Sun Electronics And Computers Buying Guides

T-Mobile webConnect 3G Laptop USB Modem (T-Mobile)

2009-06-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Features and Technical Details

Product Features

USB modem offering connectivity for your PC to T-Mobile's 3G broadband and EDGE cellular networks
Unlimited Wi-Fi access via nationwide T-Mobile HotSpot locations (using your PC's Wi-Fi connectivity)
MicroSD memory card slot accepts optional cards up to 8 GB
Send SMS/MMS messages from included software; connect to VPN networks
Compatible with Windows XP/Vista; Mac OS X support coming soon

Dimensions

Size (LWH): 4.0 inches, 2.1 inches, 0.4 inches
Weight: 1.92 ounces

Product Features

Network Compatibility: GSM

Samsung A237 Phone, Red (AT&T)

2009-06-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

My Moto V180 was going out so I trundled over to AT&T store for a phone upgrade. The most basic model they had was this one and I got it for only $18.00 fee.
Voice quality is quite good. Better than the Moto phone and I have no more static when I talk.
It does take some reading to set up the keys to make it do what you want rather than go to the internet(along with $$$$ to download data). It does not lend itself to texting (but I don't do that anyway). Ringtones included with the phone are quite limited and I think it's ludicrous to pay AT&T $2.49 just for another tone.
The camera is a basic VGA type and there is no provision to download it off the phone to your PC.

Motorola V3xx J Phone, Gray (AT&T)

2009-06-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This is the best phone I've had so far. Its got great reception no matter where I go, and it still gets crystal clear calls and sends text messages fast even when I have as little as one bar.

Its very easy to navigate. The camera takes very high quality pictures that shames my friends' $500 phones by a mile. I've never lost a call. I can always hear the other person clearly, and if I can't, its because they're not talking clearly or because they have been reception. I send a lot of txt messages and use the mp3 player a lot and my battery still lasts me 5+ days on a single charge, and when it does go dead, it charges back to full in under 30 mins.

I've had this phone for two, maybe three years now, and believe me when say this phone is stylish, practically indestructable, and works like you wouldn't believe. Its perfect!

Motorola w755 Phone, Purple (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

this phone works well for me.
adding address, sending txt msg, etc - all in easy way

sound is loud enough for phone and speaker phone.

only cons - 1) the quality of speaker phone - but what can i expect from cell phone

2) when turn on the sound after putting it in vibration mode, the volume of sound is 1 or 2 (out of 5). i didn't notice it initially, so didn't know/hear when someone called me. i have to manually adjust the volume from 1,2 to 4,5 whenever i changed the mode from vibration to normal.

Verizon Wireless v740 EVDO Rev A ExpressCard (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Just got this today and installed on my 10.5.3 Macbook Pro computer. I just plugged the card in and the OS asked me if I wanted to activate the card. It went through about a 90 second process and activated it. It then promted me to install a port. I just typed in my Administrator password and 30 seconds later the card was working. NO reason to install the Verizon software at all. I just control it from the menu bar. Works great even in weak signal areas.

Samsung A737 Blue Phone (AT&T)

2009-06-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Our contract was up (fiance and I) and I got this phone, she got the Sony w580i. I am not a power user (don't use 3G or internet),I use the phone for 3 basic functions: make calls, listen to music, and sync up to outlook calendar. I had a Razr before this phone.

Things I like: Music Player: I have a 2 gig microSD card and some bluetooth stereo headphones. The trade-off here is sound quality vs. no wires. The quality isn't as good as a dedicated mp3 player with wired headphones but I need to be mobile for my job so I'll take the wireless.

Camera: Compared to the Razr I had (no megapixel) its great.

Things I don't like: Compared to my fiance's Sony, online support sucks. I had to search and search for some sort of phone-computer sync program. There isn't one specific for this phone. I found one for a different one and it worked. Sony has a great website with all kinds of games, etc.
The main reason I wanted to sync was the Outlook Calendar. Unfortunately, there is a character limit to what the phone can hold and its not very much. Messages get cut off and the message itself scrolls really slowly. There is probably a way to scroll faster but I haven't found out how.

On the Razr it was really easy to make a song a ringtone. With the Samsung you have to create some sort of group and then assign a song. It's too much of a hastle and I haven't done it yet.

With this phone, you have to buy a USB cable (Ebay, $5). With the Sony it comes with this and you get headphones also.

I didn't get the Sony because I thought it was too flashy, but I would probably get it instead now. This phone wins out on 3G (if you need it) though, and it doesn't have expensive proprietary flash memory. Its not a bad phone, but for the features I use, it's not a great phone.

