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Swivel phone sports QWERTY keyboard

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
Credentials
  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
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Leslie Katz

The new Samsung SGH-d307 could make text-loving people like my sister very happy. With a flip of the display, the clamshell handset's numeric keypad swivels into a mini QWERTY keyboard, which could make it easier for sis to fire off ever-more detailed messages to text buffoons like me who can barely muster an ill-punctuated reply.

Samsung SGH-d307
Credit: Samsung

The phone, nicknamed "The Transformer" on Samsung's site (and shouldn't all gadgets have a nickname?), follows in the style footsteps of the now-defunct Motorola MPx, which got lots of attention last year for its dual-hinge configuration. The SGH-d307 weighs 4.3 ounces and measures in at 3.7 by 1.9 by 0.85 inches. It sports advanced voice recognition with speech-to-text dictation technology and voice-enabled dialing; a speakerphone; MP3 ringtones and 64-tone polyphonic ringtones; and Bluetooth support. The device supports AOL, ICQ and Yahoo instant-messenger programs and includes multimedia messaging for sending pictures, animation and sound files.

The product is available at Cingular Wireless stores throughout the United States for $149.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate.