8. cell phone reveiws

Nokias 6280 is ruggedly built, with a solid slider mechanism and a sound feature set, including Bluetooth, a 2-megapixel camera, and an FM radio. Theres a nice built-in library of software, and Nokia provides all you need for synchronizing your calendar, contacts, and so on with your PC. Our main grumble is that though the Nokia 6280 has a Mini SD card slot, theres not enough integrated memory. For a full assessment of the Nokia 6280s design and features ),
(1033,Samsung SGH-D407,Positives: The Samsung SGH-D407 offers Bluetooth, a speakerphone, push-to-talk capabilities, and world phone support in a simple, compact design. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-D407 has a poorly designed external display, and call quality was staticky at times. Facts: Despite some minor design and performance glitches, the Samsung SGH-D407 is a serviceable Cingular push-to-talk phone. , Cingular Wireless may have been somewhat late to the push-to-talk (PTT) party, but since it joined the fun last December, Americas largest carrier hasnt been shy about introducing new PTT models. The first two handsets, the Samsung SGH-D357 and the LG F7200, did not offer cameras, but the third model in the series, the LG CG300, came with a VGA shooter in a nod toward shutterbugs. And now to broaden its PTT selection even further, Cingular offers the Samsung SGH-D407. Packed into a simple but appealing design, the SGH-D407 offers a decent feature set that includes the aforementioned PTT support, a speakerphone, Bluetooth, and world phone coverage. Its a bargain at $79, but you can get it even cheaper with service.Of Cingulars previous PTT phones, the Samsung SGH-D407 most resembles its Samsung sibling, the SGH-D357. Like its predecessor, it has a flip-phone form factor thats relatively compact (3.4 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches) and lightweight (3.3 ounces), so it wont drag you down. Though its simple design is a bit angular, we liked the dark gray color scheme, and were glad that the stubby antenna didnt add too much bulk. Front and center, the postage-stamp-size external display shows the date, time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID. Overall, however, the monochrome display misses the mark. The reverse text (white on a black background) was difficult to read, and the backlighting was much too dark; you can change the contrast but not the brightness or the backlighting time. Also, while the screen acts as a crude viewfinder for the camera, it does not support photo caller ID. Above the display is the speaker, while the camera lens sits below, on the bottom right of the front flap. There is no flash on the SGH-D407. The Samsung SGH-D407 has a basic, compact design. Inside the Samsung SGH-D407 is an average 65,000-color, 128x156-pixel display. Its a good size (1.75 inches diagonally), but it isnt very sharp or vivid. We much prefer more vivid Samsung displays, such as the SGH-D807s. Criticisms aside, its adequate for scrolling through the simple menus, viewing photos, and playing games. You can change the contrast, the brightness, the backlighting time, and the font color, but not the font size. Below the display are large and tactile standard navigation controls, which follow the standard Samsung layout. A four-way toggle doubles as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, while the two soft keys offer one touch-access to the main menu and instant messaging. Theres an OK button in the middle of the toggle, but we don't like that it opens the Web browser when the phone is in standby mode. Below the toggle are a Clear button and the Talk and End/power keys. The backlit keypad buttons were large for the phones size, and we appreciated that the numerals on the keys were big and easy to see. Also, the buttons are raised above the surface of the phone, which made for few misdials. On the left spine of the SGH-D407 are a covered headset jack, the PTT button, and a volume rocker, while a speakerphone/voice-dialing control and a camera button sit on the right spine. The Samsung SGH-D407s phone book holds a generous 1,000 contacts, far more than we expected. Also, you can store an additional 250 contacts on the SIM card. Each entry has room for five phone numbers, an e-mail address, and notes. You can save callers to a group or assign them one of 10 polyphonic (64-chord) ring tones. You also can pair callers with a photo, but its not worth the effort since the images don't show up on the external display. Theres a separate list for PTT contacts, but since Cingular uses the same number for both regular phone calls and PTT calls, you can easily copy contacts to and from the address book. For a complete description of Cingulars PTT network, please see our review of the LG F7200. Other basic features include a vibrate mode, a calendar, a task list, a notepad, a calculator, a unit converter, a timer, a stopwatch, a world clock, and a voice recorder for messages up to seven minutes in length. Messaging options are plentiful--you get text and multimedia messaging; AOL, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo instant messaging; and support for POP3 e-mail through Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and SBC. On the business-friendly side, theres full Bluetooth, voice dialing and commands, and a speakerphone. The Samsung SGH-D407s VGA camera does not have a flash. The VGA camera takes pictures in four resolutions: 640x480, 320x240, 176x160, and 160x120. If youre an avid camera phone fan, the picture-editing options wont disappoint. The SGH-D407 offers a 4X zoom, four image-quality settings, a brightness control, seven color effects, 29 fun frames, a self-timer, multi- or mosaic shot modes, and an option for flipping the images orientation. You also get a wealth of photo sound options, but you can turn them off altogether. The camcorder takes clips in two resolutions (176x144 and 128x96) with sound. Videos are limited to 44 seconds, and editing options are similar to those of the still camera. Photo quality was what youd expect from a VGA camera; images were grainy and colors didnt pop. It does the trick overall, though, especially if youre just looking to take on-the-spot shots for multimedia messages. Similarly, videos were pixelated and washed out. For saving your photos and videos, the phone comes with a solid 27MB of shared memory. The Samsung SGH-D407s photo quality was average for a VGA camera phone. You can personalize the SGH-D407 with a variety of wallpaper, color skins, and alert sounds. You can buy more options and tones from Cingular over the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. The phone comes with three Java (J2ME) demo games (Tetris, Midnight Pool, and Skipping Stones), so youll have to buy the full versions or other titles. We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Samsung SGH-D407 in San Francisco using Cingulars service. Call quality was admirable. We could hear our conversations plainly, and callers said they had no trouble understanding us. They could tell we were using a cell phone, especially when we were in noisy environments. Volume on our end was good as well. Speakerphone calls werent as satisfactory--there was noticeable static, and audio quality had an echoed effect. Moreover, callers had trouble following us at times, and automated calling systems, such as an airline reservation center, couldnt understand us at all. Calls using PTT and the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset were decent, but they suffered from minimal static. Via the EDGE network, Web browsing was sufficiently speedy. The Samsung SGH-D407 has a rated talk time of 5 hours and a promised standby time of 10.4 days; our tests showed a talk time of only 4 hours and a standby time of 7 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the SGH-D407 has digital SAR rating of 1.38 watts per kilogram. ),
(1034,Nokia 9300i, , Quick Take: The Nokia 9300i is very similar to the Nokia 9300, except it adds integrated Wi-Fi. For more information about the 9300i, please read our full review of the Nokia 9300. ),
(1035,Nokia 9500, , Quick Take: Part of the Nokia Communicator line of smart phones, the Nokia 9500 is similar to its sibling, the 9300, but offers some added features, most notably integrated Wi-Fi and a built-in VGA camera. Also, its physically bigger, at 5.8 by 2.2 by 0.9 inches and 7.8 ounces, and you get the advantage of a larger internal display. For more information about the Nokia 9500, please read our full review of the Nokia 9300. ),
(1036,Nokia 8801, , Quick Take: The Nokia 8801 for T-Mobile is similar to the Nokia 8800, except it supports different GSM bands. The Nokia 8801 is a triband (GSM 850/1800/1900) handset, while the 8800 is a triband (GSM 900/1800/1900) world phone. For our full assessment of the 8801s design and features, please see our review of the Nokia 8800. ),
(1037,Samsung SCH-A930,Positives: The Samsung SCH-A930 has decent call quality and an attractive feature set that includes Bluetooth, EV-DO support, an external memory slot, a speakerphone, a megapixel camera, and a digital music player. Negatives: The Samsung SCH-A930 has an uninspiring design, and the external display is not suitable for such a full-featured phone. Plus, it suffers from spotty EV-DO reception. Facts: The Samsung SCH-A930 makes a mostly good showing, but there are better choices in Verizons EV-DO lineup. Note: This product is part of the Samsung SCH-A930 series. ., After introducing its V Cast Music downloading service earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, Verizon Wireless has steadily expanded its lineup of music phones. The options range from a simple upgrade to the LG VX8100 to the totally new Samsung SCH-A950. And now, just weeks after Sprint introduced its newest music phone, the LG LX550, Verizon gives us the Samsung SCH-A930. Clad in basic black, the SCH-A930 offers much of what youd expect from a music phone, including EV-DO support, Bluetooth, and an external memory card slot. In an improvement upon the UTStarcom CDM-8945, the SCH-A930 has external music controls, but they arent as user-friendly as those on the SCH-A950. Also, our EV-DO coverage was quite inconsistent. The SCH-A930 is competitively priced at $149, but you can get it for as low as $39 with a service contract. Verizon Wireless takes a new design tack with its Samsung SCH-A930. Clad entirely in black, it looks a bit different from the carriers other music phones--not quite as eye-catching as the Samsung SCH-A950 but a step above the UTStarcom CDM-8945. The overall form factor is rather boxy and dull, but it comes in at 3.6 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches, and at 3.9 ounces, its slimmer than most of its EV-DO brethren. It fits in a pocket easily, and it felt comfortable in our hand while talking. The construction was mostly solid as well, though the flip-opening mechanism was looser than we would have liked. The SCH-A930 wears only black in a relatively compact form factor. In an alternative design twist, the rectangular external display has a vertical orientation down the middle of the front flap. Were used to seeing such handiwork from Kyocera, but this is the first time this type of screen has shown up on a Samsung. Despite its small size and monochrome resolution, it displays a lot of information, including the time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). On the downside, however, the text is small, and theres no way to change the font size. Like most other V Cast Music phones, the Samsung SCH-A930 has a set of exterior controls that let you activate and play music when the flap is closed. You can also scroll through music on the exterior display, but the experience is less user-friendly than on other Verizon music phones. Since the display is so small, it cant show a miniature player menu, as does the external display on the SCH-A950. Instead, it shows only one line at a time. The music-player buttons are useful, but theyre not a match for the retro external display. Above the Samsung SCH-A930s display is the camera lens, which can rotate 180 degrees from back to front. You can take self-portraits with ease, and you can use a small flash on the front flap for dimmer environments. However, because the external display wont support photo caller ID, it cant function as a viewfinder either. As a result, you must shoot all photos with the phone open. Completing the exterior of the handset are a volume rocker and a voice dialing/speakerphone button on the left spine, while a covered headset jack and a Micro SD card slot sit on the right spine. There is no exterior camera shutter.Inside the phone, youre drawn immediately to the internal display. Its a typical Samsung affair, bright and vivid, but its not so easy to see in direct light. Measuring 2 inches diagonally (176x220 pixels) and supporting 262,000 colors, it does its job well, and its more than adequate for viewing photos and using the standard, if boring, Verizon menus. You can change the backlighting time and the font style.The navigation array is huge and well sized for even the largest hands. Theres a four-way toggle with a central OK button; two soft keys; dedicated shortcut controls for the camcorder and voice dialing; the Talk and End/power keys; and a Clear key. All controls are tactile and easy to use, and the toggle doubles as a shortcut to the Get It Now menu, the V Cast menu, the Web browser, and one user-defined function. The big keypad buttons are well spaced too, but theyre flat with the surface of the phone, and the backlighting isnt very bright. The Samsung SCH-A930 has a 500-contact phone book, with room in each entry for five phone numbers and e-mail addresses. You can organize contacts into groups or pair them with a photo for caller ID. Remember, though, that photos wont show up on the external display. You also get ring-tone caller ID, but the phone comes with only 10 polyphonic (64-chord) tones. Other features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, a notepad, a calendar, a world clock, a stopwatch, and instant messaging (AOL, MSN, or Yahoo). Road warriors can use the speakerphone (operable before you make a call), voice dialing and commands, and POP3 e-mail support, and while there is Bluetooth, it supports only profiles for a headset and dial-up networking. You cant use it to exchange files. The SCH-A930 comes with a swiveling camera lens. As an EV-DO phone, the Samsung SCH-A930 supports Verizons V Cast video service and V Cast Music. The interface and menu structure for the music and video players are similar to those of other Verizon EV-DO handsets, and the content offerings are about the same as well. The 1.3-megapixel camera can take pictures in four resolutions, from 160x120 up to 1,280x960. Other settings were plentiful. You can choose from six white-balance options, six color effects, four metering options, a multishot feature, three quality options, and three shutter sounds (plus a silent option). Theres also a flash, a self-timer, and a 10X digital zoom, though the last option is unusable at the highest resolution. We werent huge fans of Verizons menu structure, but we loved the photo menu, which allows you to keep viewing your subject, while various pop-up menus display the editing choices.The camcorder takes videos with sound in two time formats: 15 seconds for multimedia messages or up to 10 minutes for storing on the phone. Speaking of which, you get 31MB of internal shared memory in addition to the aforementioned Micro SD card slot. Youll need to buy a card, however, as one is not included with the phone. Photo quality was quite good, with distinct colors and object lines. Lighter colors looked a bit washed out, but our snaps were enjoyable overall. We liked the SCH-A930s photo quality. You can personalize the Samsung SCH-A930 with a variety of wallpaper, display themes, alert sounds, and clock styles. Since this is a Verizon phone, there arent that many included choices, so youll need to buy more options and ring tones via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. There are no included games, so avid gamers will have to buy titles. We tested the dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) Samsung SCH-A930 in San Francisco using Verizons service. Call quality was good overall, though some voices sounded robotic at times. Volume was exceptionally loud; however, we could hear callers plainly, and they reported the same. Calls over the speakerphone and a Bluetooth headset were also satisfactory, and we had no problems establishing a connection with a headset. We also had no trouble getting a signal for phone calls, but our EV-DO coverage was much spottier than it was on other Verizon 3G phones weve tested. We had a lot of difficulty in buildings and outdoors in general, and overhead obstructions caused more service problems.Streaming video quality over the V Cast service was on a par with that of the Samsung SCH-A950--the clips were clean but not too pixelated. Music downloads took just less than a minute, a bit longer than on the SCH-A950 but still speedy enough. Yet, the above findings were true only when the phone had acquired an EV-DO connection. Because our 3G service was unreliable with this phone, the connection dropped out in the midst of a track download or a video stream on more than one occasion. Overall, it was a frustrating experience, though it may be more due to Verizons network rather than the phone itself. Music quality was about what we expected for a phone--good but nothing spectacular--though the stereo speakers werent very powerful.The Samsung SCH-A930 has a rated talk time of 4.3 hours and a promised standby time of 8.3 days; we got 4 hours, 32 minutes of talk time in our tests and 10 days of standby time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Samsung SCH-A930 has a digital SAR rating of 0.77 watt per kilogram. ),
(1038,Samsung SCH-A930 (red),Positives: The Samsung SCH-A930 has decent call quality and an attractive feature set that includes Bluetooth, EV-DO support, an external memory slot, a speakerphone, a megapixel camera, and a digital music player. Negatives: The Samsung SCH-A930 has an uninspiring design, and the external display is not suitable for such a full-featured phone. Plus, it suffers from spotty EV-DO reception. Facts: The Samsung SCH-A930 makes a mostly good showing, but there are better choices in Verizons EV-DO lineup. Note: This product is part of the Samsung SCH-A930 series. ., After introducing its V Cast Music downloading service earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show, Verizon Wireless has steadily expanded its lineup of music phones. The options range from a simple upgrade to the LG VX8100 to the totally new Samsung SCH-A950. And now, just weeks after Sprint introduced its newest music phone, the LG LX550, Verizon gives us the Samsung SCH-A930. Clad in basic black, the SCH-A930 offers much of what youd expect from a music phone, including EV-DO support, Bluetooth, and an external memory card slot. In an improvement upon the UTStarcom CDM-8945, the SCH-A930 has external music controls, but they arent as user-friendly as those on the SCH-A950. Also, our EV-DO coverage was quite inconsistent. The SCH-A930 is competitively priced at $149, but you can get it for as low as $39 with a service contract. Verizon Wireless takes a new design tack with its Samsung SCH-A930. Clad entirely in black, it looks a bit different from the carriers other music phones--not quite as eye-catching as the Samsung SCH-A950 but a step above the UTStarcom CDM-8945. The overall form factor is rather boxy and dull, but it comes in at 3.6 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches, and at 3.9 ounces, its slimmer than most of its EV-DO brethren. It fits in a pocket easily, and it felt comfortable in our hand while talking. The construction was mostly solid as well, though the flip-opening mechanism was looser than we would have liked. The SCH-A930 wears only black in a relatively compact form factor. In an alternative design twist, the rectangular external display has a vertical orientation down the middle of the front flap. Were used to seeing such handiwork from Kyocera, but this is the first time this type of screen has shown up on a Samsung. Despite its small size and monochrome resolution, it displays a lot of information, including the time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). On the downside, however, the text is small, and theres no way to change the font size. Like most other V Cast Music phones, the Samsung SCH-A930 has a set of exterior controls that let you activate and play music when the flap is closed. You can also scroll through music on the exterior display, but the experience is less user-friendly than on other Verizon music phones. Since the display is so small, it cant show a miniature player menu, as does the external display on the SCH-A950. Instead, it shows only one line at a time. The music-player buttons are useful, but theyre not a match for the retro external display. Above the Samsung SCH-A930s display is the camera lens, which can rotate 180 degrees from back to front. You can take self-portraits with ease, and you can use a small flash on the front flap for dimmer environments. However, because the external display wont support photo caller ID, it cant function as a viewfinder either. As a result, you must shoot all photos with the phone open. Completing the exterior of the handset are a volume rocker and a voice dialing/speakerphone button on the left spine, while a covered headset jack and a Micro SD card slot sit on the right spine. There is no exterior camera shutter.Inside the phone, youre drawn immediately to the internal display. Its a typical Samsung affair, bright and vivid, but its not so easy to see in direct light. Measuring 2 inches diagonally (176x220 pixels) and supporting 262,000 colors, it does its job well, and its more than adequate for viewing photos and using the standard, if boring, Verizon menus. You can change the backlighting time and the font style.The navigation array is huge and well sized for even the largest hands. Theres a four-way toggle with a central OK button; two soft keys; dedicated shortcut controls for the camcorder and voice dialing; the Talk and End/power keys; and a Clear key. All controls are tactile and easy to use, and the toggle doubles as a shortcut to the Get It Now menu, the V Cast menu, the Web browser, and one user-defined function. The big keypad buttons are well spaced too, but theyre flat with the surface of the phone, and the backlighting isnt very bright. The Samsung SCH-A930 has a 500-contact phone book, with room in each entry for five phone numbers and e-mail addresses. You can organize contacts into groups or pair them with a photo for caller ID. Remember, though, that photos wont show up on the external display. You also get ring-tone caller ID, but the phone comes with only 10 polyphonic (64-chord) tones. Other features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, a notepad, a calendar, a world clock, a stopwatch, and instant messaging (AOL, MSN, or Yahoo). Road warriors can use the speakerphone (operable before you make a call), voice dialing and commands, and POP3 e-mail support, and while there is