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Latest In-Depth Expert Cell Phone ReviewsTry before you buy... well at least get a good idea of what you're getting before you plock down some big bills for your shiny new phone. Read an in-depth review of your favorite phone.   By manufacturerSamsung Instinct-M800   4.5 of 5What’s Good: Supports every feature Sprint offers; EV-DO Rev. A data speeds; Good touchscreen response; Bright, clear display; Excellent GPS/navigation and voice command features; Good visual voicemail feature; 3.5mm headphone jack and stereo Bluetooth; Second battery included in packaging; Excellent value at $129 retail price
What’s Not Good: “Full HTML” Web browser is disappointing; No IM support; No calendar synching; No support for user-created ringtones or background images on menu...LG enV2  4.3 of 5What’s Good: Sleeker and smaller than the original EnV. Comfortable QWERTY keyboard and QVGA internal display make texting fun. Huge external keypad makes dialing easy. VCAST music and video support. Support for laptop tethering (phone as modem).
What’s Not Good: External keypad makes the phone look like a retro calculator, although I suppose that could be seen as a good thing. Space bar is small and oddly placed. Verizon’s menu system can be confusing. Limited Bluetooth...Motorola Z9 4.5 of 5What’s Good: Great voice quality; fast 3G data speeds; good GPS system; mobiTV compatibility; sleek, attractive design; clean menus and UI; solid build; easy to hold and use
What’s Not Good: Rather large for a sliderphone; some may not like tiny buttons; heavy
Bottom Line: MOTO’s Z9 is a top-notch featurephone that provides access to nearly all of AT&T’s data and multimedia services in an attractive form factor. The phone is rather large and pretty hefty, which is either kind of nice or...Samsung Glyde 4.5 of 5What’s Good: Touchscreen and Full QWERTY Keyboard in Compact Body; Clean Menus and “Croix” User Interface; 2MP Camera with Autofocus and Flash; GPS with VZ Navigator; Full HTML Browser; Good Sound Quality
What’s Not Good: Touchscreen Can Be Difficult to Use, Especially Around Edges and Using Web Browser; Slightly Thick Profile; No D-Pad
Bottom Line: Samsung shrunk the F700 down to a cool, compact size in making the Glyde. The slide-out QWERTY board is handy and surprisingly comfortable...Nokia N82 4 of 5What’s Good: Incredible Camera w/Xenon Flash; Full VGA Video Capture; Excellent Web Browser; WiFi; Extendable Operating System; 3.5mm Headphone Jack
What’s Not Good: Cheap-Feeling and Plasticky; Small Keys; Music File Sort Issues; S60 OS Too Complex for Average User; Device is Bulky; Very Expensive
Bottom Line: Nokia’s N82 may be the best camera phone on the market right now, but it’s a bulky, complicated, expensive device for geeks and not the average consumer. You want features? N82’s...BlackBerry RIM Pearl-8120 Titanium 4.3 of 5What’s Good: Integrated WiFi for Web, Email, and HotSpot@Home UMA Calling; Trackball is easy to use; Integrated IM Clients; Second-to-None Push Email; 2MP Camera with Flash; 3.5 mm Headphone Jack; Compact Size
What’s Not Good: OS Menus and Fonts Remind me of 1989; SureType QWERTY board will be too small for some; Video capture quality is mediocre
Bottom Line: T-Mobile’s new Pearl takes a good thing and makes it better by way of integrated Wi-Fi networking for data access and T-Mob’s...LG Venus 4 of 5What’s Good: Beautiful display; Context-sensitive menus; Extensive feature set; VZ Navigation works very well
What’s Not Good: Half a touchscreen sometimes feels gimmicky and frustrating; Touch controls sometimes unresponsive; Poor voice quality with unacceptable hiss on some calls; Somewhat bulky overall
Bottom Line: Venus’ half-touch/half-not display is an interesting idea that ultimately frustrated me more than it charmed me. The screens are beautiful and the morphing menus great,...Nokia N810 Silver 4.3 of 5What’s Good: Stylish, compact design with large touchscreen and full QWERTY keyboard; Excellent build quality; Extendable Linux-based operating system backed by Nokia-supported developer community; Ships with Skype and Rhapsody clients installed; Excellent Web browser supports Web 2.0 technologies; WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity; Great for mobile bloggers, early adopters/would-be hackers, and Linux fans
What’s Not Good: Touchscreen isn’t responsive enough and can be hard to use even with...LG Rumor White 4.5 of 5At a Glance:What’s Good: Compact, rugged design with full QWERTY keyboard; Easy to use; Auto-rotating display; Good SMS, IM, and Email integration
What’s Not Good: Limited functionality beyond voice calling and messaging; No Power Vision access makes for slow Web browsing; Reports of laggy software and keyboard issues (I encountered none); Weak camera
Bottom Line: Rumor is a basic candy bar phone with a focus on messaging, and in this regard it really shone in my tests. I found the...Samsung Mysto 4.2 of 5At a Glance:What’s Good: All kinds of multimedia, Web, and location-based features; Super slim profile; Speedy EV-DO access; GPS; 106MB Internal Memory
What’s Not Good: Touch sensitive controls are very finicky; End key in an odd place; Call quality only so-so; Camera not as good as original U600
Bottom Line: Samsung brings their Ultra U600 sliderphone to the US in the form of the Helio Mysto. While Mysto’s thin profile is sexy and Helio’s myriad features are excellent, this...Treo by Palm Centro Onyx Red 4.3 of 5At a Glance:What’s Good: Full-featured, easy to use smartphone for entry-level price; Clear, bright, high-resolution touchscreen; Compact body with rounded edges; Zippy EV-DO data with access to Sprint TV service; A-GPS works with location-based services
What’s Not Good: QWERTY keys are small and cramped; Display is smallish (if still easy to read); Hardware and software design feels a bit dated; Noticeably thicker than comparable devices; No Music Store access (yet)
Bottom Line: Get Centro...BlackBerry RIM Curve-8320 Pale Gold 4.5 of 5At a Glance:What’s Good: Excellent QWERTY keypad; WiFi for Email/Web and UMA voice calling; Legendary push Email system; Trackball navigation; Media player with 3.5mm headphone jack.What’s Not Good: No 3G data; No GPS; Web browser not on par with best smartphones; Memory card hidden behind battery.
