The Nokia 6215i is one of the first collaborations between the Finnish giant Nokia and Pantech, a Taiwan-based cell phone company, to make it to U.S. shores. The 6215i is a simple entry-level VGA camera phone offered exclusively from Verizon Wireless. It is also the first phone in North America to have a full-color OLED main display, as well as an OLED external display--an OLED is brighter and uses less power than traditional LCDs. The phones simple and sleek design and basic feature set make this a great midtier choice for Verizon customers. The 6215i retails for $99.99, but you can get it for $49.99 with a 2-year Verizon service agreement. The Nokia 6215i is quite attractive in glossy black. While devoid of glitz and glamour, the Nokia 6215i is still quite attractive. Decked out in glossy black, the 6215i is rectangular, has slightly rounded corners, and a stubby, extendable antenna. It feels great in the hand and very comfortable when cradled next to the ear. On the front flap are the camera lens and flash, plus a bright but tiny 65,000-color OLED external display that measures 1-inch diagonally. The display shows the phones signal strength, the battery life, the date and time, and caller ID. It also acts as a self-portrait viewfinder in camera mode, thus eliminating the need for a self-portrait mirror. The left spine is home to the headset jack, volume rocker, and a dedicated camera button.Flip the phone open and you will be greeted with a bright OLED main display. The 262,144-color screen was quite stunning--colors popped and the blacks are deep and dark, almost blending into the phone itself. Its too bad the screen is so tiny, measuring only 1.5-inches diagonally. Its so small that we found ourselves scrolling through the menu navigation much more than usual. You can adjust the backlight timer, the screens contrast, the font size of the numbers that appear when you dial, the display theme, and the clock format. The navigation array underneath the display is pretty standard. There are two soft keys, a five-way navigation toggle that consists of four programmable shortcuts and a center confirmation key, and a Clear key below the toggle. A dedicated speakerphone button and dedicated camera button flank the toggle on either side, as well as the Send and End/Power keys. The alphanumeric keypad is well-spaced and has a bright, blue backlight when the phone is activated. While all the keys have a slightly noticeable texture, they are flush to the surface. Each key sinks underneath the surface when pressed, making it a little tricky to dial and navigate by feel. Each entry in the 6215is address book can hold up to five numbers, be assigned to a group, a photo caller ID, or one of 25 polyphonic ring tones. Features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a speakerphone, a calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock, a world clock, a notepad, a stop watch, voice dialing, and a wireless Web browser. You can turn on the speakerphone prior to dialing. The Nokia 6215i comes with a VGA camera and flash. The 6215i comes with a VGA camera with flash. Of course, it isnt as good as a megapixel camera, but we were pleased with the options this basic camera provides. Camera settings include three different resolutions (640-by-480, 320-by-240, and 160-by-120 pixel), a self-timer, a brightness setting, a white balance setting, three shutter sounds plus a silent option, color effects, and a capture mode of either portrait or display. As with most VGA cameras, the resulting images were disappointingly blurry and grainy. It seems worse than other VGA camera images weve seen. The Nokia 6215is images were blurry and grainy. You can personalize the 6215i with a variety of wallpapers, colors, themes, and message alert tones. Downloading more options is easy with Verizons Get It Now service, which is easily accessible from the phones menu system. Though you can play Brew games on the phone, youll have to buy and download them yourself as the phone doesnt come with any games included.We tested the dual-band (CDMA 850/1900) 6215i handset in San Francisco using Verizons service. Call quality was stellar, with little to no difference when compared to a regular landline phone. Callers reported the same results on their end. The speakerphone didnt fare as well, and we found ourselves having to speak up to be heard. The Nokia 6215i has a rated talk time of 3.92 hours and a rated standby time of 10 days. Our tests showed a talk time of 4 hours. According to FCC radiation tests, the 6215i has a digital SAR rating of 0.83 watt per kilogram. ),
(961,Cingular 3125,Positives: The Cingular 3125 sports a slim clamshell design; a sharp, vibrant display; and a 1.3-megapixel camera. The smart phone also has integrated Bluetooth, EDGE support, good call quality, and Windows Mobile 5 with robust e-mail capabilities and PIM functions. Negatives: The Cingular 3125 has some design flaws, such as the Micro SD slots location behind the SIM card. It was also sluggish to perform some tasks in our tests and lacks integrated Wi-Fi. Facts: The Cingular 3125 changes the look of smart phones with its sleek, flip phone design, and while some minor quirks and performance issues exist, its still a solid Windows Mobile device. , Smart phones have come a long way in terms of design and form factor. Youre no longer restricted to carrying around bricks for phones and instead have a choice of sleek, sexy numbers like the Motorola Q, the T-Mobile SDA, and the RIM BlackBerry Pearl. Yet, smart phones are limited in that they all sport a candy-bar-style form factor--that is, until now. Today, Cingular announced at the CTIA 2006 fall show the immediate availability of the Cingular 3125 (a.k.a. HTC StarTrek), the first Windows Mobile 5 smart phone to rock a sleek clamshell design. To sweeten the deal, it carries a very reasonable price tag of $149.99 with a contract. Overall, we like the new look, though theres a period of acclimation and some quirks, such as small side keys and an inconveniently located expansion slot. Feature-wise, theres nothing really new here as in the Cingular 2125 and the T-Mobile SDA. However, for flip phone fanatics who want that Windows Mobile functionality, the Cingular 3125 is a solid choice--actually, its your only choice. We have mixed feelings about the Cingular 3125s design. While were fans of the clamshell form factor and its slim profile (3.87 by 2.02 by 0.64 inches; 3.82 ounces), this isnt the most attractive handset weve seen, and its a bit long in its closed and opened state. The former is not a problem if you slip it into a purse, but a couple of guys complained to us about the length of the phone as it stuck out of their jeans pocket. Also, when held up to the ear for phone calls, the mouthpiece extends down quite a bit. That said, we commend the thinness of the smart phone (à la the Motorola Razr) and to be fair, we grew to like it more as we got acclimated to the design.On the front flap is a 1.2-inch LCD that garnered a lot of oohs and aahs from passersby, thanks to its sharp 128x128-pixel resolution and the cool blue font, which offers a nice contrast against the phones black casing. The screen shows off all the basic info, such as date, time, network strength, and battery life, and we really like that you can change the wallpaper and backlight time-out. When the music player is activated, the external screen will show you the track title, artist, song length, and volume. Conveniently, just below the screen, you also have music player controls, including track forward, track back, and play/stop. Above the display is the Cingular 3125s camera lens, but disappointingly, theres no flash or self-portrait mirror, though you can use the external display for the latter. A button on the right side of the phone activates the camera. However, this sliver of a control occupies the top, thinner half of the flap, making it hard to find and press by feel. The same problem exists on the left spine, where you will find the voice recorder button and volume up/down keys. We really had a hard time adjusting the audio levels during phone calls and often had to pull the handset away from our face to find the controls; its even worse when you hold the mobile in your right hand as you have to use your index finger to manipulate the buttons, which seems a bit unnatural when compared to using your thumbs. The Cingular 3125 features a nice, roomy keypad. Theres some redemption when you open the Cingular 3125 and are presented with a beautiful internal screen and a spacious keypad. The TFT LCD measures 2.2 inches diagonally and boasts a sharp, 240x320-pixel resolution. Colors are bright, and text and images are extrasharp. Like all devices running Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition, the 3125 does not have a touch screen. Rather, you navigate the menus and enter commands via the controls below the display. You have two soft keys, talk and end buttons, a home page shortcut, a back button, a five-way navigation control, and a numerical dial pad. Like the phone itself, the style of the keypad reminds us of the Motorola Razr with its flat design and laser-cut look. The buttons were easy to press and the numerical dial pad was particularly roomy, so even users with larger fingers shouldnt have a problem. That said, the lack of a QWERTY keyboard makes the 3125 better for viewing e-mail rather than sending it. Not only do you have to remove the battery cover to access the Micro SD card slot, you also have to remove the SIM card. The Cingular 3125 does have a Micro SD expansion slot, but its inconveniently located behind the battery cover and the SIM card. Were already irked that we have to remove the battery cover, but having to go through two hoops to access the expansion slot is truly a hassle. Finishing out the 3125s design elements is a power/USB cable connector on the lower right side, as well as two small LEDs on the lower-left corner of the front cover that blink different colors for network status (green), Bluetooth (blue), and battery status (orange). Much of the buzz surrounding the Cingular 3125 centered around its design, but this phone has a solid feature set as well. However, its features are still standard fare for a smart phone and very similar to its candy-bar-style cousin, the Cingular 2125. The 3125 runs Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition and comes with the complete ClearVue Suite for viewing Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files. You cant edit the documents, but given the lack of a full keyboard or touch screen, its not the ideal device for such a thing anyway. Still, the ability to even access these files allows you to be more productive on the road, and were happy to report that we had no problems transferring and opening all four types of documents on our test unit. Other PIM tools include a calendar, a task manager, a calculator, and a download agent.The Cingular 3125 comes with Outlook Mobile and is compatible with the Microsoft Exchange Server with direct push e-mail solutions available through Microsoft, GoodLink, and Cingular Xpress Mail. You can also configure the 3125 to access your POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail accounts. For instant-messaging fans, only the MSN client is preloaded onto the device. Users of other popular IM apps, such as Yahoo and AOL, will have to go through the Web browser. Alternatively, text and multimedia messaging are available for quick notes. The Cingular 3125s external music player controls are a nice touch. You also get Windows Media Player 10 Mobile--after all, it cant be all about work, right? The 3125 supports MP3, WMA, AAC, and AMR-NB music files (you can also shop for music via the Cingular Music store) and MPEG-4, WMV, AVI, and H.263 video formats.As a phone, the 3125s address book is limited only by the available memory (64MB RAM, 128MB ROM), while the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts. For each entry, you can store up to 12 numbers, three e-mail and instant-messaging addresses, birthdays, anniversaries, and more. You can also pair them with a picture for caller ID, a group category, and one of 14 ring tones. As a bonus, the phone supports MIDI, MP3, WMA, AMR-NB, and AAC ring tones. You get a vibrate mode, a speakerphone, speed dial, and voice tags. In addition, Bluetooth 1.2 is onboard for use with headsets and car kits, but like the 2125, the 3125 lacks integrated Wi-Fi, although there is EDGE support. The Cingular 3125 has a 1.3-megapixel camera with 2X zoom, but theres no flash. The Cingular 3125 is equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera with 2X zoom and video-recording capabilities. For still images, you have a choice of four quality settings (Basic, Normal, Fine, and Super-Fine) and four resolutions (160x120, 320x240, 640x480, and 1,280x1,024). And while theres no flash, there is a Night mode under the white balance settings. You also get a self-timer, a time- and date-stamp option, and a photo counter. The 3125s camera records video with sound in MPEG-4, H.263, or Motion-JPEG AVI format, and it offers two resolutions (176x144 or 128x96). We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Cingular 3125 in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and overall, call quality was good. On our end, conversations were loud and clear. Our callers reported excellent audio quality and added that they couldnt tell we were on a cell phone. Unfortunately, activating the speakerphone diminished audio quality a bit. Our friends reported no problems, but they sounded garbled to us.Aside from its phoning capabilities, the 3125 was sometimes sluggish to perform other tasks. There was a bit of lag time as we switched between screens or called up different apps. However, music sounded great on the device and Web pages and video looked amazing on the sharp screen. The Cingular 3125 is rated for 7 hours of talk time and up to 9 days of standby time. In our tests, we were able to get a good 8 hours of talk time from the phones lithium-ion battery. ),
(962,Nokia 7370 (brown),Positives: The Nokia 7370 has an appealing design with an attractive display. It also offers Bluetooth, a speakerphone, a megapixel camera, and good call quality. Negatives: The Nokia 7370s controls are slippery and the volume is a tad low. Facts: The Nokia 7370 is a decent fashion phone with a good mix of design, features, and performance. Note: This product is part of the Nokia 7370 series. ., Though Nokia always has pushed the limits of cell phone design, its LAmour fashion phone line has gone about as far as you can go. For example, consider the Nokia 7380. Besides the fact that it hardly looks like a cell phone, it has no keyboard and offers only a tiny eye-straining display. No one ever said fashion and comfort go hand in hand, but even Nokia admits the 7380 is better suited as a secondary handset. So perhaps thats why Nokia broadened its LAmour line with the Nokia 7370. This time the device actually looks like a cell phone, and its swivel design (the first weve seen from Nokia) better complements its multimedia options. Buttons and controls arent perfect, and call volume is rather low, but the Nokia 7370 is an attractive handset with a solid combination of features and performance.Though were getting used to seeing something other than candy bar models from the Finnish folks, we were still a bit surprised to see a swivel design. The handset is available in brown and amber; we reviewed the brown version, but both models are a nice change from the commonplace silver and black. Like its sibling, the 7370 has designs etched into the surface for added appeal. The brown version has a series of lines around the display face and the back of the swivel, while the amber model uses a flowers and leaves design. And like the 7380, the 7370 has a faux-leather covering on its rear face. At 3.5 by 1.7 by 0.9 inches, the 7370 has average dimensions for a swivel phone and is more or less on a par with the Sony Ericsson W600i. At 3.7 ounces, its a bit heavy for its size but the trade-off is a solid feel in the hand. The swivel mechanism also feels sturdy, and we like that when you open the front flap, it tilts slightly outward for an ergonomic fit against your head. Yet like the W600i, you cant rotate the swivel a full 360 degrees, and since all controls are behind the front flap, you cant answer the phone, make calls, or browse menus with the swivel closed. Whats more, we found it a bit odd that the displays orientation flips when you swing it open. That means that when the swivel is closed, the display is upside down if youre holding the handset so that the Nokia logo appears right side up. Speaking of which, the 7370s display is quite attractive and is another welcome improvement over previous Nokia screens. With support for 262,144 colors, the 2-inch-diagonal (240x320 pixels) display is great for viewing photos and playing games, and it has user-friendly menus. You can change the backlighting time and the font size but not the brightness.Like the 7380, the 7370 has some design compromises in its buttons. The controls behind the front flap are completely flush with the surface of the phone to allow the swivel mechanism to close. That makes things a little tricky with the backlit keypad buttons and the navigation array because its hard to dial by feel and the keys are too slippery. We had a few misdials, but on the upside, the controls are large enough. The five-way toggle has programmable shortcuts, while the two soft keys give one-touch access to the contacts list and a secondary shortcuts menu. A dedicated back or clear button was a noticeable omission, but its not a big deal. However, we didnt like that the talk and end buttons are not marked clearly and lack even the traditional red and green colors. Also, the volume rocker on the left spine and the power button and dedicated camera shutter on the right spine are small and not very tactile. On the right spine is a fabric tag, which is a trademark of the LAmour line.With a few exceptions, the Nokia 7370s feature set is comparable to the offerings on Nokias other LAmour handset, the 7380. The 500-contact phone book is adequate and has room in each entry for five phone numbers; e-mail, street, and Web addresses; and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 250 names). You can organize callers into groups, pair them with one of the 9, 64-chord, polyphonic ring tones, and assign them a photo for caller ID. Other offerings include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, a world clock, a five-minute voice recorder, a currency and unit converter, a calendar, a to-do list, a notepad, a countdown timer, a stopwatch, an alarm clock, and instant messaging. One additional offbeat application is a converter for determining clothing and shoe sizes for different countries.Higher-end features include full Bluetooth for connecting to a headset or for sending files, PC syncing, USB cable support, voice dialing and commands, and a speakerphone. Strangely you wont find POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail support, but you can send audio messages directly to the voicemail of another cell phone and use a flash messaging feature. The 7370s camera doesnt have a flash. Though the 7380 came with a 2-megapixel camera, the 7370s shooter is just 1.3 megapixels. Still, it makes a respectable showing with a landscape mode and five resolutions (1,280x960, 800x600, 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120). Other options include three quality settings, five color effects, a self-timer, a multishot mode, and an 8X zoom. Theres no flash or brightness setting, but there is a self-portrait mirror. Also, the placement of the lens on the phones backside was right where we wanted to rest our finger. The camcorder records clips in two resolutions (176x144 and 128x96) with sound. You can choose from three quality settings and you can mute the sound. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at seven seconds; otherwise you can shoot for up to four minutes. Internal memory for all of work is 10MB of shared space. Photo quality is decent for a megapixel camera phone with distinct colors and object outlines. We like the 7370s photo quality. The Nokia 7370 also comes with a rudimentary media player that supports MPEG-4 video playback and MP3 and AAC audio files. Its interface and features are spartan but useful, and it performs well. Theres also an FM radio, stereo speakers, and stereo widening.You can personalize the 7370 with a variety of color themes, wallpapers, screensavers, and alert sounds. You can download more options via the WAP 2.0 wireless browser. You can always get more ring tones as well and use MP3 files to identify callers. One Java (J2ME) game is also included, Phantom Spider. We tested the triband (GSM 900/a800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) 7370 world phone in San Francisco using Cingular Wireless service. Call quality was quite good with great clarity and little static or interference. Volume was a tad low for our tastes, so users with hearing impairments should test the 7370 before buying. Callers reported good conditions overall on their end, though they had trouble hearing us in noisy environments. Speakerphone calls were decent as well, but as with most cell speakerphones, voices were a bit muffled. We also had good call quality using a Bluetooth headset.The Nokia 7370 has a rated battery life of 4 hours of talk time and a tested talk time of 3 hours and 42 minutes. It has a rated standby time of 11 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the 7370 has a digital SAR rating of 0.66 watt per kilogram. ),
(963,Nokia 7370 Unlocked (Amber),Positives: The Nokia 7370 has an appealing design with an attractive display. It also offers Bluetooth, a speakerphone, a megapixel camera, and good call quality. Negatives: The Nokia 7370s controls are slippery and the volume is a tad low. Facts: The Nokia 7370 is a decent fashion phone with a good mix of design, features, and performance. Note: This product is part of the Nokia 7370 series. ., Though Nokia always has pushed the limits of cell phone design, its LAmour fashion phone line has gone about as far as you can go. For example, consider the Nokia 7380. Besides the fact that it hardly looks like a cell phone, it has no keyboard and offers only a tiny eye-straining display. No one ever said fashion and comfort go hand in hand, but even Nokia admits the 7380 is better suited as a secondary handset. So perhaps thats why Nokia broadened its LAmour line with the Nokia 7370. This time the device actually looks like a cell phone, and its swivel design (the first weve seen from Nokia) better complements its multimedia options. Buttons and controls arent perfect, and call volume is rather low, but the Nokia 7370 is an attractive handset with a solid combination of features and performance.Though were getting used to seeing something other than candy bar models from the Finnish folks, we were still a bit surprised to see a swivel design. The handset is available in brown and amber; we reviewed the brown version, but both models are a nice change from the commonplace silver and black. Like its sibling, the 7370 has designs etched into the surface for added appeal. The brown version has a series of lines around the display face and the back of the swivel, while the amber model uses a flowers and leaves design. And like the 7380, the 7370 has a faux-leather covering on its rear face. At 3.5 by 1.7 by 0.9 inches, the 7370 has average dimensions for a swivel phone and is more or less on a par with the Sony Ericsson W600i. At 3.7 ounces, its a bit heavy for its size but the trade-off is a solid feel in the hand. The swivel mechanism also feels sturdy, and we like that when you open the front flap, it tilts slightly outward for an ergonomic fit against your head. Yet like the W600i, you cant rotate the swivel a full 360 degrees, and since all controls are behind the front flap, you cant answer the phone, make calls, or browse menus with the swivel closed. Whats more, we found it a bit odd that the displays orientation flips when you swing it open. That means that when the swivel is closed, the display is upside down if youre holding the handset so that the Nokia logo appears right side up. Speaking of which, the 7370s display is quite attractive and is another welcome improvement over previous Nokia screens. With support for 262,144 colors, the 2-inch-diagonal (240x320 pixels) display is great for viewing photos and playing games, and it has user-friendly menus. You can change the backlighting time and the font size but not the brightness.Like the 7380, the 7370 has some design compromises in its buttons. The controls behind the front flap are completely flush with the surface of the phone to allow the swivel mechanism to close. That makes things a little tricky with the backlit keypad buttons and the navigation array because its hard to dial by feel and the keys are too slippery. We had a few misdials, but on the upside, the controls are large enough. The five-way toggle has programmable shortcuts, while the two soft keys give one-touch access to the contacts list and a secondary shortcuts menu. A dedicated back or clear button was a noticeable omission, but its not a big deal. However, we didnt like that the talk and end buttons are not marked clearly and lack even the traditional red and green colors. Also, the volume rocker on the left spine and the power button and dedicated camera shutter on the right spine are small and not very tactile. On the right spine is a fabric tag, which is a trademark of the LAmour line.With a few exceptions, the Nokia 7370s feature set is comparable to the offerings on Nokias other LAmour handset, the 7380. The 500-contact phone book is adequate and has room in each entry for five phone numbers; e-mail, street, and Web addresses; and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 250 names). You can organize callers into groups, pair them with one of the 9, 64-chord, polyphonic ring tones, and assign them a photo for caller ID. Other offerings include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, a world clock, a five-minute voice recorder, a currency and unit converter, a calendar, a to-do list, a notepad, a countdown timer, a stopwatch, an alarm clock, and instant messaging. One additional offbeat application is a converter for determining clothing and shoe sizes for different countries.Higher-end features include full Bluetooth for connecting to a headset or for sending files, PC syncing, USB cable support, voice dialing and commands, and a speakerphone. Strangely you wont find POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail support, but you can send audio messages directly to the voicemail of another cell phone and use a flash messaging feature. The 7370s camera doesnt have a flash. Though the 7380 came with a 2-megapixel camera, the 7370s shooter is just 1.3 megapixels. Still, it makes a respectable showing with a landscape mode and five resolutions (1,280x960, 800x600, 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120). Other options include three quality settings, five color effects, a self-timer, a multishot mode, and an 8X zoom. Theres no flash or brightness setting, but there is a self-portrait mirror. Also, the placement of the lens on the phones backside was right where we wanted to rest our finger. The camcorder records clips in two resolutions (176x144 and 128x96) with sound. You can choose from three quality settings and you can mute the sound. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at seven seconds; otherwise you can shoot for up to four minutes. Internal memory for all of work is 10MB of shared space. Photo quality is decent for a megapixel camera phone with distinct colors and object outlines. We like the 7370s photo quality. The Nokia 7370 also comes with a rudimentary media player that supports MPEG-4 video playback and MP3 and AAC audio files. Its interface and features are spartan but useful, and it performs well. Theres also an FM radio, stereo speakers, and stereo widening.You can personalize the 7370 with a variety of color themes, wallpapers, screensavers, and alert sounds. You can download more options via the WAP 2.0 wireless browser. You can always get more ring tones as well and use MP3 files to identify callers. One Java (J2ME) game is also included, Phantom Spider. We tested the triband (GSM 900/a800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) 7370 world phone in San Francisco using Cingular Wireless service. Call quality was quite good with great clarity and little static or interference. Volume was a tad low for our tastes, so users with hearing impairments should test the 7370 before buying. Callers reported good conditions overall on their end, though they had trouble hearing us in noisy environments. Speakerphone calls were decent as well, but as with most cell speakerphones, voices were a bit muffled. We also had good call quality using a Bluetooth headset.The Nokia 7370 has a rated battery life of 4 hours of talk time and a tested talk time of 3 hours and 42 minutes. It has a rated standby time of 11 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the 7370 has a digital SAR rating of 0.66 watt per kilogram. ),
