In honor of our wonderful economy (jk!), Alltel Wireless has launched the very reasonably priced ($19.99 after $50 MIR w/2 yr agreement), full QWERTY-equipped LG Banter.

The fraternal twin of Sprint’s Rumor², Alltel’s 4.4oz LG Banter is a poor man’s smartphone, complete with Alltel email, Yahoo! and AOL instant messaging apps, and a “chat-style messaging interface.” The CDMA slider candy bar offers up to 300 minutes of talk time with some 288 hours of standby.

Now, if only we could do something about their amazing irritating commercials…

Notable features include:

• Sliding 4-line QWERTY keyboard
• Changeable face and back plates (blue and silver)
• Chat-style text messaging
• 1.3 MP camera
• MP3 Player
• microSD Memory Port – 16GB Support
• Bluetooth Wireless Technology
• Celltop ready
• Alltel Shop