A few moths ago, BenQ Siemens unveiled a new mobile phone concept, the SL98 model, which had and still has all the chances to reinvent the idea of slider phone. Instead of having a display that slides to uncover the keypad (you know, like Nokia N95, LG Chocolate or Samsung U700 - just to name a few successful sliders), BenQ Siemens SL98's display is completely hidden inside the phone's body and slides out only when you need it to. When the main display is hidden, information can be viewed on a secondary display, smaller (obviously) and situated right above the keypad - a large and elegant one that offers a higher level of usability than most of the other phones do.

Although there is no word from BenQ regarding an official release of the phone, SL98 can be bought by those who want it, as several prototype models appeared via the eBay Germany auction site, for prices starting from 320 Euro (about 470 US Dollars). I wonder where did the vendor got them from... Anyway, being prototypes, the phones come with a software that, although functional, is not yet fully stable.

Looks like the BenQ slider measures 84 × 48 x 15.3 millimeters when closed and its "hiding" main display is a 1.8 inch QVGA one with a 240 X 320 pixel resolution. A camera is included too, but a 1.3 Megapixel one, which is not really a great thing. The phone also offers Bluetooth connectivity, microSD card support (to boost the 64 MB internal memory) and a 600 mAh battery that can provide 5 hours of talk-time and no less than 12 days of stand-by. Well, that's something!

I hope BenQ Siemens continues to improve this prototype and make an official version out of it. A better camera would be the first improvement to consider, as mobile phones that have poor quality cameras are not really among the first options for consumers.