(964,Sony Ericsson P990i,Positives: The Sony Ericsson P990i is the crème de la crème of Sony Ericsson smart phones, with a sleek design that incorporates a QWERTY keyboard coupled with the latest in mobile technology. Features include a 2-megapixel camera, a music player, a business card scanner, video recording, and support for 3G/UMTS and for Wi-Fi networks. Negatives: The Sony Ericsson P990i is a little on the bulky side, and the QWERTY keyboard may be too small for some people. The price is also prohibitively high. Facts: The Sony Ericsson P990i may be the perfect smart phone for tech-minded consumers, but its exorbitantly high price may put a lot of people off. , The Sony Ericsson P990i is the latest smart phone to come from the Japanese-Swedish collaboration, and its been a long time coming. There are a number of die-hard users of the P910a, its American predecessor, and ever since the P990i was announced late last year, many people have waited patiently for its release. As with the P910a, the P990i is a serious smart phone that will please tech-minded consumers and professionals. One of the major additions to the P990i is its inclusion of Wi-Fi support, a feature that even some of the more popular smart phones don't have. This cool little smart phone will cost you, though; because it doesnt have the backing of a U.S. carrier, youll have to purchase it unlocked at a hefty price. The pricing of the Sony Ericsson P990i at the time of this review was anywhere from $849 to $1,099, which is simply insanely expensive. Much like the P910a, the Sony Ericsson P990i is a tad on the large side when compared to regular phones, but its bulk is standard for most smart phones. Measuring 4.4 by 2.2 by 1 inches and weighing 5.3 ounces, its actually slightly smaller than the latest Palm Treo 700p. Its color scheme has not changed much from its predecessors, retaining the same silver finish all the way around. The phone feels comfortable in the hand, though you might want to flip the keypad flap down when holding it next to your ear for additional comfort. The P990i is a little bulky. The keypad is one of the most notable design features of the P990i. The numerical keypad flips down to reveal a QWERTY keyboard on the main body of the phone. This is a big departure from the P910a, which had the keyboard on the flap itself. When flipped up, we found the buttons on the numerical keypad to be spacious and tactile for easy dialing. The keypad has the standard navigation keys placed along the top, which consist of two soft keys, a five-way navigation toggle, a back button, and a clear button. As for the QWERTY keyboard, we found the slightly rubberized keys easy enough to press, but they are so tiny and crowded together that it still took us a while before we felt comfortable typing with it. You also have the option of using the stylus for the handwriting-recognition feature for text entry if you prefer. Both the keypad and the keyboard have a blue backlight when activated. The P990i has a QWERTY keyboard. With the keypad flap up, you see only a 2.5-inch diagonal display. However, when the keypad flap is flipped down, you get the full 2.8-inch, 262,144-color TFT screen in all its glory. The display is simply gorgeous and very easy on the eyes. The backlight timer is adjustable, as is the brightness setting. There are also a few other differences when the flap is flipped down vs. when it is flipped up. With the flap down, the display becomes a touch screen and certain features such as the Web browser and the RSS feed reader are made available. If you find it a pain to keep on flipping the flap up and down to gain access to these functions, you can actually remove the front flap entirely with an included screwdriver. You will still be able to make calls via a touch-screen keypad. The P990i has a jog dial for easy navigation. On the very top left of the phones front is a small VGA camera specifically designed for video phone calls. On the left spine are a media player button, a jog dial, a back button, and a keylock slide. We found the jog dial and back button especially useful for one-handed navigation, and we hardly needed to use the navigation controls on the keypad at all. A dedicated camera button, a Memory Stick Duo slot, and a dedicated Internet button are housed along the right spine. On the back of the phone, youll see a circular camera lens cover. The cover slides clockwise or counterclockwise to reveal the camera lens. Theres also a self-portrait mirror, a flash, and a small speaker. Because of the position of the camera lens, the P990i almost looks like a real digital camera when viewed from the back. The P990i has a 2-megapixel camera. The P990i comes with a few accessories, such as a convenient docking cradle, a USB cable, and a pair of stereo earphones. It also comes with a small plastic front cover to replace the keypad flap, in case you decide to remove it. Of course, the Sony Ericsson P990i wouldnt be a smart phone without a ton of features to please the mobile professional. Previous P910a users and tech-minded consumers will appreciate the new and improved Symbian 9.1 OS and UIQ 3 software platform, though it may involve a learning curve to those not familiar with the operating system. One of the biggest upgrades to the P990i is the inclusion of Wi-Fi support, which isnt a feature found in a lot of other smart phones. Along with 3G/UMTS support, the P990i is certainly a well-connected phone. The P990i comes with a Memory Stick Duo slot. Lets begin with the basics. Each entry in the P990is address book can hold up to two phone numbers, an e-mail address, a picture caller ID, a birth date, a street address, and notes and can be assigned to a group as well as one of 23 polyphonic ring tones. The P990i comes with 60MB of internal memory, plus a 64MB Memory Stick Duo included in the package for additional storage. Business users will be especially pleased with QuickOffice, which lets you view, edit, and create Word and Excel documents, a viewer that lets you read PDF and PowerPoint documents, and a built-in VPN client. Theres also a video phone feature that utilizes the front VGA camera for video calls. Though this may be intended for videoconferencing, we cant imagine this being too useful for the average consumer. Other basic features include text and multimedia messaging, a speakerphone, a calendar, a task list, a notepad, a calculator, an alarm clock, a voice recorder, a vibrate mode, a business card scanner, a stopwatch, an RSS feed reader, and a full Opera Web browser. For connectivity junkies, along with the 3G/UMTS and Wi-Fi support, you can also use the phone as a Bluetooth modem with your Bluetooth-enabled laptop. For e-mail, you can connect via SMTP, IMAP4, and POP3 accounts, and the P990i even supports push e-mail for the BlackBerry via the BlackBerry Connect solution. The included PC suite helps you manage all of these PIM functions and more. The P990i takes excellent photos. And if you thought that wasnt enough, the P990i comes with quite a few multimedia features. First, theres the lovely 2-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash. Camera settings include four different resolutions (1,600x1,200, 1,280x960, 640x480, and 320x240), a macro setting for close-up shots, five white-balance settings (Auto, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent, and Bulb), five different effects (Black & White, Sepia, Solarize, Negative, and off), three quality settings (Fine, Normal, and Economy), a night mode, four shutter sounds and an option to turn it off, and a self-timer. You can also shoot in a burst of four shots at once, or with a frame. As for the video recorder, there are four resolution settings (128x96, 160x120, 176x144, and 320x240), and the video format is MPEG-4 with QVGA 15fps. We thought the picture quality was excellent with well-defined tones and colors, though videos appeared a little washed out and grainy. The P990i also has an integrated music player that supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, and WAV files, and we were very pleased with the music players interface, especially with how easy it was to scroll from one song track to the next. The video player supports 3GPP, MP4, and RealMedia video streaming. This is quite handy, as theres an online module in the Media Player section of the P990i that lets you store links to your favorite streaming audio and video sources for quick playback. In addition, the P990i has a built-in FM radio, though it can be accessed only when connected to the wired headset (to be used as an antenna). We tested the triband (GSM 900/1800/1900; UMTS) Sony Ericsson P990i in San Francisco using Cingulars service and were pleased with the excellent call quality. Callers couldnt even tell we were on a cell phone. The speakerphone didnt sound as good, however, and we found ourselves having to raise our voices in order to be heard. However, because the UMTS in the P990i is in the 2100Mhz frequency, and not the 850/1900Mhz typically used in the U.S., the P990i will not have support for existing U.S. 3G networks. So while you can make and receive calls just fine with the P990i, you might want to turn to the built-in WiFi when attempting to use the Internet.The sound quality from the music player was good. Naturally, weve heard better audio quality from a dedicated MP3 player, but for a cell phone, we cant complain. There was a slight performance lag when switching applications, however, which was particularly noticeable when switching between media applications such as the video player and the photo gallery. The Sony Ericsson P990i has a rated talk time of 9 hours and a tested talk time of 8 hours and 50 minutes. It has up to 16 days of standby time. According to the FCC, the P990i has a SAR rating of 0.78 watt per kilogram. ),
(965,RIM BlackBerry Pearl (T-Mobile),Positives: The RIM BlackBerry Pearl is the first BlackBerry to offer a 1.3-megapixel camera, music and video playback, expandable memory, and a mapping application. The supersleek phone also continues to offer superior push e-mail capabilities, EDGE support, and Bluetooth. Negatives: The RIM BlackBerry Pearls microSD slot is inconveniently located behind the battery, and call quality was subpar in our tests. The phones camera doesnt record video, and we wish there were external controls for the music player and integrated Wi-Fi. Facts: Though nothing revolutionary, the addition of multimedia features and the already solid e-mail capabilities make the RIM BlackBerry Pearl an attractive device for business users and consumers alike. Note: This product is part of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl series. ., \t\t\tPhoto gallery:RIM BlackBerry Pearl ),
(966,Samsung SGH-X820,Positives: The Samsung SGH-X820 has an attractive, thin design and an admirable feature set that includes Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and a 2-megapixel camera. Its a good performer, too. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-X820s memory is rather small, and it lacks hands-free dialing capability. Picture quality and call volume level could be better. Facts: Despite some minor performance quibbles and a couple of missing features, the Samsung SGH-X820 is a nice blend of design, features, and performance. , Yet again Samsung jumps ahead in the race to produce the worlds thinnest cell phone with its new SGH-X820. Billed as the worlds thinnest candy bar phone--though not for long, were sure--the SGH-X820 is even trimmer than the already superslim Samsung SGH-P300. While we readily admit that were a little tired of the thin-phone fad, we also admit that the SGH-X820 is quite attractive. The black color scheme and the sleek shape result in a sharp, sexy handset that will win glances on the street. Features are decent, with Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and a 2-megapixel camera, yet we couldnt help but notice the lack of an external memory slot and voice dialing. Also, while the keypad buttons are user-friendly, the navigation toggle is tricky to use. The lack of a supporting U.S. carrier means the SGH-X820 wont come cheap ($329 from Dynamism.com), but thin-phone fanatics may be willing to fork over that amount.At 4.4 by 1.9 by 0.27 inches, the Samsung SGH-X820 lives up to its razor-thin promise. It slips comfortably into pockets, and at 2.4 ounces, it wont weigh you down. The internal antenna ensures theres no deviation from the phones smooth lines, though the camera lens causes a slight but hardly noticeable bulge at the top of the SGH-X820. The handset also has a solid construction, but were beginning to notice that the thinner a phone gets, the more awkward it feels to hold against your head for extended calls. Also, the slim shape means it can be hard to feel the vibrate mode when the phone is in your pocket.The 1.8-inch diagonal (176x220 pixel) TFT display lives up to Samsungs usual standards. With support for 262,000 colors, its bright and vibrant and richly displays photos, games, and the user-friendly menus. Yet its hard to see in direct light. You can change brightness, backlight time, and font size, style, and color. Below the display is the navigation array, which we didnt care for. While we understand that tricky controls and thin phones tend to go hand in hand, the SGH-X820s five-way toggle is just too difficult. The OK button in the center is flush with the rest of the toggle, and theres no clear separation between the two controls. As a result, we made several mistakes when attempting to navigate through the menus and select functions. The toggle doubles as a shortcut to four user-defined functions. You also get two soft keys, the talk and end/power buttons, and a dedicated clear key. Though they are flush with the phone as well, their large size makes them easier to use. We also liked the design of the alphanumeric keypad. The individual buttons are large and well spaced, and theyre lit by bright backlighting. Like all other controls, however, theyre also completely flat. Completing the exterior of the SGH-X820 are a volume rocker on the left spine and a covered headset/charger jack and an unmarked camera shortcut on the right spine.The SGH-X820 comes with a generous 1,000-contact phone book (the SIM cards holds an additional 250 names). Each entry holds four phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and notes. You can organize callers into groups and pair them with a phone and one of 20 polyphonic (64-chord) ring tones (the phone also supports MP3). Basic features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a world clock, a calculator, a currency and unit converter, a timer, a stopwatch, an alarm clock, and a calendar. Higher-end offerings include a speakerphone, a voice recorder, TV-out functionality, PC syncing, e-mail support, and full Bluetooth with a stereo profile. We were hoping for voice commands and dialing as well, but sadly theyre not onboard the SGH-X820. The SGH-X820s camera doesnt have a flash or a self-portrait mirror. The 2-megapixel camera is feature rich and easy to use. You can take pictures in a whopping seven resolutions (1,600x1,200, 1,280x960, 1,024x768, 800x600, 640x480, 320x240, 220x176) and choose from three quality settings. Other features include a night mode, brightness and white balance controls, an adjustable ISO setting, multishot and mosaic shot modes, a self-timer, eight color effects, 30 fun frames, and a digital zoom thats usable even at the highest photo resolution. There are also a fair number of shutter and camera functions sounds, but you can turn them off completely. Theres no flash, however, and self-portraits are tricky without a mirror. The camcorder takes clips in two resolutions (176x144 and 128x96) with sound. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 1 minute, 48 seconds; otherwise you can shoot for as long as the phones available memory permits. Speaking of which, the 80MB of integrated shared memory is impressive, but we were hoping for a multimedia card slot as well. Photo quality was about average and less than we expected from a 2-megapixel camera. Though colors were relatively sharp and there was adequate lighting, objects tended to be blurry. The SGH-X820 has good but not great photo quality. The Samsung SGH-X820s digital media player supports MP3, AAC, and WMA files and is similar to the minimalist but serviceable player found on other Samsungs. The primary user interaction is done through the toggle, with a few other keys acting as shortcuts to different functions. The interface is minimalist. Theres no album art, and only the track name scrolls across the top of the display. You can choose from six skin types, but none are too fancy, and theres an onscreen icon showing the toggles functions (which direction is Play and so forth). The player comes with a number of functions, including playlists, repeat and shuffle modes, and four equalizer settings, as well as 3D sounds, which didnt seem to make much of a difference. As for getting music on the phone, you can transfer tracks from a PC with the included USB cable, send them via Bluetooth, or download them from the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser.You can personalize the SGH-X820 with a variety of wallpapers, colors, skins, background colors, and alert tones. If you want more options or more ring tones, you can download them through the Web browser. Gaming options include two Java (J2ME) titles, Freekick and Bobby Carrot, but you can always get more if you want them.We tested the triband (GSM 900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) SGH-X820 world phone in San Francisco using Cingulars service. Call quality was surprisingly good, with sharpness and little static or interference. Volume was a tad low. While not a problem for us, it may be troublesome for users with hearing impairment. The speakerphone was satisfying overall. The sound was muffled at higher levels, but thats standard for cell speakerphones. Bluetooth headset calls were decent as well, and though the SGH-X820 lacks external stereo speakers, tunes from the digital music player werent half bad for short stints.The Samsung SGH-X820 has a rated battery life of 4 hours of talk time and 10 days of standby time. However, we managed to eke out an impressive 5 hours of talk time in our tests. According to FCC radiation tests, the SGH-X820 has a digital SAR rating of 1.19 watt per kilogram. ),
(967,Palm Treo 700wx (Sprint),Positives: The Palm Treo 700wx offers more available memory than Verizons version, the 700w. The Windows Mobile smart phone also has integrated Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and EV-DO support. Negatives: The Palm Treo 700wx lacks integrated Wi-Fi and retains the low-resolution 240x240-pixel display. Facts: The Palm Treo 700wx brings some needed improvements to the Windows Mobile smart phone, such as more memory, but its still far from perfect. Note: This product is part of the Palm Treo 700 series. ., Were not sure if youve heard, but Sprint is getting its own version of the Palm Treo 700w. OK, we say this with a bit of sarcasm as the specs, the images, heck, even the user manual were leaked all over the Web. But now we can say officially that the Palm Treo 700wx for Sprint is here. The Windows Mobile-based Treo offers a couple of advantages over its Verizon variant, among them increased memory and thus improved performance. In addition, it comes with push e-mail capabilities right out of the box, and you can use it as a modem for your laptop. That said, this leaves Sprint customers in a bit of a quandary. Do you go with the 700wx or the Palm-based Treo 700p? And just to make things even more confusing, what about the Sprint PPC-6700? Well, heres how we see it. The 700wx is outsmarted by the two smart phones for different reasons. First, the 700p holds the edge with its high-resolution screen and intuitive OS, and the PPC-6700 has integrated Wi-Fi, so if these features are important to you, the 700wx may not be the best choice. Still, if you favor the Windows environment and form factor of the Treo, the 700wx is a solid device. The Treo 700wx is available for $499.99 with a two-year contract or $549.99 with a one-year contract. From a design standpoint, there is no major physical difference between the Palm Treo 700wx and the 700w, other than the Sprint branding. It sports the same dimensions (5.1 by 2.3 by 0.9 inches; 6.4 ounces) and full QWERTY keyboard of the 700w, and though weve always had high praise for the Treos form factor, the arrival of such sleek smart phones as the Motorola Q and the RIM BlackBerry 7130c, makes the Treo seem almost seems gargantuan now. Of course, those devices don't have advantage of the 700wxs touch screen. A number of Moto Qs have been returned because of the lack of this feature, and admittedly, once you experience the convenience of a touch screen, its hard to go back. That said, were still disappointed with the 240x240-pixel resolution since, particularly since many Windows Mobile apps are written for 320x240 screens. Whats more, text, images, and colors just arent as sharp or vibrant compared to those of other smart phones weve tested. The 700wx shares the same design features as the 700w, including a ringer/silent switch and an SD card expansion slot. Like we said, the two Treos practically are identical in look and feel. They share the same ringer/silent switch on top and the shortcut keys below the screen. For a more detailed description of the design, please check out our review of the Treo 700w. The major differences between the Treo 700wx and the 700w come in the features department. First, many customers (perhaps to the chagrin of Verizon subscribers) will be happy to know that the 700wx has more program memory than the 700w. As youll see from the image below, theres about 36.25MB, whereas the 700w had only about 11MB available. This should alleviate some of the slow performance issues that users have been experiencing with the 700w. And true enough, we did notice that the response time was a bit snappier (see below for more). Hooray! The Palm Treo 700wx gets a boost in program memory. The 700wx ships with Microsofts Messaging and Security Feature Pack, so you get direct push technology out of the box for wireless synchronization of e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. In addition, theres support for GoodLink and POP3 or IMAP e-mail accounts. Productivity apps remain the same as for the 700w. The 700wx runs Windows Mobile 5 with the full Microsoft Office Mobile Suite and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for music and video. Despite Palms promise to add Wi-Fi to future Treo models, its not starting with the 700wx. That is disappointing, but you can connect to the Web via Sprints 3G EV-DO network, with data speeds topping out at about 2Mbps. On average, though, theyll fall in the 400Kbps to 700Kbps range. You can also access Sprints On Demand content which pulls all the current headlines for the users region (based on zip code) from the Web instantly and puts it into the palm of your hand. Both services are offered as part of the Sprint Power Vision pack, which ranges in price from $15 to $25 per month.The Treo 700wx has integrated Bluetooth for use with wireless headsets and car kits and wireless synchronization with Bluetooth-enabled computers, but the Bluetooth dial-up networking (DUN) capabilities wont be immediately available at launch. (Sprint said it doest have a specific time frame for enabling this function.) Until then, you can use the included USB cable to employ your Treo as a wireless modem for your laptop. Be aware, however, that this will require a Sprint Power Vision Modem Plan, which starts at $39.99 per month for 40MB or $49.99 per month for unlimited. The rest of the 700wxs features are identical to the 700ws. You get the Ignore With Text feature that lets you answer calls with a text message, photo speed-dial, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Check out our 700w review for more information. Like the 700w, the Treo 700wx has a 1.3-megapixel camera with 2X zoom. We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) in San Francisco using Verizons network, and call quality was good. Our callers said we sounded great, and for the most part, we had the same comments, although we thought their voices sounded just a tad hollow. Activating the speakerphone diminished the audio quality a bit, but we were still able to carry on a conversation. As we mentioned earlier, we experienced improved performance with the 700wx over the Treo 700w. The device was responsive as we performed various tasks, even with multiple applications open. We had no problems transferring, viewing, or editing Office documents, and music and video playback were also smooth. The Treo 700wx is rated for up to five hours of talk time and 15 days of standby time. In our tests, we were able to get 5.8 hours of talk time out of the devices battery. According to FCC radiation tests, the Treo 700wx has a digital SAR rating of 1.26 watts per kilogram. ),
(968,Nokia 6111, , The Nokia 6111 is a sleek and compact slider phone, released primarily in Europe and Asia. It has a 262,144-color display, video streaming, a megapixel camera with 6X digital zoom, support for MP3 and AAC ring tones, an FM tuner, text and multimedia messaging, a wireless Web browser, e-mail, and about 23MB of available memory. It also has triband support, so it will work in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Unfortunately, you cant get the Nokia 6111 with a U.S. carrier, so youll have to buy it unlocked at a hefty price (pricing is up to about $400 at the time of writing). ),
(969,Motorola V235, , Quick take: The Motorola V235 is sleek little flip phone decked out in silver and black. It doesnt have an external screen, but its internal screen has 65,000-color support. Features include a VGA camera withvideo capture and playback, full-duplex speakerphone, support for MP3 ring tones, text and multimedia messaging, instant messaging, up to 9MB of memory, a wireless Web browser, and J2ME MIDP 2.0 support for games. It retails for $149.99, but you can get it for free with a two-year agreement with SunCom. You can also get it for $119.99 with a one-year agreement with SunCom. ),
