LG Fathom brings Windows Phone to Verizon

While the IntoMobile team is anxiously awaiting Windows Phone 7 devices, companies are not shying away from releasing Windows Mobile handset. The LG Fathom will bring Windows Mobile 6.5.3 to Verizon Wireless in a business-centric form factor.

The device itself actually looks pretty solid. It has a 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen, slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and a blazing-fast 1 GHz processor. Business travelers will be happy to know that it will be capable of roaming worldwide because there is a GSM slot in addition to the CDMA chip.

The Fathom will be available in business channels Thursday and in-stores June 3 and it will cost about $150 with a new, two-year contract and a mail-in rebate.

It’s incredibly tough to get too excited about the Fathom because of the OS it uses, even though the hardware looks pretty decent. Windows Mobile is still a highly-capable platform that has a plethora of apps and services but it’s still sandbagged by a cruddy user interface and an outdated interaction metaphor. It’s essentially Windows squished down on a 3-inch screen, which is not the best way for a smartphone to work.

The most appealing thing to me about WP7 is the UI because it moves away from an app-centric model to one that’s more integrated and holistic. It uses “hubs” that pull in various information from online services into easily-digestible nuggets. We’ve had a few chances to play with this new UI and it was impressive.

Of course, the software can only take a device so far and we’re still waiting to see some final WP7 hardware. We know LG, Samsung and HTC are working on smartphones with Microsoft’s next OS. I’m really looking forward to Dell’s Lightning handset because it packs a plethora of goodies (large OLED screen, 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, etc.) in a portrait slider form factor.