LG Saber

LG Saber

The price of texting cell phones has come way down. Case in point: the LG Saber, a QWERTY-equipped slab phone on U.S. Cellular that costs just $9.99 up front. You don't get much for this price, though. If you're interested in playing music or snapping photos, look elsewhere. But for pure messaging addicts, the Saber is a steal. The LG Saber measures 4.5 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.6 ounces. It's made of a mixture of matte and glossy plastics, and finished in a pleasing dark gray. While the Saber is a standard slab QWERTY handset, it looks a bit strange thanks to the display's portrait orientation; nearly every other handset in this form factor has a landscape screen. The 2.2-inch, non-touch LCD sports 176-by-220-pixel resolution. It's bright and colorful enough. The five-way control pad is tough to use, since the raised edge is too small. You can't see it in photos, but pressing the up button is uncomfortable, since you constantly hit the bottom edge of the plastic frame surrounding the screen. The four-row QWERTY keyboard features raised, bubbled, plastic keys. Key arrangement and typing resistance are fine, and I had no problem using it for extended messaging sessions.