(970,Samsung SCH-A870,Positives: The Samsung SCH-A870 is a lightweight flip phone with a slim profile. It also offers a VGA camera with flash, a speakerphone, Bluetooth, voice dialing, and support for VZ Navigator, Verizons GPS location service. Negatives: The Samsung SCH-A870 takes blurry, washed-out photos. Facts: With an understated design and a solid feature set, the Samsung SCH-A870 is a great midtier offering from Verizon. , The Samsung SCH-A870 is the latest Samsung cell phone in Verizons lineup, and while its not a design showcase or a feature-packed wonder, its a pretty decent midtier cell phone that should satisfy most consumers. We couldve done with a better megapixel camera, but with its price range and target market in mind, we think the SCH-A870 is a better-than-average offering from Verizon. It retails for $99.99, but you can get it for only $49.99 with a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless.While the SCH-A870 is no fashion phone, its still quite stylish. Wrapped in silver and accented in black, the SCH-A870 is a slim flip phone measuring 3.6 by 1.8 by 0.85 inches and weighing only 3.4 ounces. Its rounded corners make it great to hold in the hand. The phone opens easily and cradles comfortably next to the ear. The SCH-A870 has a small 1-inch-diagonal external screen in the middle of the front flap, which displays battery and signal strength, the date and time, and caller ID, plus it serves as a self-portrait camera viewfinder when the phone is closed. Above the screen is a VGA camera and a flash. On the left spine are a headset jack and a volume rocker, while the right spine is home to a dedicated camera button and a dedicated speakerphone button. The SCH-A870 is a slim flip phone. The internal display measures 1.75 inches diagonally and has 65,000-color support. The screen is bright and colorful, and we liked that we could adjust the backlight timer as well as its contrast. Like most Samsung phones, we could adjust the dialing font to two different sizes, four different styles, and to be with or without hyphenation. We generally arent fans of the Verizon menu system because it takes several steps to get to certain applications such as the camera and the Web browser. However, with a dedicated camera button and a programmable shortcut key, were willing to forgive that.Although the navigation controls and number keypad are smooth, they remain slightly textured and raised, so theyre easy to use and dial by feel. There are two soft keys, and a five-way toggle that doubles as shortcuts to the Web browser, Verizons Get It Now menu, the camera/picture menu, and a user-programmable shortcut key. Underneath the controls are the Talk and End/Power keys, a clear button, and the aforementioned number keypad. The backlight timer on the keypad is adjustable. The SCH-A870 has a 500-entry address book, with room in each entry for five numbers and two e-mail addresses, plus you can assign each entry to a caller group, a picture caller ID, and one of 10 different polyphonic ring tones. Other features include text and multimedia messaging, Bluetooth, speakerphone, voice dialing, instant messaging, wireless Web, e-mail, support for VZ Navigator (Verizons GPS location service), a calculator, a world clock, a calendar, an alarm clock, a stopwatch, a notepad, and VibeTonz, a feature thatll let the phone vibrate to the beat of the ring tone. It also has a regular vibrate mode and a silent mode. The VGA camera took good but blurry shots. The VGA camera on the SCH-A870 takes pictures in three different resolutions (640x480, 320x240, 160x120) and has a self-timer of up to 10 seconds, a flash, five different white-balance settings, three quality settings (Fine, Normal, Economy), nine different color settings, and three shutter sound options. Unfortunately, you cant turn the shutter sound off, even if you turn the phones volume all the way down to silent. While the picture quality is pretty good for a VGA phone, photos still appeared blurry and washed out. Personalization options come in the form of ring tones, sounds, wallpaper, banners, and themes. You can even download more via Verizons Get It Now download service. Though the phone supports BREW games, it doesnt come with one preinstalled, so youll have to download one if you want your video-game fix. We tested the dual-band trimode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS) with Verizon Wireless, and we experienced spectacular call quality. Callers couldnt tell we werent on a landline, and we could hear them loud and clear. Speakerphone quality was similarly impressive, though we did have to raise our voices a little for callers to hear us. We paired the Samsung SCH-A870 with the Plantronics Explorer 350 Bluetooth headset successfully.The Samsung SCH-A870 has a rated talk time of up to 3 hours and 20 minutes, though we managed to get only 3 hours of talk time in our tests. It has a rated standby time of up to seven days. According to FCC radiation tests, the SCH-A870 has a digital SAR rating of 1.47 watts per kilogram. ),
(971,Samsung SGH-ZX20,Positives: The Samsung SGH-ZX20 offers decent call quality and comes with a full range of features including support for high-speed networks, world phone capability, Bluetooth, and a speakerphone. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-ZX20s low-key design doesnt lend itself to its high-end features. Facts: Though the Samsung SGH-ZX20 offers some cool features and solid performance, its mundane design doesnt do them justice. , Back in January, when we first saw Samsung SGH-ZX20 at CES, we have to admit we took notice. Sure, the design wasnt particular impressive, and it paled in comparison to the companys Korean-market handsets, but the prospect of a 3.5G HSDPA handset from a U.S. carrier was exciting. Yet seven months later, we can safely say that much of that initial excitement has worn off. Not only did we have to wait a long time for the SGH-ZX20, but in the meantime LG beat Samsung to the punch with the LG CU500. And though the SGH-ZX20 delivers on its promised features, the CU500s sharper design is better suited to the advanced multimedia capabilities both phones share. On the upside, the SGH-ZX20 is fairly priced at $149 with a two-year contract. Its difficult not to use the word but when discussing the Samsung SGH-ZX20s design. For example, we give Samsung props for not pumping out yet another Razr imitator, but the SGH-ZX20 is far from eye-catching. We like its compact shape, but we arent in love with the small and uninspiring internal display. The black-and-silver color scheme is attractive but we don't care for the monochrome external LCD. So really, the SGH-ZX20 is a mixed bag. While some users may like the modest design that blends in with many other Samsung handsets--its almost indistinguishable from its predecessor, the SGH-ZX10--we were hoping for a somewhat more stylish form factor, particularly from a 3.5G handset. The Samsung SGH-ZX20s right spine holds the MicroSD card slot. The SGH-ZX20 measures 3.5 by 1.9 by 1.0 inches and weighs in at 3.9 ounces. As a result, its easily portable and will fit in smaller pockets. It also benefits from a solid construction, and it feels comfortable in the hand. An external antenna adds a bit more girth, but it doesnt feel flimsy. Front and center is the external display. Though its big for the phones size (1 inch diagonally), we were disappointed that it was monochrome only. It shows the date, the time, battery life, and signal strength, but it doesnt support photo caller ID. Though you can adjust the contrast or personalize the screen with a greeting or a rudimentary image, its just below our expectation for a megapixel camera phone. Immediately above the display is a small flash, while the camera lens sits in the middle of the hinge. In a nice touch, the lens swivels 180 degrees, enabling you to take self-portraits or shots of objects away from you. On the right spine is a button for changing the ringer profile and the covered MicroSD card slot. A volume rocker and a covered headset jack sit on the right spine, while the bottom end houses the charger port. We were hoping, however, for an external camera shutter. Inside the phone is the 262,000-color TFT display. As previously mentioned, its smaller (1.75 inches diagonally) than many other 3G phones, and at 176x220 pixels, it also has a lower resolution. While its perfectly fine for scrolling through menus, playing games, and taking photos, it wont do justice to the streaming video. You can change the backlighting time, the brightness, and the font size and color. Yet like most Samsung displays, its difficult to see in direct light. The navigation controls and the keypad buttons take cues from the Samsung SGH-ZX10 as well. The four-way toggle is a bit small, and the OK button in its center instead acts as a Web browser shortcut when in standby mode rather than opening the main menu. We liked, however, that the toggle can be set to give one-touch access to four user-defined functions. Immediately above the toggle are two thin controls that activate the camera and open a secondary shortcut menu. While the keys were user-friendly, their placement above the two soft keys was confusing because we kept pressing them to activate the command on the screen. On the other hand, the actual soft keys are large, as are the Talk and End/power buttons and also the dedicated Clear control. The backlit keypad buttons are large, easy to read, and well spaced, but theyre flush with the surface of the phone, which made dialing by feel difficult. The Samsung SGH-ZX20s phone book holds a hefty 1,000 contacts, while the SIM card holds an additional 250 names. Each entry holds five phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, a Web address, a birthday, a job title and company, a nickname, and notes. You can organize callers into groups and pair them with one of 5 polyphonic (64-chord) or 10 MP3 ring tones. You can also assign photos to a contact, but as previously mentioned, they wont appear on the external display. Other features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, an alarm clock, a daily and weekly calendar with an event scheduler and a task list, a calculator, a unit converter, a world clock, and a speakerphone. Instant messaging is on board as well with options for AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ, and in an improvement over the Samsung SGH-ZX10, theres full Bluetooth 2.0. As we said earlier, the SGH-ZX20 follows the LG CU500 as Cingulars second HSDPA phone. A step above the 3G UMTS network on the SGH-ZX10, HSDPA is a 3.5G technology that essentially brings wireless broadband data speeds to a cell phone. Cingular is promising speeds of 400Kbps to 700Kbps for its HSDPA network, which allows for steaming video and quick downloads. The ZX20 supports Cingular Video, and its full assortment of programming that includes news clips, weather reports, and sports recaps. The Samsung SGH-ZX20 has a rotating camera lens. The Samsung SGH-ZX20 has a 1.3-megapixel digital camera. You can take pictures in four resolutions (1,280x1,024; 640x480; 320x240; and 176x144) and use such features as a multishot and mosaic-shot options, four quality settings, brightness and white-balance effects, spot metering, three lighting effects, 50 fun frames, three ISO settings, a self-timer, and a 4X zoom. Take note, however, that zoom is not an option at the largest resolutions. The camcorder shoots clips in two resolutions, 176x144 and 128x96, with sound; editing options are on a par with the still cameras. Videos sent for MMS messages are capped at 20 seconds, or you can record for as long as an hour. Once youre done with your shots and clips, you can save them to the phones 40MB of shared memory or to a MicroSD card. The Samsung SGH-ZX20 has decent if slightly washed-out photo quality. If youd rather just listen to some tunes, the Samsung SGH-ZX10 has a music player with support for MP3, AAC, and RealOne files, which you can store on the TransFlash card. The interface is Spartan, but it does the trick if you need aural entertainment in short stints. You can personalize the SGH-ZX20 with a variety of wallpaper and background colors. You can purchase more options and more ring tones from Cingular. As for gaming, there are demo versions of five Java (J2ME) titles: Midnight Pool, Bowling 3D, Asphalt Urban GT 3D, The Last Age, and Power Inline X. If you want the full games or more choices, youll have to buy them. We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; UMTS 800/1900) Samsung SGH-ZX20 world phone in San Francisco using Cingular Wireless service. Call quality was quite good and comparable with that of its predecessor, the Samsung SGH-ZX10. Callers could tell we were using a cell phone, but the handset performed admirably with little static, interference, or disruption. Volume quality was acceptable as well, and we experienced decent speakerphone and Bluetooth calls. With the HSDPA network, downloads of games and ring tones was lightning quick. Web browsing was somewhat sluggish, however, and HSDPA coverage faded in and out when inside buildings. The SGH-ZX20 also supports UMTS, EDGE, and GPRS networks. At the time of this writing, our test phone wasnt approved to access Cingular Video to assess the streaming-video quality. Check back soon for a full report. The Samsung SGH-Z20 has a rated talk time of 4 hours and a promised standby time of 10 days. Our tests revealed a talk time of 3 hours and 53 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the SGH-ZX20 has a digital SAR rating of 0.76 watts per kilogram. ),
(972,Sony Ericsson K790i, , The Sony Ericsson K790i is a variant of the Sony Ericsson K790a. It has the same design and features except that it is a triband (GSM 900/1800/1900) world phone. Please see our review of the K790a for a full assessment. ),
(973,Motorola Razr Maxx, Note: This product is part of the Motorola Razr series. ., For more on the Motorola Motorazr Maxx, please see our new Motorola Razr line show. ),
(974,Nokia N73,Positives: The Nokia N73 boasts a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, an integrated music player, a vibrant screen, Bluetooth, and a speakerphone. The phone also had extra-long talk time, battery life, and decent call quality. Negatives: The Nokia N73s keypad is a bit cramped. Also, it lacks Wi-Fi and runs slowly when switching between apps or performing multimedia functions. Facts: The Nokia N73 offers a high-quality camera phone plus some nice extras in a stylish package, but its sluggish performance keeps us from giving it higher praises. Note: This product is part of the Nokia N series. ., The quality of camera phones has come a long way since their inception, and we think its fair to say that Nokia has been one of the manufacturers leading the charge. The companys entire N series of \"multimedia computers\" is proof, as they offer high-quality lenses and vast imaging features. The latest model weve seen is the Nokia N73. As the successor to the N70, the N73 ups the ante with an excellent 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder and more internal memory. It also offers music playback, integrated Bluetooth, and a number of productivity tools based on the Symbian OS platform. Unfortunately, our initial love faded somewhat as the N73 suffered from sluggish performance in our tests--nothing show-stopping but brief delays here and there added up to some Sony Ericsson K800i Cyber Shot. As of this writing, no U.S. carriers offer the Nokia N73, so you will have to pay a hefty $600 or so for an unlocked version of the phone. The Nokia N73 sports an attractive candy bar-style design thats available in two stylish color schemes: silver/deep plum and frost white/metallic red. (We reviewed the former.) Its the same size (4.3 by 1.9 by 0.7 inches; 4/1 ounces) as the Sony Ericsson K800i, which is to say that its not the most compact phone weve seen, but its still fairly sleek. The camera lens cover on the back of the phone also adds a bit of extra bulk, but nothing too overwhelming. Plus, the N73 has a solid construction and is comfortable to hold to the ear while talking on the phone.The N73 boasts a beautiful 2.4-inch (diagonal) QVGA screen that displays 262,144 hues at a 240x320-pixel resolution. That translates to bright colors and sharp text and images. Its also readable in direct sunlight. You can change the displays theme and backlight time, but theres no way to increase font size, which may cause some problems for users with impaired eyesight. We found the Nokia N73s keypad to be a bit cramped. The numerical keypad and navigation controls sit below the screen. There are two soft keys, Talk and End buttons, and a five-way joystick for scrolling through the menu; pressing the joysticks causes it to act as a select key. Along the perimeter of the number keys are four more controls: shortcuts to the Menu and Edit function are on the left side, while the Multimedia button and Clear key are on the right side (see image above). With the exception of this last set of buttons, the keys and layout are a bit small and cramped. Thats particularly disappointing since theres about 1/4-inch of extra space between the screen and the navigation keypad that could have been used for roomier keys. Instead, we suffered several misdials and launched unwanted apps. On the upside, the backlighting is nice and bright. On the right spine, you will find the camera capture key, a review button to view the last saved image or video clip, and a zoom in/out rocker that also doubles as a volume controller. To store all your multimedia files, theres a miniSD expansion slot on the bottom of the N73. Its protected by an attached cover, which we certainly appreciate, but its really difficult to remove--having longer nails helps. That said, were glad Nokia placed the expansion slot on the exterior of the phone rather than behind the battery like it does with some of its other models. Hope youve got some nails to pry open the mini SD card slot cover. The camera lens is located on the back, and it too is protected by a cover. To activate the camera, just slide the cover downward. The screen goes into landscape mode automatically and acts as a viewfinder. As a result, youre naturally inclined to turn the phone horizontally to take photos. Now, with the camera capture key and zoom keys at the top, the N73 looks and feels like a standalone digital camera. Admittedly, its a little awkward to take vertical snapshots this way, but you get the hang of it after a few tries. While theres no self-portrait mirror, the Nokia N73 offers you something better--a second camera. Its located just above the screen in the upper right corner. The N73 doesnt have a self-portrait mirror, but theres no need since it has a second camera for that purpose. Nokia packages the N73 with most of the basic accessories, including an AC adapter, a USB cable, a stereo headset, a wrist strap, a wipe cloth, Nokia PC Suite software, and reference material. The only thing wed add to our wish list is a miniSD card. Like its N-series siblings, the N80 and the N93, the Nokia N73s imaging capabilities is what makes it a multimedia computer (as Nokia calls it), but we don't forget that it is first and foremost a phone. As such, well start with those capabilities. The address book is limited only by the available memory (42MB) and the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts. Theres room in each entry for multiple phone numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail addresses, birthday, and more vitals. For caller ID, you can assign each contact to a photo, one of 30 ring tones, or a group ID. The N73 also has speed dial, voice command support, a vibrate mode (called Pager profile on this phone), a speakerphone, and text and multimedia messaging. The N73 is equipped with Bluetooth 2.0 for wireless headsets and car kits. You can also use the device as a modem to send or receive e-mail, or to connect to the Web with a compatible PC. Unfortunately, unlike the N80, the N73 does not have Wi-Fi. While this is disappointing, we were still able surf the Net using a GPRS or EDGE connection, so youre not completely left in the cold. The N73 runs Symbian OS 9.1 so you get the basic PIM capabilities and more. Theres a calendar, a to-do list, notes, a calculator, a voice recorder, a currency converter, and an HTML/XHTML Web browser. An app called Quickoffice lets you view (but not edit) Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files; plus, Adobe Reader is there for PDFs. The N73 is also equipped to handle e-mail capabilities. The phone supports SMTP, IMAP4, and POP3 accounts with full attachment viewing and mobile VPN support for corporate users. Finally, the Nokia PC Suite helps you synchronize your N73 with your PC (using the included USB cable) to manage appointments, music, device memory, and more. The Nokia N73 boasts a 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, a flash, and 20X digital zoom. Now, without further ado: the multimedia show. The Nokia N73 ups the ante slightly compared to the Nokia N80 by offering a 3.2-megapixel camera versus a 3-megapixel camera. It features a Carl Zeiss Optics lens, an autofocus function, and 20X digital zoom. Once again, were blown away by the vast array of photo customization and editing options available on the N73. You can choose from eight scene modes, ranging from portrait to sports to night portrait; four image qualities (large, medium, small, and multimedia messages); and five resolutions (2,048 by 1,536, 1,600 by 1,200, 1,280 by 960, and 800 by 600, 640 by 480). You can tweak the brightness, contrast, white balance, color tone, and exposure value. Theres also a self-timer, sequence mode for up to six pictures in a row, and flash with red-eye reduction as one of the options. As we mentioned earlier, theres a second camera, which is of VGA quality and features a 2X digital zoom. The N73s camera captures video with sound in MP4 or 3GP formats with up to 4X zoom. You get a choice of two shooting modes (auto and night) and three quality settings (high, normal, and sharing). In addition, there are white balance and color tone controls.Once youre done with your photos and videos, you can touch them up with the preloaded editors. For photos, you can add clip art or text, resize the image, reduce red eye, and more. For videos, your editing options include changing sound, trimming clips for multimedia messages, and more. You have several methods of sharing your masterpieces with others. In addition to being able to e-mail or save your images, you can use some of Nokias Xpress Solutions to print photos, upload them to the Web, or transfer them to other devices. Theres also a slideshow gallery and we really like that you can add music to play in the background. Overall, we thought the N73 took excellent snapshots for a camera phone. Colors popped from the images and lines were clearly defined. Video quality could use a bit of improvement, though, as clips were a bit washed out and grainy. We were impressed by the high-quality images produced by the Nokia N73. For more entertainment, the N73 comes with an integrated music player that supports MP3, AAC, WMA, m4a, and eAAC+ files. To get tracks onto your handset, you simply drag and drop files from your PC to the N73 via the included USB cable. The mobile has an equalizer and you can loop songs or play them at random. Theres also an FM radio, but you must use the included stereo headset to take advantage of this feature since the tuner is built into the headset. RealPlayer is also available with 3GPP and MPEG4 video streaming support. We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; WCDMA 2100) Nokia N73 in San Francisco using Cingular service and in general, call quality was good. On our end, callers sounded a bit hollow, but we were able to carry on with the phone call. Our friends said they could hear us loud and clear and couldnt even tell we were using a cell phone. Activating the speakerphone diminished the audio quality just slightly, as an echo plagued both ends of the conversation. Unfortunately, as weve experienced with some other Nokia phones, the N73 suffered from sluggish performance when switching between apps or performing its multimedia capabilities. There was a noticeable lag when we called up different menus and activated the camera or music player. In fact, the phone completely froze on us one time as we tried to switch to video mode. Though the delays are relatively short, it still gets annoying and frustrating over time. Music playback was decent, although the included set of uncomfortable earbuds leave much to be desired.The Nokia N73 is rated for 4.1 hours of talk time and up to 14.6 days of standby time. In our tests, the N73 blew the rated talk time out of the water by clocking in 9.5 hours--good news for all you chatty Cathys out there. ),
(975,Wherifone G560,Positives: The Wherify Wherifone G560 offers respectable audio quality and a solid set of user-friendly parental controls including a GPS location service. Negatives: The Wherify Wherifone G50 is tiny and has a dull design with small, slippery keys. The GPS location service wasnt always accurate either. Facts: While the Wherify Wherifone G560 makes a good effort as a kid-friendly phone, its boring design and uneven GPS performance were uninspiring. Note: This product is part of the Wherifone G560 series. ., At some point in the last couple of years, a group of people sat around and decided that preteen kids were the next target market for cell phones. But instead of pushing fancy handsets with high-end features on the tykes, the group appealed directly to parents with the promise of tiny, simple phones that only made calls while ditching pricey extras such as cameras and outgoing text messaging. The result was phones including the Firefly for Cingular and the LG Migo VX1000 for Verizon. Not only are these handsets decidedly basic, they also feature parental controls for restricting the phones use. Now enter the long-promised Wherifone G560 from Wherify Wireless. Like its counterparts, the Wherifone is tiny and minimally designed and does only what a cell phone should do. It also comes with parental restrictions, and like with the Migo, parents can also track and locate the phone on an online map. Overall its a solid effort, but we still have to give our props to the cuter and higher-functioning Migo. And we wouldnt recommend it for a kid above age 12. The Wherifone is $99.95 but then you must buy blocks of prepaid airtime. The plans range from $19.95 for 60 units--each good for either a minute of calling time or one inbound text message--to $26.95 for 100 units. We can say off the bat we werent in love with the Wherifones design. While the previous kid-friendly phones we reviewed had curvy designs with few angles, the rectangular Wherifone has a lot of straight lines and sharp corners. Our review phone came in a dull grey color, but you can get the handset in black, pink, blue, or light purple. At 2.5 by 1.5 by 0.6 inches and 2.4 ounces, the handset is exceptionally tiny--even smaller than the Firefly. Though that means it will fit in kid-size pockets and hands, its also so small that it could be lost easily. Also, while Wherifone is marketing the handset to seniors as well, its ridiculously minuscule for adult use (think Ben Stillers petite phone in Zoolander). Its worth noting that the external antenna is almost a third as big as the phone itself. Yet on the upside, the handset doesnt feel flimsy.The phones rectangular display is also tiny, but Wherify did what it could with the phones size. The monochrome screen manages to pack in a lot of information including the date, time, battery life, and signal strength. Yet we were puzzled theres no caller ID. The icon-based menu interface is simple and relatively easy to use, despite the fact that some of the icons didnt make sense at first. Theres no missed calls list or voicemail, so if the phone is off, you get a recorded message to call again later. The Wherifone has a unique keypad. Like the Firefly and the Migo, the Wherifone has a nontraditional navigation array and keypad. Just below the display is a long, thin Menu/OK button that accesses the main menu and selects individual options inside the menu. The Wherifone has only five buttons for dialing numbers, and here again each button dials just one phone number automatically. So if you set the 1 button to dial your work number, your child has to press the corresponding button, then confirm the choice with the OK key. While three buttons are labeled 1 through 3, the other two are labeled with a phone-book icon and a red circle with the letters SOS. The former acts as a mini phone book that you can program with up to 20 numbers, while the latter is meant for dialing an emergency number such as 911 (but you don't have to use that). The End button, which also acts as a Back key, sits in the middle of the keypad buttons. Overall the buttons are tactile, but their hard, plastic covering made them a bit slippery. Also, theyre small for adult-size fingers. Completing the outside of the phone are a volume rocker on the left spine and a power button on the right spine. The volume rocker was particularly difficult to manipulate.The Wherifones parental controls are on a par with those of other kid-friendly phones. Parents can set the five keypad buttons to dial whichever phone numbers they choose. Fortunately, all input is via Wherifys Web site, which, provided you have full-time Internet access, makes it easy and hassle-free. Parents can also use the site to send their kids a text message, but their offspring cannot send a message in return. The Wherifone can, however, receive calls from numbers not recorded in the online book. While Wherify says the unlisted callers will have to go through an 800 number to place a call, we were able to place a call directly from a strange number. Also, keep in mind the Wherifone doesnt have caller ID.Kids do get a few controls they can manipulate. They can select from ringing or vibrate mode, choose one of seven ring tones, adjust the display contrast and backlight time, change the volume for calls and ring tones, activate a keypad lock, and set the date and time.The Wherifone comes with full GPS capability to locate your child via Wherifys Web site. After logging on, youre presented with a choice of locating the phone just once or locating it a set number of times every few minutes with the Breadcrumb function. After a location is established--its worth noting that the phone must be on for you to do so--you get a map showing the phones purported location (you can see an aerial photos as well). Wed rate the location system as only marginally effective. Out of five tries, two instances put us smack in the middle of San Francisco Bay, a good two miles from our downtown offices. We cant imagine any parent would enjoy imagining their child afloat in the water. Two other attempts put us a couple of blocks away, which was better, while the remaining try had us just outside the front door. All locations took a minute or so to complete.We tested the triband (GSM 850/1800/1900) Wherify Wherifone in San Francisco using Cingulars service. Currently Wherifone partners with PetroCom, a wireless carrier in the Gulf Coast states to provide service. If youre outside of that area, youll operate on Cingulars roaming network. Call quality was better than we expected. The volume in particular was quite loud, but the audio in general was clear and static-free. Voices did take on a mechanical quality, and there was a noticeable hiss at higher levels. On their end, callers could hear us plainly, but it was very clear to them we were using a cell phone as well. Audio quality in windy conditions diminished a bit, but for what it is, the Wherifone had effective call quality on the whole.The Wherifone has a rated battery life of five hours talk time and four days standby time. In our tests, we got about four hours of talk battery life. Whiles thats not quite the promised time, its still respectable for such a small phone. Yet we noticed that the Wherifone displayed a low-power notice on the screen when the battery meter still looked to be half full. According to FCC radiation tests, the Wherifone has a digital SAR rating of 0.94 watts per kilogram. ),