Bluetooth, it supports only profiles for a headset and dial-up networking. You cant use it to exchange files. The SCH-A930 comes with a swiveling camera lens. As an EV-DO phone, the Samsung SCH-A930 supports Verizons V Cast video service and V Cast Music. The interface and menu structure for the music and video players are similar to those of other Verizon EV-DO handsets, and the content offerings are about the same as well. The 1.3-megapixel camera can take pictures in four resolutions, from 160x120 up to 1,280x960. Other settings were plentiful. You can choose from six white-balance options, six color effects, four metering options, a multishot feature, three quality options, and three shutter sounds (plus a silent option). Theres also a flash, a self-timer, and a 10X digital zoom, though the last option is unusable at the highest resolution. We werent huge fans of Verizons menu structure, but we loved the photo menu, which allows you to keep viewing your subject, while various pop-up menus display the editing choices.The camcorder takes videos with sound in two time formats: 15 seconds for multimedia messages or up to 10 minutes for storing on the phone. Speaking of which, you get 31MB of internal shared memory in addition to the aforementioned Micro SD card slot. Youll need to buy a card, however, as one is not included with the phone. Photo quality was quite good, with distinct colors and object lines. Lighter colors looked a bit washed out, but our snaps were enjoyable overall. We liked the SCH-A930s photo quality. You can personalize the Samsung SCH-A930 with a variety of wallpaper, display themes, alert sounds, and clock styles. Since this is a Verizon phone, there arent that many included choices, so youll need to buy more options and ring tones via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. There are no included games, so avid gamers will have to buy titles. We tested the dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) Samsung SCH-A930 in San Francisco using Verizons service. Call quality was good overall, though some voices sounded robotic at times. Volume was exceptionally loud; however, we could hear callers plainly, and they reported the same. Calls over the speakerphone and a Bluetooth headset were also satisfactory, and we had no problems establishing a connection with a headset. We also had no trouble getting a signal for phone calls, but our EV-DO coverage was much spottier than it was on other Verizon 3G phones weve tested. We had a lot of difficulty in buildings and outdoors in general, and overhead obstructions caused more service problems.Streaming video quality over the V Cast service was on a par with that of the Samsung SCH-A950--the clips were clean but not too pixelated. Music downloads took just less than a minute, a bit longer than on the SCH-A950 but still speedy enough. Yet, the above findings were true only when the phone had acquired an EV-DO connection. Because our 3G service was unreliable with this phone, the connection dropped out in the midst of a track download or a video stream on more than one occasion. Overall, it was a frustrating experience, though it may be more due to Verizons network rather than the phone itself. Music quality was about what we expected for a phone--good but nothing spectacular--though the stereo speakers werent very powerful.The Samsung SCH-A930 has a rated talk time of 4.3 hours and a promised standby time of 8.3 days; we got 4 hours, 32 minutes of talk time in our tests and 10 days of standby time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Samsung SCH-A930 has a digital SAR rating of 0.77 watt per kilogram. ),
(1039,Samsung SGH-D807,Positives: The Samsung SGH-D807 is a beautifully designed world phone, with a great user interface to boot. It also features a 1.3-megapixel camera, a microSD card, Bluetooth, mobile e-mail, and a speakerphone. Performance is great, and photo quality is decent enough. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-D807 has slippery navigation controls that are a bit too flush to the surface. Plus, the camera has no flash. Facts: The Samsung SGH-D807 is a slim slider that should appeal to fashionistas and gadget geeks alike. Its sleek design and ample features are hampered only by its slippery navigation keys. Note: This product is part of the Samsung SGH-D807 series. ., Although Motorola grabbed the early lead with its popular Razr, Samsung has made a name for itself in the slim-phone market. What with thin, well-received models such as the Samsung MM-A900, the Samsung SGH-T809, and the Samsung SGH-T509, the company is certainly giving Motorola a run for its money. The latest slim phone in Samsungs arsenal is the Samsung SGH-D807 for Cingular, a slider phone that appears to be an update of the aforementioned SGH-T809. With its sleek design and ample features, the SGH-D807 should appeal to a broad audience. It retails for $179.99, but you can get it from Cingular for $129.99 after a mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement.Its no secret that slim phones are in, and the Samsung SGH-D807 does not disappoint. Its a beautifully designed handset that hits a home run as far as first impressions go. Wrapped in a matte-black finish and silver border accents, its slim, lightweight form factor (3.98 by 2.09 by 0.61 inches; 3.3 ounces) makes it a joy to hold, both in the hand and next to the ear. Because its so skinny, it also slips easily into a pocket and hardly takes up room in a purse. The SGH-D807 slider mechanism is easily operable with one hand, and it slides open in one swift motion. The Samsung SGH-D807 is a beautifully designed phone. Another design showstopper is the Samsung SGH-D807s gorgeous 262,000-color display, which measures an impressive 2 inches diagonally (176x220 pixels). The user interface on the SGH-D807 certainly takes advantage of the extra real estate with stunning, color-saturated graphics, as well as eye-catching animated menu icons. You can also change the backlight time of the display and select whether you want the LCD to turn all the way off or just have a dimmed effect. The screens brightness is adjustable, as are the size and the color of the dialing display font.Underneath the display are the navigational controls, which consist of two soft keys; a four-way toggle with a middle OK key (marked with the Cingular logo); the regular talk and End/power keys; and the cancel key in between them. The four-way toggle also acts as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, and the OK key in the middle defaults to the Media Net Web browser. While the keys are large enough, they are slippery and too flush to the surface of the phone. As a result, we had a few misdials, such as clicking two buttons at once or clicking the wrong button entirely, which sometimes resulted accidental deletions. This is a concern especially if you have large hands.Slide the Samsung SGH-D807 upward, and youre presented with a slightly recessed keypad. The keypad is also slightly flush to the surface, but thanks to minor texture details, its possible to dial by feel. It was nowhere as slippery as the navigation controls. Rounding out the phones design are the charger/headset port and the volume rocker on the left spine, with a microSD card slot on the right spine. Sliding the phone upward, youll note a 1.3-megapixel camera lens and a self-portrait mirror on the back. As a result, you cant take photos with the slider closed. The Samsung SGH-D807 has a microSD card slot. Surprisingly for such a slim phone, the Samsung SGH-D807 has plenty of features to go around. First, the basics: Its contact list holds up to 1,000 entries, and each entry can accommodate five numbers, an e-mail address, and a note. You can personalize each contact with a photo caller ID or a custom ring tone, and you can organize them into a caller group of your choice. There are 11 polyphonic ring tones to choose from, and the SGH-D807 supports MP3 ring tones, which you can download from Cingular. Organizational tools include an alarm clock, a calendar, a task list, notes, a calculator, a unit converter, a timer, a stopwatch, and a world clock. Rounding out the basic features are text and multimedia messaging, instant messaging (AOL, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo), mobile e-mail (Yahoo Mail, MSN Hotmail, AOL Mail, and SBC Yahoo Mail), a speakerphone, a voice recorder, a vibrate mode, voice dialing, Bluetooth, and a WAP 2.0 browser. The phone also supports EDGE data speeds, which is especially handy when downloading additional applications.A welcome feature on the Samsung SGH-D807 is its 1.3-megapixel camera. Theres no flash, so its not great in low light, but you can adjust the cameras brightness setting. Theres also a 10X digital zoom for close-up shots, and you can take photos in six different resolutions (1,280x1024, 1,152x864, 800x600, 640x400, 320x240, and 176x144) and four different quality settings (Fine, Super-Fine, Normal, and Economy). There are some fun camera settings, such as color effects, including Grayscale, Negative, Sepia, Emboss, Sketch, Antique, and Moonlight; 24 fun frames; multishot (up to 15 shots at a time) and mosaic-shot (from 2x2 to 3x3) features; and a self-timer. You can choose to set your viewfinder in full-screen or standard ratio, and you can set the sound effects of the shutter, the zoom, and the brightness adjustments. Picture quality was satisfactory for a 1.3-megapixel camera--not excellent but still pretty good compared with the lower-quality VGA camera phones out there. As for video, you can shoot in one of two resolutions--176x144 and 128x96--and record with the audio on or off. Recorded clips were predictably low quality. After taking photos or recording video, you can store them on the phones built-in 18MB of memory or on an additional microSD card for more storage. Then you can send them via multimedia message to any of your friends or transfer them to your computer, either via the card or Bluetooth. The Samsung SGH-D807 produced satisfactory picture quality. The Samsung SGH-D807 comes with an MP3 player that has a user-friendly interface, and you can download tunes to the phone via the microSD card. MP3 player settings include repeat, shuffle, two different visualization modes, and a backlight (either always on or normal), and you can set the volume of the MP3 player separately from the phones ring or speaker volume. Youll be spoiled with personalization options on the Samsung SGH-D807. You can customize not only the wallpaper but also how information is displayed (different color fonts; whether you want the graphical logo on the main display), the color for the skin of the phones menu system, and the clock style when the screen goes idle. You can personalize the keypad, message, and alert tones, as well as the slider tone, which is the sound the phone makes when you slide the phone open or closed. Of course, you can also download more graphics, wallpaper, and tones from Cingular. Only two games are included--Tetris and Midnight Pool--but you can download more.We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Samsung SGH-D807 world phone in San Francisco using Cingulars service. Calls were loud and clear, and callers reported great sound quality on their end as well. Speakerphone calls were also admirable, and the music from the MP3 player was pretty good too. We had no problem pairing the SGH-D807 with the Jabra BT160 Bluetooth headset, and audio quality remained good, despite a slight decrease in volume. Downloading ring tones and applications was speedy, thanks to the EDGE network. The Samsung SGH-D807 has a rated talk time of 5 hours and a rated standby time of 10 days; we managed to eke out only 4 hours of talk time in our tests and six and a half days of standby time. According to FCC radiation tests, the SGH-D807 has a digital SAR rating of 0.516 watt per kilogram. ),
(1040,Samsung SGH-D807 (white),Positives: The Samsung SGH-D807 is a beautifully designed world phone, with a great user interface to boot. It also features a 1.3-megapixel camera, a microSD card, Bluetooth, mobile e-mail, and a speakerphone. Performance is great, and photo quality is decent enough. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-D807 has slippery navigation controls that are a bit too flush to the surface. Plus, the camera has no flash. Facts: The Samsung SGH-D807 is a slim slider that should appeal to fashionistas and gadget geeks alike. Its sleek design and ample features are hampered only by its slippery navigation keys. Note: This product is part of the Samsung SGH-D807 series. ., Although Motorola grabbed the early lead with its popular Razr, Samsung has made a name for itself in the slim-phone market. What with thin, well-received models such as the Samsung MM-A900, the Samsung SGH-T809, and the Samsung SGH-T509, the company is certainly giving Motorola a run for its money. The latest slim phone in Samsungs arsenal is the Samsung SGH-D807 for Cingular, a slider phone that appears to be an update of the aforementioned SGH-T809. With its sleek design and ample features, the SGH-D807 should appeal to a broad audience. It retails for $179.99, but you can get it from Cingular for $129.99 after a mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement.Its no secret that slim phones are in, and the Samsung SGH-D807 does not disappoint. Its a beautifully designed handset that hits a home run as far as first impressions go. Wrapped in a matte-black finish and silver border accents, its slim, lightweight form factor (3.98 by 2.09 by 0.61 inches; 3.3 ounces) makes it a joy to hold, both in the hand and next to the ear. Because its so skinny, it also slips easily into a pocket and hardly takes up room in a purse. The SGH-D807 slider mechanism is easily operable with one hand, and it slides open in one swift motion. The Samsung SGH-D807 is a beautifully designed phone. Another design showstopper is the Samsung SGH-D807s gorgeous 262,000-color display, which measures an impressive 2 inches diagonally (176x220 pixels). The user interface on the SGH-D807 certainly takes advantage of the extra real estate with stunning, color-saturated graphics, as well as eye-catching animated menu icons. You can also change the backlight time of the display and select whether you want the LCD to turn all the way off or just have a dimmed effect. The screens brightness is adjustable, as are the size and the color of the dialing display font.Underneath the display are the navigational controls, which consist of two soft keys; a four-way toggle with a middle OK key (marked with the Cingular logo); the regular talk and End/power keys; and the cancel key in between them. The four-way toggle also acts as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, and the OK key in the middle defaults to the Media Net Web browser. While the keys are large enough, they are slippery and too flush to the surface of the phone. As a result, we had a few misdials, such as clicking two buttons at once or clicking the wrong button entirely, which sometimes resulted accidental deletions. This is a concern especially if you have large hands.Slide the Samsung SGH-D807 upward, and youre presented with a slightly recessed keypad. The keypad is also slightly flush to the surface, but thanks to minor texture details, its possible to dial by feel. It was nowhere as slippery as the navigation controls. Rounding out the phones design are the charger/headset port and the volume rocker on the left spine, with a microSD card slot on the right spine. Sliding the phone upward, youll note a 1.3-megapixel camera lens and a self-portrait mirror on the back. As a result, you cant take photos with the slider closed. The Samsung SGH-D807 has a microSD card slot. Surprisingly for such a slim phone, the Samsung SGH-D807 has plenty of features to go around. First, the basics: Its contact list holds up to 1,000 entries, and each entry can accommodate five numbers, an e-mail address, and a note. You can personalize each contact with a photo caller ID or a custom ring tone, and you can organize them into a caller group of your choice. There are 11 polyphonic ring tones to choose from, and the SGH-D807 supports MP3 ring tones, which you can download from Cingular. Organizational tools include an alarm clock, a calendar, a task list, notes, a calculator, a unit converter, a timer, a stopwatch, and a world clock. Rounding out the basic features are text and multimedia messaging, instant messaging (AOL, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo), mobile e-mail (Yahoo Mail, MSN Hotmail, AOL Mail, and SBC Yahoo Mail), a speakerphone, a voice recorder, a vibrate mode, voice dialing, Bluetooth, and a WAP 2.0 browser. The phone also supports EDGE data speeds, which is especially handy when downloading additional applications.A welcome feature on the Samsung SGH-D807 is its 1.3-megapixel camera. Theres no flash, so its not great in low light, but you can adjust the cameras brightness setting. Theres also a 10X digital zoom for close-up shots, and you can take photos in six different resolutions (1,280x1024, 1,152x864, 800x600, 640x400, 320x240, and 176x144) and four different quality settings (Fine, Super-Fine, Normal, and Economy). There are some fun camera settings, such as color effects, including Grayscale, Negative, Sepia, Emboss, Sketch, Antique, and Moonlight; 24 fun frames; multishot (up to 15 shots at a time) and mosaic-shot (from 2x2 to 3x3) features; and a self-timer. You can choose to set your viewfinder in full-screen or standard ratio, and you can set the sound effects of the shutter, the zoom, and the brightness adjustments. Picture quality was satisfactory for a 1.3-megapixel camera--not excellent but still pretty good compared with the lower-quality VGA camera phones out there. As for video, you can shoot in one of two resolutions--176x144 and 128x96--and record with the audio on or off. Recorded clips were predictably low quality. After taking photos or recording video, you can store them on the phones built-in 18MB of memory or on an additional microSD card for more storage. Then you can send them via multimedia message to any of your friends or transfer them to your computer, either via the card or Bluetooth. The Samsung SGH-D807 produced satisfactory picture quality. The Samsung SGH-D807 comes with an MP3 player that has a user-friendly interface, and you can download tunes to the phone via the microSD card. MP3 player settings include repeat, shuffle, two different visualization modes, and a backlight (either always on or normal), and you can set the volume of the MP3 player separately from the phones ring or speaker volume. Youll be spoiled with personalization options on the Samsung SGH-D807. You can customize not only the wallpaper but also how information is displayed (different color fonts; whether you want the graphical logo on the main display), the color for the skin of the phones menu system, and the clock style when the screen goes idle. You can personalize the keypad, message, and alert tones, as well as the slider tone, which is the sound the phone makes when you slide the phone open or closed. Of course, you can also download more graphics, wallpaper, and tones from Cingular. Only two games are included--Tetris and Midnight Pool--but you can download more.We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Samsung SGH-D807 world phone in San Francisco using Cingulars service. Calls were loud and clear, and callers reported great sound quality on their end as well. Speakerphone calls were also admirable, and the music from the MP3 player was pretty good too. We had no problem pairing the SGH-D807 with the Jabra BT160 Bluetooth headset, and audio quality remained good, despite a slight decrease in volume. Downloading ring tones and applications was speedy, thanks to the EDGE network. The Samsung SGH-D807 has a rated talk time of 5 hours and a rated standby time of 10 days; we managed to eke out only 4 hours of talk time in our tests and six and a half days of standby time. According to FCC radiation tests, the SGH-D807 has a digital SAR rating of 0.516 watt per kilogram. ),
