Viva the physical smartphone keyboard! That’s LG’s new battle cry, according to a tweet from @evleaks. The prolific tipster leaked a photo of the LG Optimus F3Q via Twitter, showing that the days of the physical slide-out smartphone keyboard are indeed alive, albeit waning. Smartphones with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard have dropped in popularity in the last few years, with the Motorola DROID 4, Photon Q being a few of the latest keyboard touting Android handsets.
No specs for the LG Optimus F3Q are available at present, but you can bet your bottom dollar that this phone will not contain the latest hardware, which is a huge bummer. The device is heading to T-Mobile, and will more than likely be one of their cheaper options, although I’d be shocked if it didn’t at least support 4G.
Being that it bares the Optimus name, it will surely be an android powered handset, and could possibly come with Android 4.4. Since Android 4.4 KitKat can run on smartphones with as little as 512MB of RAM, there is a strong possibility that KitKat will begin popping up in low-end Android handsets released in the future. The possibilities of KitKat being rolled out to older low-end devices is slim, considering all of the work carriers and manufacturers would have to put in. (Not to mention, it is in the carrier’s best interest to keep you upgrading ; ) But if ending fragmentation in the Android ecosystem is a serious goal of Google’s, we will surely see Android 4.4 KitKat in all future Android devices no matter the specs.
We will have to wait and see what happens with the LG Optimus F3Q. Are you interested in a QWERTY keyboard touting Android handset? Or are you over it? Let us know in the comments.
We will keep you updated as details emerge.
[Via: @evleaks]
LG Optimus F3Q, for T-Mobile USA pic.twitter.com/Lysho2CFJs
— @evleaks (@evleaks) December 6, 2013