(976,Nokia 6019i - cellular phone - CDMA / AMPS, , The Nokia 6019i is a basic candy bar phone from U.S. Cellular. It measures 4.26 by 0.91 by 1.96 inches and weighs 3.87 ounces. It has a 4,000-color screen and comes with text messaging, a 250-entry address book, basic PIM functions, and GPS support. It has a rated talk time of up to 3.7 hours and a rated standby time of up to 4.5 days. The Nokia 6019i retails for $169.95, but you can get it for $9.95 after a two-year service agreement with U.S. Cellular. ),
(977,LG AX355, , The LG AX355 is a 1.3-megapixel camera phone from Alltel Wireless. It measures 1.85 by 3.62 by 0.89 inches and weighs 3.8 ounces. It has a monochrome external display that displays battery and signal strength, the date and time, and caller ID; the display acts as a self-portrait viewfinder when the flip is closed. It features the aforementioned 1.3-megapixel camera, as well as support for Touch2Talk, Alltels walkie-talkie service. Other features include text and multimedia messaging, Bluetooth, speakerphone, voice dialing, a 500-entry address book, e-mail, wireless Web browser, and basic PIM functions. The LG AX355 has a rated talk time of up to 3.5 hours and a rated standby time of 9.5 days. It retails for $219.99, but you can get it for $69.99 with a two-year service agreement with Alltel Wireless. ),
(978,LG UX5000, , The LG UX5000 is a basic camera phone from U.S. Cellular. It measures a compact 3.50 by 1.85 by 0.91 inches and weighs 3.35 ounces. It has a backlit external LCD that displays battery and signal strength, the date and time, and caller ID; it also acts as a self-portrait viewfinder when the flip is closed. When open, the phone reveals a 65,000-color internal display, along with a dedicated camera button. Features of the phone include a VGA camera with flash, video capture and playback, text and multimedia messaging, speakerphone, voice dialing, a 499-entry address book, e-mail, wireless Web, and basic PIM functions. The UX5000 has a rated talk time of up to three hours and a rated standby time of up to six days. It retails for $349.95, but you can get it for $99.95 with a two-year service agreement with U.S. Cellular. ),
(979,LG UX4750, , The LG UX4750 is a pretty basic flip phone for U.S. Cellular, but it does support SpeedTalk, U.S. Cellulars walkie-talkie service. It measures 3.79 by 0.89 by 1.94 inches and weighs 3.7 ounces. It has an external grayscale display that displays information, such as battery and signal strength, time, and caller ID. The UX4750 has a 65,000-color internal display, GPS support, a 500-entry address book, a speakerphone, voice command, voice memos, and basic PIM functions. It has a rated talk time of up to three hours and a standby time of 4.6 days. The LG AX390 retails for $349.95, but you can get it for $79.95 after a two-year service agreement with Alltel. ),
(980,LG AX5000, , The LG AX5000 is a basic camera phone from Alltel Wireless. It measures a compact 3.50 by 1.85 by 0.91 inches and weighs 3.35 ounces. It has a backlit external LCD that displays battery and signal strength, the date and time, and caller ID; it also acts as a self-portrait viewfinder when the flip is closed. When open, the phone reveals a 65,000-color internal display, along with a dedicated camera button. Features of the phone include a VGA camera with flash, video capture and playback, text and multimedia messaging, speakerphone, voice dialing, a 499-entry address book, e-ail, wireless Web, and basic PIM functions. The AX5000 has a rated talk time of up to three hours and a rated standby time of up to six days. It retails for $199.99, but you can get it for $74.99 with a two-year service agreement with Alltel Wireless. ),
(981,LG AX4270, , The LG AX4270 is lacking on features, but it serves as a decent entry-level flip phone for Alltel Wireless. It measures 3.27 by 1.76 by 0.91 inches and weighs 3.21 ounces. Although its external screen is monochrome, it still displays the necessary information, such as battery and signal strength, time, and caller ID. The internal display on the AX4270 has support for 65,000 colors and 128x128 pixels. The phone features a full-duplex speakerphone; voice dialing; voice recording; support for 32-chord, polyphonic ring tones; a vibrate mode; a 500-entry address book; text messaging; a wireless Web browser; e-mail; and basic PIM tools. The rated talk time of the AX4270 is 2.8 hours while the rated standby time is up to seven days. The LG AX4270 retails for $154.99, but you can get it for a mere $1 after a two-year service agreement with Alltel Wireless. ),
(982,LG AX390, , The LG AX390 is a pretty basic flip phone for Alltel Wireless. It measures 1.8 by 3.3 by 0.9 inches and weighs 3.2 ounces. It has an external backlit display with a color filter that displays information such as battery and signal strength, time, and caller ID, plus a full-color internal display. Its quite sparse feature-wise, having only the basics, such as text messaging, a vibrate mode, a wireless Web browser, e-mail, basic PIM tools, and a speakerphone. However it does come with voice recognition, as well as Touch2Talk, which is Alltels walkie-talkie network, similar to that of Sprint Nextels Push-to-Talk (PTT) network. It has a rated talk time of up to three hours and a standby time of up to four days and 14 hours. The LG AX390 retails for $169.99, but you can get it for $59.99 after a two-year service agreement with Alltel. ),
(983,Nokia E62,Positives: The Nokia E62 boasts a vibrant and sharp screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and a full array of wireless options (Bluetooth, UMTS). The Symbian smart phone also has solid call quality, a speakerphone, the ability to view and edit Office documents, and robust e-mail capabilities. Negatives: The Nokia E62s miniSD slot is located inconveniently behind the battery cover, and the device was sometimes sluggish when switching between apps. Theres no camera option, either. Facts: The Nokia E62 certainly isnt for everyone, but with its powerful productivity apps, connectivity options, and solid call quality, the smart phone will make a good addition to a corporate users arsenal. Note: This product is part of the Nokia E series. ., After nearly a year of waiting, Nokia officially announced today its plans to bring the E series to the United States--well, sort of. The company did not release information on a specific carrier, pricing, or an exact release date, but only confirmed that the smart phones will be hitting U.S. shores soon, starting with the Nokia E62. We had the opportunity to check out the E62, which is similar to its global/European variant, the Nokia E61 that we reviewed earlier this month. The E62 is a powerful smart phone, equipped with productivity apps, a plethora of wireless options, and good call quality. Though it has its similarities to the the Motorola Q and BlackBerrys (slim design, full QWERTY keyboard), the E62 is definitely best suited for the corporate user who needs a fully loaded device for working on the road. We will continue to update this review as we get more details about the carrier, pricing, and final software. With its slim profile and full QWERTY keyboard, the Nokia E62 bears more than a striking resemblance to the Motorola Q and the RIM BlackBerry 8700 series, but thats not to say the smart phone doesnt have its own personality--with both good points and bad. Its an attractive device overall, with an all-silver casing that makes it appropriate for the business set. At 4.6 by 2.7 by 0.5 inches and 5 ounces, the E62 is slightly bigger than the Moto Q, and will take some acclimation to use as a phone because it has a wider, blockier body. There are three buttons on the left spine--Volume Up, Volume Down, and Voice Record--but nothing on the right side, where we looked instinctively for a jog dial and a Back button like those found on the Q and BlackBerrys. We missed these controls, and their absence made it harder to use the E62 one-handed. Also, a Hold button would have been nice, since it was fairly easy to trigger the voice record function, and we ended up with a handful of useless recordings. The E62s 2.8-inch screen shows off vibrant colors and sharp text. The E62s 2.8-inch screen certainly demands attention. Its large and bright with a 320x240 pixel resolution and 16-million-color output. Text and images looked excellent, and even better, it was still readable in sunlight; you can also adjust the backlighting and contrast. Just be aware that its not a touch screen, so keep this in mind as youre shopping around for your new smart phone. You can enter all of the E62s commands via the navigation array below the screen and the full QWERTY keyboard. The array consist of left and right selection keys, Talk and End buttons for phone calls, a Menu shortcut, an e-mail launch key, and a four-way navigation joystick that acts as an OK button when you press it. We found all controls well spaced and easy to use, and theyre large enough that even users with larger digits shouldnt have too many mishaps. For the most part, we had the same praises for the keyboard as well. The buttons are fairly large, although the layout isnt quite as roomy as on the Q, particularly the bottom row. Still, we didnt have any problems firing off quick notes and messages, and the keys are adequately backlit for typing in darker environments. Our only complaint would be that the keys felt a bit stiff to press. As a business-centric device, the Nokia E62 doesnt come equipped with a camera, although some may still want to have this option. It does have a miniSD expansion slot, but its inconveniently located behind the battery cover on the left side; the one upside is you don't actually have to remove the whole battery. The accessories included with the E62 will vary depending on the market; ours came with a USB cable, an AC adapter, a miniSD card, a software CD, and reference material. Packed with powerful productivity apps and wireless options, the Nokia E62 is sure to be a corporate crowd pleaser. The E62 runs Symbian OS 9.1, Series 60 third edition, and comes with full support for viewing and editing Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents--an advantage it holds over the Moto Q. We used the included USB cable to transfer all three types of files to the E62 and had no problems opening them; we were pleased that little, if any, formatting was lost. In particular we were pleased to find we could edit the documents, including the PowerPoint presentations, which is a feature you wont find on too many devices. If thats not enough, theres a Screen Export function that allows you to display the E62s screen via a compatible projector. The smart phone also works with Adobe Reader and Zip Manager, and comes with your basic PIM apps and organization tools, such as a calendar, notes, a calculator, a clock, a voice recorder, and a currency converter. Theres 75MB of built-in memory, which is a bit on the lower side, but its helped by the miniSD slot. Though inconveniently located behind the battery cover, we appreciate the inclusion of a miniSD card slot. The E62 has robust e-mail capabilities with support for Microsoft Exchange Server, POP3, IMAP, and SMTP accounts, and a full attachment viewer. You can get real-time message delivery through a number of push e-mail solutions, including Intellisync Wireless E-mail, BlackBerry Connect, GoodLink, Visto, and Seven Always-On Mail. A small LED above the screen, as well as a pop-up box, alert you to new messages. Theres also a mobile VPN client so that you can securely tap into your corporate server. The E62 also works with popular instant-messaging clients, such as Yahoo and AOL, and is text and multimedia message capable.Wireless connectivity comes in many flavors, including Bluetooth, quadband GSM/GPRS, 3G technology (UMTS), and infrared. We like that Bluetooth isnt limited to just hands-free headsets; you can use it for file transfers and dial-up networking, so you can use the phone as a modem to get your Bluetooth-enabled PDA or laptop connected to the Internet. Yet theres no support for the A2DP stereo profile. When surfing the Web with the device, you can configure the E62 to connect via GPRS in the Settings menu. The Web browser is worth a mention. Like the one found on the Nokia N80, the E62s browser will present you with a thumbnail of the full Web page so that you can easily navigate to a certain point on the site, rather than having to scroll all over the place. You can also download RSS feeds and blogs, bookmark sites, block pop-up ads, and more. Finally, the E62 has support for UMTS (or WCDMA) 3G technology, which brings data (text, video, and so on) transmission speeds of up to 2Mbps. Though not available nationwide in the United States yet, Cingular is rolling out its UMTS network slowly.As a phone, the Nokia E62 offers a speakerphone, speed dial, and voice commands, plus it supports VoIP calls. The E62s address book is limited only by the available memory, and each entry has room for multiple numbers, an e-mail address, home and work addresses, a Web URL, and so forth. For caller ID purposes, you can pair a contact with a photo (although youll have to transfer images onto the phone, since the E62 doesnt have a camera) or a ring tone. Though the E62 is a business device, it can have fun, too. The smart phone is equipped with a decent music player. It plays back MP3, RealAudio, and AAC files and can sort songs by artist, album, genre, or composer. You can also create playlists right on the device, set songs on random or repeat mode, and tweak the sound settings via the built-in equalizer. For videos, RealPlayer is onboard and is compatible with MPEG-4 and 3GPP formats. Though the E62 lacks a camera, you can view JPEG, BMP, BNG, and GIF files with the included image viewer. Editors note: We are currently testing the Nokia E62, but to give you a general idea of its performance capabilities, please see our assessment of the Nokia E61 below. We will update this section as soon as we have performance results.We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Nokia E61 in San Francisco using Cingulars service, and its call quality was excellent. Our callers said we sounded loud and clear, and we had no problems hearing them as well. Activating the speakerphone diminished the quality just slightly; voices sounded tinny to us, and our friends said there was a bit of feedback on their end. We had no problems pairing the E61 with the Logitech Mobile Traveler Bluetooth headset.Though its performance as a phone was great, the Nokia E61 occasionally slowed to a crawl when opening and switching apps. MP3 playback wasnt bad. Volume was adequate through the phones speakers, but we didnt have a chance to test the quality through a pair of headphones. Video performance was also satisfactory. The Nokia E61 is rated for seven hours of talk time, and we had no problem reaching that claim; in fact, we squeezed another hour out of the phone in our tests. Standby time is rated for as much as 11 days. ),
(984,Motorola V323, , The Motorola V323 is an attractive silver flip phone for US Cellular. Bearing a similar design to that of the Motorola V325, the V323 measures 3.6 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches and weighs 4.1 ounces. The rectangular external display is monochrome, so it does not support photo caller ID.Inside the V323 is a 65,000-color (176x220 pixels) TFT display. Features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, basic PIM functions, a 500-contact phone book, a speakerphone, instant messaging, voice commands, a wireless Web browser, polyphonic ring tones, and a VGA camera. The promised battery life is 2.9 hours of talk time and seven days standby time. The V323 is $99 with service. ),
(985,Motorola V262 (Alltel Wireless), , The Motorola V262 is a standard Motorola flip phone for Alltel Wireless. It supports changeable faceplates, and its relatively mid-sized at 3.5 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches and 3.8 ounces. The rectangular external display is monochrome, but it shows all the necessary information, including the battery-life time, signal strength, and caller ID. Other features include a 65,000-color internal display, a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a wireless Web browser, a speakerphone, polyphonic ring tones, voice dialing, support for POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail and basic PIM functions. The promised battery life is three hours of talk time and 12.5 days standby time. The Motorola V262 is $59 with service. ),
(986,Kyocera Milan KX9C, , The Kyocera Milan KX9C is a basic flip phone for U.S. Cellular. Though its design and silver color scheme are basic, it does feature a unique, external display that runs vertically down the front of the phone. At 3.5 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches and 3.5 ounces, its relatively compact despite the stubby external antenna.Inside the phone is a 65,000-color, 128-by-128-pixel pixel display. Features include a 200-contact phone book, a vibrate mode, text messaging, basic PIM functions, instant messaging, a speakerphone, voice dialing, and a wireless Web browser. The promised battery life is 3.3 hours talk time and 8.3 days standby time. The dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) Kyocera Milan KX9C is priced at $59 with service. ),
(987,Kyocera Candid KX16, , The Kyocera Candid KX16 is midrange flip phone for Alltel Wireless and U.S. Cellular. Clad in basic silver, it measures 3.5 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches and weighs 3.9 ounces. It also sports an external antenna and a rectangular external display that runs vertically down the center of the front flap. The external display is monochrome, but inside youll find a 128-by-128-pixel 65,000-color CSTN display.Features include a 500-contact phone book, a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, basic PIM applications, a speakerphone, voice dialing, support for IMAP4 and POP3 e-mail and a wireless Web browser. The VGA camera takes pictures up to a 640-by-480-pixel resolution and offers a 5x digital zoom, a multishot adjustment, auto-focus, a self timer, a white balance, color effects and fun frames. Its also compatible with the Kyocera K500 gamepad. The promised battery life is 7 hours talk time and 14 days standby time. The dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) Kyocera Candid KX16 is $0.99 with service at Alltel and $36 with service at U.S. Cellular. ),
(988,Samsung SGH-D820, , The Samsung SGH-D820 is the non-U.S. version of the Samsung SGH-T809. While both of them have quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900), or world phone, support, the T809 was made specifically for T-Mobile in the United States, while the D820 was meant for the GSM markets in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean islands. Similar in both design and features, theyre both slim slider phones featuring a rotating 1.3-megapixel camera lens, a video recorder, a music player, Bluetooth, and more. Check out our review of the Samsung SGH-T809 for more details. ),
(989,Kyocera Oystr,Positives: The Kyocera Oystr is a basic phone that comes with text messaging, a speakerphone, and a wireless Web browser. Its a well-designed phone with easy-to-press buttons. Negatives: The Kyocera Oystr has a small lackluster display and no external screen. Facts: The basic Kyocera Oystr doesnt have a lot of features or an external display, but it does what a phone should do. , Kyocera has partnered with Virgin for quite a number of phones, including the Kyocera Switch Back and the Kyocera Slider Sonic. Now Kyocera has yet another phone with Virgin Mobile, the Kyocera Oystr. So named because of its pearly-white exterior, theres not much else to the Oystr aside from basic features, but that should be enough for those who want a phone without all the bells and whistles. The Oystr is currently available for $29.99. The Kyocera Oystr has a pearly-white exterior. As we mentioned, the Oystr has a pearly-white exterior thats reminiscent of its namesake. It also has some black accents and smooth, rounded corners. Measuring at 4.3 by 2 by 1 inches, the Oystr is a compact handset that fits easily in a pants pocket. It feels great in the hand and cradles comfortably when held against the ear. It has a headset jack and a stubby antenna on top, while a volume rocker rests on its left spine. Were a little disappointed, however, that the Oystr doesnt have an external screen to facilitate caller ID. As a result, you must open the phone to see who your callers are.Speaking of displays, the small and lackluster internal display was a letdown. It measures 1.75 inches diagonally, and though it supports 65,000 colors, it simply doesnt compare to other cell phone displays with similar specifications. We did find the user interface easy to understand, and we liked that you could change the menu style to icon or list view. You can change the contrast and backlight timer, but you cant change the font size or the brightness of the display.Underneath the display are the navigational controls, which consist of two soft keys and a five-way toggle that doubles as shortcuts to your Virgin account, text messaging, recent calls, and Virgin XL, Virgins Web portal. Below those keys are the Talk key, a dedicated speakerphone button, a Back button, and the End/Power button, followed by the number keypad. All the keys were tactile, rounded, raised above the surface, and really easy to press and dial by feel. The Kyocera Oystr comes with an address book, and each contact can store up to six numbers, two e-mail addresses, two Web addresses, two street addresses, and a note and can be assigned a photo or one of four included polyphonic ring tones. Since you cant take photos with the phone, youll have to use one of the included graphics as a replacement. You can also organize the contacts by caller groups and assign photos and ring tones to the groups. Other Oystr features include a speakerphone that can be turned on only after a call is made, text messaging, a vibrate mode, automatic redial, voice dialing, the wireless Web, voice recording, a scheduler, an alarm clock, a calculator, a tip calculator, a timer, and a stop watch.The Oystr provides easy single-button access to your Virgin account to see how much money is available on your prepaid account. Theres also Virgin XL, which is Virgins entertainment and information Web portal that lets you personalize your cell phone. You can access exclusive content in terms of wallpaper, screensavers, ring tones, and voicemail greetings courtesy of media outlets such as MTV and Comedy Central. Included games are Brick Attack and Race 21, though you can also purchase more via Virgin XL. We tested the Kyocera Oystr (CDMA 800/1900, AMPS 800) in the San Francisco area using the Virgin Mobile network. Calls sounded pretty good, though we did experience some interference occasionally. Callers heard us loud and clear for the most part as well. The speakerphone was surprisingly good although we had to speak loudly for the callers to hear us. The Kyocera Oystr has a rated talk time of 3.6 hours and a standby time of 8 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the Kyocera Oystr has a digital SAR rating of 0.94 watts per kilogram. ),
(990,Motorola C139,Positives: The Motorola C139 is easy to use and attractively designed, and it offers solid call quality. Negatives: The Motorola C139 has a small phone book, and its navigation controls can be a bit confusing. Facts: The attractive Motorola C139 is a basic user-friendly cell phone for making calls. Just don't expect a lot of features. , Sometimes you want a cell phone thats just a phone with no camera, music player, or fancy offerings to take the attention away from making calls. Thats where handsets like the Motorola C139 come in. Simply crafted and built solely for performing a cell phones intended function, the C139 is a solidly uncomplicated and user-friendly handset for Cingulars Go Phone prepaid service. The C139 is a very reasonable $29 with service.Though the C139s design is basic and functional, it does have a bit of style. We like the basic black color scheme and the rounded corners that give it an aerodynamic look. While compact and easily portable (4.0 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches), it also weighs a bit more than we thought (3 ounces), which gives it a solid and comfortable feel in the hand. Other good points include the rubberized sidings that line each spine and the absence of an external antenna. The C139s display is small at 1.25 inches diagonally, but its nonetheless bright and colorful, with support for 65,000 hues. You can change the backlighting time and the contrast, and though the menu font may be a bit small for some users, the dialing font is rather large. And speaking of menus, its worth noting that the C139s interface is simple and utilitarian. Beyond the simple animation, don't expect any flashy graphics or a choice of menu styles. You can, however, change the order of the menu choices.Our only real complaint concerns the navigation array. Though the controls, which include a five-way toggle, two soft keys, and the talk and end/power buttons, are tactile and well-sized for the C139s small form factor, an annoying quirk made them less intuitive. For example, while the button in the middle of the toggle opens the main menu, you must then shift your finger up to the left soft key to select certain menu items. Though we got used to the constant finger switching eventually, the reasoning behind such a design choice baffled us. We think it would be easier if the menu button doubled as the OK key (as is the case on many cell phones). Still, we like that the toggle is raised above the surface of the phone and that its covered in a rubberized material. Only the two soft keys and each numeric button can be set as user-defined shortcuts while the up and down directions on the toggle open the phone book automatically. Theres no dedicated back button, but the right soft key serves that purpose when in a menu.The backlight keypad buttons are easy to use; as well as being large, theyre covered in rubbery material and raised above the surface of the phone. The only other features on the exterior of the C139 are a headset jack on the left spine and a charger port on the bottom end. Since theres no volume rocker on the C139s spine, you have to remove the phone from your face and change the volume via the navigation toggle. The Motorola C139 has a simple yet attractive design. \t The C139 comes with a tiny phone book that holds just 100 contacts. Though that may be sufficient for many prepaid users, its pretty small if youre popular, particularly since each entry holds just one phone number. The SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts, but we were hoping for more space since many people have multiple phone numbers. There are no caller groups, and you cant assign individual ring tones to specific callers. Other features were minimal, but you get most of the essentials, including a vibrate mode, speed dialing, text messaging, a calculator, a currency converter, a stopwatch, a calendar with a day and week views, and an alarm clock. The only thing we really missed was a speakerphone, which is an increasingly common feature even on the most basic phones.You can personalize the C139 with a small selection of wallpapers and screensavers. Theres no wireless Web browser, so you cant download any new options if you tire of what comes on the phone. Yet you can compose your own ring tones if you want more choices beyond the included 20 monophonic melodies. Surprisingly, the C139 comes with three simple games (Spring Ball, Soccer, and Maze) but gameplay can be a little tedious on such a small display. A final offbeat feature is that you can use the display as a light for moments when youre lost in the dark.We tested the dual-band (GSM 850/1900) in San Francisco using Cingulars service. Call quality was decent overall with few patchy moments and little interference. We also had no trouble getting a signal. Occasionally voices sounded a bit echoed and the volume may be too low for some users. On their end, callers could understand us plainly, and they could hear us in a variety of environments.Motorola promises length battery life with the C139: up to 11 hours of talk time and up to 18.75 days of standby time. In our tests, we managed to get an astonishing 11.5 hours of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the C139 has a digital SAR rating of 1.45 watts per kilogram. ),
