign 2.1GHz band.
The Arena is slightly more than a
half-inch thick with 3-inch WVGA
touchscreen, virtual QWERTY keyboard,
and LG’s 3D user interface,
which features a rotating 3D cube,
each side with customizable home
screen. The cube can be turned with
a fi nger fl ick. Reel scrolling lays out
menus as if they were on a fi lm reel,
letting users scroll from icon to icon
by dragging a fi nger. Other features
include assisted GPS, 5-megapixel
autofocus camera, ability to record
DVD-quality video, DixV video
playback, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, and
the ability to send geo-tagged photos
and videos.
The phone’s Dolby Mobile postprocessing
delivers a surround
sound experience through any headphones.
It also up-mixes mono to stereo
and stereo to 5.1-channel surround,
and enhances bass response
and clarity.
Flo TV service, branded as AT&T
Mobile TV, is available at $9.99/
month.