Bottom Line: T-Mobile’s version of the Curve is one of the best smartphones around. It lacks high speed data access data but adds WiFi for data access and unlimited UMA calling, and the...Samsung Beat-SGH-T539 3.8 of 5What’s Good: Compact, solid flip phone with front-mounted music controls/speaker, stereo Bluetooth support and straightforward music player; Includes 1GB memory card; Good IM support; Inexpensive.
What’s Not Good: Signal strength issues; Low-res display and less-than-pretty UI; Wired headphones require use of proprietary adapter.
Bottom Line: Beat is a simple flip with a pretty good music player and low price tag. The phone’s design didn’t do much for me, and the display is low-res, but...Samsung Blackjack-2-SGH-617 Black 4.3 of 5At a Glance: What’s Good: Compact, stylish Windows Mobile 6 smartphone; HSDPA (3G) high speed data; Improved battery life; GPS; Center mounted jog wheel
What’s Not Good: QWERTY keys are a little small and a little slippery; No touchscreen; Display is smallish for a smartphone
Bottom Line: Blackjack II is a solid improvement over its predecessor. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but faster hardware, improved battery life, and speedy 3G data make this a worthy update to the...HTC Shadow 4.5 of 5At a Glance
What is Good: Shadow is a sleek slider with a custom interface and jog dial that make it easier to use than the average Windows Mobile smartphone. The SureType keypad fits a QWERTY layout into the space of a regular numerical keypad but has larger buttons than the BlackBerry Pearl or Samsung Blast. Built-in WiFi and myFaves compatibility.
What's Not Good: Not everyone will like Shadow’s keypad. Wider than most slider phones. Less powerful than...Motorola Q9m 4 of 5I first glimpsed the successor to the MOTO Q back at CTIA Orlando in April of this year. A Motorola executive seated next to me at a Smartphone Summit panel discussion pulled a pre-production Q9 from his packet and used it to check his email while I tried to sneak a look. Eventually he noticed, and after I introduced myself he let me check the device out. I remember being impressed by the new Q's QWERTY thumbboard - the layout and individual buttons felt much more comfortable and responsive...Samsung SCH-U470-Juke Red 4.3 of 5The Samsung Juke for Verizon is a cool little phone that makes calls, plays music, and tucks away almost unnoticed in a pocket or purse. Featuring two gigabytes of built-in storage, a front-mounted scroll wheel for navigating through your music library and contacts list, and a unique switchblade design, Juke is small, slick, and easy to use.
Samsung and Verizon left a lot out of Juke in order to make it tiny and inexpensive. There's no 3G data, no access to...Samsung Blast-SGH-T729 4 of 5What T-Mobile might lack in the way of a high speed data network, they more than make up for with service plans and features geared towards families and messaging addicts. Their myFaves plan and Sidekick family of devices have caught on with budget-conscious parents and their SMS-obsessed teenagers alike
T-Mobile is working to (finally) roll out their 3G network in 2008, and they've also been working with manufacturers on a fleet of fun (and easy) to use handsets with advanced...HTC Touch 4.5 of 5To be fair, HTC was developing the Touch long before Apple's iPhone hit the market. But iPhone came to market first and quickly became the gold standard for a new breed of mobile devices marked by giant touchscreens and smartphone functionality combined with mainstream usability. As such, it's really impossible not to consider iPhone when using or reviewing Touch.
So I'll do my best to look at the Sprint-branded Touch both as a next-gen Windows Mobile smartphone built with a...Motorola RAZR2-V9m 4.5 of 5Motorola’s RAZR is an icon of cellphones, technology, and design in general. The V3 and all of its brethren collectively became the second most successful mobile handset in history, and the word “RAZR” has become synonymous with “thin flip phone” in gadget parlance.
But the RAZR eventually grew a little long in the tooth, and Motorola’s dominance in the cellular world eroded over time. After a legion of “four letter phone” offshoots - KRZR, ROKR, RIZR, PEBL, FONE, et... |
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