Samsung U740 Alias Silver Phone (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This cell opens two ways. The clamshell function opens to an ergonomic phone, and it opens sideways for texting. It had great reception and the flip open function didn't wear to the point that it was flopping. I've had this phone for two years and will actually miss it when I upgrade to a PDA phone.

Verizon Wireless Blitz Phone, Blue (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I upgraded from a LG White Chocolate to the Verizon Blitz Phone. A new every two bonus from Verizon Wireless. This phone does not measure up to the LG Chocolate that I had for over two years. The voice used to identify calls is often illegable. The phone does not support Get It Now or the online Verizon Contact Backup. The LG Chocolate had all of the features of the Blitz plus it recorded video. This phone is a dissapointment overall. The only feature it has that the LG did not have is a keyboard. Check it out carefully before you buy.

Nokia 2760 Prepaid Phone (T-Mobile)

2009-06-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I am satisfied with my purchase. It has a lot of extras with it that I am sure will come in handy once I have got the directions down pat in my mind. It is easy to handle and I was able to choose wallpaper, take good photos, arrange my windows to my liking and receive voice mail that comes in nice and clear. The headphones I don't use because there is no microphone, but I purchased one that is compatible to this phone and it works very well with it. I like the flip style and blue happens to be my favorite color ! Got lucky !! I can say that I am thoroughly satisfied with this phone and shall use it for a long time.

Samsung Behold t919 Phone, Brushed Rose (T-Mobile)

2009-06-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I am a huge fan of touch electronics. I wanted a touch phone and I decided to go with this one. I had a sidekick 2009 and I hated it with a passion. The phone would drop calls and lose service like everyday. The Samsung Behold is a cute little phone with great features. The phone as we all know is touch screen, This is a great feature and overall works perfectly. It takes a little getting use to when you use the touch screen to send texts but it doesnt take all but maybe 15 minutes. The screen has a arrow that you press which brings out a bar to the left had side which displays widgets. Now these widgets are very cool cause you can drag as many as you want out of the widget bar onto the main screen. This allows you to personilize your phone as you see fit. This is a very cool feature to me.

There are other great things as well. The camera on here is a 5 megapixel camera and takes some pretty good pics for a phone. Also the phone runs on a 3G network which allows for faster texts and picture mails and internet. The internet on this phone is not all that great. It is ok but I felt could have been better. On the front of the phone are two dots to the top left hand corner. These are there so that when you hold the phone to your face while on a call it can tell so that it turns off the display light so it wont kill the battery, This is pretty neat cause when you take the phone off your face to look at the screen the light comes back on.

The front of the phone is very simple. You have physical keys on the bottom which are the answer, end call and in the middle of those two the back button. Now when you unlock the screen there are four buttons on the screen. Here we have the dial pad, the phone book, the web and the menu button. They are small and dont look weird on the screen.

The call value is great. The volume goes up to 7 but is very loud. I hear my friends clear and they hear me clear as well. I had one drop call but I think thats because of TMobile not because of the phone.

People have complained about the battery life. I have no issues with that. At the end of the day (midnight) I still have 2 bars left. Now if you the type to sit there and mess with the phone and press it all day then yeah the battery will dies fast.

Overall I have to say that I love this phone. This phone is my first touch screen and I love it. I had to get the pink cause TMobile didnt have it in espresso but I find that that pink is nicer looking. This is a great phone for anyone that wants their first touch screen phone.

LG VX-5500 Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This phone is a decent cheap phone.
Pros:
1) No antenna to catch if phone is in your pocket.
2) Calls seem clear
3) battery life seems okay

Cons:
1) Phone often stops working as a phone if you do not power it down each night. Powering down and up again will fix it. But symptom of phone not being able to send calls is quite a pain. Phone acts like it is going to call, but no audio is sent either direction. In other words, you have no idea that the call isn't going to work before you call.
2) Phone will not allow you to use recorded audio as a ring tone.

Nokia Intrigue 7205 Phone, Black/Silver (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

First I had the LG8300 no complaints, and the rest of the phones I reutrned. Which amounted to the LG choloclate3, LG8360 Motorola W755. Then I found Digital voice in the Samsung Renown which had lousy audio quality. Then Today I picked up the Intrigue.

I actually tested this phone out for about an hour before I committed to it. It sounded much better than the Samsung but not quite os good as the LG 8300 on hand however I was willing to give it a try because I really want visual voice mail. I was excited I actaully found a phone with some features that had nice voice quality and features.

