Hands-on the AT&T version of the LG Arena

LAS VEGAS -- Even though the LG Arena debuted at GSMA 2009, we had yet to see it arrive on U.S. shores. That is, until a month or so ago when AT&T announced it would be bringing the Arena to the States complete with support for AT&T Mobile TV, AT&T's live mobile television service.

The Arena has a very interesting 3D user interface. It has multiple home screens that rotate as if they were on a three-dimensional cube when you swipe across the screen. Also, the main menu interface divides up the applications into different categories. You can then scroll through the different shortcuts underneath each category heading. The Arena has a resistive touch screen plus haptic feedback, and the three keys underneath the screen--the Send key, the Clear key, and the End key--are touch-sensitive as well. It also has a virtual QWERTY keyboard for text messaging. There are physical buttons all along the side of the phone, like a power button up top and a camera key on the side.

Features of the phone are quite impressive. They include a 5-megapixel camera with a SmartLight technology that promises great looking pictures, 3G/HSDPA, stereo Bluetooth, a full HTML Web browser, GPS with AT&T Navigator, AT&T Mobile Music, AT&T Mobile Video, and of course the aforementioned AT&T Mobile TV. The Arena is selling right now for around $199.99 with a two-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate. We'll be sure to give you a full review of the phone once we get our review unit.