(1041,Nokia 6305i,Positives: The Nokia 6305i offers 3G support, a speakerphone, and quality performance in a superior, stylish design. Negatives: With no Bluetooth or external memory slot, the Nokia 6305is feature set is lacking. Also, picture quality wasnt great. Facts: The Nokia 6305i is sexy and performs well, but its feature set doesnt back up its slick design. , Nokia goes out on a limb with its new 6305i for Verizon Wireless. Not only is it one of the first Finnish phones to feature a slider form factor, it also ramps up Nokias CDMA offerings as one of the first EV-DO mobiles weve seen from the company. A very sexy, stylish but slightly bulky handset, the Nokia 6305i provides a totally new design experience for Nokia lovers (thanks to the companys partnership with Pantech), but its feature set is a bit perplexing. While it comes with a megapixel camera, a speakerphone, and 3G support for Verizons V Cast service, it doesnt offer Bluetooth or a memory-card slot. Granted, Verizon usually restricts Bluetooth anyway, but we think that both this feature and the added storage are necessary on a 3G phone. And since the lack of wireless connectivity likely will be a turnoff to most business users, were not sure of the consumer segment for which Verizon is positioning this phone. Verizon has yet to list the phone officially, but its available from other sources for $239. Service rebates, however, are likely to lower the cost once Verizon confirms official pricing.As one of the first models to emerge from the recent Nokia/Pantech partnership, the 6305i is a very un-Nokia phone in terms of design. The rounded corners and the slider form factor are light years away from the standard candy bar handset that has long been one of the companys trademarks. In fact, it looks more like a design were used to seeing from LG. But change can be a good thing, and the Nokia 6305i is a great example. We were drawn immediately to the sleek, aerodynamic lines and the bright-silver color scheme. The phone is a bit hefty (3.9 by 1.9 by 1.0 inches; 4.7 ounces), but weve come to expect such dimensions from most 3G phones, so the size wasnt bothersome. Plus, the 6305i benefits from a solid construction, and it felt comfortable in our hand. The slider mechanism isnt so stiff that it cant be operated with one finger, though it isnt too loose either. The stubby antenna does extend, but its construction is rather flimsy. The Nokia 6305i will weigh you down. We were quite impressed with the Nokia 6305is 2-inch-diagonal, 176x220-pixel display. Supporting 262,144 colors, its among the brightest and most vivid displays weve seen on a phone of this caliber. Its great for showing off pretty much everything on the phone, and its even somewhat visible in direct sunlight. You can change the backlighting time and the font size but not the brightness. The menu interface conforms to the standard design that Verizon is pushing on all its handsets. Although we give the carrier props for trying to make everything uniform across its lineup, theres no menu customization allowed, as well as nothing in the way of animation. Whats more, we still cant imagine why the V Cast player is buried under a couple of submenus.Below the Nokia 6305is display are the quirky but still user-friendly navigation controls. Nokia has a history of tinkering with button layout (the Nokia 3200 and the Nokia 3650 come to mind), though the effect is not always successful. With the 6305i, however, the opposite is true. The circular keys are eye-catching, well sized, and tactile, and they didnt take a huge learning curve to use. Four keys are set in a ring, including two soft keys, the Talk and End buttons, and a Clear key. Theres a small, round camera shortcut button, and in another un-Nokia move, the End key doubles as the power control. Inside the aforementioned key ring is a circular navigation toggle that doubles as a shortcut to the Get It Now menu, the Web browser, the V Cast launcher, and one user-defined shortcut. Finally, inside the toggle is an OK button. We liked the fun design of the navigation keys. The keypad buttons are also well sized and tactile, and theyre backlit in purple. Our only complaint was that because of the slider design, theyre set flush with the surface of the phone, which made dialing by feel difficult. On the upside, the upper row of keys isnt squashed next to the bottom of the slider. On the left spine is a camera-shutter key, while the right spine holds a covered headset jack, a volume rocker, and a voice-dialing/speakerphone key. The back of the Nokia 6305i has the camera lens, the flash, and a self-portrait mirror, in addition to a small speaker.As mentioned earlier, the Nokia 6305is feature set is somewhat underwhelming. While you get EV-DO capability, a speakerphone, and a megapixel camera, wireless connectivity (such as Bluetooth or even an infrared port) and a memory-card slot are conspicuously absent. You can sync your contacts with Verizons Access Manager Tool, but Bluetooth would be a much better opinion, even if it were restricted to headsets. Whats more, while the 128MB of internal shared memory is impressive, weve come to expect more from a phone of this caliber.Now well address the basics. The phone book holds 500 contacts, with room in each entry for five phone numbers and an e-mail address. You can pair contacts with a picture for caller ID and select a ring tone from the phones measly selection of five polyphonic tones. Other features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, instant messaging (AOL, MSN, and Yahoo), an alarm clock, voice dialing, a notepad, a world clock, a calculator, and a tip calculator. Incidentally, in another Verizon menu quirk, the option for setting the user-defined shortcut on the toggle is buried in the Tools menu. The speakerphone is quite user-friendly, though; you can activate it before you make a call.The 1.3-megapixel camera takes pictures in four resolutions (1,280x960, 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120) and comes with a 3-, 5- or 10-second self-timer; brightness and white-balance controls; four color options; and three shutter sounds, plus a silent option. Theres also a flash and a 2X digital zoom, though its unusable at the highest resolution and with a flash. And if youre ever lost in the dark, you can activate the flash to stay steady for use as a flashlight. The video camera records clips in one resolution (176x144) with sound and at 25 frames per second. The flash and the zoom are usable here too, and you can adjust the brightness and white balance. Clips are limited to a short 15 seconds. We werent impressed with the 6305is photo quality. When finished taking shots or clips, you can save them to the Nokia 6305i, upload them to your online Verizon album, or send them in a multimedia message. Photo quality wasnt great. Images were blurry, and colors werent very sharp. Video quality was about average for such a camera--fine for quick clips but nothing remarkable.You can personalize the Nokia 6305i with a variety of wallpaper, display themes, screensavers, and sounds. If you want more options or more ring tones, you can download them via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. There are no included games, so youll have to buy titles from Verizon. The streaming-video options are the standard V Cast offerings.We tested the dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) Nokia 6305i in San Francisco using Verizons network. Call quality was decent, with admirable clarity and little interference or static. Callers said we sounded the same, and they didnt report any problems. We found the volume level somewhat low on our end, so users with hearing impairments may want to test the phone before buying. Speakerphone calls sounded a bit more robotic, but the volume level was loud. Web-browsing speed over the EV-DO network was speedy for the most part, though a game purchase did take about 5 minutes to download. EV-DO coverage was also spotty in buildings. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, EV-DO service was not activated, so we werent able to test the streaming-video quality.The Nokia 6305i has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours, but our tests showed a surprising 5 hours, 10 minutes of talk time. It also has a promised standby time of 10 days, which we met in our tests. According to FCC radiation tests, the 6305i has a digital SAR rating of 0.79 watt per kilogram. ),
(1042,Palm Treo 700p (Verizon Wireless),Positives: The Palm Treo 700p boasts EV-DO support, a 1.3-megapixel camera, increased memory, a sharp display, and Bluetooth 1.2. The smart phone can also be used as a wireless modem and has solid call quality. Negatives: The Palm Treo 700p lacks integrated Wi-Fi and runs the stale Palm OS 5.4.9. Facts: With EV-DO support, increased memory, and enhanced multimedia capabilities, the Palm Treo 700p makes a powerful smart phone even better. Sure, its not perfect, but the solid performance and new features make it worth the upgrade. Note: This product is part of the Palm Treo 700 series. ., You can stop squinting at all the blurry camera phone pictures and cease swapping stories about what a carrier rep told you in confidence, for the Palm Treo 700p is finally here. The new Palm OS-based smart phone was announced for both Sprint and Verizon Wireless, but is it worth picking up? We think so. The changes arent revolutionary, but as the successor to the Treo 650, the 700p brings some welcome improvements, such as EV-DO support and increased memory. Of course, it isnt perfect. Theres still no integrated Wi-Fi, and Palm OS 6 has yet to see the light of day, but with solid performance and enhanced connectivity and multimedia capabilities, the Treo 700p is a winner. Verizons pricing is set at $399.99 with a two-year contract or $549.99 with a one-year contract. As of this writing, Verizon had not responded to our queries about whether it will offer a cameraless version. From a distance, the Palm Treo 700p looks identical to its Windows-based cousin, the Treo 700w. In fact, they share the same dimensions (4.4 by 2.3 by 0.9 inches; 6.4 ounces), the same silver and charcoal-gray color scheme, and the same integrated QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard is a slight improvement upon the one found on the Treo 650; Palm replaced the oval buttons with tactile, rectangular keys that are brightly backlit. The new buttons are more spacious as well, but since the layout overall is still a bit cramped, users with larger digits should give it a test-drive. That said, you cant beat the convenience of having a built-in keyboard for quickly firing off messages and notes, especially one thats integrated so well into the overall form factor. Like the other Treo models, the 700p feels good in the hand and is comfortable to hold up to the ear while in use, but we worry about the plastic battery cover on the back, which feels like it could easily crack if the Treo were to take a nasty tumble. To protect your investment, we recommend purchasing a protective case, since one isnt provided in the package.Another incentive for getting a case is to prevent the gorgeous display from getting any scratches. As it is, the 2.5-inch, 65,536-color display has a tendency to hold smudges and fingerprints. But hands down, the Palm Treo 700ps display is sharper and more vibrant than the Treo 700ws, which has a 240x240-pixel resolution. You can change the color theme and the backlight time but not the font size. Palm rearranged the navigation controls slightly from the Treo 650 and the Treo 700w. Immediately beneath the display, youll now find the Talk and End keys instead of two customizable shortcut keys, while the quick-launch buttons for the phone, the calendar, messages, and the home page are below that, split into two groups by the five-way toggle. The layout is spacious enough, but we have to say that the 700w is easier to use with one hand. Yes, thats more of an operating-system issue than a difference in hardware, but its worth noting just the same. The 700p features reworked navigation controls and an improved QWERTY keyboard. On the left spine, you have three unmarked buttons: the volume-up and -down keys and a customizable shortcut key (voice memo by default). The SD/MMC expansion slot is located on the top, along with the infrared port and a ringer/silent switch. When you slide the ringer switch to the sound-off position, the 700p automatically goes into vibrate mode, which is a new feature. Along the bottom edge, youll find the multiconnector port found on all of Palms recent PDAs and smart phones, as well as a 2.5mm headset jack. The camera lens is on the back, as well as a small self-portrait mirror and the speakerphone. We appreciate the fact that the battery is user-replaceable, and you can purchase an extra cell for $59.99 in case of emergencies. As far as included accessories, the list is pretty sparse. You get an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired stereo headset, a desktop-synchronization CD, and reference material. As the newest member of the already famous Treo family, the Palm Treo 700p has found a way to distinguish itself from its siblings in a couple of ways. First, its the first Palm-based Treo to support 3G EV-DO networks so that you can enjoy broadbandlike speeds on your device--around 300Kbps to 600Kbps (see Performance for more). In other words, that means faster e-mail, messaging, and attachment downloads. In addition, the improved Blazer Web browser now includes a built-in streaming application so that you can enjoy music and video files in popular formats, such as MP3, WMA, WMV, and MPEG-4. Yet another distinction is that the Palm Treo 700p is the first Treo to offer built-in dial-up networking capabilities (DUN). Yes, you can finally use this smart phone as a wireless modem right out of the box. Whats more, you have the option of connecting via Bluetooth or USB. The latter, however, will require that you sign up for Verizon Wirelesss BroadbandAccess Connect service. If you already have an unlimited data plan with qualifying voice plan, you can get unlimited BroadbandAccess Connect for $15 a month, otherwise, it will cost $30 a month. We like the fact that using the USB connection also charges the Treo--that way, you don't run out of juice in the interim.The EV-DO support and DUN capabilities certainly soften the blow of no Wi-Fi, but we still wouldnt mind having that option. Other smart phones, such as the UTStarcom XV6700, have it, so why cant the Treo? Even worse, it wont support Palms Wi-Fi card. The Treo 700p does have an infrared port and built-in Bluetooth 1.2--which gives you support for more accessories, including headsets, car kits, printers, and GPS receivers--and it can wirelessly synchronize with your Bluetooth-enabled laptop or computer. In addition to the SDIO/MMC slot, which can accept 2GB cards, Palm upped the amount of user-accessible memory. The insanely meager amount of integrated memory was a big sticking point on the Treo 650, and Palm heard you. The company increased user-accessible memory from 22MB to 60MB (128MB total); plus, you get an SDIO/MMC expansion slot that supports up to 2GB media. It also helps that the Documents to Go 8 suite, which allows you to edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents and view PowerPoint presentations and PDFs, is now included on the devices ROM. Beyond work documents, the Palm Treo 700p has robust e-mail capabilities, which include VersaMail 3.5. Not only is it compatible with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, but it offers contact synchronization in addition to your e-mail and your calendar. You can get push e-mail capabilities through Verizons VZEmail Wireless Sync, and theres out-of-the-box support for Yahoo, AOL, and Gmail accounts. We had no problems setting up our test Treo to receive and send messages from our Yahoo account.The Palm Treo 700p runs Palm OS 5.4.9, so you get all the usual PIM functions: calendar, contacts, tasks, memos, and so forth. However, were wondering if Palm OS 6 will ever see the light of day. During our initial meeting with Palm, we got the impression that the company was in no hurry to upgrade. Just how committed is it to this OS? As far as phone features, the 700p offers a speakerphone, a vibrate mode, three-way calling, speed dial, and the \"ignore with text\" feature that was first introduced in the Treo 700w. Although it supports photo caller ID, the 700p doesnt have the photo speed-dial function found on the Windows-based device. The 700ps camera took decent pictures with sharp edges, but it had some problems in dark environments. Finally, we come to some of the Palm Treo 700ps entertainment features. The Treo 650s VGA camera has been swapped for a 1.3-megapixel camera with 2X zoom. The device comes with ScanR software, which enables you to take a picture of a whiteboard, then put the writing from the board into a Word document. You can record videos with sound and create slide shows with music and audio commentary. Also, the 700p now comes with PocketTunes 3.1 preinstalled on the smart phone, so you can enjoy your favorite MP3s. If you crave support for other music formats, such as WMA/PlaysForSure, youll have to upgrade to the Deluxe edition ($34.95) of PocketTunes. We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) Palm Treo 700p in San Francisco using Verizons network, and call quality was solid. We had no problems hearing conversations, and our callers reported the same. They added that sound quality was excellent, and they couldnt tell we were using a cell phone. Audio diminished slightly on our end in clarity and volume when we activated the speakerphone, with the voices sounding tinny, but our friends said they didnt notice a change when we switched over to speakerphone. Pairing the 700p with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth Headset was a breeze; we were up and running in less than a minute. Palm also said it will release a special version of the Plantronics Discovery 640 Bluetooth headset. Surfing the Web on the Palm Treo 700p was a relatively good experience. Download speeds werent mind-blowing, but the support for Verizons EV-DO network definitely made a difference, as even graphics-intensive sites such as ebay.com loaded quickly. That said, we had a slightly better experience in this area with Sprints version, as pages and images came up faster. The Palm Treo 700p is rated for 4.5 hours of talk time and up to 12 days of standby time. In our tests, the 700p beat the rated talk time by a half hour. According to FCC radiation tests, the 700p has a digital SAR rating of 1.48 watts per kilogram. ),
(1043,RIM BlackBerry 7130e (Sprint), Note: This product is part of the RIM BlackBerry 7100 series. ., Quick Take: The RIM BlackBerry 7130e isnt new (Verizon has had it for quite a few months), but it freshens up Sprints rather stale offering of BlackBerrys. The EV-DO-capable 7130e features integrated Bluetooth, a speakerphone, 64MB of flash memory, 16MB of SRAM, and of course, push e-mail technology; you can also use the device as a modem. The BlackBerry 7130e is available now in stores and online for $199.99 after discounts and promotions. For more information about the 7130e for Sprint, please read our full review of the RIM BlackBerry 7130e (Verizon Wireless). ),
(1044,Samsung SGH-T209 (red),Positives: The Samsung SGH-T209 has a compact design, user-friendly controls, and a speakerphone. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-T209s volume level is somewhat low, and theres no backlighting adjustment on the external display. Facts: If youre in the market for a basic, no-hassle T-Mobile cell phone, the Samsung SGH-T209 is a solid choice. Note: This product is part of the Samsung SGH-T209 series. ., Samsung churns out another simple cell phone with the new SGH-T209 for T-Mobile. Modeled after the Samsung SGH-X495, it retains the same basic features and overall design but ditches the white color scheme in favor of two differently hued versions: silver and candy-apple red. Like the SGH-X495, the SGH-T209 offers a sleek if relatively staid design and a low-range feature set that includes a speakerphone and instant messaging. Although its a tad expensive if you pay the full price of $119, service rebates will lower it to a more reasonable $19. The SGH-T209 has a simple, compact design. The Samsung SGH-T209 has exactly the same dimensions as its predecessor (5.5 by 1.9 by 1.0 inches), but it weighs slightly more, at 3.3 ounces. The SGH-T209 also inherits the same body design; its relatively sleek with rounded edges and no external antenna, but the overall look is rather dull. The candy-apple-red version, however, is definitely appealing. The SGH-T209 takes its external display cues from the SGH-X495s. The postage-stamp-size screen is monochrome, but it shows useful information, such as the date, the time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). However, we don't like the fact that you cant change the backlighting time on the screen. When the backlighting goes off, the time can be difficult to read, and you must open the phone to make the screen active again. Beneath the display is a small grille for the speakerphone, which marks another difference; the SGH-X495 also has a speakerphone, but its inside the handset.Inside the Samsung SGH-T209 is a 1.75-inch, 128x160-pixel screen that shows 65,000 colors. Its no different from most Samsung displays in that its bright and vibrant, but it can be too bright at times, and its difficult to see in direct sunlight. Still, it does a serviceable job and works well for scrolling through the menus. You can adjust the brightness, the contrast, the backlighting time, and the font color. Below the display are the standard Samsung navigation keys, which consist of a five-way toggle, two soft keys, the Talk and End/power buttons, and a Clear key. The keys are easy to use, and the toggle acts as a shortcut to the messaging menu, instant messaging, the voice recorder, and the phone book. The pill-shaped keypad buttons are also typical of handsets of this caliber. Theyre decently sized, and theyre lit by a bright backlight, but theyre flush with the surface of the phone. The only external features are a volume rocker and a headset jack on the left spine.The Samsung SGH-T209s feature set is basic, but it should please most cell phone users. The 500-contact phone book has room in each entry for five phone numbers and an e-mail address; the SIM card can hold an additional 250 names. You can organize contacts into caller groups, but in a change from the SGH-X495, individual groups can be paired with one of 20 polyphonic ring tones, 10 of which are MegaTones. You can also assign groups a picture, but since theres no camera, youll have to be creative. In any case, the image wont show up on the external display.As for other features, you get a vibrate mode; Yahoo, ICQ, and AOL instant messaging; an alarm clock; a calculator; a calendar; a to-do list; 1-minute voice memos; text and multimedia messaging; a timer; a stopwatch; and a unit converter for length, weight, volume, and temperature. We were glad to see that Samsung threw in a speakerphone, but you can turn it on only after youve made a call. Overall, the SGH-T209 has 3MB of shared memory.You can personalize the Samsung SGH-T209 with a variety of wallpaper, messaging tones, and display patterns. If youre bored with those, you can download more options from T-Mobile via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. You get two Java (J2ME) games--SnowBallFight and BubbleSmile--but more titles are available if you want them.We tested the dual-band (GSM 850/1800/1900; GPRS) Samsung SGH-T209 in San Francisco using T-Mobiles service. Call quality was good overall and somewhat better than that of the SGH-X495. Voice quality was clear, but volume was a tad low; users with hearing impairments should test the SGH-T209 before buying. Callers could tell we were using a cell phone, but they reported no significant problems on their end. Its worth noting, however, that when using automated phone services such as an airline-reservation number, we had to speak loudly to be understood. Speakerphone calls had more volume and were clearer than on the SGH-X495, due to the external position of the speaker. The SGH-T209 has a promised talk time of 5 hours and a rated standby time of eight days. Our tests revealed a talk time of 4 hours, 30 minutes and a standby time of eight and a half days. According to FCC radiation tests, the Samsung SGH-T209 has a digital SAR rating of 1.29 watts per kilogram. ),
