Sharp FX (photos)

If the Sharp FX reminds you of slider phones in the Sidekick family (T-Mobile), it's with good reason. Sharp made much of the hardware in the lineup. Similarly, the FX is a quick-messaging phone from AT&T that features both a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for easy-access texting, and a 3-inch touch screen for navigating around while this 3G-capable world phone is open or closed.

The FX costs about $100 with a discount and new two-year service agreement.

The Sharp FX's slide-out QWERTY keyboard is compact enough for those with smaller hands to comfortably handle, but it isn't so cramped as to cause many mispresses. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for many of the FX's touch-screen menus, which we found a bit short.

Design-wise, the Sharp FX is sleek, glossy, and smooth, with minimal hardware button-clutter. There's a volume rocker, a Micro-USB charger port, and a 3.5-millimeter headset jack. It also has a dedicated camera button and a lock button, and that's about it. Music fans may be disappointed there are no hardware controls for the player, but Sharp isn't billing the FX as a music phone, so we really can't complain.

The FX's posterior houses the 2-megapixel camera, but our favorite part is the soft-touch surface that makes the back smooth, matted, and easy to hold. Behind the back cover is where you'll find the microSD card slot that accepts up to 32GB in external memory.

Though the FX's camera will get the message across, the photo quality is fine, but not great.

There's a camcorder and an AT&T video feature called Video Share. Two Video Share-capable phones calling each other over 3G can broadcast and receive live streaming or prerecorded video.