My dreams were broken. When I called someone while traviling about 15 miles on the phone. His voice was either too loud (and my volume was at it's lowest) or it was low the way I wanted it. I returned it to the store and the tech was able to reproduce the problem. I got another phone from another store and tested it out of the phone in the store for about an hour and it was strange inside the store the other party was lower (not touching the volume button) and when I went outside the other party was too loud for me to keep my ear to the phone.

I have a feeling even though it's not memtioned that Nokia trys to adjusst the phone volume acording the the backgroud noise but does a lousy job of that. ( this is not a fact but just a thought) Well it's back to my LG VX 8300

WHY WHY WHY CAN'T THEY JUST MAKE A PHONE THAT HAS THE FEATURES AND HAS GOOD SOUND QUALIITY AND LET ME ADJUST THE VOLUME THE OLD AND IS THAT IS A FLIP PHONE i DON'T NEED A PHONE THAT PLAYS MUSIC THATS WHAT i HAVE A STEREO FOR. BUT WHATEVER

LG enV Touch VX11000 Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This phone is simply brilliant. I agree with everything the other reviewer said - mainly that text message sentences don't start in caps. But by no means a big deal! This phone is so easy to use - with the touchscreen or the keyboard. I was worried about the touchscreen and didn't want a touchscreen only phone because of the stories I had heard. This phone has the best of both - full keyboard and touchscreen, but I can tell you the touchscreen works flawlessly. I am really impressed at how easy it is to use. Web browsing is easy too, no need to buy an expensive data plan to surf the web. I use mine for work and play. I was a diehard motorola man, but LG has won me over. When I go shopping for appliances or a TV I will look closer at LG, they just seemed to get all the little details - well most of, the details right. You can't say that about motorola, there phones were starting to slip.

This one is a keeper, my only worry is how are they going to make the next one better? This one is that good.

p.s. - When shopping for a phone make sure if your a polarized sunglasses wearer like me that you can read that screen! This phone is TOTALLY readable wearing sunglasses. I traded in a samsung alias 2 for this LG - samsung was nice, but in landscape mode the screen was black, portrait it worked fine. Just something you probably wouldn't think of checking for in the store! And again this LG is great with polarized lenses.

Nokia 5610 XpressMusic Phone, Red (T-Mobile)

2009-06-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I was looking for a new cell phone which had to have two best qualifications: great camera phone and great graphics. It was esential for me to be able to send high quality pictures. Also, I can't live without playing chess and chess program I had in my old Samsung T-429 had poor graphics and used to freeze up very often while playing.

PICTURE QUALITY with this Nokia is exceptional- I took with it a picture of a local park and you couldn't tell while viewing with Windows gallery on my pc- that the picture was taken with cell phone, not with high quality point-n-shoot camera. I like this feature also: when sending picture, if it takes too many KB's, it allows you automatically to make it smaller. Very minor thing is- it would have been nice for Nokia to put small mirror so one could see himself/herself while taking picture.

GRAPHICS are excellent! Very pleasant to the eye and NEVER freezes up on me while I am playing chess. Never!

PLAYER functionality and sound quality is very good. External buttons are easy to use. When you play a piece of downloaded music from Amazon on loudspeaker- high notes are sometimes too much to handle, but one cannot expect sound quality equal to high end stand alone sound systems; quality through earphones is fine. But overall, music player sound quality, again- is very good. My only complain is that when you play music and press cell phone red end button- music does not stop- you have to press stop/pause button for the player itself, otherwise if you play music and slide down phone or press red stop button or both- music will keep playing and you will have go back to player to stop the music.

CALL QUALITY is also very good. Sound is crisp and clear. The downside, I think, is when you slide up the phone to answer the call and and after the call is over (from either party) phone locks within three seconds and that means when you want to use phone again you have either to slide phone down and up again or press ok and star function. I think it is a mistake by Nokia. I think they should have left the choice to a customer- if they wanted to use the cell phone after the call- let them do so, if they wanted to lock- let them just slide it down. I'd say it is a medium grade anoyance.

LOUDSPEAKER is good, but not excelent. Samsung T429 had a slight advantage here.

APPEARANCE is superb. I am a slider cell phone guy and this one looks so so cool! It feels solid and well built, not a flimsy piece of plastic like so many other cell phones. Combination of red and black colors are blended very well and beautiful to look at. And those two 1mm high and 3mm wide lights at the mid-lower part of the front of the phone that come up slowly and then goes away slowly- it is so cool especially at night.