(1045,Samsung SGH-T209 (silver),Positives: The Samsung SGH-T209 has a compact design, user-friendly controls, and a speakerphone. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-T209s volume level is somewhat low, and theres no backlighting adjustment on the external display. Facts: If youre in the market for a basic, no-hassle T-Mobile cell phone, the Samsung SGH-T209 is a solid choice. Note: This product is part of the Samsung SGH-T209 series. ., Samsung churns out another simple cell phone with the new SGH-T209 for T-Mobile. Modeled after the Samsung SGH-X495, it retains the same basic features and overall design but ditches the white color scheme in favor of two differently hued versions: silver and candy-apple red. Like the SGH-X495, the SGH-T209 offers a sleek if relatively staid design and a low-range feature set that includes a speakerphone and instant messaging. Although its a tad expensive if you pay the full price of $119, service rebates will lower it to a more reasonable $19. The SGH-T209 has a simple, compact design. The Samsung SGH-T209 has exactly the same dimensions as its predecessor (5.5 by 1.9 by 1.0 inches), but it weighs slightly more, at 3.3 ounces. The SGH-T209 also inherits the same body design; its relatively sleek with rounded edges and no external antenna, but the overall look is rather dull. The candy-apple-red version, however, is definitely appealing. The SGH-T209 takes its external display cues from the SGH-X495s. The postage-stamp-size screen is monochrome, but it shows useful information, such as the date, the time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). However, we don't like the fact that you cant change the backlighting time on the screen. When the backlighting goes off, the time can be difficult to read, and you must open the phone to make the screen active again. Beneath the display is a small grille for the speakerphone, which marks another difference; the SGH-X495 also has a speakerphone, but its inside the handset.Inside the Samsung SGH-T209 is a 1.75-inch, 128x160-pixel screen that shows 65,000 colors. Its no different from most Samsung displays in that its bright and vibrant, but it can be too bright at times, and its difficult to see in direct sunlight. Still, it does a serviceable job and works well for scrolling through the menus. You can adjust the brightness, the contrast, the backlighting time, and the font color. Below the display are the standard Samsung navigation keys, which consist of a five-way toggle, two soft keys, the Talk and End/power buttons, and a Clear key. The keys are easy to use, and the toggle acts as a shortcut to the messaging menu, instant messaging, the voice recorder, and the phone book. The pill-shaped keypad buttons are also typical of handsets of this caliber. Theyre decently sized, and theyre lit by a bright backlight, but theyre flush with the surface of the phone. The only external features are a volume rocker and a headset jack on the left spine.The Samsung SGH-T209s feature set is basic, but it should please most cell phone users. The 500-contact phone book has room in each entry for five phone numbers and an e-mail address; the SIM card can hold an additional 250 names. You can organize contacts into caller groups, but in a change from the SGH-X495, individual groups can be paired with one of 20 polyphonic ring tones, 10 of which are MegaTones. You can also assign groups a picture, but since theres no camera, youll have to be creative. In any case, the image wont show up on the external display.As for other features, you get a vibrate mode; Yahoo, ICQ, and AOL instant messaging; an alarm clock; a calculator; a calendar; a to-do list; 1-minute voice memos; text and multimedia messaging; a timer; a stopwatch; and a unit converter for length, weight, volume, and temperature. We were glad to see that Samsung threw in a speakerphone, but you can turn it on only after youve made a call. Overall, the SGH-T209 has 3MB of shared memory.You can personalize the Samsung SGH-T209 with a variety of wallpaper, messaging tones, and display patterns. If youre bored with those, you can download more options from T-Mobile via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. You get two Java (J2ME) games--SnowBallFight and BubbleSmile--but more titles are available if you want them.We tested the dual-band (GSM 850/1800/1900; GPRS) Samsung SGH-T209 in San Francisco using T-Mobiles service. Call quality was good overall and somewhat better than that of the SGH-X495. Voice quality was clear, but volume was a tad low; users with hearing impairments should test the SGH-T209 before buying. Callers could tell we were using a cell phone, but they reported no significant problems on their end. Its worth noting, however, that when using automated phone services such as an airline-reservation number, we had to speak loudly to be understood. Speakerphone calls had more volume and were clearer than on the SGH-X495, due to the external position of the speaker. The SGH-T209 has a promised talk time of 5 hours and a rated standby time of eight days. Our tests revealed a talk time of 4 hours, 30 minutes and a standby time of eight and a half days. According to FCC radiation tests, the Samsung SGH-T209 has a digital SAR rating of 1.29 watts per kilogram. ),
(1046,Torq P120,Positives: The Torq P120 has integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and runs the latest Windows Mobile 5 operating system. The quad-band smart phone also features a nice, bright display. Negatives: The Torq P120 suffers from a poor design and subpar call quality. This smart phone also doesnt include EDGE support. Facts: Though the Torq P120 has the makings of powerful smart phone for on-the-go professionals, its held back by a poor design and subpar performance. , On paper, the Torq P120 has the makings of a powerful convergence device for mobile professionals. The Windows Mobile-based smart phone comes with integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, ample memory, and a fairly compact form factor. Unfortunately, the P120 suffers the same fate as the E-Ten G500 in that it never reaches stardom due to mediocre performance and poor design elements. Plus, without the support of a U.S. carrier, youll have to fork over a lot of cash ($620) for an unlocked version of the P120, and we just don't think its worth it, especially when you can get better-performing and full-featured smart phones, such as the Cingular 8125 and the T-Mobile MDA, for less.Upon first glance, the Torq P120 looks to be a sturdy device, but a closer inspection of the handheld tells a different story. The P120 is fairly compact at 4.4 by 2.4 by 0.9 inches but on the heavier side, weighing in at 6 ounces. The extra heft makes it feel solid in the hands, but we noticed the plastic casing seemed a bit cheap, especially the battery cover on the back. Even worse, the navigation buttons are loose, and the five-way toggle doesnt work very well. For one, the entire keypad is tiny, so we had a lot of mishaps; plus, it was hard to press the center Select key. Fortunately, you can also use the responsive 2.8-inch touch screen to navigate the menus and apps. Text and images are easy to read, as the P120s screen shows off 65,536 colors at a 240x320-pixel resolution. Smile for the camera: The Torq P120s 1.3-megapixel camera comes with a flash and a self-portrait mirror. On the left side, theres a camera-activation key, a volume rocker, a voice-record button, a reset button, and a 2.5mm headset jack thats protected by a rubber cover. Theres an SDIO/MMC expansion slot on top of the device, while the camera lens is located on the back, along with a small self-portrait mirror and a flash. One design quirk is that the stylus holder is located on the bottom of the handset; its not a deal breaker, but since were so accustomed to having it at the top, we kept reaching for it there just out of habit. On a brighter note, Torq packages the smart phone with a healthy supply of accessories, including a desktop cradle, an AC adapter, a wired headset, and a belt holster. Save the devices internal memory for important apps and use an SD card to carry around your favorite tunes and videos. Under the hood, the Torq P120 runs Microsofts latest Windows Mobile 5 operating system, and it comes with 128MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM. Mobile professionals will be happy to see that the P120 has the full suite of Mobile Office apps, including Word, Excel, and the new PowerPoint presentation viewer, so you can work on the go. Outlook Mobile is onboard to handle your e-mail needs, and the P120 comes with the same M-Desk utility found on the E-Ten G500 that groups all of the devices apps by function: Phone, PDA, Fun, and System. Its a feature we came to love, thanks to its simple organization and sheer usefulness--no more digging through the Programs menu to find the app you need. The Torq P120 has some helpful phone features as well. First, its a quad-band GSM phone, so you can use it overseas. Also, its equipped with a voice-command feature that lets you operate your phone by spoken word. We appreciated the Frequent Dial feature that monitors your calling habits and, for easy access, automatically lists the numbers you punch in most often. Other phone delights include speed dial, photo caller ID, conference calling, text and multimedia messaging, and a speakerphone. Aside from cellular wireless, connectivity options include integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b) and Bluetooth 1.2. Unfortunately, theres no support for EDGE, so you wont get the benefit of faster download times. For some visual and audio entertainment, the Torq P120 comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera that has video-recording capabilities and a 4X zoom. It can take photos ranging in size, from 176x144 up to 1,290x960, and you have options for white balance, special effects, fun frames, and a self-timer. The P120 can record video with sound in three sizes (320x240, 176x144, and 128x96) and three quality settings (high, medium, and low). Windows Media Player 10 Mobile is at your disposal for more ear and eye candy. We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) Torq P120 in the San Francisco Bay Area using Cingular service, and call quality was a mixed bag. Although we could hear our callers loud and clear, they said we sounded garbled or there was too much of an echo to carry on a conversation. All in all, it was quite disappointing. The only upside: pairing the P120 with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset was a breeze. As a PDA, the Torq P120s performance was a little poky. There was a noticeable lag when opening up different apps, but the battery life was on a par with that of other PDAs. In the tests, where we looped a video clip with the backlight set to high and all wireless radios turned off, the P120 lasted for five hours. The P120 is rated for up to four hours of talk time and 8.3 days of standby time. ),
(1047,Helio Hero,Positives: The Helio Hero has a 2-megapixel camera, EV-DO support, tight MySpace integration, a great display, a beautiful user interface, and excellent audio quality. It also features Helio On Top, a dynamic newsfeed aggregator. Negatives: The Helio Hero suffers from a bulky design, and it lacks Bluetooth and instant-messaging options. Plus, its store doesnt offer music downloads at this time, and the Helio On Top aggregator doesnt allow the manual addition of feeds. It also has a hefty price tag. Facts: If youre a MySpace addict or a wannabe hipster, the Hero from Helio may be for you. But no instant messaging and no Bluetooth plus lackluster media options and a high price tag means the Hero definitely isnt for everyone. , Editors Note: As of August 2006, Helio has released an update to the Hero that adds an instant-messaging feature to the phone. It was not available at the time of this review.The Hero marks the debut of the brand-new Helio cell phone carrier, a joint venture by California-based EarthLink with Korea-based SK Telecom that launched early May 2006. Helio is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that piggybacks on Sprints high-speed EV-DO network but offers its own line of phones and services. Like most of the youth-oriented MVNOs, such as d and Virgin Mobile, Helios target demographic ranges roughly in age from the late teens to the early 20s. This is especially emphasized with Helios big claim to fame: all Helio phones will have integrated access with the mobile version of MySpace, a social-networking site popular with todays youth. Aside from being the first Helio phone, the Hero is also the first high-end handset created by Pantech, a Korean company, specifically for the U.S. market. Along with features such as a camera and a music player, Helio vamps it up with a unique user interface that certainly sets it apart from the rest. The Hero goes for $275 in addition to Helios monthly rates, a hefty price to pay for a supposedly youth-targeted phone.The first thing you might notice about the Helio Hero is that its not a compact phone by any means. Its a bulky affair, clocking in at 4.3 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches and 4.7 ounces, but its weight and its slightly tapered curves actually result in a comfortable feel in the hand, and the Hero cradled our ears just fine when opened. The slider phone is attractive, with a black finish and silver accents all around, and its prominent 2.2-inch, 260,000-color screen is a showstopper. However, we could hardly see the display in bright sunlight. The Helio Hero is a bulky affair. In the upper-left and upper-right corners of the screen, youll find dedicated video and music buttons, while two soft keys and a navigation toggle sit below the display. When in standby mode, the toggle acts as a shortcut to the browser, applications, video, music, text messaging, and the Helio On Top service (more on that below). Thats followed by the usual send, power/End, and Back/cancel keys. On the left spine, there is a volume/speakerphone button and a voice recorder key, while the right spine houses a headset jack and a Micro SD card slot. Located on the back is the camera lens, complete with a sliding cover, a flash, and a self-portrait mirror. Slide the phone upward, and youll reveal a hexagonal keypad, resembling a honeycomb. All buttons are slightly raised above the surface, leading to a tactile and user-friendly experience. By far, Helios user interface is one of the most innovative weve seen to date in a cell phone. Its main menu consists of several bold graphics grouped together in a circle, doing away with the traditional boxy grid. Its supereasy to navigate, thanks to a very user-friendly interface. You can customize the backlight time and the font size but not the screens brightness. The Helio Hero has a 2-megapixel camera with flash. But enough about the design--youre probably most interested in the phones features. Aside from a 2-megapixel camera with flash, the Hero sports a WAP wireless browser, a music player, a video player, a voice recorder, a speakerphone, a video recorder, and EV-DO support. The address book holds about 500 entries, each of which accommodates two numbers, along with three additional numbers or e-mail addresses and photo caller ID. You can organize the callers into groups or pair them with one of 19 polyphonic ring tones. Other features include text and multimedia messaging, e-mail, a calendar, a wake-up call, an alarm clock, an anniversary reminder, world time, a tip calculator, a regular calculator, a stopwatch, and a notepad. Theres also a neat feature called Spam Inbox designed to capture all your junk e-mail, but with all the spam out there, we imagine this will fill up fast. Despite this long list of features, we were absolutely disappointed with the lack of support for instant messaging and Bluetooth. The Hero is Helios flagship phone, so we expected more from it, especially for $275. The most important feature on the Helio Hero is, of course, the much ballyhooed MySpace integration. With one click, you can access your MySpace account on the browsers home page. Just sign in with your login and password, and youre ready to blog on your MySpace page, check your mail, and widen your extended network with thousands and thousands of \"friends.\" Sure, it doesnt have the typical multimedia onslaught that is the MySpace experience, but its good enough for that quick fix. The one thing we dislike is that you cant upload the photos from your camera phone straight to your MySpace blog. Instead, you have to send the photos to your Helio account via a multimedia message, then login to MySpace to retrieve the photo, requiring a lot of extra work and time. Also, all uploaded photos will have a nonremovable Helio watermark on the lower-left corner, which we found a little annoying.Another much-anticipated feature on the Helio is the introduction of Helio On Top, a dynamic newsfeed aggregator that displays the latest headlines from Yahoo and IGN (available as a free download). While we certainly appreciate this cool function, a big downer about this feature is that you cant add your own feeds, though Helio says it will add more news sources in the future. Helios other Internet offerings include downloadable music videos and streaming video clips from TV shows, movie trailers, sports shows, and so forth, with more to come. You can download music videos at $2.50 a pop, and the streaming is free. We were very impressed with the audio quality of the clips, thanks to the built-in full-duplex stereo speakers, but as with most video-capable phones, the clips still looked a little blurry and faded. While Helio doesnt have its own music store at this time, you may choose to upload your tunes via a USB connection. In order to transfer them to your phone, youll have to download the free Media Mover application from Helios Web site. Media Mover is extremely user-friendly, and we transferred MP3s from the PC to the Hero with ease. The music sounded crisp and clear whether we listened with the included earbuds or the phones stereo speakers. You can also upload WMV and AVI movies, and the software will translate them into the appropriate format for the phone. Do note, however, that the Hero supports only MP3, AAC, WMV, and AVI formats. The capacity also depends on the size of your TransFlash card, as the internal memory of the phone is capped at 70MB. The Helio Heros camera produced decent-quality pictures. The Heros 2-megapixel camera produced decent pictures: a little blurry but still far beyond the VGA-quality photos of most camera phones and a touch better than photos from a 1.3-megapixel camera. You can take pictures in one of three resolutions (320x240, 240x320, and 240x180), five white-balance settings (Auto, Outside, Cloudy, Fluorescent, and Bulb), three quality settings (Super Fine, Fine, Normal), a multishot mode (up to 9 shots), and five camera modes (Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Portrait-Landscape, and Night), as well as with flash or no flash and six effects (None, Gray, Sepia, Purple, Blue, Green). You can also set the self-timer, turn on or off the preview screen, choose a Ready Sound (such as \"Cheese!\"), and set the shutter sound. The video recorder took expectedly low-res videos at 176x144 resolution.The Helio phone is rife with customization options. You can also download more ring tones and graphics from Helios store. Two games are included on the mobile--Lost Sister and a MidnightPool3D demo--but you can download more as well. We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) Hero in San Francisco using Helios service. Call quality was great on both ends, and callers said they couldnt tell we were on a cell phone. Once again, the stereo speakers really helped and made the speakerphone stand out among the competition. The Helio Hero comes with a wired headset made specifically for the phone, as well as an adapter in case you want to use your own. Downloads were speedy, as was the streaming media, though it took a little while to get started. We also experienced the occasional system lag when navigating through multiple menus. The Helio Hero has a rated talk time of 3 hours and a tested talk time of 2 hours, 50 minutes. The rated standby time is 8 days but we got 10 days in our tests. According to FCC radiation tests, the Hero has a digital SAR rating of 1.3 watts per kilogram. ),
(1048,RIM BlackBerry 7100i,Positives: The RIM BlackBerry 7100i can deliver e-mail in real time from up to 10 corporate/personal accounts, and it supports Nextels walkie-talkie services. The device also features a sharp screen, a speakerphone, integrated Bluetooth, and solid call quality. Negatives: The SureType keyboard on the RIM BlackBerry 7100i takes some acclimation, and the device uses a proprietary instant-messaging client. Facts: The RIM BlackBerry 7100i is a great all-in-one device for Nextel customers who want instant access to e-mail and voice calls. Note: This product is part of the RIM BlackBerry 7100 series. ., Sprint Nextel is helping itself to another slice of BlackBerry pie with the addition of RIMs BlackBerry 7100i. The first of the 7100 series to make its debut on Nextels iDEN network, the 7100is design and feature set is similar to that of its siblings; it has a slim form factor, a great display, and a quasi-QWERTY keyboard with SureType technology. Yet, it also offers some new tricks--most notably support for Nextels walkie-talkie services--that when coupled with the BlackBerrys push e-mail technology makes the 7100i a great device for on-the-go professionals. Plus, with a QWERTY keyboard, the 7100i is easier to use than the Nextel i930 by Motorola. Finally, at $199.99 after rebates, the BlackBerry 7100i is a good deal.As mentioned earlier, the styling of the RIM BlackBerry 7100i doesnt stray far from that of the other models in the series, most closely resembling the BlackBerry 7100g. At 4.7 by 2.3 by 0.9 inches and 4.2 ounces, the 7100i will make for a tight fit in a pants pocket, but Nextel ships the device with a belt holster. And ladies, the handset shouldnt take up too much room in your bag. The external antenna does add an extra 0.75 inch of bulk, though. Overall, the mobile is comfortable to hold in the hand and up to the ear, but the plastic casing feels a bit cheap.The RIM BlackBerry 7100s 2.25-inch screen displays 65,536 colors with a 240x260-pixel resolution, producing sharp text and bright images. The screen washes out when viewed in direct sunlight, but we like that you can change the size, the type, and the style of font, as well as the backlight time and the brightness. Below the display, youll find a customizable shortcut button flanked by the Talk and End keys. Like the rest of the 7100 series, the BlackBerry 7100i features the modified SureType keyboard. All phone numbers and text are entered through the RIM BlackBerry 7100is modified QWERTY keyboard, which features two letters per key instead of one; the numerals also share space with the 10 buttons that occupy the center of the keyboard. RIM redesigned the keyboard in this manner in order to give the 7100is a smaller and more phonelike form factor. If youve used a full QWERTY BlackBerry in the past, this new layout may take some adjustment, but we got the hang of it after a day or two. In addition, the 7100i features SureType technology to make text composition easier. This functionality acts like predictive-text entry; after you input the first couple of letters of a word, the device then presents you with a list of possible words from which you can select.On the left side of the RIM BlackBerry 7100i, theres a 2.5mm headset jack, a USB port, and a rubber walkie-talkie button, while the BlackBerrys signature scrollwheel and escape button are on the right. To use the speakerphone, theres an activation switch on top, alongside the power on/off button. The speaker itself is on the back. Aside from the belt holster, the BlackBerry 7100i comes with a wired headset, a USB cable, an AC charger, and reference material.Its the RIM BlackBerry 7100is feature set that really differentiates it from other BlackBerry devices. Unlike the rest of the 7100 series, the 7100i takes advantage of Nextels network and walkie-talkie services so that you can make domestic and international push-to-talk calls. In addition, theres support for the Talkgroup service, which allows you to connect instantly with up to 100 other Nextel users who are on the same Fleet or Nextel network.Other phone features include a robust address book that is limited only by the available memory; the RIM BlackBerry 7100i comes with 64MB of flash memory and 16MB of SRAM. For each contact, you can store up to eight numbers, as well as home and work addresses, a Web URL, notes, and more. As we noted earlier, the mobile is equipped with a speakerphone for hands-free calling. Alternatively, you can wirelessly connect to a Bluetooth headset, thanks to the integrated Bluetooth. The 7100is excellent speakerphone can be activated with just a touch of a button. As always, e-mail remains at the forefront. The RIM BlackBerry 7100i is compatible with Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, and Novell Groupwise, so you can set up your device to receive corporate e-mail in real time with a little help from your IT department. You can also access up to 10 POP3/IMAP accounts and use the included Internet browser to check Web-based e-mail, such as Yahoo and Gmail. The 7100i is equipped with an attachment viewer that lets you open popular file formats, such as Word and Excel documents and JPEG images. It supports instant messaging, but unfortunately, youre limited to RIMs proprietary BlackBerry Messenger client. Alternatively, you can send and receive text and multimedia messages.Other goodies include a WAP 2.0 Web browser, a calendar, a task list, a memo pad, an alarm clock, a calculator, a password keeper, and a BrickBreaker game. Also, the 7100i is GPS-enabled for emergency-based services.We tested the dual-band (iDEN 800/900) RIM BlackBerry 7100i in the San Francisco area using Nextels network, and call quality was excellent. We had no problems hearing our callers; they reported the same and said they couldnt even tell we were using a cell phone. Speakerphone quality was just as good, if not better, and the volume was more than adequate. We actually had to turn down the volume to the lowest level because we found it to be too loud. We also had no problems pairing the 7100i with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.The RIM BlackBerry 7100i is rated for 3 hours of talk time and up to 2.9 days of standby time. In our tests, the 7100i surpassed the rated talk time by 2 hours, 15 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the 7100i has a digital SAR rating of 0.91 watt per kilogram. ),