(991,LG AX490,Positives: The LG AX490 has a sleek design, a solid midrange feature set, and good performance. It also offers an intriguing new alphanumeric keypad. Negatives: The LG AX490 has a dim internal display; the new keypad entails a learning curve. Facts: The LG AX490 is a decent midrange cell phone with a new keypad that should appeal to those who text-message frequently. , Though the real story lies inside Alltels LG AX490 phone, you can see at first glance that the handset is designed a bit differently from other flip phones. With sleek, curvy lines and two deliberately placed silver strips that resemble headlights, the AX490 looks a bit like a black race car. The semblance is no accident, as the handset comes with several NASCAR and racing-themed wallpapers, games, and sounds to appeal to your inner racing fan. The AX490 speaks to avid text messengers with the U.S. introduction of the Fastap keypad, which combines a standard 12-button numeric keypad with a full alphabetic keyboard. That alone makes the handset worth a look, but youll also find Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and a VGA camera. The AX490 costs $209 if you pay full price, but you can get it for as low as $29 with service.At 3.7 by 1.9 by 1.0 inches and 3.8 ounces, the AX490 isnt the smallest phone around, but its still compact enough for easy portability. Its relatively slim profile allows it to slip into a front pants pocket without any trouble. A stubby external antenna adds a tad more girth, but the phone is comfortable to hold in the hand while talking. Whats more, its solidly constructed. The postage stamp external display shows 65,000 colors and four lines of text (96x64 pixels). Displayed information includes the time, date, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). It also supports photo caller ID, and you can use it as a viewfinder for self-portraits. To showcase the racing theme, you can set wallpapers of your favorite racers numbers to scroll by as if theyre on the move. Above the display is the VGA camera lens, while the camera flash sits just below it. Stereo speakers are set into the two silver strips at the bottom of the front flap (the ones that resemble headlights). A dedicated camera button is on the right spine, while a volume rocker and voice command/recording buttons rest on the left spine.The internal display isnt particularly impressive. Measuring 1.75 inches diagonally (128x160 pixels), it supports nine lines of text. Though it supports 262,000 colors, it isnt the most high-res screen weve seen. Colors were dim in our tests, and most graphics looked a bit grainy. On the other hand, it was decent for scrolling through the basic LG menus (available in two styles). You can change the backlight time and the font size and color. Below the display are the navigation buttons, which are large and easy to use. A four-way toggle gives one-touch access to the ring-tone menu, the Web browser, Alltels application downloads menu, and the messaging tool. Theres an OK button in the toggles center that in standby mode opens a special My Menu where you can program up to 12 (one of each numeric keypad button) user-defined shortcuts. Flanking the toggle are two soft keys that open the menu and the phone book when the phone is standby mode, while below it are the talk and end/power keys and a dedicated back/speakerphone control--nice. Crazy keys: the AX490 features a new type of keypad. Weve kept you waiting long enough, so its on to the AX490s star attraction: the Fastap keypad by Digit Wireless. Alltel is the first U.S. carrier to offer Fastap and for the most part, we like what we see. Set in the midst of the usual 12-button numeric keys are small round buttons for each letter of the alphabet. Designed for quicker and easier messaging, they essentially give users a full alpha keyboard. For this phone at least, you can forget the usual text-message tap dance that comes from pressing keys multiple times to select the correct letter. The alpha keys are quite tactile, and we like that theyre raised above the numeric keys. Without a doubt, text messaging is quick, though its worth noting that Fastap involves a steep learning curve. Because the letter buttons are arranged in alphabetical order, we hunted around for a while before we remembered the correct location of the letter (we didnt even try typing by feel). Some users may not like this arrangement and be more inclined to use a phone with a QWERTY keyboard, but we think Fastap offers a nice alternative in a compact form factor. The numeric buttons also take some getting used to. Because of the additional letter buttons, the numeric keys are a bit smaller than you might expect, and it was weird at first to reach past the raised letter buttons to press a number. Also, they are a bit slippery. Fortunately, all controls are brightly backlit, and we like that the AX490 has dedicated shift, space, and symbol keys. You can even use the letter keys to dial numbers that use words (as with many 800 numbers), and the phone will convert the letters to numbers automatically. In keeping with the racing theme, the keypad looks a bit like a checkered flag.The AX490 has a 500-contact phone book with room in each entry for five phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, and notes. You can save callers to groups or pair with a phone or one of 31 polyphonic ring tones. Basic offerings include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, an alarm clock, a calendar, LGs handy tip calculator, a notepad, a world clock, a stopwatch, and a calculator. The AX490s higher-end features are admirable. Inside youll find a three-minute voice memo (you can store up to 200 memos), Bluetooth, and a full duplex speakerphone. Aspiring spies can record phone calls. The AX490s external display functions as a self-portrait viewfinder for the VGA camera. The VGA camera is standard for LG phones. You can take pictures in three resolutions (640x480, 320x240, and 160x120) and choose from three quality settings. Other options include a 4X zoom (not available at the highest resolution), a flash, white balance and brightness controls, a multishot feature for taking up to six photos in rapid succession, a three- or five-second self-timer, a night mode, four color effects, and four shutter sounds (plus a silent option). When finished with your photos, you can save them to the phones 12MB of memory or send them to friends. Photo quality is on a par with that of other VGA phones. Colors were muted and object outlines were fuzzy in our test shots. The AX490 has average photo quality for a VGA camera. You can personalize the AX490 with a variety of wallpapers, color themes, and sounds. You can choose from a selection of NASCAR-themed wallpapers and sounds. If you want more options, just download them from Alltel via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. No games or extra applications are included with the AX490, but you can download them from Alltels Axcess Shop. Available options include Andretti Racing 3D and Ryan Newman Racing. We tested the dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) LG AX490 in San Francisco on Alltels roaming network. Call quality was decent overall. Volume was high, and we encountered little static or interference. Occasionally voices sounded somewhat robotic, but we were satisfied with the performance. Likewise, callers didnt report any problems. We also made calls with the speakerphone and were pleased.The AX490 has a rated talk time of three hours and a promised standby time of less than six days. We managed to get 3 hours, 57 minutes of talk time in our tests.According to FCC radiation tests, the AX490 has a digital SAR rating of 0.78 watt per kilogram. ),
(992,LG CU500,Positives: The LG CU500 is the first carrier-offered HSDPA phone in North America. Its a quad-band world phone with a great slim design, external music buttons, and a camera with a rotating lens. Features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, an audio player, a Micro SD memory card slot, a speakerphone, and access to exclusive content, courtesy of Cingular Video and Cingular Music. Negatives: The LG CU500 has two superskinny function buttons on the side that are difficult to press; we also didnt like that you have to remove the battery in order to get to the Micro SD card slot.. Facts: The LG CU500 is one of the fastest phones weve ever tried, with swift downloads and impressive video streaming speeds. The feature set is impressive; the picture and audio quality are great; and the slim, attractive design is a bonus. , Its tempting to call the LG CU500 yet another Razr clone. After all, the Samsung MM-A900 and the Sanyo Katana have both made attempts at the Razr form factor, and the LG CU500 looks dangerously similar. But the clone moniker would be a disservice, as the LG CU500 is so much more than that. Its the first HSDPA phone offered by a North American carrier, which means it is the first handset that can reach connection speeds up to 1.8Mbps. Cingular has capitalized on the high speeds by packing in Cingular Video, its video streaming service, and Cingular Music, a music service portal. Together with a 1.3-megapixel camera, an audio player, a speakerphone, and more, we think the LG CU500 is definitely one of Cingulars flagship phones. The LG CU500 retails for $179.99, but you can get it for $79.99 after discounts and with a two-year service agreement. The LG CU500 is the latest in a line of phones inspired by the Razrs design. Much like the Samsung MM-A900 and the Sanyo Katana, the flip phone has that same wide body and slim silhouette, though the inclusion of a rotating camera lens and external music controls actually makes it look more like the MM-A900. The CU500 is a little thicker and heavier at 3.8 by 1.95 by 0.76 inches and 3.7 ounces, but it still maintains a sleek and attractive form factor. It comes in black with some silver and chrome accents inside and out. The handset feels nice in the hand and pretty comfortable when cradled against the ear. The LG CU500 looks a lot like the Razr. At the top of the device is a rotating camera lens that swivels up to 180 degrees. You can switch easily from taking pictures away from you to shooting self-portraits. Located underneath is a bright and colorful external screen, though it is a little small at 1.2 inches diagonally. The display has support for 65,000 colors, and we like that you can customize its background. As expected, it shows the date, time, battery and signal strength, and caller ID (and photo caller ID if you have it). You can also use it as a self-portrait viewfinder, plus itll display the currently playing song if youve activated the music player. The LG CU500 has a swivel-lens camera. Right underneath the display are the music controls, which consist of the rewind, play/pause, and fast-forward buttons. We found the controls to be extremely convenient, since you can access your music without having to open the phone. On the left spine are a headset jack, the volume rocker, and a unique task manager button that allows you to multitask between different applications. When the handset is closed, you can use the button to access the music player and the camera/camcorder. While we love the functionality of the task button, its superskinny shape makes it difficult to press, and the same goes for the volume rocker above it. The LG CU500 has convenient external music controls. Flip open the phone, and youll see a beautiful internal display. The screen is of average size at 2 inches diagonally and supports 65,000 colors, which isnt as good as the 262,000 colors of the MM-A900 but still appears vivid and bright. You cant change the contrast or brightness, but you can set the backlight time and the font size for dialing. You can also choose to change the menu style to icon or list view. The navigational controls consist of the usual two soft keys and a five-way toggle in the middle that doubles as shortcuts to text messaging, instant messaging, the address book, and the My Stuff folder. Also in the navigation array are dedicated keys to the music player and the camera. The talk, cancel/back, and end/power buttons are located right above the number keypad. Unlike the keys on the Razr, the buttons here are not flush to the surface. Theyre tactile and raised slightly, making them easy to press and dial by feel. While the LG CU500 has an attractive design, its real beauty lies in its features. The address book stores up to 500 contacts, and each entry can accommodate up to five numbers, two e-mail addresses, a picture ID, a memo, and one of 10 72-chord polyphonic ring tones and can be assigned to a caller group. Other basic features include a vibrate or silent mode, a speakerphone, support for stereo Bluetooth, text and multimedia messaging, a voice recorder, instant messaging (AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ), a wireless Web browser, an alarm clock, a calendar, a notepad, a calculator, a world clock, and a to-do list. It also comes with Micro SD card slot, but youll have to remove the battery in the back to get to it. The CU500 is a quad-band GSM phone, which means you can use it almost anywhere in the world. The primary feature of the CU500 is definitely its support for HSDPA. A 3.5G technology, HSDPA is a successor to UMTS, a 3G technology, both of which are designed for better mobile phone performance. While the transfer speeds for UMTS typically theoretically cap out at 2Mbps, the speeds on HSDPA have the potential to get up to 14.4Mbps. The CU500 cant support speeds that high, of course, but it can perform up to 1.8Mbps, which is still much faster than whats offered on Cingulars UMTS network. It lets the CU500 manage with aplomb high-speed streaming video services such as Cingular Video, not to mention support for various music services under the Cingular Music header. Cingular Video is a relatively new service, which offers up exclusive HBO Mobile content from shows like the Sopranos and Entourage, as well as clips from various other networks, such as Cartoon Network and Fox. Please read our review of Cingular Video for more detailed information on the service.As for Cingular Music, its not so much a portal as it is a suite of applications. From the Cingular Music menu, you can access the music player, shop for ring tones, and access a variety of music services such as MobiRadio (for radio), Billboard Mobile (for industry news), Music Choice (for music videos), and an array of music communities that cater to fans of a specific artist. Theres also a fun application called MusicID, which claims to identify the songs title just by holding the phone up to a music source. The cost to use the MusicID messaging application is 99 cents per ID. The music player itself supports MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+ file formats, and you upload the songs into the phone via a USB data cable, sold separately. We wish the USB cable came standard with the package. The player interface is rather primitive, but we could still arrange songs into playlists, shuffle or repeat songs, and adjust visualization and equalizer settings. The LG CU500 takes fairly good photos. The 1.3-megapixel camera has a 4X zoom and takes photos in four resolutions (160x120, 320x240, 640x480, 1,280x960) and three different quality settings (Normal, Fine, and Super Fine). Other camera settings include a self-timer, a reverse view mode (for upside-down shots), white balance (Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Night mode), color effects (Color, Sepia, Mono, Negative), multishot, and three shutter tones (plus a fourth silent mode). Theres an image editor that lets you resize, crop, color effect, and rotate your snapshots. You can also choose to shoot short video clips at two video resolutions (176x144, 320x240), though you can record only up to 14 minutes of video at 15 frames per second. We found the picture quality to be quite good for a camera phone, though it struggled with low light environs.Personalization options are standard on the CU500. You can switch out the wallpaper, change the color schemes, and choose the way you want the clock or calendar displayed on the internal or external screen. You also have the option to download additional graphics if the included ones don't suit your taste. The CU500 has Java 2.0 support for games, and if youre not satisfied with the POGO Tripeaks and Tetris that come with the phone, you may purchase and download more games via Cingulars MediaMall. We tested the LG CU500 quad-band (850/900/1800/1900; GPRS; UMTS; HSDPA) phone in San Francisco using Cingulars service. We experienced better than average call quality, even outdoors on the busy city sidewalks. Callers did report a bit of interference, but it wasnt much of a deterrent. We also particularly liked the quality of the speakerphone which sounded loud and clear. We were able to pair the CU500 with the Nokia BH-200 without a problem. We found the HSDPA speeds on the phone to be remarkably impressive. We managed to connect to Cingular Video in a split second, and streaming video barely experienced a hiccup with almost no downtime in buffering. We also downloaded a game called Lemmings in less than four seconds. While it may not be as fast as cable, its certainly light-years away from dial-up. Video quality was quite low-res and pixelated, which was expected. Music quality on the other hand was very impressive, sounding crisp and clear when heard over earphones or via the phones stereo speakers. It doesnt quite compare to that of a dedicated MP3 player, but its good enough for a quick fix. The LG CU500 has a rated talk time of up to 5 hours and a standby time of up to 10 days. It had a tested talk time of 4 hours and 50 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the CU500 has a digital SAR rating of 1.12 watts per kilogram. ),
(993,Nokia E61,Positives: The Nokia E61 boasts a vibrant and sharp screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and a full array of wireless options (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, UMTS). The Symbian smart phone also has good call quality, a speakerphone, the ability to view and edit Office documents, and robust e-mail capabilities. Negatives: Without the backing of a U.S. carrier, the Nokia E61 is pricey. Also, the miniSD slot is located inconveniently behind the battery cover, and the device was sometimes sluggish when switching between apps. Theres no camera option, either. Facts: The Nokia E61 certainly isnt for everyone, but with its powerful productivity apps, connectivity options, and good call quality, the smart phone will make a good addition to a corporate users arsenal. Note: This product is part of the Nokia E series. ., Ever since the Nokia E61 (and the rest of the E series, for that matter) was announced almost a year ago, weve been waiting anxiously to get our hands on the sleek smart phone. Well, we finally got one thanks to a colleague whose family picked one up overseas, and for the most part, it was worth the wait. Not for the faint of heart, the E61 is a powerful smart phone, equipped with productivity apps, a plethora of wireless options, and good call quality. Though it has its similarities to the Motorola Q and BlackBerrys (slim design, full QWERTY keyboard), the E61 is definitely best suited for the corporate user who needs a fully loaded device for working on the road. Unfortunately, youll pay for all that functionality. At the time of this writing, no U.S. carrier has picked up the Nokia E61, so you can expect to pay about $400 to $500 for an unlocked version. With its slim profile and full QWERTY keyboard, the Nokia E61 bears more than a striking resemblance to the Motorola Q and the RIM BlackBerry 8700 series, but thats not to say the smart phone doesnt have its own personality--with both good points and bad. Its an attractive device overall, with an all-silver casing that makes it appropriate for the business set. At 4.6 by 2.7 by 0.5 inches and 5 ounces, the E61 is slightly bigger than the Moto Q, and will take some acclimation to use as a phone because it has a wider, blockier body. There are three buttons on the left spine--Volume Up, Volume Down, and Voice Record--but nothing on the right side, where we looked instinctively for a jog dial and a Back button like those found on the Q and BlackBerrys. We missed these controls, and their absence made it harder to use the E61 one-handed. Also, a Hold button would have been nice, since it was fairly easy to trigger the voice record function, and we ended up with a handful of useless recordings. The E61s 2.8-inch screen shows off vibrant colors and sharp text. The E61s 2.8-inch screen certainly demands attention. Its large and bright with a 320x240 pixel resolution and 16-million-color output. Text and images looked excellent, and even better, it was still readable in sunlight; you can also adjust the backlighting and contrast. Just be aware that its not a touch screen, so keep this in mind as youre shopping around for your new smart phone. You can enter all of the E61s commands via the navigation array below the screen and the full QWERTY keyboard. The array consist of left and right selection keys, Talk and End buttons for phone calls, a Menu shortcut, an e-mail launch key, and a four-way navigation joystick that acts as an OK button when you press it. We found all controls well spaced and easy to use, and theyre large enough that even users with larger digits shouldnt have too many mishaps. For the most part, we had the same praises for the keyboard as well. The buttons are fairly large, although the layout isnt quite as roomy as on the Q, particularly the bottom row. Still, we didnt have any problems firing off quick notes and messages, and the keys are adequately backlit for typing in darker environments. Our only complaint would be that the keys felt a bit stiff to press. Since we bought our Nokia E61 overseas, the keyboard featured foreign characters. Nevertheless, we liked the devices large buttons. As a businesscentric device, the Nokia E61 doesnt come equipped with a camera, although some may still want to have this option. It does have a miniSD expansion slot, but its inconveniently located behind the battery cover on the left side; the one upside is you don't actually have to remove the whole battery. The accessories included with the E61 will vary depending on the market; ours came with a USB cable, an AC adapter, a miniSD card, a software CD, and reference material. Packed with powerful productivity apps and wireless options, the Nokia E61 is sure to be a corporate crowd pleaser. The E61 runs Symbian OS 9.1, Series 60 third edition, and comes with full support for viewing and editing Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents--an advantage it holds over the Moto Q. We used the included USB cable to transfer all three types of files to the E61 and had no problems opening them; we were pleased that little, if any, formatting was lost. In particular we were pleased to find we could edit the documents, including the PowerPoint presentations, which is a feature you wont find on too many devices. If thats not enough, theres a Screen Export function that allows you to display the E61s screen via a compatible projector. The smart phone also works with Adobe Reader and Zip Manager, and comes with your basic PIM apps and organization tools, such as a calendar, notes, a calculator, a clock, a voice recorder, and a currency converter. Theres 75MB of built-in memory, which is a bit on the lower side, but its helped by the miniSD slot. Though inconveniently located behind the battery cover, we appreciate the inclusion of a miniSD card slot. The E61 has robust e-mail capabilities with support for Microsoft Exchange Server, POP3, IMAP, and SMTP accounts, and a full attachment viewer. You can get real-time message delivery through a number of push e-mail solutions, including Intellisync Wireless E-mail, BlackBerry Connect, GoodLink, Visto, and Seven Always-On Mail. A small LED above the screen, as well as a pop-up box, alert you to new messages. Theres also a mobile VPN client so that you can securely tap into your corporate server. The E61 also works with popular instant-messaging clients, such as Yahoo and AOL, and is text and multimedia message capable.Wireless connectivity comes in many flavors, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, quadband GSM/GPRS, 3G technology (UMTS), and infrared. We like that Bluetooth isnt limited to just hands-free headsets; you can use it for file transfers and dial-up networking, so you can use the phone as a modem to get your Bluetooth-enabled PDA or laptop connected to the Internet. Yet theres no support for the A2DP stereo profile. When surfing the Web with the device, you can configure the E61 to connect via GPRS or Wi-Fi via the Settings menu. The Web browser is worth a mention. Like the one found on the Nokia N80, the E61s browser will present you with a thumbnail of the full Web page so that you can easily navigate to a certain point on the site, rather than having to scroll all over the place. You can also download RSS feeds and blogs, bookmark sites, block pop-up ads, and more. Finally, the E61 has support for UMTS (or WCDMA) 3G technology, which brings data (text, video, and so on) transmission speeds of up to 2Mbps. Though not available nationwide in the United States yet, Cingular is rolling out its UMTS network slowly.As a phone, the Nokia E61 offers a speakerphone, speed dial, and voice commands, plus it supports VoIP calls. The E61s address book is limited only by the available memory, and each entry has room for multiple numbers, an e-mail address, home and work addresses, a Web URL, and so forth. For caller ID purposes, you can pair a contact with a photo (although youll have to transfer images onto the phone, since the E61 doesnt have a camera) or a ring tone. Though the E61 is a business device, it can have fun, too. The smart phone is equipped with a decent music player. It plays back MP3 and AAC files and can sort songs by artist, album, genre, or composer. You can also create playlists right on the device, set songs on random or repeat mode, and tweak the sound settings via the built-in equalizer. For videos, RealPlayer is onboard and is compatible with MPEG-4, MP4, 3GP, RV, RA, AAC, AMR, and MIDI formats. Though the E61 lacks a camera, you can view JPEG, BMP, BNG, and GIF files with the included image viewer. We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; WCDMA 2100) Nokia E61 in San Francisco using Cingulars service, and call quality was excellent. Our callers said we sounded loud and clear, and we had no problems hearing them as well. Activating the speakerphone diminished the quality just slightly; voices sounded tinny to us, and our friends said there was a bit of feedback on their end. We had no problems pairing the E61 with the Logitech Mobile Traveler Bluetooth headset.Though its performance as a phone was great, the Nokia E61 occasionally slowed to a crawl when opening and switching apps. MP3 playback wasnt bad. Volume was adequate through the phones speakers, but we didnt have a chance to test the quality through a pair of headphones. Video performance was also satisfactory. The Nokia E61 is rated for seven hours of talk time, and we had no problem reaching that claim; in fact, we squeezed another hour out of the phone in our tests. Standby time is rated for up to 11 days. ),
