Best of both worlds: Touch-screen phones with keyboards

Nicole Lee, Associate Editor August 13, 2009

Both touch-screen and messaging phones have caught on in popularity in recent years. The touch-screen phone appeals to those who want a display large enough to browse the Web and watch video clips, while the messaging phone attracts those who need a physical keyboard for typing out text messages. So it makes sense that there are some phones out there that combine both a touch screen and a keyboard for the best of both worlds. We'll only address normal feature phones for this article; you can check out our articles on smartphones with QWERTY keyboards and touch-screen smartphones for the smartphone angle.

One of the first few touch-screen and keyboard hybrids we saw was the AT&T Quickfire, which came out late last year. It looked almost like a Sidekick clone, but it is decidedly not, thanks to its touch screen.

Then in 2009, LG knocked out not one, not two, but three touch-screen phones with keyboards: the LG Versa, the LG enV Touch, and the LG Xenon. The LG Versa can even be used as a standalone touch-screen phone--it has an attachable keyboard module you can use if you don't feel like using the virtual keyboard. If you'd rather not deal with external modules, Verizon also offers the LG enV Touch, which is absolutely feature-laden, boasting goodies like an HTML browser, a pretty good megapixel camera, and more. If you prefer AT&T, there's the LG Xenon, which has a great-looking display, 3G speeds, and GPS. Another great AT&T touch-screen and keyboard hybrid is the Samsung Impression. We especially like its slide-out keyboard and curved design. It also has a lot of features, like 3G speeds, a full browser, and more.