(1049,UTStarcom CDM-120 (CDM-7025),Positives: The UTStarcom CDM-120 is a basic entry-level clamshell with text messaging, e-mail, voice recording and dialing, a speakerphone, analog roaming, and a tactile keypad. Negatives: The UTStarcom CDM-120 lacks an external display and a Web browser; additionally, it doesnt support downloadable personalization options. Facts: The UTStarcom CDM-120 for Sprint is an entry-level clamshell with a trim feature set. Easy to use, its ideal for cell phone newbies. , While camera and music phones may be all the rage these days, most people just want a cell phone that can make calls. So despite the hype around fancy handsets, entry-level cell phones still have a place in todays market, especially for those that cant always afford the latest and greatest in cell phone technology. The UTStarcom CDM-120 from Sprint Nextel, for example, is as basic as cell phones get, with a supertrim feature set. Its available for $149.99, but with a new two-year contract with Sprint, you can get it for free. From the inside out, the UTStarcom CDM-120 is the definition of simplicity. Its black and dark-gray plastic exterior bears no markings, save for a Sprint logo and a LED on the front cover that glows when the phone is charging. The CDM-120 doesnt even have an external screen; in this regard, its perhaps too bare for a lot of people, as it means you must open the flip to see whos calling. On the left spine are a volume rocker and a headset jack, while on the right spine is a charger port. On the bottom, youll find an accessory port for accessories such as a USB cable, whereas an extendable antenna resides up top. The overall handset is compact (3.46 by 1.9 by 0.8 inches) and lightweight (3.2 ounces); it feels comfortable in the hand and when cradled next to the ear. From the inside out, the UTStarcom CDM-120 is the definition of simplicity. When the phone is open, youre presented with a 1.5-inch-diagonal internal screen that seems a little too small. It supports 65,000 colors, which is typical of most basic cell phones. While you cant adjust its brightness and font size, you can adjust the contrast and the backlight time. The default menu style consists of large graphical symbols denoting the menu options, or you can select a list-style display. We had no trouble viewing the screen indoors, but in direct sunlight, it appeared faded and washed out. Below the display are the navigational controls, which consist of two soft keys, the contacts list, and the calendar. Youll also find a My Favorites folder that holds customized shortcuts to frequently accessed applications and a five-way navigational toggle that doubles as shortcuts to messaging,. Below the toggle is the Back button, flanked by the Talk and End/power keys on either side. Much like the numerical keypad underneath, all the navigational controls and keys are slightly raised above the surface of the phone, making for a tactile navigation and dialing. The keys glow with a blue backlight when activated, and the backlight time is adjustable. The UTStarcom CDM-120 has a 500-contact phone book, with room in each entry for five phone numbers, an e-mail address, and a memo. Plus, you can assign contacts to caller groups or pair them with one of 25 polyphonic (32-chord) ring tones. Organizational tools consist of an alarm clock, a calendar, a scheduler, a countdown clock, a memo pad, a world clock, a stopwatch, a calculator, and a unit converter. Other features include six vibration modes, text messaging, enhanced messaging service for sounds and emoticons, four minutes of voice recording, voice-activated dialing, caller ID, and a speakerphone that you can turn on as youre dialing a number. The CDM-120 has 16MB of flash memory. You can personalize the UTStarcom CDM-120 with a variety of wallpaper and a personal greeting, and you can display your calendar or clock as a screensaver. There are two included games: Board Mania (a snowboarding game) and Ace of Aces (a flying title). Unfortunately, because theres no Web browser, you cant download more games or personalization options. We tested the dual-band/trimode UTStarcom CDM-120 (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) on the Sprint Nextel network in San Francisco. Callers heard us loud and clear, and vice versa, though there was a little static in certain locations. The speakerphone had good sound quality as well. The UTStarcom CDM-120 has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours while it showed a talk time of 3 hours in our tests. It has a rated standby time of 10.5 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the CDM-120 has a digital SAR rating of 1.16 watts per kilogram. ),
(1050,LG LX350,Positives: The LG LX350 has a sleek design, user-friendly controls, and a solid feature set that includes Bluetooth, a megapixel camera, and a speakerphone. Negatives: The LG LX350 suffers from inconsistent voice quality, and its Bluetooth does not allow for file transfers. Facts: If you can get over the sometimes muddy voice quality, the LG LX350 for Sprint is still a satisfying midrange phone. Just don't expect too much. , Theres not a lot you can say about the LG LX350 for Sprint. Its attractive without being stylish, its functional without being remarkable, and its call quality is serviceable without being exceptional. In all, its a quality middle-of-the-road cell phone that performs its basic functions relatively well, and it manages to pack in some bonus features, including a 1.3-megapixel camera with admirable photo quality, a speakerphone, and Bluetooth. Although the last offering is relatively half-baked, a fact that wont please hands-free fanatics, less-demanding users should find little to complain about. The LX350 is much too expensive if you pay the full price of $229, but service rebates can knock it down to a more reasonable $49.Like the proverbial little black dress, the similarly hued LG LX350 goes with just about everything. The basic black and bright-silver touches make for a pleasant overall design thats attractive but unlikely to turn heads on the street. The compact (3.6 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches), lightweight (3.7 ounces) form factor makes for a phone thats easily portable but doesnt sacrifice a solid construction or a comfortable feel in the hand.In the center of the front flap is the postage-stamp-size (96x64 pixels; 4 lines) external display. Supporting a bright 65,000 colors, it shows the date, the time, battery life, signal strength, and photo caller ID. You can change the wallpaper and the backlighting time, which is a good thing, since the screen disappears completely when dark. Above the display is a camera lens, as well as a flash that doubles as a status light that glows when youre on a call; you can also turn it off. Theres no self-portrait mirror, but you don't need it, as the display functions as a viewfinder for those vanity shots. Completing the outside of the handset are a camera key on the right spine, along with a volume rocker, a headset jack, and a voice-dialing key. The sleek LX350 has some nice design touches. Inside the LG LX350, youll find a 262,000-color main display. At 1.8 inches diagonally (128x160 pixels; 11 lines), its a decent size, and though colors are sharp, smaller objects and gaming graphics are somewhat fuzzy. Its fine, however, for scrolling though the simple menus, which are available in two styles, and you can change the backlight time and the font size. Below the display is the spacious navigation array, consisting of a five-way toggle, two soft keys, and the traditional Talk and End/power buttons. All keys are tactile and easy to use by feel. The toggle doubles as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, while the soft keys open the Web browser and the phone book when the mobile is in standby mode. Below the array are dedicated keys for the speakerphone and the camera, as well as a Back button. Despite their thinness, all three controls make for an intuitive user experience. The midsize, round keypad buttons are spaced far apart and raised above the surface of the phone. The numerals on the keys are big, but the backlighting is dim. We liked the LG LX350s photo quality. The LG LX350 has a decent feature set that includes all of the essentials and a few extras. The address book stores 500 contacts, with room in each entry for five 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 20 polyphonic (72-chord) ring tones. The handset also offers Sprints new Wireless Backup service, as found on the Samsung SPH-A580. Basic offerings include a vibrate mode; an alarm clock; 3 minutes of voice-memo recording time; 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.On the higher end, the LG LX350 comes with a full-duplex speakerphone, which can be activated before you make a call, and Bluetooth, though not the most user-friendly implementation of it. While you can use Bluetooth to connect to a headset, support dial-up networking, and send an electronic business card or a calendar appointment, it doesnt support file transfers--an unfortunate and restrictive move on Sprints part. Alternatively, you can order prints from your Sprint online album, or you can send them to a computer or a printer with the carriers PictBridge service. Youll need a USB cable for the latter, though, and it doesnt come with the phone.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 3G2 clips in one resolution (176x144) with sound. Editing options are similar to the still cameras. For saving your work, the LG LX350 comes with a healthy 30MB of shared memory. At the most, it will hold 66 photos at the highest resolution. Photo quality was quite good, with vivid colors and sharp object outlines. The LX350 is one of the better megapixel camera phones weve seen.You can personalize the LG LX350 with a variety of clock styles, screensavers, color skins, and alert sounds. More options and ring tones are available from Sprint via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Whats more, you can save your own voice memos as ring tones. Gaming options are limited; demo versions of five Java (J2ME) games are included--2Fast 2Furious, Midnight Pool, Tetris, Ms. Pac-Man, and World Poker Tour--so youll need to buy the full titles.We tested the dual-band, dual-mode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) LG LX350 in San Francisco using Sprints service. Call quality was good overall. There was plenty of volume, but audio quality sounded a bit tinny, almost as if we were talking to a robot. Callers reported the same on their end and could tell we were using a cell phone. It wasnt a huge deal, but it was noticeable nonetheless. Speakerphone calls had about the same quality, and volume was satisfactory. We paired the LX350 with the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset; call quality was fine but nothing special.The LG LX350 has a rated talk time of 4 hours and a promised standby time of just more than 14 days. In our tests, we found the LG LX350 had a tested talk time of 3 hours, 45 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the LG LX350 has a digital SAR rating of 0.75 watt per kilogram and an analog SAR rating of 1.12 watts per kilogram. ),
(1051,Motorola Q,Positives: The Motorola Q boasts a sexy, ultrathin design and features a sharp display, a full QWERTY keyboard, EV-DO support, and a sharp multimedia functionality. The Windows Mobile 5 smart phone also has integrated Bluetooth, a speakerphone, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and solid call quality. Negatives: The Motorola Q lacks integrated Wi-Fi and analog roaming, and you cant use its Bluetooth as a wireless modem. The screen also tends to hold a lot of smudges, and theres no option for a cameraless version at this time. Facts: The Motorola Q lives up to much of the hype by offering good call quality, an excellent multimedia experience, and the essential productivity tools, all wrapped up in a sexy little package. Note: This product is part of the Motorola Q series. ., Editors note: Ratings have been adjusted with respect to newer devices that have entered the market.The Motorola Q certainly knows how to make an impression. Ever since its introduction almost a year ago, this smart phone has generated a lot of buzz for its ultrathin form factor. Of course, Motorola generated a lot of the hype itself by touting the Q as the \"thinnest QWERTY device in the world.\" And now after a number of delays, the Q finally is here, and thankfully, it delivers in performance and style. It offers good call quality, an outstanding multimedia experience, and the tools to keep business users productive on the go, such as Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition, EV-DO, and e-mail support. For the ultimate road warriors who need full functionality for editing documents from the road, however, they may want to opt for a Windows Mobile Pocket PC phone, such as the Palm Treo 700w. That said, however, itll be hard to resist the Qs sexy packaging. Is this a good marketing strategy by Motorola? Definitely. For now, the Moto Q will be sold exclusively through Verizon Wireless for a fair price of $199.99, along with a two-year contract and a $100 instant rebate. Verizons BroadbandAccess service plans start at $79.99 for 450 anytime minutes with unlimited data usage. Motorola said it would start GSM/UMTS trials by the end of the year. Would there have been so much hype about the Motorola Q if it didnt rock such a sleek design? Probably not. The Qs form factor is a huge--if not the main--drawing point of the device. Modeled after the Motorola Razr V3, the Q measures a slim 4.57 by 2.52 by 0.47 inches and is actually thinner than the Razr. It easily slips into a shirt or a pants pocket, and ladies, the Q certainly wont demand too much space in your purse. The overall construction is solid, and it feels good in the hands, but if you havent used this type of convergence device before, you might have to go through a period of adjustment to get used to the extra width, as well as holding it up to your ear as a phone.The Motorola Qs screen is a sight to behold. It measures 2.5 inches diagonally and displays 65,536 hues at a 320x240-pixel resolution. The color output and resolution match those of the Cingular 2125 and the T-Mobile SDA, but the extra screen real estate makes it that much more impressive; colors pop, and text and images are defined and sharp. The display is even readable in direct sunlight. You can customize the home screen with a number of preinstalled background images, or you can upload your own. You also have options for changing the backlight time, the color theme, and the font size. Be aware, however, that the Q doesnt have a touch screen, and the displays landscape orientation takes a bit of acclimation. More scrolling is involved when viewing Web pages and documents, but we grew accustomed to it after a few tries. The screens tendency to hold a lot of smudges and fingerprints irked us, however, so we had to clean it constantly. Even worse, Verizon doesnt package the device with a protective case or a screen chammy, so those would be worthy investments. The Moto Q features a sleek, functional QWERTY keyboard, as well as navigation controls. Because the Motorola Q lacks a touch screen, you must use a set of controls below the display and along the right spine to navigate through the menus and to launch apps. First, below the screen, there are two soft keys, the Send and End buttons for phone calls, a Home shortcut, a Back key, and a five-way navigation toggle. Taking more design cues from the Razr, the Q has a sleek layout for its keys, but since theyre set flush with the phones surface, youll want to make sure to press each button firmly to register the action. Easier to use are the scrollwheel (pushing in the jog dial will act as a Select button) and a Back key on the right side--very reminiscent of controls on a BlackBerry.The integrated QWERTY keyboard went through a couple of iterations during the Motorola Qs design period, but were pretty happy with the results. The bubbly keys have a rubbery feel to them, so theyre incredibly tactile. And whereas the Treos keyboard feels a bit cramped, the Qs has a spacious layout. Motorola also incorporates a camera and a speakerphone-activation button into the keyboard; both are located on the bottom-right side, just to the right of the spacebar. Our only complaint would be that the backlighting is dim for typing in darker environments. The Moto Q has a 1.3-megapixel camera with flash and a 6X zoom. The back of the Motorola Q houses the camera lens, the flash, and the stereo speakers. The battery is removable, and an extended cell is available for purchase, although it will add just 0.1 inch of bulk. On the left spine, youll find the infrared port, a mini USB port, and a Mini SD card slot. One minor note about the last item: Its protected by an attached cover, but the rubber is pretty inflexible, so it took us a few attempts at prying it open. It might help to have nails or to use some kind of edge to uncover the expansion slot. Finally, a 2.5mm headset jack is located on top of the device.Disappointingly, Verizon is stingy with the included accessories. The Motorola Q comes packaged with only a power adapter, a USB cable, a holster, installation CDs, and user guides. Optional accessories, such as a desktop cradle, Bluetooth stereo headphones, and GPS receivers, are available for purchase through Motorola and third-party providers. The Motorola Qs features arent as revolutionary as its design. Thats not to say the Q lacks functionality, but it doesnt offer anything that the other Windows Mobile smart phones don't have. As we mentioned earlier, the Moto Q runs Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition, which means you wont get the full Mobile Office Suite--no Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, or PowerPoint Mobile. Instead, the Q comes preloaded with Picsel Viewer so that you can view but not edit said files; the app also lets you open PDFs. The device has 128MB of flash memory and 64MB of RAM, with roughly 60MB of user-accessible memory. If you plan on carrying a lot of work documents or multimedia files, do yourself a favor and get a Micro SD card, as none are included in the box. The Moto Q offers 60MB of user-accessible memory, but for your music and video files, invest in a Micro SD card. For your e-mail needs, you get Outlook Mobile so that you can synchronize your messages, your contacts, calendar, and tasks. Using the included USB cable and ActiveSync 4.1, we had no trouble syncing all our Outlook files with the Motorola Q. The Q can also wirelessly sync with your Hotmail account and up to eight POP3 e-mail accounts. Business users will be pleased that Motorola has worked with Good Technology to deliver push e-mail capabilities to the Q via GoodLink. The functionality is available immediately for Microsoft Exchange users, with support for IBM Domino/Lotus Notes coming this summer. In addition, Verizon offers its own wireless e-mail solution through VZEmail. Motorola and Microsoft are working on a ROM upgrade that will bring the features of the Windows Mobile Messaging and Security Feature Pack to the Q. Microsoft would not give a specific time frame as to when wed see the upgrade other than \"soon,\" but it will be available to customers as a free download. The Moto Q also supports text, multimedia, and instant messaging.Wireless connections come in the form of Bluetooth 1.2, EV-DO (backward compatible with 1xRTT), and infrared but no Wi-Fi. Again, we realize theres an argument that EV-DO eliminates the need for Wi-Fi, but coverage can be limited outside of large and midsize metropolitan areas, so it would be nice to have that Wi-Fi option. Still, the support for 3G cellular technology means you can enjoy broadbandlike speeds on the Q, averaging around 400Kbps to 700Kbps, so you get faster downloads of data, e-mail, and attachments. In addition, the integrated Bluetooth opens up the door for communicating with wireless headsets (including a stereo Bluetooth profile), car kits, and other peripherals, such as GPS receivers and Bluetooth-enabled laptops. Unlike with the Palm Treo 700p, Verizon will not support dial-up networking capabilities via Bluetooth on the Q.When Motorola and Verizon announced the official availability of the Q, they made a point of calling out its \"phone first\" mantra. As such, the mobile offers a duplex speakerphone, voice dialing, smart dialing, and vibrate and flight modes. The Qs phone book is limited only by the available memory, and each entry can hold up to 12 phone numbers, three e-mail addresses, a home and a work address, a job title, and more. For caller-ID purposes, you can assign a contact to a category or pair it with one of 31 polyphonic ring tones or a photo.Speaking of photos, the Motorola Q has a 1.3-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities. You can take still shots in five resolutions (160x120, 176x144, 320x240, 640x480, and 1,280x1,024), and we like that the 6X digital zoom is available for use even at the highest resolution. You also get a flash, a self-timer, a burst mode, and brightness and white-balance adjustments. There are light editing options available too, including rotate and crop. In video mode, you have a choice of three quality settings--126x96, 160x120, and 176x144--and while you get brightness and white-balance options, the zoom is not available. Once youre done with your masterpieces, you can share your photos with others via Bluetooth, multimedia message, or e-mail; view them in a slide show; or save them as wallpaper. Motorola wouldnt confirm or deny a cameraless version of the Moto Q but did say that this is just the first of a family of devices.If you would rather view other peoples videos instead of recording your own, theres Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for all your multimedia needs. A number of popular audio and video formats--AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA, MPEG-4, and WMV, to name a few--are supported, and if you have TV shows recorded on your Windows Media Center PC, you can transfer them to the Motorola Q and enjoy it on the handsets great screen (see Performance for more). Motorola also said the Q will work with the Sling Media Slingbox. Despite the EV-DO capability, however, the Q does not support Verizons multimedia V Cast service.Some final features of the Motorola Q worth mentioning are Memory Manager, Task Manager, a preloaded help and quick-start guide, and two standard games (Bubble Breaker and Solitaire). There is, of course, a vast library of third-party apps that you can add to the Q, including Virtual Earth Mobile, AvantGo, and Fizz Traveller. We tested the dual-band Motorola Q (CDMA 850/1900; EV-DO) in San Francisco using Verizons network, and call quality was generally good. On our end, conversations were mostly clear, although on a couple of occasions, we noticed some background hiss and muffled sound quality. Callers said they could hear us fine most of the time but also reported some crackling--nothing too bad. On the other hand, speakerphone quality was excellent. We had absolutely no problems whatsoever carrying on a discussion; volume was more than adequate even in loud environments, and our friends said they couldnt even tell we were on speakerphone. We also had no problems pairing the Q with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset or the Motorola HT820 headphones.Web browsing on the Motorola Q was fairly smooth and painless, thanks to the EV-DO support. Graphics-intensive sites such as ebay.com took a bit longer to upload, but it was definitely quicker than with non-3G mobiles. What really blew us away, however, was the multimedia experience. We transferred several videos to the device, including a music video and an episode of Family Guy, and we had a blast watching them on the Q. The sharpness of the video on the Q was amazing, especially compared to the Treo 700p, with which we couldnt even get through a whole video because the picture was so blurry. Also, listening to music was top-notch, thanks to the dual stereo-quality speakers. Even when we placed the Q on a desk with the speakers facedown, we had no problems hearing the audio. The Moto Qs 1.3-megapixel camera took some of best pictures weve seen from a camera phone, producing defined lines and good color. The flash also did an adequate job of illuminating pictures taken in dark environments. We experienced a slight lag in response time when launching the camera, as well as with other apps, but its not a deal breaker.The Motorola Q is rated for 4 hours of talk time, which we were able to achieve in our testing, and up to four days of standby time. Well report back soon on the results of our standby battery test. According to FCC radiation tests, the Q has a digital SAR rating of 1.11 watts per kilogram. ),
