Since it was first spotted at the recent Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, the mobile phone industry has been a-buzz with the impending official unveiling of the LG GD900, a phone that incredibly features a fully transparent slide out keypad. With LG merely putting a sample version safely concealed within a glass display cabinet, attendees were left scratching their heads and looking on in amazement whilst the rumour mill has been working overtime to guess what features this beauty might include. Now officially announced as the LG GD900 Crystal, can the transparent phone live up to the hype?

The transparent keypad is destined to take the headlines (it is after all a world first for a mobile phone) but look a little closer and you’ll discover that the transparent keypad is much more than just a stylish gimmick; the keypad is actually fully touch sensitive. The incredible Crystal touchpad works in a similar manner to those found on a Laptop, incredibly managing to pack in handwriting recognition, vibrating ‘Haptic’ feedback and gesture control. Gesture shortcuts allow users to access their favourite applications with a simple gesture of the finger. Want to access the music player? Simple, draw an ‘M’ on the transparent touchpad and the Crystal fires up the MP3 player for you. As if this technology isn’t impressive enough on its own, the fact that LG have managed to get this onto a completely transparent keypad is simply mind boggling.

Not to be outdone, the main 3.0 inch TFT display is also a fully functional touchscreen impressively featuring multi touch allowing for simple navigation such as zooming in or out on web pages. In another subtle nod to the iPod family, the LG Crystal features a touch wheel letting you pause, play and rewind multimedia clips with the swirl of a finger. The Crystal itself runs on the excellent S-Class user interface (as seen first on the LG Arena) giving users the intuitive 3D cube interface that has become so popular and making general navigation on the phone fun rather than a chore.

You might think this would be enough to appease tech hungry mobile enthusiasts but just in case, LG have also managed to sneak in an 8.0 Megapixel camera with a Schneider Kreuznach lens and a host of added extras (Autofocus, Flash, Face detection etc.), HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity for high speed web access, TV output, a built in accelerometer and motion sensitivity, expandable memory up to 32GB plus a multimedia player with support for a wealth of audio and video file formats including MP3, AAC, WMV and DivX turning the Crystal into a great portable media player.

So not exactly short on features then. And all this packed in to a phone just 13.5mm thick! Incredible. LG have slated the LG GD900 Crystal for a May launch so in as little as four weeks you could be marveling at the worlds first phone to feature a transparent keypad. Click here to register for updates on the LG GD900 Crystal and with more details to follow from LG prior to launch, keep an eye on the blog for further updates.

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LG GD900 Crystal finally gets official!