(994,Nokia 6126,Positives: The Nokia 6126 has an appealing design with a superior internal display, good performance and a well-rounded feature set that includes Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a speakerphone, and world phone support. Negatives: The Nokia 6126 has slippery keys and a poorly located MicroSD card slot. Also, some sound quality was unimpressive. Facts: The Nokia 6126 is a well-designed and full-featured mid-tier cell phone. Its a good performer, too. , When we first heard about the Nokia 6126, we were a little surprised. Among the phones other attributes Nokia, seemed to be touting the 6126s slim profile as an attraction. Since Nokia usually sets trends rather than following them, we were puzzled that the Finns were chasing after the thin-phone craze. Yet when we had the 6126 in our hand, we were pleased to see it wasnt a blatant attempt to imitate the popular Motorola Razr. Packed with a powerful set of features in an appealing design thats a full 0.3 inch thicker than the Motorola handset, the 6126 is a pleasing mid-tier phone with a solid feature set and good performance. Its not offered by a U.S. carrier as of the time of this writing, and rumors that it would come to Cingular have not materialized as of this writing. As an unclocked phone, it should cost between $200 and $250.Nokia has grown its flip-phone stable slowly but surely over the last couple years, and the 6126 is one of the latest models in the series. The black-and-mirrored-silver color scheme is attractive, and we like the smooth, rounded edges and the lack of an external antenna. At 3.6 by 1.9 by 0.8 inches, its not a Razr by any means, but it still sports a pleasingly sleek and compact form factor. Front and center is the attractive 1.5-inch, 128x160-pixel external display. With support for 262,144 colors, this is a vast improvement over many other Nokia external screens, and it displayed colors and graphics well. It shows the time, the battery life, the signal strength, and photo or video caller ID. You can change the backlight time, the screen saver, and the wallpaper. Above the display is the camera lens. Theres no flash or self-portrait mirror, but the external display functions as a viewfinder for those vanity shots. On the left spine is a volume rocker, while a camera control and a power button sit on the right spine. A final external control rests on the right side of the hinge. Though at first glance it looks as if it could perform just about any function, a quick press revealed that its a release mechanism for the front flap. You don't need this button to open the phone--it opens just fine the old-fashioned way--but its fun to use and is much more effective than the push-and-release method on the Motorola Pebl. The phone opens with enough force to flip up quickly but not so much force that we felt it might fly out of our hand. Whats more, the button is tactile, and the mechanism seems sturdy enough overall. Yes, its all a bit gimmicky, but we still approve. Be advised, however, that the hinge closes somewhat stiffly. Whichever method you use to open the 6126, youll be drawn immediately to the brilliant main display. At 2.2 inches, with 240x320 pixels and support for an awe-inspiring 16 million colors, the 6126s screen puts most other comparable mid-tier cell phones to shame. Colors and text popped, and everything from photos to graphics to games to animations were displayed beautifully. You can change the font size and the backlighting time, and though you cant alter the brightness, it didnt seem to matter. Whats more, the presence of the Nokia Series 40 platform means the user experience and the menus are vivid and intuitive.Below the display are the simple navigation controls, which consist of a four-way toggle with an OK/menu button in its center, two soft keys, and the Talk and End controls. The toggle can be set to give one-touch access to four user-defined shortcuts, and you can designate the two soft keys as shortcuts, as well. One available option even includes a shortcut bar with a selection of user-defined applications. Overall, the navigation array was large and easy to use, though we did find the keys a little slick. Also, with the exception of the toggle and the OK button, the buttons are set flat with the surface of the phone. Likewise, the brightly backlit keypad buttons left us a bit divided. While they are large, tactile, and raised above the surface of the phone, theyre a bit slippery, as well. That said, we liked the mirrored frame that surrounds the keys.Another minor quibble we had with the design is that the MicroSD card slot is located behind the battery cover. You don't need to remove the battery itself (an improvement over earlier Nokia models), but you do need to remove the cover. This is not a huge deal, but its worth noting. On the upside, however, we liked the textured covering on the rear flap.The main feature attractions of the Nokia 6126 lie with its multimedia capabilities, but well get to the basics first. The large 1,000-contact phone book has room in each entry for five phone numbers, e-mail and Web addresses, a job title and a company name, work and home street addresses, a birth date, a nickname, and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 250 names). You can organize callers into groups or pair them with one of the 13, 64-chord, polyphonic ring tones. You can also pair them with photos and videos for caller ID and photos to show up on the external display. Other offerings include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, a world clock, a voice recorder (limited by the available memory), a calendar with reminders, a to-do list, a notepad, a countdown timer, a stopwatch, and an alarm clock.Hands-free features were plentiful, as well. Theres full Bluetooth for connecting to a headset or for sending files, plus voice dialing and commands and a speakerphone. For worker bees, theres also POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail support, audio messaging for sending voicemails directly to another cell phone, and USB cable support. Offbeat features included a translator for English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese; the Nokia sensor application for sending personal messages to other Bluetooth phones; and a Presenter application that allows you to control a PowerPoint presentation or other Microsoft Windows application from the 6126 by connecting via Bluetooth to a PC (youll need the Nokia PC suite). Finally we liked that you could use many of these functions even when no SIM card is inserted in the phone. The 6126 camera doesnt include a flash. The 6126 has a 1.3-megapixel camera that takes pictures in six resolutions: 1,024x1,280, 960x1,290, 600x800, 480x640, 240x320, and 120x160. You get a variety of camera settings including three quality modes, six color effects, a 10-second self timer, a sequence mode for shooting three photos in rapid successions and an 8X zoom. The only thing missing is a brightness setting, but were willing to overlook that omission. The camcorder shoots 3GPP videos in one resolution (176x144) with sound. The default mode lasts just 6 seconds, but you can also shoot longer clips, depending on the available memory. Image quality was just above average for a 1.3-megapixel camera phone. Colors and subject outlines were distinct, but images werent very bright, and smaller objects tended toward fuzziness. Video clips were fine--a bit grainy, as expected, but suitable for short clips. Besides saving photos to the phone, you can also send them via Bluetooth or a multimedia message or use the USB cable to transfer them to a computer or a compatible printer with Nokias XpressPrint service. The 6126 had good photo quality overall, but smaller objects were somewhat fuzzy. If you tire of taking shots, you can use the 6126 to listen to tunes. Inside, theres a digital music player that supports files in MP3, MP4, AAC, and WMA formats. The interface is rudimentary, though its easy to understand and use. Options include Random and Repeat modes, an equalizer, stereo widening, and an Airplane mode. Also, you can minimize the players interface or use it with the phone closed. Internal memory is limited to 10MB of shared space. As a result, we suggest using the MicroSD card slot, which can accommodate cards up to 2GB. The only thing remaining on our wish list is an FM radio.You can personalize the 6126 with a variety of color themes, wallpapers, screen savers, and alert sounds. If you want more options you can download them via the WAP 2.0 wireless browser. You can always get more ring tones as well and use MP3 files to identify callers. The 6126 supports Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 and Adobe Flash Player. Two Java (J2ME) games are also included (Snake 3 and 3D Soccer). We tested the quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Nokia 6126 in San Francisco using Cingulars service. Call quality was quite good with admirable clarity and volume. We had no trouble getting a signal and encountered little interference from other devices. Callers reported good conditions overall on their end, even in noisy environments. Our only real complaint was that voices sounded a little harsh at times. Speakerphone calls were loud enough, though voices sounded a bit muffled on our end. Likewise, callers had more trouble hearing us, but they didnt report significant problems. We successfully paired the 6126 with the Plantronics Explorer 320 headset and found decent call quality there, as well.Music quality over the sole speaker was nothing special. Tracks were tinny and somewhat distorted, especially at higher volumes. By all means use a stereo headset.The 6126 has a rated talk time of 3.4 hours and a promised standby time of 10 days. Our tests showed a talk time of 3 hours, 47 minutes. ),
(995,Motorola A1200, , The Motorola A1200 (also known as the Ming) is a Linux-based smart phone with 2.4-inch 320x240-pixel touch-screen display. Features on the GSM handset include quad-band world phone support, handwriting recognition, a speakerphone, polyphonic sound, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, an FM radio, a 2-megapixel camera with digital zoom and macro mode, video recording and playback, and a MicroSD card expansion slot. The A1200 measures 3.8 by 2.0 by 0.9 inches and weighs 4.3 ounces. It is available for purchase in the United States, but its not offered by a U.S. carrier. ),
(996,Motorola Razr V3 - magenta (unlocked), Note: This product is part of the Motorola Razr series. ., The unlocked version of the magenta Motorola Razr V3 is identical to the original magenta Razr V3 for T-Mobile. For more information, please read our review of T-Mobiles magenta Razr V3. ),
(997,Sony Ericsson M600i,Positives: The Sony Ericsson M600i is a beautiful smart phone, with a slim silhouette, a large and bright QVGA touch screen, and great design features such as a jog dial and a dual-function thumb keyboard. We were also pleased with the multimedia functionality, integrated Bluetooth, speakerphone, sound quality, and the performance of the browser and RSS reader. Negatives: The Sony Ericsson M600i lacks Wi-Fi, a camera, and quad-band support, which is disappointing for a smart phone. In our tests, the phone crashed once in a while, and there wasnt a quick way to shut down applications. Facts: The Sony Ericsson M600i is a great little smart phone thats big on style and features. Even though we wish it had a few extra functions and better performance, we still think this is an excellent smart phone for those who want a stylish smart phone in a small package. , The Treos and BlackBerrys may get most of the smart phone press, but its important to note that alternatives do exist. Sony Ericsson is one particular phone manufacturer thats been churning out these convergence devices for years under the guise of its P900 series (check out our review of the P910a). While weve yet to see the latest P990 make it to U.S. shores, we did manage to get our hands on the Sony Ericsson M600i, a beautifully slender device that runs Symbian OS 9.1 and has support for high-speed UMTS. It has a dual-function keyboard similar to that of the BlackBerry 7100 series and captures the same sex appeal as does the Motorola Q. If you can do without a camera and Wi-Fi, the M600i could be the perfect stylish smart phone for you. That said, the phone doesnt have carrier support in the United States, so youll have to get it unlocked at the hefty price of $400. Sony Ericsson is well known for its stylish and attractive phones, and the M600i is no different. While it isnt as thin as the Q, its still slim in its own right, measuring only 4.2 by 2.2 by 0.6 inches. It looks sleek and feels comfortable in the hand, thanks to its smooth metal body and softly rounded corners. It also fit very easily into our pants pocket. It does somewhat resemble a remote control, so holding it up to your ear may take some getting used to. The Sony Ericsson M600i is one of the smaller smart phones weve seen. One of the best things about the M600i is the amazingly large and bright QVGA touch screen. Measuring 2.5 inches diagonally, the LCD boasts a 240x320-pixel resolution and 262,144 colors--markedly better than the Qs 65,536 colors. The screen is saturated with color; images and text are sharp and very easy on the eyes. The backlight timer is adjustable, as are the themes, wallpapers, colors, and menu style (grid or list views). Because of its touch-screen interface, you can easily navigate through the menus just by using the included stylus (its housed in a skinny slot on the upper-left side). You can also choose to use handwriting recognition, a virtual keyboard, or the dual-function QWERTY keyboard for text input. The touch screen shows smudges after a while, especially if you end up using your finger to select menu options instead of the stylus. The stylus is housed on the M600is upper-left side. A particularly clever design idea of the M600i is the inclusion of a jog dial located on the left spine right above the Back button. The jog dial proved invaluable for quickly scrolling through contacts, messages, and long Web pages, while the Back button provided an easy shortcut to the previous screen. Its worth noting that the Back button doesnt actually shut down the current application; it just minimizes it. You actually have to go to the Task Manager menu to terminate open applications. This is good if you like to run multiple tasks at once, but we think shutting down applications shouldnt be so tiresome. On the top of the device are the infrared port and a Power button, while the right spine is home to a programmable Hardware button, and a Memory Stick Micro (M2) card slot.At first glance, it may seem like the M600is dual-function rocker-style QWERTY keyboard would be difficult to maneuver. It does take some getting used to, as you have to press on the edge of the keys for the desired character, but its a lot easier than it looks. There are two letters per key, and if you press it to the left, it inputs one letter; pressing it to the right enters the other letter. Thanks to a great key layout, tactile buttons, and predictive text, we found ourselves acclimating to the rocker-style keyboard pretty quickly. Sony Ericsson M600i has a dual-function rocker-style QWERTY keyboard. On the bottom of the M600i is a charger port, with which you can either attach the included AC adapter or USB cable to charge. Since the M600i doesnt have a headset jack, the same port is also how you connect the included wired headset. We found this unfortunate because we would have liked to use our own pair of earbuds instead of the ones provided. The Sony Ericsson M600i has a wealth of features that are sure to please smart phone fanatics. Running Symbian OS 9.1 and UIQ 3.0, the M600i also boasts UMTS support and the usual cavalcade of business applications, such as QuickOffice, which lets you write, edit, and read Microsoft Word and Excel documents, and a PDF viewer. The M600i comes with 60MB of internal memory, and in a nice touch, Sony Ericsson includes a 64MB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card with the phone. However, if you plan on carrying more documents or multimedia files, you might consider getting a 1GB card.Other office-worthy features include e-mail with support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync plus POP3/IMAP, notes, voice recording, an alarm clock, vibrate mode, voice dialing, a file manager, a speakerphone, a stopwatch, a calendar, a calculator, a unit converter, and even VPN access. The address book is limited only by the available memory, and each entry will accommodate a total of 13 numbers, e-mail addresses, or Web page URLs and can be assigned a caller group or one of 21 included polyphonic ring tones. You can also assign a photo to each entry, but youll have to download images onto the phone since the M600i doesnt have a camera. The M600i also supports text and multimedia messaging. A PC Suite application will sync your e-mail, contacts, calendar, and tasks with your computer, in addition to transferring any pictures, videos, or audio to your phone (see below). The M600i comes with the Opera browser and a dedicated RSS reader, which many techies will appreciate. The data transfer speeds were admirable in our tests, though we didnt always reach the high speeds that UMTS promises. The handset features support for the A2DP Bluetooth Profile, which allows for the streaming of high-quality audio content wirelessly. We were impressed that we could also use the M600i as a Bluetooth modem. While the M600i is primarily a business device, it still comes with several impressive multimedia and entertainment features. Theres an audio and video player that supports AAC, MP3, MP4, 3GP, and RealPlayer streaming formats. Both audio and video quality are superb, and you can display the video in both landscape and portrait mode. You can also download photos into a Picture Gallery so that you can show them to your friends later. Though we appreciate this feature, the lack of a camera does negate its potential usefulness. The M600i also comes with a MusicDJ application that lets you create and mix your own ring tones, and 3D games that include Vijay Singh Pro Golf and QuadraPop. Of course, there are hundreds of third-party Symbian OS applications that you are free to download and add to your application library, not to mention the ability to download games, wallpaper, themes, graphics, and even music via Sonys PlayNow service.Despite all its many features, we found the lack of Wi-Fi support and a camera sorely disappointing. Although we understand UMTS users might not need Wi-Fi and cameras arent standard in business smart phones, we expect more features from such a pricey device. We also wouldve appreciated it if this supposedly business-friendly smart phone had quad-band world phone support instead of just triband. We tested the triband Sony Ericsson M600i (GSM 900/1800/1900) in San Francisco using T-Mobiles network, and call quality was excellent. Callers couldnt tell we were on a cell phone, and we could hear them loud and clear. Speakerphone quality was also great. We also had no problems pairing the Sony Ericsson M600i with the Nokia BH-800 Bluetooth headset.Although we generally had no problems with the user interface and operating system of the M600i, the phone did crash occasionally. We had to power-off and power-on a few times to get it running again. In other instances, we noticed a few seconds of system lag. These problems didnt occur very often, but when they did, it was quite frustrating.The Sony Ericsson M600i has a rated talk time of 7 hours and 30 minutes and a standby time of 14 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the M600i has a digital SAR rating of 1.15 watts per kilogram. ),
(998,LG VX8500 Chocolate (white),Positives: The LG Chocolate has a sharp design; satisfying overall performance; and a multimedia-rich feature set that includes Bluetooth, a digital music player, and a megapixel camera with admirable photo quality. Negatives: The LG Chocolates unique touch pad and controls entail a steep learning curve, and the phone suffers from poor streaming video quality and low talk-time battery life. The lack of a speakerphone is disappointing. Facts: Though the LG Chocolate is beautifully designed and offers a respectable mix of features and performance, it doesnt quite live up to the hype. Note: This product is part of the LG Chocolate series. ., Editors note: As of September 27, 2006, LG has released a firmware update to the LG Chocolate that adds speakerphone functionality to the phone. It was not available at the time of this review.Its not uncommon for the introduction of a new cell phone to be preceded by a ton of hype. Take for instance, the LG VX85000. Otherwise known as the Chocolate, the VX8500 became the talk of the mobile world after its stateside debut last April at the annual CTIA show. Rumors flew back and forth regarding when wed see it with a U.S. carrier, and finally this week, after being available in Europe and Asia for several months, the Chocolate has landed at Verizon Wireless. After so much speculation, we were eager to find out just what type of chocolate the Chocolate really is. Is it Hersheys or Godiva? The answer seems to lie somewhere in between. By all means, its beautiful and offers decent call quality, but the keys and controls take some getting used to. And though it has stereo Bluetooth, a megapixel camera, a digital music player, and support for Verizons 3G video and music services, it doesnt do much that other cell phones don't do already. And more to the point, it lacks a speakerphone, something even the most basic cell phones offer. On the upside, the Chocolate is fairly priced at $149 with service. From what we can tell the \"Chocolate\" in the LG VX8500s name comes from its basic shape. Sporting a sharply rectangular form factor, the all-black phone does somewhat resemble a dark-chocolate candy bar, but thats all the resemblance we could find. However, it is very sleek and sexy, and we love the cool slider form factor. The dimensions with the slider closed are average (3.8 by 1.58 by 0.69 inches; 3.5 ounces), but it will fit in almost any pocket and wont add significant weight to a bag. Also, while its hardly as thin as the Motorola Razr, it nonetheless has a trim profile that will catch attention. The slider mechanism slips up and down with a solid click, and the phone seems well constructed overall. Though you can make calls with the slider closed, we found it more comfortable to talk in the open position. The LG Chocolates touch pad is unique on a cell phone. The gorgeous display measures two inches diagonally (320x240 pixels) and supports 11 lines of text. With support for 262,000 colors, its one of the most attractive displays weve seen on a cell phone and arguably the best on an LG handset. Graphics and animation were sharp, and colors popped. Our only gripes, and these are small, is that the display has a reflective quality and attracts smudges and fingerprints easily. Also, its hard to see in direct light and nearly impossible to see when the backlighting is off. You can change the clock style, the backlighting time, and the font size but no other options are customizable. Below the display are the navigation controls, which are unlike anything weve seen on a cell phone thus far. Well say off the bat that while theyre intriguing and pretty, they have some big trade-offs. Not only is their overall design and placement on the phone somewhat baffling, it takes practice to understand how to use the controls. The most prominent feature is a round iPod-like touch pad that sits just below the display. Much like a navigation toggle on a more traditional cell phone, the touch pad is divided into four quadrants for each direction (up, down, left, and right) with an OK button in the middle that also open the main menu. The four directional buttons can be set as shortcuts to four user-defined functions, while the left and right keys also serve as back and forward controls when using the music player. The other navigation keys consist of two soft keys that double as shortcuts to the messaging menu and the phone book, a talk button and a dedicated (but oddly marked) back key. Wheres the end/power key you ask? Thats been moved to the Chocolates left spine, which is an odd and unintuitive location for such an oft-used key. Before we grew accustomed to the arrangement, our finger kept pressing the back button by mistake when we wanted to hang up a call. Like the touch pad, all the navigation buttons are touch keys, which means they are extremely sensitive. You can change the sensitivity, but even in the lowest setting, we would activate a button by simply brushing our finger across the phones face. Moreover, you don't get the tactile feel of pressing down on a button when using the controls, and when the backlighting is off, the navigation buttons outside of the circular touch pad disappear completely. Another consequence of the touch-pad controls is that the navigation array locks immediately when the phone is closed and when youre on a call. Though the lock mechanism is necessary to avoid any misdials, it also means you have to press the voice-dialing button on the left spine in order to unlock the controls. The keys also lock when the phone is open, but a quick press of any spine-mounted control will activate them again. Above the voice-dialing button is a volume rocker, while a covered headset jack sits just below it. On the right spine are camera shutter control and music player shortcut buttons, the aforementioned end/power key (also used to stop the media player), and the Micro SD card slot. The camera lens is located behind the slider mechanism, so you must have the phone open to take pictures.The numeric keypad is well designed, with large buttons that are brightly backlit. Theyre also set far enough below the bottom off the slider so that your finger doesnt bump up against it. Though the alphanumeric keys can be slippery are not separated into individual buttons, they do have a tactile feel and move downward when you press them, while giving off an audible click. Fortunately, the Chocolate offers menu themes beyond the standard Verizon design that is now commonplace on the carriers phone. The default \"Rock n Roll\" option uses a Flash-based design where the menu options are arranged in a circle. With this arrangement, our initial instinct was to use the touch pad much like an iPod scrollwheel in order to get to the choice we wanted. Yet we learned quickly that our instincts were wrong, and we had to use the left and right keys to turn the circle instead. Options in the secondary menus are arranged in a simple list format, which is scrollable using the up and down directional buttons but not the volume rocker. We like that you can navigate sideways through secondary menu options. The LG Chocolate comes loaded with multimedia options, but well get the basics out of the way first. The phone book holds 500 contacts, which was below our expectation, but each entry holds five phone numbers and two e-mail addresses. You can organize callers into groups, assign them a picture, or pair them with one of 13 polyphonic ring tones. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, voice command and dialing, a calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock, a world clock, a notepad, a tip calculator, and support for e-mail and instant messaging. Bluetooth is onboard as well and, though in typical Verizon style most object exchange profiles arent supported, you can use the Bluetooth to make calls, send a wireless business card to another Bluetooth device, sync your contacts and calendar with your PC, or connect to a PC for modem calls. And even better, the Chocolate does have a stereo Bluetooth profile, which is still too rare on most phones today. Yet for all that hands-free functionality we were extremely disappointed to learn that the Chocolate does not have a speakerphone. Since even the most basic handsets on the market today, such as the LG C1500, have a speakerphone, its omission on the Chocolate is perplexing and frustrating. Verizon is pushing music as one of the core components of the Chocolate. Like all Verizon phones compatible with the carriers V Cast Music service, you can download tunes directly to the phone. Most of the same restrictions and costs apply here as well: songs downloaded to a PC are 99 cents, while simultaneous downloads to a PC and the phone are $1.99 each. Also, while the integrated digital music player supports both WMA and MP3 formats, any files transferred from a PC must be converted to WMA format first. The music player interface is similar to those on other V Cast Music phones, and we like that you can activate and turn off the player via the spine-mounted shortcut buttons. Navigation through the round touch pad was easy enough, but the other keys proved tricky for the reasons we mentioned earlier. Features on the player include shuffle and repeat modes and an airplane mode. And as previously mentioned, the stereo Bluetooth support is a great touch.Besides downloading music wirelessly, you can transfer it from a PC using a USB cable and Verizons software, or you can load tracks on the phone from a Micro SD card. None of these items comes with the phone, however, so youll need to shell out an additional $30 for the Music Essentials Kit, which includes the software, a USB cable, and a stereo headset for making calls and listening to music. Unfortunately, the only in-box accessory with the Chocolate is an adapter for using your own 2.5mm wired headset (the Chocolate uses a proprietary plug). A Micro SD memory card is also a good investment, since the phones internal memory caps out at 62MB for music and 66MB shared for other applications. The Chocolates camera lacks a flash. As part of its 3G, EV-DO support, the Chocolate is also compatible with Verizons V Cast streaming video service with the full range of content offerings. Also on the visual side is the 1.3-megapixel camera. You can take pictures in five resolutions: 1,280x960, 640x480, 320x240, 176x144, and 160x120. Camera options include a self-timer, brightness and white balance controls, a night mode, five color effects, and three shutter sounds (plus a silent option). Theres no flash, but there is a self-portrait mirror and a 2X zoom for use at the lower resolutions. The camcorder takes 3G2 videos in one resolution (176x144) with sound; editing options are similar to the still camera. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 15 seconds; otherwise you can record up to an hour depending on the available memory. Photo quality was quite good in our tests, with sharp colors and distinct object outlines. In bright conditions, the lighting was a bit washed out. Videos were decent but nothing special as they tended to be grainy and pixelated. We love the Chocolates photo quality. You can personalize the LG Chocolate with a variety of wallpapers, alert sounds, and display themes. If you want more options or more ring tones, polyphonic or MP3, you can download them via the WAP 2.0 wireless browser. No games or special applications are included on the phone, but a variety of options are available for purchase from Verizons Get It Now service. Be advised that gameplay through the touch pad is a bit difficult. We tested the dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) LG VX8500 Chocolate in San Francisco using Verizons service. Call quality was decent overall, and we had no problem getting a signal. There was little static or interference, but at times, callers sounded a bit harsh and robotic. Callers could tell we were using a cell, but they had little trouble hearing or understanding us in most conditions. We were able to pair the Chocolate with the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset and enjoyed reasonable call quality.EV-DO coverage was admirable, and connection speeds were sufficiently speedy. Game downloads took less than a minute, and browsing was hassle-free. On the other hand, streaming video quality on the Chocolate wasnt very sharp. There was heavy choppiness and pixelation, and the sound didnt match the action. Whats more, clips paused for rebuffering on more than a few occasions and at times even froze completely. We were impressed with the music quality overall and found it to be Verizons best-sounding music phone to date, surpassing the LG VX8300 and on a par with Sony Ericssons Walkman phones. You can listen to music without the headphones, but your tunes will sound much better with them. Yet we didnt like the phones proprietary connection, which didnt fit very securely. Keep in mind, the music player wont provide the full range of bass and equalizer options as youll find on a stand-alone MP3 player, but it will do the trick for short to moderate stints. V Cast Music takes a few seconds to access, and song downloads take just over a minute. Check back soon for a full report on Verizons Music Essentials software.The Chocolate has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours and a promised standby time of 10 days. However, our talk-time tests came up short at just 2.5 hours. According to FCC radiation tests, the LG VX8500 Chocolate has a digital SAR rating of 1.13 watts per kilogram. ),
