Sony Ericsson Xperia txt swaps vowels for SMS button
The Sony Ericsson Xperia txt has a Qwerty keyboard and an SMS shortcut button, but otherwise aims to keep it cheap with no 3G and no smarts.
With Facebook and Twitter on the go, texting is officially old school. So if you're keeping it real OMG LOL, take a look at the Sony Ericsson txt.
Unlike its similarly-named sibling, the Sony Ericsson txt pro, the txt doesn't have a sliding keyboard. Instead, it's a BlackBerry-style candybar phone with a full Qwerty keyboard.
It also has a shortcut key to fire up your text messages, which reminds us of the Facebook button on the HTC ChaCha, but from 1995.
To help drag you into the present day, the txt includes a Facebook and Twitter app that shows updates from your top five friends. It has Wi-Fi to keep you connected, but no 3G, so surfing won't be lightning fast when you're not on Wi-Fi.
But, even with Wi-Fi, it's hard to imagine why you'd want to invest in a feature phone if you're into doing much social networking online. The txt isn't a smart phone, and doesn't have the superior Web browser or an app store like you would find on a phone that runs Android, for example.
No prices have been announced, but we sense that the txt may find it hard to compete with cheap and cheerful smart phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Mini, which are available for less than £90 on pay as you go.
At that rate, the txt better be cheap when it arrives in autumn this year. At least it's light, weighing in at only 95g.