LG’s WP7 Panther Revealed

Well, we have not actually seen the WP7 mobile platform running on LG’s latest prototype, but what we have is pretty interesting.

LG and Microsoft have finally decided to come out and show us all what the very first Windows Phone 7 smart phone might actually look like. The LG Panther is a sleek looking smart phone with a large capacitive touch screen and a spiffy slide out keyboard. Yep, that’s right. The new WP7 device follows the originally announced type 2 chassis from last week.

For those who missed the podcast from ZDnet, it turns out that Microsoft has narrowed down the types of smart phones that can use the new OS into three basic types. The type 1 is a traditional smart phone look just like the Apple’s iPhone. The second is a more specialized smart phone that comes with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. The third uses the candy bar format.

As you might have guessed, the LG Panther comes with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. While you might think that this will make the device pretty thick, it is only a little stubbier than the iPhone. It is impressive how LG has managed to make the device so thin –though we hope that it does not feel a little too thin when you slide out the pad.

So far, no word has been given as to what other specifications this new phone will be having. We do know that Qualcomm chips will be running the new platform so we are expecting to see either the 1GHz Snapdragon or even a faster dual core model. Images show a 5 mega pixel camera with LED flash as well as some control buttons up front.

Get the latest scoop on the LG Panther and Windows Phone 7 at Engadget.