At first glance, they're no more memorable than your first flip phone -- made of a lightweight plastic and feeling rather cheap to the touch.

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The homescreen itself only functions in landscape mode, and doesn't re-orient when you flip the phone sideways (though we don't know why you'd ever use it that way).

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Instead, he carries a BlackBerry for e-mail and a Motorola 750 flip phone for placing calls.

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The panel, which bends and drapes over the edge of the device, demonstrated the ability to have a streaming ticker for stocks, texts, notifications and other apps -- even if your phone has a flip cover protecting it.

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There's a black plastic accent all around the edges, with the majority of the phone -- the front, "active flip" and keypad -- finished in a handsome shade of dark gray plastic (cream and blue being the other two colors available).

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Barcroft has used Macs since 1984, and plans to replace his old flip phone now that his contract with Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ) has expired.

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On the back you'll find the increasingly common Sony 13-megapixel imager next to a pair of speakers (FLAC playback is supported, by the way), but flip the phone over and you'll be looking at a surprisingly generous 5-megapixel front-facing camera -- much like the one on Oppo's mid-range Ulike 2.

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If your Android phone doesn't have a front-facing camera, you can flip it around to use the rear shooter -- of course, you won't be able to see the display in this configuration, so it won't be ideal for two-way chats.

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T-Mobile's influence on the L9 is immediately apparent as soon as you start up the phone -- you'll find a magenta-tinged wallpaper and widgets as you flip through the seven home screens.

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