What’s the Deal With the Concept of the LG Lotus Elite?
The deal is that it is not just a concept anymore. And it looks just like the pics in the wild have depicted it to be. In the same press release that announced the LG Rumor Touch, the successor to the LG Rumor, a messaging class smartphone, it was announced that the LG Lotus Elite, once known as the Lotus 2, will be released on the 10th of January.

And again, according to Sprint’s senior vice president of product development, the LG Lotus Elite “…will give consumers the latest in touch screen technology to keep them in touch while on-the-go.” and will “…provide access to the latest in wireless technology with a flair for style on America’s most dependable network!” The Lotus Elite in particular: “…helps customers express their individual personality with its unique square shape and tattoo design; and our award-winning Sprint One Click user interface also makes it quick and easy for customers to move through the product applications.”

What is the Sprint One Click?
The Sprint One Click has won the “Good Design of the Year Award”at the German IF awards, for it’s design of the user interface, which is interactive and for it’s unique design and it also gives users one click access to personalization of the home screen and the ability to select and organize “one-click access to features and content, such as text messaging, Google search, Sprint Navigation, email, favorite Web sites, music and social networking,” according to the press release. The users of one-click will also have the ability to scroll through a customizes home screen menu which is a carousel style menu which then provides information about each particular feature, instantly. An example is given as: “…when a customer with text messaging on their home screen scrolls to that feature, he or she will see the number of new messages received. A single click takes the user directly to the feature selected.”

The LG Lotus Elite: What’s Under the Hood?
The LG Lotus Elite has all of the same features a the original Lotus, one of Sprint’s most popular messaging phones, but comes with many feature enhancements as well. The biggest enhancement, which makes this Lotus the cream of the crop, is he Dual QVGA touchscreen feature, both measuring 2.4″ and offering such features as dedicated carousel menu shortcuts. These include some for popular Social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Search, and access to email, voice mail, text and SMS messaging on another. The greatest part of the whole thing? The Lotus Elite does not need to be open to access these features! That’s the whole point of the placement of the outside touchscreen. It does everything the touchscreen on the inside does, without ever having to open it. That’s sweet! And although the display on the outside takes up most of the physical area available, it’s worth it.

Some other features include a 2 megapixel camera and camcorder, located on the hinge of the phone, full QWERTY keyboard on the inside, Google Search, the One Click menu features, EV-DO Rev. 0, GPS with Sprint Navigation, access to Sprint broadband services like Sprint TV, and a music player. It will be available on January 10th, at $99 with a 2 year contract with Sprint and a $50 mail in rebate.

And the Verdict Is
You gotta love the “Concept Phones.” But, rumors had it the Lotus lite would be released in the first quarter of this year, and Sprint has kept its word this time. This phone, most known for it’s square flip design, I think will do very well. FOr whatever reason, the sales defied the odds when it came to the first Lotus, with people thinking it wouldn’t catch on. But apparently it has as it was then released with DTV available… I think people should just have faith in the unique, instead of bashing their need to be different and unconventional, which is what makes the phone so successful in the first place. It just might be a revolution in the smartphone world. Maybe others will come our from other manufacturers, given that this one seems to have done so well…

Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it, my mother used to say…