Introduction

Perhaps as a result of this, many of its components, such as the camera, are sufficient to get the job done for most tasks, but not particularly impressive. The FX also is not particularly eye-catching. On the positive side, this cousin of the Sidekick brand of handsets does feel like it's solidly built, the QWERTY keyboard is nice for avid texters and the speaker plays back loud, well-rounded audio.

AT&T is currently offering the FX for $100, when users sign a two-year agreement with a minimum $20 messaging service or a qualifying combination of messaging and data services and a $50 mail-in-rebate. Without that deal, the carrier is selling the phone for $300.

The price point is actually a key problem with the Sharp FX. Since Apple rolled out the iPhone 4G and the 3G went down in price to $100, that raises the bar for other phones in this price range.

With AT&T offering the FX for $100 with a contract, the iPhone 3G, with its superior camera and other technology, might be a better deal, unless you really want a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Design

When it comes to style, the FX is more is more utilitarian than sexy. It's a bit clunky, and looks like Sharp bundled together the features it wanted without much consideration for aesthetic details to tie them together.

The FX has a matte black exterior, with a slightly rubbery feel, and there are a couple of silver details around the earpiece and one of the navigation buttons. Blue and white backlit QWERTY keys at a touch of color. The three-inch touch screen appears to resist finger prints, which is nice.

A slide-out QWERTY keyboard is no longer enough for even handsets targeted at serious texters, and the FX follows the trend of a touch screen and QWERTY combination. Other examples include the Motorola Droid 2 and Samsung Rogue. Raised keys on the handset's QWERTY keyboard make it easier for texters to dial or type by touch.

At approximately 5 ounces, the FX is actually slightly lighter than the roughly 5.96-ounce Motorola Droid and Droid 2. And in comparison to the range of other slide-out keyboard phones currently on the market, the FX weighs in somewhere in the middle.

The FX is approximately 2.2 inches wide, 4.5 inches tall and 0.6 inches thick. That makes the Sharp FX slightly narrower and shorter than the Motorola Droid and 2, although just a hair thicker than those handsets.

The touch screen dial-pad has large, easy-to-use keys and the screen itself is very responsive. As a result, it was easy to dial numbers correctly.

The backlit keys on the slide-out QWERTY keyboard are raised to help users text by touch, and they feel solid and well-made. It does take a strong, intentional touch to dial these keys, which minimizes mistakes. It's easy to correct errors made on the QWERTY keyboard, because the touch screen displays an option to "clear" mistakes.

A couple of difficulties with the keyboard include that number keys are located on the right side of the QWERTY keyboard, which makes dialing difficult for left handed people who want to use the keys. At least the numbers are laid out in the same, intuitive pattern as a normal handset keypad.

Another potential problem with the slide-out keyboard is that the top row of keys is very close to the touch screen, so people with large fingers might struggle to use those particular keys.

In addition to the QWERTY keyboard, there are three navigation keys on the exterior bottom end of the handset. This includes, from left to right, a send key, a back and multitask key, and an end key. A tiny microphone is located just to the left of these buttons.

There is a headset jack on the lower left side of the phone, a volume rocker key on the upper left side of the phone, and a 2.0-megapixel camera on the upper back of the phone. On the right side of the phone, there is a lock key near the top to illuminate the screen and bring up animation that prompts users to unlock the screen. And there is a camera key on the bottom right side to activate the camera and camcorder.

The back panel on the FX slides off easily with only gentle pressure applied to the lower end of the phone, so it is simple to replace the battery or install or remove a microSD card.

While the FX is clunky in form, it appears to be built to survive a lot of use, with a solid and well-made appearance. A handset with a slide-out keyboard that projects slightly above the rest of the phone, even in its closed position, cannot be called sleek. But the keyboard slides out with a satisfying "thunk" and does not feel like it will break any time soon.

Out of the box, the Sharp FX comes with a USB cable and power outlet adaptor so the cord can be used to charge the phone. The handset also comes with a quick start user guide and a CD loaded with a user manual, interactive tutorial, games and applications.

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