LG Arena reaches AT&T with mobile TV
updated 10:15 am EST, Fri February 19, 2010
LG Arena for AT&T brings FLO TV on Feb 26
AT&T finished the week by adding to its mobile TV roster through the previously leaked LG Arena. The touchscreen feature phone appropriately supports AT&T's own 3G bands but also adds a FLO TV tuner for watching over-the-air subscription video on its 3-inch display. In its American guise, it further gets support for AT&T Navigator and the Social Net portal to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
Apart from these, hardware and software are the same and center on a 5-megapixel camera, GPS and Wi-Fi; microSDHC provides most storage. LG uses its S-Class 3D interface here and provides a more finger-friendly and media-aware layout than at least some other devices in its class.
Cost is a potential concern for the Arena as, despite its lack of smartphone software, it will cost as much as an iPhone 3GS at $200 on a two-year plan and only after a $50 mail-in rebate or online discount. Online sales will start on February 26th, while retail will have the LG phone by March 7th.
We tried the phone early and in European form found it to be fairly intuitive and responsive in addition to having its solid feature set. Our only major concern at the time was that it wasn't a smartphone, though now the issue is also whether FLO TV will be worth the higher price.
