LG may be wiping its hands of Microsoft's Windows Phone OS for now, but a prototype device unearthed by WPCentral confirms that the company was at least tinkering with new hardware at some point over the last few months. And while the E740 (or Fantasy, as it has come to be known) carries largely the same mid-range specs we've seen time and again from WP7 handsets — a 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, etc. — it appears LG had one notable trick up its sleeve: NFC support.

The now-abandoned phone is running a custom build of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango that integrates near-field technology and allows users to share contact info, memos, URLs, and messages with other NFC-enabled devices. WPCentral's tests reveal that the functionality works as you'd expect, though that's about the only positive feedback they can muster in reviewing the E740. Otherwise the scrapped LG handset sounds rather underwhelming with what the site describes as a dull 4-inch display, sluggish performance, and a less-than-premium build. Sure, we're talking about unreleased hardware here, but we doubt that will prevent some of the platform's loyal advocates from putting a positive spin on LG's hiatus from hardware development.