At first glance, the LG F9100 looks like just another candybar style handset. A slide-out QWERTY keyboard and advanced features like support for wireless internet and advanced messaging make this phone far from ordinary, though. Users who want to craft text messages will find much to like in this little companion.
Design
The F9100's face features a large, 65,000-color screen with 128 x 160 pixels. The full QWERTY keyboard slides out of the right side of the phone, which automatically flips the display to read horizontally. Secondary selection buttons above the keyboard allow the phone to be operated in this horizontal orientation. Other design features include a standard jack to accept universal hands-free headsets and a five-way center button that controls most of the phone's on-screen menus. An internal antenna keeps the F9100 sleek and compact.
Calling Features
The phone's internal phone book can accommodate up to 255 contacts for quick retrieval of numbers, email addresses and other info. The phone supports polyphonic ringtones, as well as vibrating alerts. Voice dialing lets you call your favorite contacts by simply speaking their names. A ringer ID function allows you to set specific ringers to certain callers.
Messaging and Internet
Support for basic text messaging and robust multimedia messaging are built into the F9100, as are client applications for AOL Instant Messenger, YAHOO! Messenger, and ICQ. There's also a built-in web browser for Cingular MEdia downloads and mobile web browsing. Cingular's MEdia service lets you receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more. Traditional text messaging, as well as picture and sound messaging are also supported by the phone. T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
A number of handy tools ship with the F9100, including an alarm, a calendar and a calculator with currency converter. There's also a voice memo application for recording quick notes or numbers.
Imaging and Entertainment
Because the F9100 supports Java applications it is compatible with many Java-based games. The MEdia service offers a wide range of game and Java application downloads. Downloadable ring tones, screensavers and wallpapers are also available.
Vital Statistics
The LG F9100 operates on the GSM 850/1900 MHz frequencies. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of digital talk time, and up to 12 days of digital standby time. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
What's in the Box
F9100 handset, lithium-ion battery, AC charger, user's manual.
1 Interesting
I got the chance to check this phone out for a week and it was pretty sweet. The QWERTY keyboard was awesome! I love texting people so this was a huge plus. The downside was that you couldn't use the keyboard for everything.Some features wouldn't allow you to have it open.The features were decent and the call quality was normal.
2 NO email, bad bad User Interface, rattle-tastic slide
so i have had this phone for 4 or 5 days now, and i am *trying* to like it, but i am know i am going to send it back.
i can live with no camera, memory slot, bluetooth, etc. i txt quite a bit, dont really mobile IM, but figured maybe i would start, and it seems NOT A STRETCH AT ALL, that i would use THE most popular application on the Internets.. its called Email... maybe some of you have heard of it?
well, apparently not the folks somewhere between LG/Cingular/f9100 marketing and decision making teams. i have had phones for years that do email. doesnt need to be a full-blown app like outlook, but email on a mobile, especially one that does mobile IM seems pretty no-brainer as likely to be wanted. if you were thinking that a phone with 4 protocols of mobile IM capability and a slide out freakin keyboard would have included some email ability, even in the form of a pay-for 3rd party app, to do email you would be wrong. True, i can send email as XXXNNNYYYY@my.cingular.com, but thats no use to me, or i suspect, the billion people whoalready have an email address.
i also have a moto mpx220 from cingular, and it comes pre-configured for like 5 major ISP's email, and a great wizard to walk you thru a outlook/imap/pop3 account. i used it all the time and thought "great, now i can use a keyboard for simple stuff like email, and not have to drop $400 on a treo."
also, the slide rattles, opens in your pocket, there is NO WAY to turn off alert tones, poor font choices so it looks like a cheapo computer from 1991, you CANT use the keyboard on all the phone's INCLUDED applications, like its openwave WAP browser!!! surely someone between LG and Cingular could have added a middleware to hook the keyboards APIs to the Openwave text input APIs so that i could type in URLS with the INCLUDED keyboard rather than than tripple-tapping the phonepad.
sorry Lucky Goldstar, i want to like this phone, but please hire an Interface Designer, not just engineers. example, how about the Inbox saying "Inbox(2)" when i have messages instead of saying "Inbox" all the time. my phone from 2000 did that!
physically, the phone is pretty alright (despite the slide issue), so maybe there will be a firmware upgrade that just starts over from a software point of view and evolves this thing from barely ok (if txt and IM are all you ever use, and i KNOW that that is not true of even 17 year olds) to a pretty rawkin little txter/IM'er/emailin' sidekick fighter,
but thats just me lookin on the bright-side.
-mario
3 So near, Soooooooo FAR....
Looks very cool and exciting at first glance. Great color display. I've had this phone for about a month now, and wish I hadn't forked over the $150 bucks.
The phone keys are too small... you have to push with the very tip of your finger to operate them. The screen is great as is the slide out keyboard... but forget about any simple email or web browsing using the slideout keyboard. It is not supported !! How dumb is that? This great sliding keyboard, but it is only used for IM and data entry for the phone book. Anything else and you need to use the old multiple key pressing for alpha characters.
Oh yeah.. the documentation... stinks, there are several pretty icons that show up on the screen for which there is no legend. And especially around the use and setup of different networks, where good documentation would be helpful, it is non-existant.
Add this to the annoyance of having it sliding open all the time in your pocket, or while you are using it...there whould be some way of locking it shut. well, I am sorry I purchased this phone.
4 Eh....nothing to write home about
The slide keyboard kept sliding open in my pocket which was awkward, and this phone is uncomfortably thick. And it claims to have a wide range of Java games available, but when I went to d/l some new games, there were only about 6 available. 6 is not wide range.