(999,LG VX8500 Chocolate (black),Positives: The LG Chocolate has a sharp design; satisfying overall performance; and a multimedia-rich feature set that includes Bluetooth, a digital music player, and a megapixel camera with admirable photo quality. Negatives: The LG Chocolates unique touch pad and controls entail a steep learning curve, and the phone suffers from poor streaming video quality and low talk-time battery life. The lack of a speakerphone is disappointing. Facts: Though the LG Chocolate is beautifully designed and offers a respectable mix of features and performance, it doesnt quite live up to the hype. Note: This product is part of the LG Chocolate series. ., Editors note: As of September 27, 2006, LG has released a firmware update to the LG Chocolate that adds speakerphone functionality to the phone. It was not available at the time of this review.Its not uncommon for the introduction of a new cell phone to be preceded by a ton of hype. Take for instance, the LG VX85000. Otherwise known as the Chocolate, the VX8500 became the talk of the mobile world after its stateside debut last April at the annual CTIA show. Rumors flew back and forth regarding when wed see it with a U.S. carrier, and finally this week, after being available in Europe and Asia for several months, the Chocolate has landed at Verizon Wireless. After so much speculation, we were eager to find out just what type of chocolate the Chocolate really is. Is it Hersheys or Godiva? The answer seems to lie somewhere in between. By all means, its beautiful and offers decent call quality, but the keys and controls take some getting used to. And though it has stereo Bluetooth, a megapixel camera, a digital music player, and support for Verizons 3G video and music services, it doesnt do much that other cell phones don't do already. And more to the point, it lacks a speakerphone, something even the most basic cell phones offer. On the upside, the Chocolate is fairly priced at $149 with service. From what we can tell the \"Chocolate\" in the LG VX8500s name comes from its basic shape. Sporting a sharply rectangular form factor, the all-black phone does somewhat resemble a dark-chocolate candy bar, but thats all the resemblance we could find. However, it is very sleek and sexy, and we love the cool slider form factor. The dimensions with the slider closed are average (3.8 by 1.58 by 0.69 inches; 3.5 ounces), but it will fit in almost any pocket and wont add significant weight to a bag. Also, while its hardly as thin as the Motorola Razr, it nonetheless has a trim profile that will catch attention. The slider mechanism slips up and down with a solid click, and the phone seems well constructed overall. Though you can make calls with the slider closed, we found it more comfortable to talk in the open position. The LG Chocolates touch pad is unique on a cell phone. The gorgeous display measures two inches diagonally (320x240 pixels) and supports 11 lines of text. With support for 262,000 colors, its one of the most attractive displays weve seen on a cell phone and arguably the best on an LG handset. Graphics and animation were sharp, and colors popped. Our only gripes, and these are small, is that the display has a reflective quality and attracts smudges and fingerprints easily. Also, its hard to see in direct light and nearly impossible to see when the backlighting is off. You can change the clock style, the backlighting time, and the font size but no other options are customizable. Below the display are the navigation controls, which are unlike anything weve seen on a cell phone thus far. Well say off the bat that while theyre intriguing and pretty, they have some big trade-offs. Not only is their overall design and placement on the phone somewhat baffling, it takes practice to understand how to use the controls. The most prominent feature is a round iPod-like touch pad that sits just below the display. Much like a navigation toggle on a more traditional cell phone, the touch pad is divided into four quadrants for each direction (up, down, left, and right) with an OK button in the middle that also open the main menu. The four directional buttons can be set as shortcuts to four user-defined functions, while the left and right keys also serve as back and forward controls when using the music player. The other navigation keys consist of two soft keys that double as shortcuts to the messaging menu and the phone book, a talk button and a dedicated (but oddly marked) back key. Wheres the end/power key you ask? Thats been moved to the Chocolates left spine, which is an odd and unintuitive location for such an oft-used key. Before we grew accustomed to the arrangement, our finger kept pressing the back button by mistake when we wanted to hang up a call. Like the touch pad, all the navigation buttons are touch keys, which means they are extremely sensitive. You can change the sensitivity, but even in the lowest setting, we would activate a button by simply brushing our finger across the phones face. Moreover, you don't get the tactile feel of pressing down on a button when using the controls, and when the backlighting is off, the navigation buttons outside of the circular touch pad disappear completely. Another consequence of the touch-pad controls is that the navigation array locks immediately when the phone is closed and when youre on a call. Though the lock mechanism is necessary to avoid any misdials, it also means you have to press the voice-dialing button on the left spine in order to unlock the controls. The keys also lock when the phone is open, but a quick press of any spine-mounted control will activate them again. Above the voice-dialing button is a volume rocker, while a covered headset jack sits just below it. On the right spine are camera shutter control and music player shortcut buttons, the aforementioned end/power key (also used to stop the media player), and the Micro SD card slot. The camera lens is located behind the slider mechanism, so you must have the phone open to take pictures.The numeric keypad is well designed, with large buttons that are brightly backlit. Theyre also set far enough below the bottom off the slider so that your finger doesnt bump up against it. Though the alphanumeric keys can be slippery are not separated into individual buttons, they do have a tactile feel and move downward when you press them, while giving off an audible click. Fortunately, the Chocolate offers menu themes beyond the standard Verizon design that is now commonplace on the carriers phone. The default \"Rock n Roll\" option uses a Flash-based design where the menu options are arranged in a circle. With this arrangement, our initial instinct was to use the touch pad much like an iPod scrollwheel in order to get to the choice we wanted. Yet we learned quickly that our instincts were wrong, and we had to use the left and right keys to turn the circle instead. Options in the secondary menus are arranged in a simple list format, which is scrollable using the up and down directional buttons but not the volume rocker. We like that you can navigate sideways through secondary menu options. The LG Chocolate comes loaded with multimedia options, but well get the basics out of the way first. The phone book holds 500 contacts, which was below our expectation, but each entry holds five phone numbers and two e-mail addresses. You can organize callers into groups, assign them a picture, or pair them with one of 13 polyphonic ring tones. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, voice command and dialing, a calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock, a world clock, a notepad, a tip calculator, and support for e-mail and instant messaging. Bluetooth is onboard as well and, though in typical Verizon style most object exchange profiles arent supported, you can use the Bluetooth to make calls, send a wireless business card to another Bluetooth device, sync your contacts and calendar with your PC, or connect to a PC for modem calls. And even better, the Chocolate does have a stereo Bluetooth profile, which is still too rare on most phones today. Yet for all that hands-free functionality we were extremely disappointed to learn that the Chocolate does not have a speakerphone. Since even the most basic handsets on the market today, such as the LG C1500, have a speakerphone, its omission on the Chocolate is perplexing and frustrating. Verizon is pushing music as one of the core components of the Chocolate. Like all Verizon phones compatible with the carriers V Cast Music service, you can download tunes directly to the phone. Most of the same restrictions and costs apply here as well: songs downloaded to a PC are 99 cents, while simultaneous downloads to a PC and the phone are $1.99 each. Also, while the integrated digital music player supports both WMA and MP3 formats, any files transferred from a PC must be converted to WMA format first. The music player interface is similar to those on other V Cast Music phones, and we like that you can activate and turn off the player via the spine-mounted shortcut buttons. Navigation through the round touch pad was easy enough, but the other keys proved tricky for the reasons we mentioned earlier. Features on the player include shuffle and repeat modes and an airplane mode. And as previously mentioned, the stereo Bluetooth support is a great touch.Besides downloading music wirelessly, you can transfer it from a PC using a USB cable and Verizons software, or you can load tracks on the phone from a Micro SD card. None of these items comes with the phone, however, so youll need to shell out an additional $30 for the Music Essentials Kit, which includes the software, a USB cable, and a stereo headset for making calls and listening to music. Unfortunately, the only in-box accessory with the Chocolate is an adapter for using your own 2.5mm wired headset (the Chocolate uses a proprietary plug). A Micro SD memory card is also a good investment, since the phones internal memory caps out at 62MB for music and 66MB shared for other applications. The Chocolates camera lacks a flash. As part of its 3G, EV-DO support, the Chocolate is also compatible with Verizons V Cast streaming video service with the full range of content offerings. Also on the visual side is the 1.3-megapixel camera. You can take pictures in five resolutions: 1,280x960, 640x480, 320x240, 176x144, and 160x120. Camera options include a self-timer, brightness and white balance controls, a night mode, five color effects, and three shutter sounds (plus a silent option). Theres no flash, but there is a self-portrait mirror and a 2X zoom for use at the lower resolutions. The camcorder takes 3G2 videos in one resolution (176x144) with sound; editing options are similar to the still camera. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 15 seconds; otherwise you can record up to an hour depending on the available memory. Photo quality was quite good in our tests, with sharp colors and distinct object outlines. In bright conditions, the lighting was a bit washed out. Videos were decent but nothing special as they tended to be grainy and pixelated. We love the Chocolates photo quality. You can personalize the LG Chocolate with a variety of wallpapers, alert sounds, and display themes. If you want more options or more ring tones, polyphonic or MP3, you can download them via the WAP 2.0 wireless browser. No games or special applications are included on the phone, but a variety of options are available for purchase from Verizons Get It Now service. Be advised that gameplay through the touch pad is a bit difficult. We tested the dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) LG VX8500 Chocolate in San Francisco using Verizons service. Call quality was decent overall, and we had no problem getting a signal. There was little static or interference, but at times, callers sounded a bit harsh and robotic. Callers could tell we were using a cell, but they had little trouble hearing or understanding us in most conditions. We were able to pair the Chocolate with the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset and enjoyed reasonable call quality.EV-DO coverage was admirable, and connection speeds were sufficiently speedy. Game downloads took less than a minute, and browsing was hassle-free. On the other hand, streaming video quality on the Chocolate wasnt very sharp. There was heavy choppiness and pixelation, and the sound didnt match the action. Whats more, clips paused for rebuffering on more than a few occasions and at times even froze completely. We were impressed with the music quality overall and found it to be Verizons best-sounding music phone to date, surpassing the LG VX8300 and on a par with Sony Ericssons Walkman phones. You can listen to music without the headphones, but your tunes will sound much better with them. Yet we didnt like the phones proprietary connection, which didnt fit very securely. Keep in mind, the music player wont provide the full range of bass and equalizer options as youll find on a stand-alone MP3 player, but it will do the trick for short to moderate stints. V Cast Music takes a few seconds to access, and song downloads take just over a minute. Check back soon for a full report on Verizons Music Essentials software.The Chocolate has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours and a promised standby time of 10 days. However, our talk-time tests came up short at just 2.5 hours. According to FCC radiation tests, the LG VX8500 Chocolate has a digital SAR rating of 1.13 watts per kilogram. ),
(1000,NEC L1,Positives: The NEC L1 has a slim design, Bluetooth, world phone support, and a megapixel camera. Negatives: The NEC L1 has poorly designed buttons and controls, inconsistent call quality, and a tiny external display. Also, it lacks a speakerphone. Facts: The NEC L1 has a slim profile and some nice features, but it ultimately cant compare to better-equipped thin phones. , If youre hoping like we are that the thin phone craze is nearing its end, we have some bad news for you. The skinny cell trend that was born out of the Motorola Razr shows no signs of abating. Samsung and Sanyo have jumped on the bandwagon, and now NEC is hoping to capitalize on it as well. At just 0.5 inch wide, the NEC L1 is as trim as the Razr but has a slightly boxier, more angular form factor. Features are decent, with a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and world phone support, though were puzzled as to why theres no speakerphone. Also, call quality was middling at times and volume was a bit too low in our tests. And as is the case with most phones in its class, the trade-off for being thin is a cramped, nontactile button layout. This GSM handset isnt offered by a U.S. carrier, so it costs a pricey $379. As a result, youre better off with the Razr or the Samsung MM-A900. The L1 is rather boring when viewed from the front. Like the Razr before it, the L1 is all about being thin. At just 4.0 by 1.9 by 0.5 inches and 3.2 ounces, it slips into just about any pocket, and its profile will not go unnoticed on the street. Yet as with other thin phones, it can be uncomfortable to balance the handset between your head and your shoulder and difficult to feel the vibrate mode when worn in a pocket. When viewed straight on, the L1 is rather dull. Rectangular with sharp corners, the phone sports a simple silver color scheme with few exterior touches. The rectangular external display is tiny for the phones size, but it still crams in the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID. Since its monochrome, however, it doesnt show photo caller ID and only the clock style is changeable. At the front faces top is a small camera lens, while a looped antenna sits just above. The only other outside features are a small speaker on the front flap and a volume rocker on the right spine.The internal TFT display is rather attractive, with support for 65,000 colors. Graphics and animation are sharp, and at two inches diagonal the display has a decent size. Personalization options are limited, with no settings for font size, backlight time, or brightness but we like the intuitive design of the user-friendly menus. On the downside, the navigation keys caused us a bit of concern. Like most thin phones, internal controls on the L1 are flush with the surface of the phone, which takes some practice for first-time users. A five-way toggle doubles as a shortcut to the missed and received calls lists, the ringer modes menu, a downloads menu, and the camera. Though the toggle itself is rather tactile, the four shortcut buttons surrounding it are a bit small and hard to press. These keys give access to the messaging menu, the Web browser, the phone book, and the main menu. The keypad buttons are somewhat disappointing as well. Since theyre small and lie flat on the surface of the phone, its difficult to dial by feel. Whats more, the backlighting is rather dim. The talk and end/power keys and a clear button sit on the top row of the keypad.The internal phone book holds 500 contacts with room in each entry for seven phone numbers, three e-mail addresses, and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 150 names). You can save contacts to caller groups or pair them with one of 22 polyphonic ring tones. You can assign contacts a photo as well, but they wont show up on the external display. Basic features consist of a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, an alarm clock, a scheduler, a to-do list, a notepad, and a currency converter. Unfortunately, you don't get a speakerphone, but the L1 does offer full Bluetooth, voice commands, and a voice memo recorder for clips up to one minute long. The L1s camera doesnt have a flash or a self-portrait mirror. The 1.3-megapixel camera takes pictures in six resolutions (1,280x1,024, 640x240, 352x288, 176x220, 176x144, and 128x96). Features include a self-timer, a 5X zoom (varies by image resolution), and a burst mode, and you can also choose from three quality settings, six fun frames, four lighting modes, three color effects, and three shutter sounds (theres no silent mode). The camcorder shoots clips with sound while offering a similar set of editing options. Overall, the L1 comes with 26MB of internal memory for saving your work. When finished with your shots or clips, you can send them via Bluetooth or in a multimedia message or transfer them to a computer or printer with the included USB cable. Photo quality wasnt the best weve seen from a megapixel camera; colors were somewhat washed out and the lighting was dim. The L1 doesnt have great photo quality. You can personalize the L1 with a variety of wallpapers, color styles, and greetings. If you want more options beyond what comes with the phone, youll have to buy them over the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. As for more ring tones, the phone supports MP3 files, and it even comes with a rudimentary MP3 player. don't expect too much, though, as the features and the user interface are basic.We the triband (GSM 900/1800/1900) NEC L1 world phone in San Francisco using T-Mobiles service. Voice quality was satisfactory overall but it could be middling at times with some static and interference. We also found the volume to be a bit low, so users with impairments should test the L1 first. Call quality was comparable over the included wired headset and the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset.The NEC L1 has a rated talk time of 2 hours, 20 minutes and a promised standby time of just over four days. In our tests, we eked out slightly more than 2 hours of talk time. ),
(1001,Nextel Motorola i580,Positives: The Motorola i580 offers a rugged design and a respectable set of features, including Bluetooth, a megapixel camera, an MP3 player, and a Micro SD card slot. Its also one of few cell phones from a U.S. carrier to support two separate phone lines. Negatives: The Motorola i580 is bulky and has a small external display. It lacks external music controls, and the battery life is a bit short. Facts: The Motorola i580 isnt pretty, but it packs an excellent feature set and decent call quality in a durable design. , If Nextel is known for one thing when it comes to cell phone design, its the rugged durability of its handsets. Models such as the Motorola i355 and the i530 are built like tanks, with thick protective skins designed to withstand the elements and impacts with the ground. Though the carrier has dabbled in more trendy designs over the past year with models like the Motorola i850, the new Motorola i580 goes straight to Nextels roots. Tough, sturdy, and solidly built, the i580 flip phone offers all the usual Nextel offerings and a respectable assortment of features, including Bluetooth, a speakerphone, a Micro SD card slot, and support for two separate phone lines. It is expensive, however, at $249 with service.From the outset you know the i580 isnt for sissies. This is a burly phone through and through, from the rubberized, two-toned gray exterior to the solid construction of its oversized hinge. Its not about style by any means but all about being functional and useful. To that end, Motorola and Nextel added some unusual touches. Perhaps in an effort to emphasize the phones durability, the middle of the front flap is covered in a tactile pattern that resembles steel plating. Even external features, such as the Micro SD slot and the headset jack on the right spine and the charger port on the bottom, are covered with rubber flaps, while the stubby extendable antenna has a solid construction. Nextel continually boasts that its handsets are certified to military specifications for blowing rain, dust, shock, and vibration, and the i580 is no exception. The i580 is built to last and last. All that ruggedness requires some trade-offs, however. At 3.8 by 2.2 by 1.1 inches and 5.1 ounces, the phone is big and bulky. It wont slip into a small pocket and will leave a sizable lump in a bag, but it feels comfortable to hold. Thats all part of the game for Nextel fans, but slaves to fashion should steer clear. Also, the rectangular external display is relatively small (96x32 pixels), and the tiny font size isnt changeable. Its also monochrome, and though you cant change the backlighting time, a flick of an exterior button will brighten the screen again. Displayed information includes the signal strength, battery life, date, time, and caller ID (where available). Above the screen are the camera lens, a self-portrait mirror, and a tiny flash, while the right spine holds a volume rocker and a Direct Connect button. On the top of the phone are the speakerphone key and a button for sending calls to voicemail and accessing the recent calls list when the phone is closed. All keys are coated in durable rubber.The internal display is one of the better design touches on the i580. Measuring 1.8 inches (176x220 pixels) and supporting 262,000 colors, it vividly displays text and graphics with eye-popping colors and sharp object outlines. Were also pleased the phone supports Nextels newer animated menu design. You can change the backlighting time and the font size but not the brightness or the contrast. The border surrounding the display resembles the aforementioned patterned exterior on the front flap.Below the display are large and tactile navigation controls. A four-way toggle doubles as a shortcut to four-user defined functions, while an OK button sits in the toggles center. There are also two soft keys, a dedicated camera button, a camera shortcut control, and the talk and end keys. The backlit keypad buttons are quite large, and we like that they are raised above the surface of the phone. It was easy to dial by feel and in dim situations. The power key is located just below the keypad buttons and is set in a rubber casing that extends from the outside of the phone.The i580 has all the Nextel business-friendly offerings youd expect. The 600-contact phone book has room in each entry for seven phone numbers, an e-mail address, an IP address, and a Direct Connect number. Contacts can be organized further into a variety of groups for regular or push-to-talk (PTT) calls, and you can pair them with one of 12 monophonic or 3 polyphonic ring tones. Other features include a vibrate mode, an airplane mode, a calendar, mobile e-mail support, voice dialing, call and voice memo recording, a memo pad, text and multimedia messaging, a speakerphone, and onboard GPS. Since there arent a great number of Nextel phones with wireless capability, we were glad to find the i580 supports full Bluetooth for connecting to a headset or sending data to another Bluetooth device. You also get Nextels Direct Connect walkie-talkie service (including Group Connect, which lets you chat with up to 20 others via PTT at once) and Direct Talk, which gives you out-of-network walkie-talkie chat with another Direct Talk handset at a range of up to six miles. A newer feature is Direct Send, which sends PTT contact information to other compatible Nextel phones. Perhaps the biggest news, however, is that the i580 supports Nextels second line service, which allows you to add a second line to the phone with a different phone number--perfect for users who want separate digits for personal and business use. Nextel was one of the first U.S. carriers to offer the functionality. It will cost extra, of course, but you can have separate ring tones, separate billing statements, and even phone numbers with different area codes. The i580s camera is fully equipped. Nextel was relatively late to the camera phone game, but it has begun to catch up. The i580 joins the Motorola i870 in offering a solid 1.3-megapixel camera. You can take pictures in six resolutions from 128x96 to 1,280x1,024 pixels in either Fine or Normal quality settings. Settings include a 4X digital zoom, a flash, and a self-timer, but absent are the picture color effects, brightness adjustments, and white-balance controls that you find with most VGA camera phones. Picture quality is decent, with better color saturation than weve seen from other megapixel shooters, though it still cant compare with a digital camera. On the upside, the i580 follows most Motorola handsets in including a handy memory meter in the camera application that shows the available space. The i580s video recorder shoots clips in two resolutions (176x144 and 128x96) with sound. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 15 seconds; otherwise youre limited by the amount of available memory. Clips were nothing special, with a grainy, pixelated effect. Once youre done with your snapshots or videos, you can store the files on the phones 25MB of internal memory, which is on the low side, but you can always save these files to a Micro SD card. You can also use images for picture caller ID, though they wont show up on the external display, or as your phones wallpaper, and you can send them wirelessly to friends. The i580 has decent photo quality. The i580 has a rudimentary but serviceable MP3 player for listening to your favorite tunes. The interface is beyond basic, with nothing in the way of album art or graphics. That said, the external and internal displays show the artist and song name and elapsed time during playback. Features include shuffle and repeat modes and Rock, Pop, Jazz, Classical, and Bass EQ presets. On the downside, it plays tracks only from TransFlash cards, so you can forget about direct-to-device music transfers, let alone over-the-air downloads. We also wish the i580 had external music controls, though we realize they might compromise its durability.You can personalize the i580 with a choice of wallpapers and themes. If you don't like whats on the handset already, you can always download more options with the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Alternatively, you get a fair choice of Java (J2ME) applications, including three game demos (Vijay Singh Pro Golf, Bejeweled, and World Poker Tour); 1KTV, an on-demand pseudo-TV service; and the Trimble Outdoors and TeleNav subscription-based navigation service that takes advantage of the i580s GPS support. We tested the i580 in San Francisco using Nextels service. Call quality was very good, with fine voice clarity and volume. We had no trouble getting a signal and experienced little interference from other electronic devices. Callers reported similar conditions and said they had no reception problems on their end. Speakerphone calls were mostly clear with very loud volume, and we had no issues when we made calls with the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset. Music sounded better over headphones than the external speakers, but the volume was quite loud either way.The i580s rated battery life is relatively short at just 2.75 hours of talk time, though we did manage to get 3 hours of talk time in our tests. It still has a measly standby time of 2.9 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the i580 has a digital SAR rating of 1.02 watts per kilogram. ),