(1052,Nokia 6102i, , Quick Take: The Nokia 6102i for Cingular is similar to the Nokia 6102, except it has Bluetooth. For our full assessment of the phones design and basic features, please see our review of the Nokia 6102. ),
(1053,Samsung SGH-T319, , Quick Take: The Samsung SGH-T319 for T-Mobile is similar to T-Mobiles Samsung SGH-T309, except it has Bluetooth and a slightly different color scheme. For our full assessment of the phones design and basic features, please see our review of the Samsung SGH-T309. ),
(1054,LG LX550 (Fusic),Positives: The LG LX550 has an attractive design, admirable call quality, and a range of high-end features, including Bluetooth, a speakerphone, an MP3 player, a Micro SD card slot, EV-DO support, and an FM transmitter. Negatives: The LG LX550 has shaky music quality, tricky keypad controls, and limited photo resolutions, and it does not offer analog roaming. Facts: The attractive, high-performing LG LX550 is a solid addition to Sprints EV-DO lineup. , Youd be forgiven if at first glance you thought the LG LX550 were an iPod. To be fair, with its boxy shape, square external display, and round music controls, the new Sprint cell phone does look like Apples wildly successful music player. It even comes with a selection of faceplates in iPod-like colors such as blue, pink, and green. Perhaps these similarities are the point, however, because beyond making calls, the LX550 boasts solid music capabilities, including the first FM transmitter in a cell phone. The remaining feature offerings are plentiful; youll find Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, 3G support for streaming video, and an expandable memory slot--all in an appealing, compact design. And it makes good calls too. Sprint has dubbed the LX550 with the bizarre name of Fusic, and its available for a sky-high $329, or a more reasonable $179 with service. As we mentioned earlier, its clear where LG got its inspiration for the LX550. And though we were skeptical initially of any cell phones attempt at mimicking the iPod, we were pleased with the overall result. Although its a tad boxy, the phone has a clean, minimalist design that doesnt put on airs. At 3.78 by 1.89 by 0.78 inches, it has overtones of the current slim phones. Its not nearly as thin as the hot Motorola Razr, but it slips easily into a pocket or a bag. It also benefits from solid construction (4.23 ounces), and the flip opens and shuts with authority. The LX550 comes in blue in the box, and youll find changeable faceplates in green, pink, and black. The LG LX550 has an appealing form factor. The most distinctive feature on the front flap of the LG LX550 are the round music controls that let you access the music player and Sprints music store when the phone is closed. Once music is playing, you can then use the control to pause your tracks and scroll through your playlists. Although theres no Click Wheel, as on the iPod, the controls are still tactile and intuitive. Just below the controls is a small speaker for music and speakerphone calls, while above them is the square, 1.25-inch-diagonal external display. With support for 65,000 colors (96x96 pixels), its one of the better external screens weve seen on a cell phone. You cant alter the backlighting time, but you can change the wallpaper and use the display as a viewfinder for self-portraits. It also shows photos for caller ID. Above the display is a small light that blinks when the phone is in standby mode and when youre on a call. It glows only in green, but you can turn it off if you like. The LG LX550s music controls resemble those on an iPod. Inside the LG LX550, youll find a gorgeous internal screen that measures 2 inches diagonally. Sharp and vivid with support for 262,000 colors (176x220 pixels), it displays graphics and pictures beautifully, and we enjoyed the funky animated wallpaper. Scrolling through the snazzy menus was also a treat; available in two styles (grid or list), the designs are an improvement upon those of previous LG phones. Not only are they easier on the eyes, but the various pop-up submenus are quite user-friendly. You can change the backlighting time and the font size but not the brightness, and as with most cell phone displays, its difficult to see in direct light.The navigation controls left us somewhat divided. Although were not fans of buttons that are flush with the phone, we found the LG LX550s controls tactile and user-friendly nonetheless. The navigation array is also quite large, so users with big paws shouldnt have a problem. A five-way toggle serves as a shortcut to four user-defined functions, and we liked that the OK button opened the menu when in standby mode. There are also two soft keys, a camera shortcut, and a dedicated speakerphone button--a nice touch. When in standby mode, the left soft key opens a programmable Favorites menu of oft-used features. Below the toggle are a dedicated Back button and the traditional Talk and End/power keys. The slim LG LX550 manages to pack in a memory-card slot. The keypad buttons are a tad harder to manipulate. Since they are set flush with the phone, we had trouble dialing by feel. Theyre also smaller than we expected, but the blue backlighting is bright, and we like the silver plate that covers the inside of the phone. Back on the outside of the LG LX550, theres a camera button and a covered headset jack on the right spine, while a volume rocker, the Micro SD card slot, and a voice-command button sit on the left spine. The camera lens and flash are located on the top of the rear face just below the stubby external antenna. Besides music features, which well get to in a moment, the LG LX550 offers all the basics youd expect and more. The phone book holds 500 contacts, with room in each entry for five phone numbers, an e-mail address, a Web address, and notes. You can organize callers into groups or pair them with a picture (called a waterdrop, for some reason) or one of 24 polyphonic (72-chord) ring tones. And like the Samsung SCH-A580, the LX550 supports Sprints new Wireless Backup service. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, an alarm clock, a calculator, a scheduler, a notepad, text and multimedia messaging, a Micro SD card slot (a 64MB card is included with the phone), instant messaging (AOL, Yahoo, and ICQ), POP3 e-mail support, a voice recorder, and a world clock.For hands-free use, theres Bluetooth, voice commands, voice dialing, and a duplex speakerphone you can activate before you make a call. In particular, we were impressed with the extensive Bluetooth capability. Not only can you use it to make calls with a Bluetooth headset, but it supports a stereo Bluetooth profile for listening to music (very cool), and you can transfer files wirelessly. The LX550 also comes with a USB cable for transferring files and can even serve as a USB flash drive. It was a simple exercise, but we were disappointed that the phone wouldnt accept calls during a USB connection. For modem use with a computer, you can utilize either Bluetooth or the USB cable.Like Sprints other music phones, the LG LX550 offers a music player that supports MP3 and AAC files (but not WMAs), as well as music purchased over the Sprint Music Store. Alternatively, you can transfer your own songs to the phone via the TransFlash card and the USB cable but not over the handsets Bluetooth connection. The music player itself is pretty bare bones; it displays album art for songs purchased from the music store, but the user interface is sparse, save for the standard title and artist info, along with a progress bar and time elapsed/total time. You can pause your tunes, skip to the next song, create playlists, and shuffle or repeat your music. And unlike previous Sprint music phones, the LX550 has an equalizer, and you can scan forward or backward within a song. Its a satisfactory experience overall, and we give Sprint credit for not forcing users to buy its music. Whats more, we welcome the addition of an FM transmitter (the first on a cell phone), which allows you to broadcast your music to an available frequency on a nearby radio.Since it supports Sprints 3G EV-DO network, the LG LX550 is big on streaming-video options. Sprints Power Vision service offers a variety of content, mostly in 2- to 3-minute for-pay video clips from channels such as CNN, ESPN, the Weather Channel, and E Entertainment. And if video isnt your thing, the phone supports streaming Sirius and Rhapsody radio. The LX550 also makes use of Sprints on-demand service. You can get up-to-the-minute news, sports, and stock-market updates. Moreover, you can personalize the information by punching in your zip code. And since the phone has GPS capability, you can access movie and TV listings, weather reports, and maps for your current location. Finally, theres an online phone book and dictionary.The 1.3-megapixel camera takes pictures in just three resolutions--1,280x960, 640x480, and 320x240--which was a bit disappointing for such a mediacentric phone. Still, theres a fair number of editing options, including a 5- or 10-second self-timer; a 10X zoom (except at the highest resolution); a flash; four color tones; brightness and white-balance settings; three quality modes; four shutter sounds, plus a silent option; and an image enhancer--whatever that is. The camcorder shoots videos with sound, and editing options are similar to the still cameras. The video length is limited by the available memory space, and clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 30 seconds. The LG LX550 has decent photo quality. Once youre finished playing photographer, you can send your shots in a multimedia message, upload them to Sprints online album service, assign them to a contact for photo caller ID, or store them on the phones 21MB of shared memory. Otherwise, you can use the included USB cable to send photos to a computer or to a photo printer with Sprints PictBridge service, and you can even send them to a Fujifilm retailer for printing and pickup. Image quality was about what youd expect from a 1.3-megapixel camera. Colors were distinct, but object outlines were fuzzier than we would have liked. Overall, theyre fine for use on a computer, but we wouldnt want to print them. Video clips were serviceable but grainy in places; they arent meant for home movies. You can personalize the LG LX550 with a greeting and choose from a variety of screensavers, clock styles, wallpaper themes, color skins, and alert tones. You can also set your photos to cycle through a slide show. More customization options and ring tones are available for download through the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Gaming options are slim, with demo versions of only four Java (J2ME) games: Ms. Pac-Man, Tetris, World Poker Tour, and Zuma. Youll need to buy the full titles for longer playtime, and you get a trial version of two other applications as well. StreetFinder somewhat accurately gauges your location via GPS, and ToneMaker lets you mix and record your own ring tones. We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) LG LX550 in San Francisco using Sprints service. Call quality was exceptional, with great clarity and volume even during speakerphone calls. On the other end, callers said they too were satisfied with the audio quality, despite being able to tell we were using a cell phone. At times, we noticed some static, but it wasnt too bothersome, and we experienced no interference with electronic devices. We successfully paired the phone with the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset. Call quality was good, though callers had more trouble hearing us. The included wired headset was satisfactory as well, but just don't expect too much.Music quality didnt fare as well, however. While there was plenty of volume, songs sounded way too bass heavy, and though the LG LX550 has stereo speakers on the exterior, the interior speaker was far less effective. Song downloads averaged about 1 minute, 15 seconds, which isnt bad, considering the transfer was over the air. Also, the music player itself takes about 5 seconds to start up. We tried using the FM transmitter, and while the experience wasnt perfect, its a step in the right direction. You can broadcast up to 12 frequencies, but the phone does not automatically scan for them. We also had to hold the phone no more than a foot away from our radios antenna, and the audio quality was no better than when we were using the phone.Video quality was mostly sharp as 3G phones go. Its comfortable for viewing in short spells, but its not like watching TV, no matter what the Sprint ads may tell you. Clips didnt stop or pause for rebuffering, but there was a fair amount of pixelation. Downloads were speedy, usually about 15 seconds for a clip, and Web browsing was a big improvement upon 1xRTT browsers.The LG LX550 has a rated talk time of 4.5 hours, while our tests showed a talk time of 4 hours. According to FCC radiation tests, the LG LX550 has a digital SAR rating of 0.6 watt per kilogram. ),
(1055,Samsung SCH-i830,Positives: The Samsung SCH-i830 boasts EV-DO support, Bluetooth, and a full QWERTY keyboard. As a dual-mode CDMA/GSM phone, the SCH-i830 can also be used overseas. Negatives: The Samsung SCH-i830 runs the older Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition OS and lacks integrated Wi-Fi. Also, it suffers from poor call quality, and theres no camera option. Facts: The Samsung SCH-i830 offers some nice features for the mobile professional, such as dual-mode functionality and a full QWERTY keyboard, but poor performance and outdated features put it behind the competition. , The Samsung SCH-i730 ranked as one of our favorite smart phones of 2005. It was pretty revolutionary at the time, with its five forms of wireless, its sleek slider design, and its full QWERTY keyboard. Since then, however, the smart-phone landscape has changed, with powerhouses such as the Cingular 8125 and theSprint PPC-6700 dominating the field, and the SCH-i730s successor, the Samsung SCH-i830, falls short of the competition for several reasons. First, the SCH-i830 suffers from poor call quality, and its still running the old Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition OS. Yet, there are bright notes. Its a dual-mode CDMA/GSM phone, so you can use it globally, and its equipped with Bluetooth and a full QWERTY keyboard. Like its older sibling, the SCH-i830 has the tools to keep the road warrior on track, but there are just better, more up-to-date models out there. The Samsung SCH-i830 is available through Verizon Wireless for a hefty $599, but you should be able to get it for less with a service agreement.The Samsung SCH-i830s design is largely unchanged in comparison with the SCH-i730s, as it retains the same dimensions (5.2 by 2.8 by 0.6 inches; 6.4 ounces) and smooth slider design. Overall, its a solidly constructed phone thats comfortable to hold in the hand, although the external antenna adds unwanted bulk. Comparatively speaking, the SCH-i830 is roughly the same size as the Cingular 8125 and the Palm Treo 700w. In its closed state, the 2.8-inch touch screen dominates the face of the SCH-i830. It displays 65,536 colors at a 240x320-pixel resolution, but the screen was hard to read in direct sunlight. There are four customizable shortcut keys and a five-way navigation toggle below the display, and just beneath those are the Back button and the Talk and End keys. On the right side, you have an SDIO/MMC expansion slot, while a 2.5mm headset jack, a voice-memo key, a volume rocker, and a hold/backlight switch are on the left. The Samsung SCH-i830s keyboard is spacious, but you can use it only in portrait mode. To expose the QWERTY keyboard, just slide up the Samsung SCH-i830s face. Unlike with other slider phones weve tested, the gliding motion was smooth, and the screen locked into place with a satisfying click. The keyboard features tactile, oval-like buttons, and we found the overall layout to be fairly spacious, even better than the Treos. In addition, the keys are raised above the phones surface and brightly backlit, making it that much easier to type messages without error. That said, we much prefer the design found on the UTStarcom XV6700. The keyboard slides out to the left, so by turning the device 90 degrees, you get a better thumb-typing experience, and you can take full advantage of landscape mode. On the SCH-i830, however, you can use the keyboard only in portrait mode.Aside from the form factor, another common factor between the SCH-i730 and the SCH-i830 is the operating system. We were dismayed to find that the SCH-i830 runs Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition instead of the latest Windows Mobile 5. Sure, youll be able get work done on the road with Pocket Word and Pocket Excel, but you wont get the new Mobile Office Suite, which includes enhancements such as support for tables and embedded images in Word Mobile, the ability to view charts in Excel Mobile, and the new PowerPoint presentation viewer. On the bright side, the Samsung SCH-i830 ships with the Picsel Browser app preinstalled, so you can view the PowerPoint slides as PDFs and images. Of course, you get Pocket Outlook for your e-mail needs, and the SCH-i830 is equipped with Verizons VZEmail for wireless synchronization. The smart phone can also handle POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP accounts, plus text, multimedia, and instant messaging.Samsung and Verizon made some changes to the Samsung SCH-i830s wireless connections. While the SCH-i730 boasted five forms of wireless (IrDA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, CDMA 1xRTT, and EV-DO), the SCH-i830 does away with integrated Wi-Fi in favor of dual-mode CDMA/GSM functionality. This means you can use the smart phone domestically and overseas while keeping the same number. The continued EV-DO support also alleviates the need for Wi-Fi in order to connect to the Web, but we still like to have that option. For pairing with a wireless headset, Bluetooth is on board, but since its the older 1.1 version, you wont be able to take full advantage of the higher transmission speeds of Bluetooth 1.2 or 2.0. Other phone features consist of a speakerphone, voice dialing, speed dialing, and 10 polyphonic ring tones.For multimedia mavens, the Samsung SCH-i830 comes with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile so that you can listen to your favorite tunes and view streaming video. There is support for PlaysForSure WMA files from online music stores such as Napster and Musicmatch, and if you have TV programs recorded on your Windows Media Center PC, you can transfer them to the SCH-i830 and enjoy it on your phone. The smart phone is also equipped with 3D stereo speakers. You wont be able to record any video yourself or snap any photos, as Verizon will not offer a camera-equipped Samsung SCH-i830. While we realize more and more businesses are banning camera-equipped mobiles for security purposes, we would still appreciate the option of a camera. Some other highlights of the SCH-i830 include 128MB of memory, a 520MHz Intel Bulverde processor, a ring-tone manager, a world clock, a backup utility, a remote-control app, and two games (Solitaire and Jawbreaker). Aside from 128MB of internal memory, the Samsung SCH-i830 features an SDIO/MMC expansion slot. We tested the Samsung SCH-i830 in San Francisco using Verizons network, and call quality was subpar. On our end, audio sounded crackly, and our callers reported the same. They also said they could hear the conversation only half the time, which was frustrating. Using the speakerphone actually improved the sound quality, resulting in clearer sound and adequate volume. We also had no problems pairing the SCH-i830 with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.The Samsung SCH-i830 is rated for 2.2 hours of talk time and up to 5.4 days of standby time. In our tests, we got 2.5 hours, which is on the low side for cell phones these days. Youll want to keep a charger handy if you make a lot of calls. According to the FCC, the SCH-i830 has a digital SAR rating of 0.55 watt per kilogram. ),