(1002,LG DM-L200,Positives: The LG DM-L200 has a sleek design, user-friendly controls, and a feature set that includes a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and a GPS location service geared specifically for families. It also comes with exclusive Disney Mobile content, such as ring tones and wallpaper. Negatives: The LG DM-L200 has choppy sound quality, and its Bluetooth does not allow for file transfers. Facts: The LG DM-L200 is a great phone for families. Parents will appreciate the family locator and alert services, and kids will love the sleek design and fancy features of the phone. , Here comes the happiest cell phone carrier on Earth. Disney Mobile is the latest MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) to hit the scene, and while it rides on Sprints network, it offers several unique features that are geared specifically toward families. Not only can you get Disney-themed wallpaper and ring tones, several family-themed options in the phone will help parents keep track of their kids and monitor their phone usage. The handsets themselves arent too remarkable, but we were impressed that Disney Mobile was selling full-featured phones (with a built-in camera and Bluetooth) to kids as well as adults, as part of their phones-for-all-ages philosophy. One of the companys first phones is the LG DM-L200, which is basically a rebranded version of the LG LX350. The price is $109 with a two-year contract. The LG DM-L200 sports a luscious red coating. The only real difference between the LG DM-L200 and the LG LX350 is in the surface design. The Disney Mobile version sports a luscious red coating and a Disney Mobile logo, as well as a revamped user interface with animated menu icons. For information about the rest of the phones design, please read our review of the LG LX350. Much like the LG LX350, the LG DM-L200 also has a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and a full-duplex speakerphone. The address book stores 500 contacts, with room in each entry for four phone numbers, an e-mail address, a Web address, and notes. You can assign your friends to caller groups or pair them with a picture or one of six polyphonic ring tones. Basic offerings include a vibrate mode, an alarm clock, a voice memo recorder, voice commands and dialing, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, a world clock, support for e-mail and instant messaging, a notepad, and LGs handy tip calculator. The carrier also offers a roadside assistance service for stranded motorists.The 1.3-megapixel camera takes pictures in only three resolutions--960x1,280, 480x640, and 240x320--but you get a fair number of editing options, including three quality settings; four shutter sounds, plus a silent option; adjustable brightness and white-balance settings; four color tones; a 5- or 10-second self-timer; a 15X digital zoom; and a flash. The camcorder records clips in 176x144 resolution with sound. Editing options are similar to the still cameras. For saving your work, the LG DM-L200 comes with a healthy 30MB of shared memory. At the most, it will hold 40 photos at the highest resolution. Photo quality is quite good, with vivid colors and sharp object outlines. The LG DM-L200 takes quality pictures. Like the other Disney Mobile phone, the Pantech DM-P100, the star attraction of the LG DM-L200 lies in its Disney content. The Entertainment portion especially features access to Disney (and non-Disney) ring tones, images, wallpapers, color themes, and applications. You also get access to Disney Zone, a Web portal with access to Disney Radio and other applications such as Disney Trivial Pursuit. A couple of games are also included (EA Hockey and Narnia Chess), though you can download more.Parents will find the phones Family Center service incredibly useful in keeping track of their kids and monitoring their calls. They can control their childrens phones by limiting their minutes, messaging options, and downloads and even receive an alert when boundaries are met. They can prohibit outgoing calls to certain numbers and schedule time limits on the childs phone. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Family Center service is the Family Locator that utilizes GPS technology to keep track of the kids. Parents can even use a Family Alert that will send a message to one or all family members simultaneously. These additional services vary in cost, so check out our review of the Pantech DM-P100 for the full scoop on Disney Mobiles pricing scales.We tested the dual-band dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) LG DM-L200 on Sprints network in San Francisco. Call quality was good overall, though there were occasions where it sounded scratchy and a little tinny. Most callers could tell we were on a cell phone. As for the speakerphone quality, it was about the same, and the volume was fine. We tried out Disney Mobiles GPS tracking service with another LG DM-L200 and found it worked quite easily. We could simply select the childs phone and choose to track it, and an interactive map would show up with the location as well as the streets address and any noticeable landmarks. The childs phone would then receive a text message that its being tracked by the parents phone. The LG DM-L200 has a rated talk time of four hours, which we met in our tests. It has a promised standby time of 14 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the LG-DM L200 has a digital SAR rating of 0.75 watt per kilogram and an analog SAR rating of 1.12 watts per kilogram. ),
(1003,Pantech DM-P100,Positives: The Pantech DM-P100 offers unique content and services designed for the family market. Its a decent performer, too. Negatives: The Pantech DM-P100s design is uninspired, with a chunky design and a tiny external display. Facts: Though its design is nothing special, the Pantech DM-P100 offers a solid selection of services and content that stands out from other carriers. , There is a new kid on the MVNO block, and this one has arrived with white gloves, red pants, and yellow shoes. The Walt Disney Company, which brought you theme parks, beloved animated films, and merchandising as we know it, is now bringing Mickey Mouse to the mobile world. Disney Mobile, which unveiled its ears last month, is aiming to grab a share of the family market through a unique selection of services, including GPS location, Disney-themed content, and parental controls. Make no mistake that its not about the hardware here--the carriers first two handsets are rather unremarkable as cell phones go--but rather its all about whats inside. The result is mostly successful, but with the Pantech DM-P100, we were disappointed there wasnt more magic in the handset itself. It is fairly priced, however, at $59 with service. As is the case with all MVNOs, Disney Mobile does not operate its own network; rather, it rents space from Sprint.The DM-P100 joins the LG DM-L200 as Disney Mobiles first offerings. Pantech is a relatively new player in the United States, so were not sure what to expect each time it introduces a new model. But with the DM-P100, we werent bowled over. The flip phone isnt ugly, but its not really pretty either. In all honesty, we were expecting a little more excitement from Disney Mobile, though the candy-apple-red LG DM-L200 comes a bit closer in that regard. Styled in a simple silver color scheme, DM-P100 has average dimensions for a flip phone (3.4 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches; 3.9 ounces), but it comes off looking a bit chunky. The extendable antenna is rather flimsy, but the phone has a solid construction overall and feels comfortable in the hand.The postage stamp external display (96x64 pixels) is small for the phones size, and it is dark even when the backlighting is on. It shows the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID, and though it doesnt support photo ID, it does function as a very rudimentary viewfinder for self-portraits. Unfortunately, none of the displays settings are changeable. Below the display is the camera flash and lens and a small speaker. A covered headset jack is on top of the phone, while the left spine holds a volume rocker and a camera shutter.Inside the phone is the 1.75-inch (120x160 pixels) display. It supports 65,000 and is relatively bright and vivid. Graphics arent supersharp but fine for viewing photos and games and browsing the user-friendly animated menus. You can change lots of options with the display, including the menu style, the contrast, the backlight time, the greeting, and the font color. Below the display is the large and tactile navigation array. A four-way toggle with an OK button in the center doubles as a shortcut to four user-defined functions. There are also two soft keys, a nifty dedicated speakerphone key, a camera button, the talk and end/power keys, and a back button. The keypad buttons are flat with the surface of the phone, but they are large and brightly backlit.The 300-contact phone book has room in each entry for four phone numbers and two e-mail addresses. You can organize callers into groups or for caller ID purposes and pair them with a photo or a polyphonic ring tone. Only six tones come on the phones, some of which are Disney tunes, but more choices are available for download. Basic offerings include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a one-minute voice recorder, a scheduler, an alarm clock, a notepad, a calculator, a stopwatch, voice dialing, a speakerphone, and a world clock. The carrier also offers a roadside assistance service for stranded motorists. The DM-P100s camera comes with a flash. You might be surprised that Disney Mobile even includes a camera in a phone designed for kid use. But thats the point, actually, as the carriers intention is to make a phone thats usable for family members of all ages. Plus, you can control the photo-messaging function (see below) and the camera is a simple VGA model. You can take pictures in three resolutions (640x480, 320x240, and 160x120), choose from three quality modes and six color effects, adjust the brightness and contrast, and use the 4X zoom (not available at the highest resolution). Other features include a self-timer, 18 fun frames, a flash, and three shutter sounds. Missing from the list, however, is video capability. When finished with your shots, you can save them to the phones 32MB of shared memory or send them to friends. Picture quality is average for a VGA camera; objects in our tests were grainy and colors didnt pop out. The DM-P100 has average picture quality for a VGA camera phone. Disney Mobiles hallmark offerings are its themed content and applications. The Entertainment menu takes you to a variety of choices, including downloads for Disney (and non-Disney) wallpapers, color themes, ring tones, and images. You also get two demo games (Nemos Aquarium and Tetris), a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser, and a choice of downloadable applications. And if thats not enough, you can access the Disney Zone for Disney radio and applications such as Disney Trivial Pursuit.In keeping with the family theme, Disney Mobile offers a number of parental controls and applications designed to keep track of your brood. With Family Manager, parents can keep track of how their children are using the phone and how much money theyre spending. You can set limits on calling minutes, messaging, and downloads, and you can ask to receive an alert when the limit is reached. Family Located enables GPS tracking through the phone or the Web of all phones on your familys network, while Family Alert sends a message to one or all members simultaneously. Lastly, Call Control is a Web-only feature that lets the parent, or Family Manager, schedule times when your childs phone can make or receive calls, and you can create a list of prohibited phone numbers.Individual service plans range from $39 for 400 anytime minutes per month up to $169 for 3,500 anytime minutes. Family plans start at $59 for 450 anytime minutes and go up to $249 for 4,500 minutes. Its all a bit expensive, yes, and there seems to be a litany of fees involved as well. They include 10 cents per text message, 25 cents per multimedia message, and activation fees of up to $35 per line. Some messaging services are offered in a bundle, however. Also, while the coverage through Sprints network is nationwide, off-network roaming charges are 40 cents per minute. Finally, directory assistance is $1.40 per call, and the aforementioned roadside assistance is $2.99 per month.On the upside, much of the Disney-themed applications are free or almost free, including the Family Alert, Family Monitor, and Call Control functions. Family Locater is free for the first five locates a month. Additional locates are 49 cents each, or you can get an unlimited package for $12.99 per month. Access to the Disney Zone is also free, but as with any other carrier, additional content downloads vary in cost.We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) PM-D100 running on Sprints network in San Francisco. Call quality was good overall, though some calls had a scratchy quality. It wasnt too bothersome, though, and while callers could tell we were using a cell phone, they reported satisfactory audio on their end. Speakerphone quality was decent despite the fact that callers had trouble hearing us in noisy environments. Volume for both normal and speakerphone calls was admirable. For a full review of the carriers GPS tracking services, see our review of the LG DM-L200.The DM-P100 has a rated talk time of three and a half hours and a tested talk time of a little less than that at three hours and 20 minutes. It also has a promised standby time of 7.9 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the DM-P100 has a digital SAR rating of 1.15 watts per kilogram. ),
(1004,Samsung SCH-A990,Positives: The Samsung SCH-A990 boasts a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and video-recording capabilities. The EV-DO handset also supports Verizons 3G services, has integrated Bluetooth, a swivel screen, a speakerphone, and good call quality. Negatives: The pricey Samsung SCH-A990 is occasionally sluggish when using the multimedia features, and its tripped up by some Bluetooth and music restrictions. Also, we wish Verizon would include more accessories with the phone. Facts: Despite a couple of design glitches and restrictions, the Samsung SCH-A990 is a high-end multimedia phone that boasts a sharp, 3.2-megapixel camera and good call quality. , Camera phones have come a long way over the years, graduating from mediocre VGA lenses to higher-quality megapixel cameras. Though these devices will never replace your stand-alone digital camera, they are getting better, and now Verizon Wireless has scored the first 3.2-megapixel camera phone for the States: the Samsung SCH-A990. It comes with an autofocus feature, video-recording capabilities, and a cool swivel screen. This high-end mobile also has integrated Bluetooth, support for Verizons 3G services, and excellent call quality. But its not without problems. The phone was sometimes slow to perform multimedia functions in our tests and is marred by restrictions set forth by Verizon. Yet, for those who crave multimedia and the latest features on their phone, the SCH-A990 certainly fits the bill. Just be prepared for a little sticker shock. At $349.99, the SCH-A900 is on the pricey side, though certainly cheaper than the Nokia N80. The Samsung SCH-A990 is a phone of substance, but its not weighed down by an overly bulky design. At 3.8 by 1.8 by 0.8 inches and 4.4 ounces, the A990 certainly isnt Razr-thin, but the flip phone feels solid in the hand and is very comfortable to hold against your ear. Plus, you get some distinct advantages with the larger size. First, you get a sizable 1.25-inch, (diagonal) external TFT OLED that shows the time and date, network strength, battery life, and photo caller ID (where available)--all in 65,000 colors. The view is even better inside where the 2.2-inch screen boasts 262,144 hues and a sharp 240x320-pixel resolution. Colors pop from images, and text is crisp and easy to read. But wait, theres a twist--literally. In its open position, you can twist the A990s display 180 degrees clockwise, then fold it down. This comes in quite handy when you want to use the mobiles functions (see below). The SCH-A990 is a bulky phone. Below the screen, youll find the phones navigation controls. You get a four-way toggle with a center OK button; the up, down, left, and right are programmed to open the Web, the calendar, the Get Pix & Flix menu, and the Get It Now service, respectively. Surrounding the directional keypad are two soft keys, a camera activation button, a voice command control, a Clear button, and send and end/power keys. Overall, we found the controls easy to manipulate, but we had some problems with the OK button. Due to its small size, we pressed the Calendar button accidentally on a few occasions. The numerical dial pad, however, is quite spacious with large, tactile buttons that are adequately backlit for dialing in darker environments.The Samsung SCH-A990 is a multimedia mobile, and there are signs all over the phone to reflect its entertaining side. On the left spine, are rewind, play/pause, and fast-forward keys for the music player, a headset jack and a Micro SD card slot. We should note that you cant plug the headset into the phone directly; rather it requires a separate adapter. Fortunately, thats included, but its still an inconvenient step, in our opinion. Speakers are located on both sides of the phone. The camera lens is on the back of the phone, and we like that its protected by a sliding cover. Theres also a small portrait mirror and a flash. The cameras controls sit on the right spine; you have a capture key and a zoom in/out rocker that adjusts the phones volume. Theres a speakerphone activation key in between these two buttons, which seems oddly out of place, but we appreciate it nonetheless. Finally, theres an unmarked key that opens the camera options menu, where you can adjust such things as quality, flash, and resolution. As we mentioned earlier, you can swivel the screen a full 180 degrees, then fold it down so that the LCD faces out. (In fact, doing so automatically activates the camera.) This, coupled with the side camera keys, which are on top when the handset is held horizontally, mimics the look and feel of a stand-alone digital camera and makes for a natural feel when taking pictures. We had two minor complaints, however. First, it was a bit difficult to navigate the cameras different menus. While the Options button got us to the main menu, it wasnt clear which buttons scroll through the various settings and which button selects an option. For the record, the volume rocker does the scrolling and the capture key does the selecting. Second, since the camera lens is on the back instead of on the hinge (à la the NokiaN93) of the phone, you cant take full advantage of the swivel screen by rotating it 90 degrees and using it as a viewfinder like a real camcorder. Verizon packages the Samsung SCH-A990 with a handful of accessories, but were a little confused by the choice of peripherals. For example, you get an AC adapter, a TV-out cable, a headset adapter, and a wrist strap, but if we had our choice, wed much rather have (and get more use out of) earbuds than a TV-out cable. For now, you have to buy these as part of the Music Essentials Kit for $29.99, which also includes a USB cable and software. Other accessories available for purchase consist of a belt holster ($19.99) and Micro SD cards ($29.99 for 256MB; $49.99 for 512MB). The Samsung SCH-A990 is Verizons flagship phone, and with good reason. For starters, its the first phone in the United States to boast a 3.2-megapixel camera, trumping the recently lauded Nokia N80. It has an autofocus feature, zoom, and plenty of imaging options. You can choose from five picture modes (auto, portrait, landscape, micro, and night), three quality settings (economy, normal, and fine), and five resolutions (2,048x1,536, 1,600x1,200, 1,280x960, 1,024x768, and 800x600). You can adjust the brightness, white balance, color effects, and ISO settings. Theres also a multishot mode and a self-timer, and you can change or turn off the shutter sound. Many of these options are also available to you in camcorder mode, although you get a choice of only two resolutions (320x240 and 176x144). You can capture up to an hours worth of video with sound. The SCH-A990s camera is fully equipped. Once youre done shooting your masterpieces, you can save them to the phones 72MB of internal memory (32MB is user-definable), set them as wallpaper, or upload them to Verizons PIX online service, where you can send picture/video messages and share albums with family and friends. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the SCH-A990s TV-out capability to display photos on your TV, or you can send them to a Bluetooth-enabled printer right from your phone. The SCH-A990s image quality was one of the best weve seen to date from a camera phone. Subjects were defined clearly and colors popped; even the videos were fairly watchable, despite a bit of blurriness. We should note that theres a slight delay from when you press the capture button to when the camera actually takes the picture as the autofocus feature kicks into gear. The SCH-A990 has superior image quality. The EV-DO-capable SCH-A990 supports Verizons 3G VCast service for streaming video content as well as the VCast Music store. V Cast offers news, sports, entertainment, and weather content from various providers, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, ESPN, Fox Sports, Comedy Central, and the Weather Channel. Like other V Cast phones, the SCH-A990s video player can rewind and fast-forward through clips and has a full-screen mode. We watched a few videos from ESPN and MTV, and though the quality wasnt mind-blowing (see Performance for more), we enjoyed having the option.For music fans, the V Cast Music store allows you to browse through its catalog of more than a million songs and download tracks to your phone wirelessly. However, its pricey at $2 per song. If you can wait till you get home, you can purchase songs from your PC for a more reasonable $1, then transfer them to your phone. You can also transfer music from your own library using Windows Media Player 10, with one annoying stipulation; you have to convert any MP3 files to the WMA format. Another aggravation? Youll also need to purchase a USB cable since one isnt included, and we suggest you invest in a Micro SD card, as well, since these multimedia files tend to be memory hogs. The music player itself is pretty rudimentary; there are no options for tweaking the sound, but it displays album art and you can create playlists. And lets not forget that behind all this multimedia talent, the SCH-A990 is still a phone. Its address book holds 500 names with room in each entry for five numbers, two e-mail addresses, and notes. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a group ID to each contact, as well as a photo or one of 12 ring tones. You also get a speakerphone, which you can turn on before making a call, a vibrate mode, voice dialing and commands, virtual business cards (VCards), and text and multimedia messaging. The SCH-A990 has integrated Bluetooth, but as is typical with Verizon, it doesnt support all OBEX profiles. You can use it for connecting to wireless headsets, Bluetooth printers, and dial-up networking. Other goodies include e-mail support, instant messaging, a calculator, an alarm clock, a stop watch, and a notepad.You can customize the Samsung SCH-A990 with a number of wallpapers, themes, and sounds; in addition, you can change the backlighting time and font size. The phone supports BREW 3, but no games are included on the phone. Of course, you can always download titles, as well as other customization options, from the Web. Finally, if youre directionally challenged, youll be happy to know the SCH-A990 supports Verizons VZ Navigator GPS service. We tested the dual-band (CDMA 850/1900; Samsung SCH-A990 in San Francisco using Verizons network, and call quality was great. We could hear our callers loud and clear, and our friends reported the same, adding that they couldnt even tell we were on a cell phone. Speakerphone quality was just as good, and we had no problems pairing the handset with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.Surfing the Web on the SCH-A990 was blazingly fast. Sites like ebay.com, ESPN.com, and nytimes.com loaded within seconds. Unfortunately, we didnt experience the same speed with the rest of the phones functions. There was a noticeable lag when we launched the music player and skipped through tracks. Also, accessing the V Cast content was slow going, as it had to first get the content, then buffer the video. We also noticed on several occasions that the video and audio were out of sync. Music playback through the phones speakers left much to be desired as songs sounded tinny, but audio quality improved when we plugged in Verizons headset, though we must say, they were mighty uncomfortable.The Samsung SCH-A990 is rated for 4.1 hours of talk time and up to 13 days of standby time. In our tests, we came in slightly under at 4 hours of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the SCH-A990 has a digital SAR rating of 1.09 watts per kilogram. ),
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