(1056,Samsung SGH-T609,Positives: The Samsung SGH-T609 offers Bluetooth, a speakerphone, world phone support, a megapixel camera, and an expandable memory slot. Also, call clarity is admirable. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-T609 has cramped controls and slippery keys, and the call volume is somewhat low. Plus, music quality is poor, and the design is uninspiring. Facts: Although the Samsung SGH-T609 offers some useful features and satisfactory performance, there are much better options in T-Mobiles lineup. , In many ways, T-Mobiles Samsung SGH-T609 is an update of one of the carriers previous phones, the Samsung SGH-T309. Bearing a similar design--except that it comes in white--the SGH-T609 offers the same basic features but adds Blueotooth, a megapixel camera, an MP3 player, and an expandable memory slot. Although its a pleasing feature set overall, the design is rather dull, and we werent impressed with the keypad buttons. For what you get, however, the SGH-T609 is fairly priced at $199, and its even cheaper with service. Although the white color is nice, the Samsung SGH-T609s design is unremarkable. Unlike most cell phones that come in either black or silver, the Samsung SGH-T609 is styled pleasantly in white. Like Samsungs SGH-T309, the SGH-T609 has the same rounded flip-phone shape, with the camera lens positioned above the postage-stamp-size external display. At 3.59 by 1.81 by 0.88 inches, the SGH-T609 is larger than its predecessor, but strangely, its also lighter at 2.9 ounces. Unfortunately, the result is a rather dull and slightly bulky design; this is not a handset for the fashion conscious. Also, while the large hinge seems well constructed, the plastic casing feels flimsy. The phone is, however, comfortable to hold while youre talking.The 1-inch-diagonal external display and the camera lens are set in a mirrored frame. The display is monochrome, but it shows everything youd expect, including the date, the time, battery life, signal strength, and caller ID (where available). You can adjust the contrast but not the brightness or the backlighting time, and the screen does not show photo caller ID. The display functions as a viewfinder for self-portraits, but the monochrome resolution means its not very useful.Inside the Samsung SGH-T609 is a 2-inch-diagonal, 262,144-color display (176x220 pixels). Its a typical Samsung screen, which means its bright and vivid, but its hard to see in direct light. It comes with a full range of customization options, though; you can change the brightness, the contrast, the backlighting time, and the font size and color. The enormous hinge means the flip opens and shuts with authority, but it also means the navigation array is located an inch below the display. As a result, during the first few minutes when we were using the phone, our fingers trailed around, trying to find the correct control. Whats more, the five-way toggle and the two soft keys felt crowded together. Although its not marked as such, the toggle gives one-touch access to the contacts list, messaging, the camera, and the voice memo. You cant change the shortcuts, and we thought it was weird that the OK button has no function when the phone is in standby mode. Below the toggle are a Clear button and the traditional Talk and End/power keys.Like the navigation array, the keypad buttons are raised above the surface of the phone. Although the buttons themselves are big enough, theyre too slick, and we found the overall design a bit cramped. We had a couple of misdials, so users with large hands should give the SGH-T609 a test-drive. On the left spine are a dedicated camera button and the Micro SD card slot, while a volume rocker and a covered headset jack sit on the left spine.Despite some work-friendly and multimedia offerings, the Samsung SGH-T609 is far from being a cell phone powerhouse. On the other hand, it should please low-maintenance users. The phone book holds an impressive 1,000 contacts, with room in each entry for five phone numbers, an e-mail address, and notes; the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts. You can organize callers into groups or pair them with one of 33 polyphonic ring tones. Essential features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a voice-memo recorder, an alarm clock, instant messaging (Yahoo, AOL, and ICQ), a calendar, a task list, a calculator, a world clock, a unit converter, a timer, and a stopwatch. On the higher end, you get voice dialing and commands, a speakerphone (operable after you make a call) and a Micro SD card slot (card sold separately). Theres also Bluetooth, and we were impressed with the variety of supported functions. Besides connecting to a headset, you can use Bluetooth to transfer and contact information, and you can hook up with a computer to use the phone as a modem. The Samsung SGH-T609s camera does not come with a flash. The Samsung SGH-T609 has a 1.3-megapixel camera that takes pictures in six resolutions: 1,280x1024, 1,152x864, 600x640, 640x480, 320x240, and 176x144. Other functions include four shutter sounds but no silent option; a 4X zoom; multishot and mosaic-shot options; five color effects; 24 fun frames; a 3-, 5-, or 10-second self-timer; and a brightness control. There are also a number of camera shortcuts and sounds, and you can play with a photos orientation as well. The camcorder records clips in two resolutions (176x144 and 128x96) with sound. Editing options are similar to a still cameras, and clip length is capped at 45 seconds for multimedia messages. You can save as many pictures and videos that will fit on the phones 25MB of shared memory, or you can store your work on a memory card. Photos were decent but not spectacular by any means. Although most colors were distinct, some objects were fuzzy. Videos, however, were quite grainy, and the sound was barely audible. The Samsung SGH-T609 had average but serviceable photo quality. The MP3 player is similar to the minimalist but functional version found on the Samsung SGH-T809. The primary user interaction is done through the toggle, with a few other keys acting as shortcuts to different functions. The interface is pretty spartan; theres no album art, and only the track name scrolls across the top of the display. You can choose from a couple of animated graphics for when music is playing, but theyre not anything special. That said, the player comes with a number of functions, including playlists and repeat and shuffle modes, and you can set music tracks as ring tones. We were pleased to see that getting music on the phone was pretty easy. In addition to transferring tracks from a memory card, you can send them via Bluetooth or download them from the wireless Web browser.You can personalize the Samsung SGH-T609 with a variety of wallpaper and sounds, though the choice of included wallpaper is pretty limited. If you want more options or ring tones, youll have to download them from T-Mobile via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Gaming options were plentiful, however. You get five Java (J2ME) titles--Bobby Carrot, AirShip Racing, Arch Angel, Freekick, and Midnight Pool--with the option to buy more.We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone in San Francisco using T-Mobiles service. Call quality was mostly good, but the volume was somewhat low. The Samsung SGH-T609 also has a sensitive sweet spot, so users with hearing impairments should try it out before buying. On the upside, audio quality was satisfactory, and we encountered little static or interference. Callers said we sounded hollow at times, but they could understand us fine overall.Speakerphone calls were about the same on our end, and callers reported the same. We successfully paired the Samsung SGH-T609 with the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset and enjoyed decent call quality, despite a bit of static on our end. Music quality was mostly bad overall. Songs were bass heavy, and the phones tiny speakers didnt do our tracks justice at all.The Samsung SGH-T609 has a rated talk time of 3 hours and a promised standby time of six days; our tests also showed a talk time of 3 hours. According to FCC radiation tests, the Samsung SGH-T609 has a digital SAR rating of 0.59 watt per kilogram. ),
(1057,Sanyo SCP-3100 (Pure Silver),Positives: The affordable Sanyo SCP-3100 is a solid Sprint clamshell that comes in several colors. It supports Sprints Ready Link walkie-talkie network, and it features a VGA camera, voice recording, analog roaming, and a speakerphone with great sound quality. Negatives: The Sanyo SCP-3100s monochrome external display doesnt show picture caller ID. Also, the colors on the internal display appear washed out. Facts: The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a solid feature set that belies its simple exterior. While it may not be the most attractive phone, the SCP-3100s Ready Link support, VGA camera, voice recording, speakerphone, and great audio quality add up to a decent midtier mobile. Note: This product is part of the Sanyo SCP-3100 series. ., The Sanyo SCP-3100 is yet another sign that push-to-talk (PTT) phones are gaining more mainstream appeal. This Sprint clamshell comes in not one, not two, but four different colors--Blue Energy, Always Pink, Espresso, and Pure Silver--which are definitely aimed at a wide audience. The SCP-3100 is also one of very few PTT phones that come with a camera, another sign that its geared toward more users than just industry professionals. The SCP-3100 is currently available for $199.99, though you can get it for $49.99 after a two-year service agreement with Sprint.At first glance, the Sanyo SCP-3100 may remind you of a kids walkie-talkie, thanks to the plastic exterior and the large speaker grille; the phone looks a bit cheap as a result. Its size and heft (3.31 by 1.83 by 1.01 inches; 3.5 ounces) are good for smaller hands, but the clamshell too bulky to slip in a jeans pocket. Though it isnt a big deal, opening the SCP-3100 takes some effort due to a springy hinge, but the phone cradles your ear comfortably. The SCP-3100 also has an extendable antenna. The Sanyo SCP-3100 reminds us of a kids walkie-talkie. Underneath the aforementioned speaker grille is the 1-inch-diagonal, 96x32-pixel monochrome display, which is backlit in bright orange when activated. It displays the time, the signal, battery strength, and caller ID but not photo caller ID. Below that is an LED indicator that flashes when the camera is activated, while at the bottom of the front flip are the camera lens and a self-portrait mirror. On the phones right spine are the headset jack, a Ready Link button that doubles as a voice-memo button when the phone is on standby, and the volume rocker. On the left spine is a dedicated camera button. Open the Sanyo SCP-3100, and youll be presented with a rather lackluster 65,000-color, 128x160-pixel display measuring 1.75 inches diagonally. The clamshells screen seemed more washed out than that of other phones, and we werent impressed with the color scheme on the main menu. As for customization options, you can adjust the backlight timer for the main screen, the keypad, and the external display. You can also adjust the font size, the internal screens contrast, the sleep-mode timer, the greeting, and the menu style (grid or list view). Below the internal display is the navigational array, which consists of two soft keys and a five-way toggle that provides shortcuts to messaging, the phone book, the My Content folder (a collection of games, ring tones, screensavers, and applications), the My Favorites folder (a list of shortcuts to frequently used applications), and the main menu. Farther down are the dedicated camera button, a dedicated speakerphone button, a Back button, the Talk and End/power keys, and the keypad. All buttons are well laid out and tactile, as well as easy to press and dial by feel, but we wish the Back button were directly under the toggle instead of the speakerphone key. The keypad has a green backlight when activated. The Sanyo SCP-3100 comes with a slew of features that belie its simple appearance. The phone book holds only 300 entries, but each can accommodate 7 phone numbers, an e-mail address, a Web address, a personalized ring tone, and a picture. Of course, youll have to open the phone to see the picture caller ID, since the external monochrome screen cant display images, as we noted earlier. Theres also a separate Ready Link contacts list with access to 200 personal contacts and 200 business contacts. There are 10 polyphonic (32-chord) ring tones to choose from, as well as 8 short tones for message or alarm alerts. Organizational features include an alarm clock, a calculator, a stopwatch, a world clock, and a calendar. In addition, you get text, multimedia, and instant messaging; e-mail; 18-second voice memos; voice dialing; a speakerphone; and a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Theres also a feature that utilizes GPS technology to detect your location. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a VGA camera and a self-portrait mirror. While the Sanyo SCP-3100s VGA camera is a bit disappointing, it has a good array of features, including Normal, Night/Dark, Beach/Snow, Scenery, and Soft Focus picture modes; a self-timer that can be turned off or set to 5- or 10-second intervals; Fun Tools (Orange, Blue, Green, Purple, Sepia, Black & White, Aqua Blue, and Normal color tones); a brightness setting; Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Manual white-balance settings; 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120 resolutions; Fine, Normal, and Economy quality settings; two shutter sounds, as well as a silent setting; and an option to view the picture in full-screen mode. Photos were predictably blurry but decent, considering the VGA cameras limitations. The real letdown is the phones scant 1MB of memory, which is not enough to hold a reasonable number of photos. You can use your shots as wallpaper or send them to friends via Picture Mail. The VGA camera took shots that were decent but still blurry. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a slew of personalization options. You can choose from a variety of wallpaper and graphics, as well as ring tones and short message-alert tones (as mentioned above). You can also download any of these items, plus games and applications, via Sprints PCS Vision network. We tested the dual-band, trimode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) Sanyo SCP-3100 in San Francisco with the Sprint network. Callers sounded good to us and vice versa. The speakerphone audio quality was definitely impressive: loud and crystal clear. The PCS Vision browser was slow, taking a while to load between pages. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours, but our tests bore out a measly 3 hours of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Sanyo SCP-3100 has a digital SAR rating of 1.28 watts per kilogram. ),
(1058,Sanyo SCP-3100 (Blue Energy),Positives: The affordable Sanyo SCP-3100 is a solid Sprint clamshell that comes in several colors. It supports Sprints Ready Link walkie-talkie network, and it features a VGA camera, voice recording, analog roaming, and a speakerphone with great sound quality. Negatives: The Sanyo SCP-3100s monochrome external display doesnt show picture caller ID. Also, the colors on the internal display appear washed out. Facts: The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a solid feature set that belies its simple exterior. While it may not be the most attractive phone, the SCP-3100s Ready Link support, VGA camera, voice recording, speakerphone, and great audio quality add up to a decent midtier mobile. Note: This product is part of the Sanyo SCP-3100 series. ., The Sanyo SCP-3100 is yet another sign that push-to-talk (PTT) phones are gaining more mainstream appeal. This Sprint clamshell comes in not one, not two, but four different colors--Blue Energy, Always Pink, Espresso, and Pure Silver--which are definitely aimed at a wide audience. The SCP-3100 is also one of very few PTT phones that come with a camera, another sign that its geared toward more users than just industry professionals. The SCP-3100 is currently available for $199.99, though you can get it for $49.99 after a two-year service agreement with Sprint.At first glance, the Sanyo SCP-3100 may remind you of a kids walkie-talkie, thanks to the plastic exterior and the large speaker grille; the phone looks a bit cheap as a result. Its size and heft (3.31 by 1.83 by 1.01 inches; 3.5 ounces) are good for smaller hands, but the clamshell too bulky to slip in a jeans pocket. Though it isnt a big deal, opening the SCP-3100 takes some effort due to a springy hinge, but the phone cradles your ear comfortably. The SCP-3100 also has an extendable antenna. The Sanyo SCP-3100 reminds us of a kids walkie-talkie. Underneath the aforementioned speaker grille is the 1-inch-diagonal, 96x32-pixel monochrome display, which is backlit in bright orange when activated. It displays the time, the signal, battery strength, and caller ID but not photo caller ID. Below that is an LED indicator that flashes when the camera is activated, while at the bottom of the front flip are the camera lens and a self-portrait mirror. On the phones right spine are the headset jack, a Ready Link button that doubles as a voice-memo button when the phone is on standby, and the volume rocker. On the left spine is a dedicated camera button. Open the Sanyo SCP-3100, and youll be presented with a rather lackluster 65,000-color, 128x160-pixel display measuring 1.75 inches diagonally. The clamshells screen seemed more washed out than that of other phones, and we werent impressed with the color scheme on the main menu. As for customization options, you can adjust the backlight timer for the main screen, the keypad, and the external display. You can also adjust the font size, the internal screens contrast, the sleep-mode timer, the greeting, and the menu style (grid or list view). Below the internal display is the navigational array, which consists of two soft keys and a five-way toggle that provides shortcuts to messaging, the phone book, the My Content folder (a collection of games, ring tones, screensavers, and applications), the My Favorites folder (a list of shortcuts to frequently used applications), and the main menu. Farther down are the dedicated camera button, a dedicated speakerphone button, a Back button, the Talk and End/power keys, and the keypad. All buttons are well laid out and tactile, as well as easy to press and dial by feel, but we wish the Back button were directly under the toggle instead of the speakerphone key. The keypad has a green backlight when activated. The Sanyo SCP-3100 comes with a slew of features that belie its simple appearance. The phone book holds only 300 entries, but each can accommodate 7 phone numbers, an e-mail address, a Web address, a personalized ring tone, and a picture. Of course, youll have to open the phone to see the picture caller ID, since the external monochrome screen cant display images, as we noted earlier. Theres also a separate Ready Link contacts list with access to 200 personal contacts and 200 business contacts. There are 10 polyphonic (32-chord) ring tones to choose from, as well as 8 short tones for message or alarm alerts. Organizational features include an alarm clock, a calculator, a stopwatch, a world clock, and a calendar. In addition, you get text, multimedia, and instant messaging; e-mail; 18-second voice memos; voice dialing; a speakerphone; and a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Theres also a feature that utilizes GPS technology to detect your location. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a VGA camera and a self-portrait mirror. While the Sanyo SCP-3100s VGA camera is a bit disappointing, it has a good array of features, including Normal, Night/Dark, Beach/Snow, Scenery, and Soft Focus picture modes; a self-timer that can be turned off or set to 5- or 10-second intervals; Fun Tools (Orange, Blue, Green, Purple, Sepia, Black & White, Aqua Blue, and Normal color tones); a brightness setting; Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Manual white-balance settings; 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120 resolutions; Fine, Normal, and Economy quality settings; two shutter sounds, as well as a silent setting; and an option to view the picture in full-screen mode. Photos were predictably blurry but decent, considering the VGA cameras limitations. The real letdown is the phones scant 1MB of memory, which is not enough to hold a reasonable number of photos. You can use your shots as wallpaper or send them to friends via Picture Mail. The VGA camera took shots that were decent but still blurry. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a slew of personalization options. You can choose from a variety of wallpaper and graphics, as well as ring tones and short message-alert tones (as mentioned above). You can also download any of these items, plus games and applications, via Sprints PCS Vision network. We tested the dual-band, trimode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) Sanyo SCP-3100 in San Francisco with the Sprint network. Callers sounded good to us and vice versa. The speakerphone audio quality was definitely impressive: loud and crystal clear. The PCS Vision browser was slow, taking a while to load between pages. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours, but our tests bore out a measly 3 hours of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Sanyo SCP-3100 has a digital SAR rating of 1.28 watts per kilogram. ),
(1059,Sanyo SCP-3100 (Always Pink),Positives: The affordable Sanyo SCP-3100 is a solid Sprint clamshell that comes in several colors. It supports Sprints Ready Link walkie-talkie network, and it features a VGA camera, voice recording, analog roaming, and a speakerphone with great sound quality. Negatives: The Sanyo SCP-3100s monochrome external display doesnt show picture caller ID. Also, the colors on the internal display appear washed out. Facts: The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a solid feature set that belies its simple exterior. While it may not be the most attractive phone, the SCP-3100s Ready Link support, VGA camera, voice recording, speakerphone, and great audio quality add up to a decent midtier mobile. Note: This product is part of the Sanyo SCP-3100 series. ., The Sanyo SCP-3100 is yet another sign that push-to-talk (PTT) phones are gaining more mainstream appeal. This Sprint clamshell comes in not one, not two, but four different colors--Blue Energy, Always Pink, Espresso, and Pure Silver--which are definitely aimed at a wide audience. The SCP-3100 is also one of very few PTT phones that come with a camera, another sign that its geared toward more users than just industry professionals. The SCP-3100 is currently available for $199.99, though you can get it for $49.99 after a two-year service agreement with Sprint.At first glance, the Sanyo SCP-3100 may remind you of a kids walkie-talkie, thanks to the plastic exterior and the large speaker grille; the phone looks a bit cheap as a result. Its size and heft (3.31 by 1.83 by 1.01 inches; 3.5 ounces) are good for smaller hands, but the clamshell too bulky to slip in a jeans pocket. Though it isnt a big deal, opening the SCP-3100 takes some effort due to a springy hinge, but the phone cradles your ear comfortably. The SCP-3100 also has an extendable antenna. The Sanyo SCP-3100 reminds us of a kids walkie-talkie. Underneath the aforementioned speaker grille is the 1-inch-diagonal, 96x32-pixel monochrome display, which is backlit in bright orange when activated. It displays the time, the signal, battery strength, and caller ID but not photo caller ID. Below that is an LED indicator that flashes when the camera is activated, while at the bottom of the front flip are the camera lens and a self-portrait mirror. On the phones right spine are the headset jack, a Ready Link button that doubles as a voice-memo button when the phone is on standby, and the volume rocker. On the left spine is a dedicated camera button. Open the Sanyo SCP-3100, and youll be presented with a rather lackluster 65,000-color, 128x160-pixel display measuring 1.75 inches diagonally. The clamshells screen seemed more washed out than that of other phones, and we werent impressed with the color scheme on the main menu. As for customization options, you can adjust the backlight timer for the main screen, the keypad, and the external display. You can also adjust the font size, the internal screens contrast, the sleep-mode timer, the greeting, and the menu style (grid or list view). Below the internal display is the navigational array, which consists of two soft keys and a five-way toggle that provides shortcuts to messaging, the phone book, the My Content folder (a collection of games, ring tones, screensavers, and applications), the My Favorites folder (a list of shortcuts to frequently used applications), and the main menu. Farther down are the dedicated camera button, a dedicated speakerphone button, a Back button, the Talk and End/power keys, and the keypad. All buttons are well laid out and tactile, as well as easy to press and dial by feel, but we wish the Back button were directly under the toggle instead of the speakerphone key. The keypad has a green backlight when activated. The Sanyo SCP-3100 comes with a slew of features that belie its simple appearance. The phone book holds only 300 entries, but each can accommodate 7 phone numbers, an e-mail address, a Web address, a personalized ring tone, and a picture. Of course, youll have to open the phone to see the picture caller ID, since the external monochrome screen cant display images, as we noted earlier. Theres also a separate Ready Link contacts list with access to 200 personal contacts and 200 business contacts. There are 10 polyphonic (32-chord) ring tones to choose from, as well as 8 short tones for message or alarm alerts. Organizational features include an alarm clock, a calculator, a stopwatch, a world clock, and a calendar. In addition, you get text, multimedia, and instant messaging; e-mail; 18-second voice memos; voice dialing; a speakerphone; and a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Theres also a feature that utilizes GPS technology to detect your location. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a VGA camera and a self-portrait mirror. While the Sanyo SCP-3100s VGA camera is a bit disappointing, it has a good array of features, including Normal, Night/Dark, Beach/Snow, Scenery, and Soft Focus picture modes; a self-timer that can be turned off or set to 5- or 10-second intervals; Fun Tools (Orange, Blue, Green, Purple, Sepia, Black & White, Aqua Blue, and Normal color tones); a brightness setting; Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Manual white-balance settings; 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120 resolutions; Fine, Normal, and Economy quality settings; two shutter sounds, as well as a silent setting; and an option to view the picture in full-screen mode. Photos were predictably blurry but decent, considering the VGA cameras limitations. The real letdown is the phones scant 1MB of memory, which is not enough to hold a reasonable number of photos. You can use your shots as wallpaper or send them to friends via Picture Mail. The VGA camera took shots that were decent but still blurry. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a slew of personalization options. You can choose from a variety of wallpaper and graphics, as well as ring tones and short message-alert tones (as mentioned above). You can also download any of these items, plus games and applications, via Sprints PCS Vision network. We tested the dual-band, trimode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) Sanyo SCP-3100 in San Francisco with the Sprint network. Callers sounded good to us and vice versa. The speakerphone audio quality was definitely impressive: loud and crystal clear. The PCS Vision browser was slow, taking a while to load between pages. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours, but our tests bore out a measly 3 hours of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Sanyo SCP-3100 has a digital SAR rating of 1.28 watts per kilogram. ),
(1060,Sanyo SCP-3100 (Espresso),Positives: The affordable Sanyo SCP-3100 is a solid Sprint clamshell that comes in several colors. It supports Sprints Ready Link walkie-talkie network, and it features a VGA camera, voice recording, analog roaming, and a speakerphone with great sound quality. Negatives: The Sanyo SCP-3100s monochrome external display doesnt show picture caller ID. Also, the colors on the internal display appear washed out. Facts: The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a solid feature set that belies its simple exterior. While it may not be the most attractive phone, the SCP-3100s Ready Link support, VGA camera, voice recording, speakerphone, and great audio quality add up to a decent midtier mobile. Note: This product is part of the Sanyo SCP-3100 series. ., The Sanyo SCP-3100 is yet another sign that push-to-talk (PTT) phones are gaining more mainstream appeal. This Sprint clamshell comes in not one, not two, but four different colors--Blue Energy, Always Pink, Espresso, and Pure Silver--which are definitely aimed at a wide audience. The SCP-3100 is also one of very few PTT phones that come with a camera, another sign that its geared toward more users than just industry professionals. The SCP-3100 is currently available for $199.99, though you can get it for $49.99 after a two-year service agreement with Sprint.At first glance, the Sanyo SCP-3100 may remind you of a kids walkie-talkie, thanks to the plastic exterior and the large speaker grille; the phone looks a bit cheap as a result. Its size and heft (3.31 by 1.83 by 1.01 inches; 3.5 ounces) are good for smaller hands, but the clamshell too bulky to slip in a jeans pocket. Though it isnt a big deal, opening the SCP-3100 takes some effort due to a springy hinge, but the phone cradles your ear comfortably. The SCP-3100 also has an extendable antenna. The Sanyo SCP-3100 reminds us of a kids walkie-talkie. Underneath the aforementioned speaker grille is the 1-inch-diagonal, 96x32-pixel monochrome display, which is backlit in bright orange when activated. It displays the time, the signal, battery strength, and caller ID but not photo caller ID. Below that is an LED indicator that flashes when the camera is activated, while at the bottom of the front flip are the camera lens and a self-portrait mirror. On the phones right spine are the headset jack, a Ready Link button that doubles as a voice-memo button when the phone is on standby, and the volume rocker. On the left spine is a dedicated camera button. Open the Sanyo SCP-3100, and youll be presented with a rather lackluster 65,000-color, 128x160-pixel display measuring 1.75 inches diagonally. The clamshells screen seemed more washed out than that of other phones, and we werent impressed with the color scheme on the main menu. As for customization options, you can adjust the backlight timer for the main screen, the keypad, and the external display. You can also adjust the font size, the internal screens contrast, the sleep-mode timer, the greeting, and the menu style (grid or list view). Below the internal display is the navigational array, which consists of two soft keys and a five-way toggle that provides shortcuts to messaging, the phone book, the My Content folder (a collection of games, ring tones, screensavers, and applications), the My Favorites folder (a list of shortcuts to frequently used applications), and the main menu. Farther down are the dedicated camera button, a dedicated speakerphone button, a Back button, the Talk and End/power keys, and the keypad. All buttons are well laid out and tactile, as well as easy to press and dial by feel, but we wish the Back button were directly under the toggle instead of the speakerphone key. The keypad has a green backlight when activated. The Sanyo SCP-3100 comes with a slew of features that belie its simple appearance. The phone book holds only 300 entries, but each can accommodate 7 phone numbers, an e-mail address, a Web address, a personalized ring tone, and a picture. Of course, youll have to open the phone to see the picture caller ID, since the external monochrome screen cant display images, as we noted earlier. Theres also a separate Ready Link contacts list with access to 200 personal contacts and 200 business contacts. There are 10 polyphonic (32-chord) ring tones to choose from, as well as 8 short tones for message or alarm alerts. Organizational features include an alarm clock, a calculator, a stopwatch, a world clock, and a calendar. In addition, you get text, multimedia, and instant messaging; e-mail; 18-second voice memos; voice dialing; a speakerphone; and a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. Theres also a feature that utilizes GPS technology to detect your location. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a VGA camera and a self-portrait mirror. While the Sanyo SCP-3100s VGA camera is a bit disappointing, it has a good array of features, including Normal, Night/Dark, Beach/Snow, Scenery, and Soft Focus picture modes; a self-timer that can be turned off or set to 5- or 10-second intervals; Fun Tools (Orange, Blue, Green, Purple, Sepia, Black & White, Aqua Blue, and Normal color tones); a brightness setting; Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Manual white-balance settings; 640x480, 320x240, and 160x120 resolutions; Fine, Normal, and Economy quality settings; two shutter sounds, as well as a silent setting; and an option to view the picture in full-screen mode. Photos were predictably blurry but decent, considering the VGA cameras limitations. The real letdown is the phones scant 1MB of memory, which is not enough to hold a reasonable number of photos. You can use your shots as wallpaper or send them to friends via Picture Mail. The VGA camera took shots that were decent but still blurry. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a slew of personalization options. You can choose from a variety of wallpaper and graphics, as well as ring tones and short message-alert tones (as mentioned above). You can also download any of these items, plus games and applications, via Sprints PCS Vision network. We tested the dual-band, trimode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) Sanyo SCP-3100 in San Francisco with the Sprint network. Callers sounded good to us and vice versa. The speakerphone audio quality was definitely impressive: loud and crystal clear. The PCS Vision browser was slow, taking a while to load between pages. The Sanyo SCP-3100 has a rated talk time of 3.5 hours, but our tests bore out a measly 3 hours of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the Sanyo SCP-3100 has a digital SAR rating of 1.28 watts per kilogram. ),
(1061,Palm Treo 700p (Sprint),Positives: The Palm Treo 700p boasts EV-DO support, a 1.3-megapixel camera, increased memory, a sharp display, and Bluetooth 1.2. The smart phone can also be used as a wireless modem and has solid call quality. Negatives: The Palm Treo 700p lacks integrated Wi-Fi and runs the stale Palm OS 5.4.9. Also, Sprint has no plans to offer a cameraless version at this time. Facts: With EV-DO support, increased memory, and enhanced multimedia capabilities, the Palm Treo 700p makes a powerful smart phone even better. Sure, its not perfect, but the solid performance and new features make it worth the upgrade. Note: This product is part of the Palm Treo 700 series. ., You can stop squinting at all the blurry camera phone pictures and cease swapping stories about what a carrier rep told you in confidence, for the Palm Treo 700p is finally here. And though the new Palm OS-based smart phone was announced for both Sprint and Verizon Wireless, Sprint is first out of the gate to offer the device, with availability expected at the end of May. So is it worth picking up? We think so. The changes arent revolutionary, but as the successor to the Treo 650, the 700p brings some welcome improvements, such as EV-DO support and increased memory. Of course, it isnt perfect. Theres still no integrated Wi-Fi, and Palm OS 6 has yet to see the light of day, but with solid performance and enhanced connectivity and multimedia capabilities, the Treo 700p is a winner. Sprints pricing is set at $399.99 with a two-year contract or $549.99 with a one-year contract. We should also note that as of this writing, Sprint says it has no plans to offer a cameraless version of the 700p. From a distance, the Palm Treo 700p looks identical to its Windows-based cousin, the Treo 700w. In fact, they share the same dimensions (4.4 by 2.3 by 0.9 inches; 6.4 ounces), the same silver and charcoal-gray color scheme, and the same integrated QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard is a slight improvement upon the one found on the Treo 650; Palm replaced the oval buttons with tactile, rectangular keys that are brightly backlit. The new buttons are more spacious as well, but since the layout overall is still a bit cramped, users with larger digits should give it a test-drive. That said, you cant beat the convenience of having a built-in keyboard for quickly firing off messages and notes, especially one thats integrated so well into the overall form factor. Like the other Treo models, the 700p feels good in the hand and is comfortable to hold up to the ear while in use, but we worry about the plastic battery cover on the back, which feels like it could easily crack if the Treo were to take a nasty tumble. To protect your investment, we recommend purchasing a protective case, since one isnt provided in the package. Easy on the eyes: The Treo 700p has a sharp and vibrant screen. Another incentive for getting a case is to prevent the gorgeous display from getting any scratches. As it is, the 2.5-inch, 65,536-color display has a tendency to hold smudges and fingerprints. But hands down, the Palm Treo 700ps display is sharper and more vibrant than the Treo 700ws, which has a 240x240-pixel resolution. You can change the color theme and the backlight time but not the font size. Palm rearranged the navigation controls slightly from the Treo 650 and the Treo 700w. Immediately beneath the display, youll now find the Talk and End keys instead of two customizable shortcut keys, while the quick-launch buttons for the phone, the calendar, messages, and the home page are below that, split into two groups by the five-way toggle. The layout is spacious enough, but we have to say that the 700w is easier to use with one hand. Yes, thats more of an operating-system issue than a difference in hardware, but its worth noting just the same. The 700p features reworked navigation controls and an improved QWERTY keyboard. On the left spine, you have three unmarked buttons: the volume-up and -down keys and a customizable shortcut key (voice memo by default). The SD/MMC expansion slot is located on the top, along with the infrared port and a ringer/silent switch. When you slide the ringer switch to the sound-off position, the 700p automatically goes into vibrate mode, which is a new feature. Along the bottom edge, youll find the multiconnector port found on all of Palms recent PDAs and smart phones, as well as a 2.5mm headset jack. The camera lens is on the back, as well as a small self-portrait mirror and the speakerphone. We appreciate the fact that the battery is user-replaceable, and you can purchase an extra cell for $59.99 in case of emergencies. As far as included accessories, the list is pretty sparse. You get an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired stereo headset, a desktop-synchronization CD, and reference material. As the newest member of the already famous Treo family, the Palm Treo 700p has found a way to distinguish itself from its siblings in a couple of ways. First, its the first Palm-based Treo to support 3G EV-DO networks so that you can enjoy broadbandlike speeds on your device--around 300Kbps to 600Kbps (see Performance for more). In other words, that means faster e-mail, messaging, and attachment downloads. In addition, the improved Blazer Web browser now includes a built-in streaming application so that you can enjoy music and video files in popular formats, such as MP3, WMA, WMV, and MPEG-4. Sprint also offers a couple of services to add to the 700ps multimedia experience. For TV junkies, you can check out Sprint TV, which brings popular channels, such as ABC News, Fox Sports, and the Weather Channel, to your phone. Meanwhile, if you want to read up on the latest news, sports, weather, stock quotes, and more, there is the On Demand feature, which instantly pulls all the current headlines for the users region (based on zip code) from the Web 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.Yet another distinction is that the Palm Treo 700p is the first Treo to offer built-in dial-up networking capabilities (DUN). Yes, you can finally use this smart phone as a wireless modem right out of the box. Whats more, you have the option of connecting via Bluetooth or USB. The latter, however, will require that you sign up for the Sprint Power Vision Modem Plan ($39.99 per month for 40MB; $49.99 per month for unlimited) in order for you to connect the 700p to your PC or your laptop. We like the fact that using the USB connection also charges the Treo--that way, you don't run out of juice in the interim.The EV-DO support and DUN capabilities certainly soften the blow of no Wi-Fi, but we still wouldnt mind having that option. Other smart phones, such as the UTStarcom XV6700, have it, so why cant the Treo? Even worse, it wont support Palms Wi-Fi card. The Treo 700p does have an infrared port and built-in Bluetooth 1.2--which gives you support for more accessories, including headsets, car kits, printers, and GPS receivers--and it can wirelessly synchronize with your Bluetooth-enabled laptop or computer. In addition to the SDIO/MMC slot, which can accept 2GB cards, Palm upped the amount of user-accessible memory. The insanely meager amount of integrated memory was a big sticking point on the Treo 650, and Palm heard you. The company increased user-accessible memory from 22MB to 60MB (128MB total); plus, you get an SDIO/MMC expansion slot that supports up to 2GB media. It also helps that the Documents to Go 8 suite, which allows you to edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents and view PowerPoint presentations and PDFs, is now included on the devices ROM. Beyond work documents, the Palm Treo 700p has robust e-mail capabilities, which include VersaMail 3.5. Not only is it compatible with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, but it offers contact synchronization in addition to your e-mail and your calendar. You can get push e-mail capabilities through Good or Sprints Business Connection, and theres also out-of-the-box support for Yahoo, AOL, and Gmail accounts. We had no problems setting up our test Treo to receive and send messages from our Yahoo account.The Palm Treo 700p runs Palm OS 5.4.9, so you get all the usual PIM functions: calendar, contacts, tasks, memos, and so forth. However, were wondering if Palm OS 6 will ever see the light of day. During our initial meeting with Palm, we got the impression that the company was in no hurry to upgrade. Just how committed is it to this OS? As far as phone features, the 700p offers a speakerphone, a vibrate mode, three-way calling, speed dial, and the \"ignore with text\" feature that was first introduced in the Treo 700w. Although it supports photo caller ID, the 700p doesnt have the photo speed-dial function found on the Windows-based device. The 700ps camera took decent pictures with sharp edges, but it had some problems in dark environments. Finally, we come to some of the Palm Treo 700ps entertainment features. The Treo 650s VGA camera has been swapped for a 1.3-megapixel camera with 2X zoom. The device comes with ScanR software, which enables you to take a picture of a whiteboard, then put the writing from the board into a Word document. You can record videos with sound and create slide shows with music and audio commentary. Also, the 700p now comes with PocketTunes 3.1 preinstalled on the smart phone, so you can enjoy your favorite MP3s. If you crave support for other music formats, such as WMA/PlaysForSure, youll have to upgrade to the Deluxe edition ($34.95) of PocketTunes. We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; EV-DO) Palm Treo 700p in San Francisco using Sprints network, and call quality was solid. We had no problems hearing conversations, and though our callers reported a slight hint of an echo, they said that overall, the sound quality was excellent. Audio quality diminished slightly when we activated the speakerphone, with the voices sounding tinny, but it wasnt anything distracting. Plus, volume was adequate, even in noisy environments. Pairing the 700p with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth Headset was a breeze; we were up and running in less than a minute. Palm also said it will release a special version of the Plantronics Discovery 640 Bluetooth headset.Surfing the Web on the Palm Treo 700p was a relatively good experience. Download speeds werent mind-blowing, but the support for Sprints EV-DO network definitely made a difference, as even graphics-intensive sites such as ebay.com loaded quickly. We also watched an episode of Foxs Prison Break on the 700p, and we admit its cool having the ability to watch TV on a palm-size device, but the picture was way too pixelated to enjoy the experience. Also, the sound became muffled when we laid the device on a table; to get the best results, we suggest using the wired headset. Its nice, however, that when youre in a data session, you can accept calls. Then when you hang up, you can resume your data session automatically. The Palm Treo 700p is rated for 4.5 hours of talk time and up to 12 days of standby time. In our tests, the 700p beat that by half an hour. ),
(1062,Nokia 6103 (T-Mobile), , Quick Take: The Nokia 6103 is almost identical to T-Mobiles Nokia 6101. The 6103 has a slightly different color scheme than the 6101 and adds Bluetooth support and a 4X-zoom camera. For the full story, please see our review of the Nokia 6101. The Nokia 6103 is available for $169, but it will be cheaper with service. ),