OVERALL i would definitely recommend to anyone especially who is looking for exceptional graphics, ability to take and send highest quality pictures. 5 stars. Definitely.

Nokia 7510 Phone (T-Mobile)

2009-06-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I've owned cell phones since they first arrived on the market. In fact, my very first cell phone was a Nokia. This might be the best phone I've ever owned. It might be a little "industrial" for some folks; I love that about it. Sturdy and feels like quality. If you are looking for a sleek, slim, light-as-a-feather phone, you probably will not like this one. If you want a phone like feels like it might work as a weapon, and has some awesome features for the price, this is for you!!

I was a die-hard Blackberry fan for years but the BB plans just got too expensive for me (sudden change in financial situation).

Features I like the most: The interface on this phone is awesome, and you have several ways to customize that. I like the overall size of the phone. It has an FM radio....I've been wanting that on a phone forever! It takes a micro SD card. It syncs with my laptop just like a Blackberry, using Nokia PC Suite (free download) so I can use Outlook with it. It has Wi-fi, and switches phone usage back and forth from air to wi-fi depending on what is available!! How cool is that?? It has Bluetooth, 2 megapixel camera, takes video....both of which I have yet to explore much. The media player has awesome sound just through the phone speaker!!

I wasn't expecting much from email after owning a BBerry, but this is fine for me. Setup was non-existant. Somehow it set up itself. I had trouble finding the speakerphone feature; To use the speakerphone while on an active call, press the Right Soft key to select Loudspeaker.

I have only owned this phone for a day, but I put it through it's paces pretty well so far. Amazon has it on sale right now with a T-mobile plan for free, plus you get a $50 rebate back!! They pay you to take it!! For that kind of money, this is an awesome phone.

It does not come with a needed micro-usb (not mini-usb) cable for syncing with a PC. That is about the only thing I don't like about this phone.

LG Decoy VX8610 Phone, Silver/Blue (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I went from my ever-trusty LC Chocolate (1st generation) to this. My main selling point were the similiarities ,in design to the Chocolate. The other selling point was the built-in Bluetooth, which says something being that I never used a Bluetooth device before. Needless to say, I think this phone is great. Nice, sturdy design without being too heavy or bulky. Great response when I touch the top buttons as well as the keypad. The display is absolutely gorgeous with it's 2.2", 262K color screen. The interface is Flash-based and comes with 4 different themes to choose from and looks great. Pictures come out surprisingly clean as well (as with any camera phone, a steady hand does help) and the larger video option (320x240 as opposed to 176x174) is a nice bonus as well. I'm absolutely fascinated by the Bluetooth headset. Ridiculously easy to setup and use. And EVERYONE I talk to was not able to tell I was on a headset, let alone a Bluetooth headset of this size. The ONLY cons I have against this phone are 2 things. I may have found a software bug (at least, that's what I'm hoping) in where I received a Video message from a friend and was not able to play it. It came from an LG phone (the Chocolate) and is the same file type. When I hit Play on my phone, it takes me to the Reply menu commonly found on LG's menus (1. TXT Message, 2. Picture message, etc.) I have still not been able to view it because I can't even save the video. Hoping this will be in the software update. My primary gripe is the music player. Coming off of the Chocolate, I loved the fact that I could play music while receiving text messages, going online, view pictures. Unfortunately, this phone has the standard VZW music player which means if I get a call, receive a text or, at any time, want to go back to my original menu, the music stops. Kind of annoying and a drag and probably something I'll have to get used to. But that's one thing where the Chocolate ruled. In terms of everything else, I'm very pleased with this phone

T-Mobile Wing Phone (T-Mobile)

2009-06-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

The good
-----
+The keyboard is pretty good - it could have more height on the key domes but it works okay. Probably one of the best of the qwerty - or any phone keyboards.

+The Screen is nice - 2.8 inch diagonal

+The Device is small- smaller than the MDA which is almost the same

+The coating looks and feels good

+Some helpful programs

+My faves might save you some money

+Battery life is decent

+T-Mobile customer service is about as good as phone companies get. Usually tied with Verizon for the best (JD Power) or just barely behind Verizon (Checkbookdotorg).

+T-Mobile rates are cheaper than Verizon and ATT, and usually are as good if not better than Sprint.

The not so good
-----------------
-Edge - it is okay but T-Mobile does not have 3G or faster connection yet. Sprint, Cingular/ATT and Verizon all have comparable or better devices with 3G / Ev-Do speeds. (May 2008 3G on T-Mobile NYC and soon to spread)

-Memory - usable memory gets low pretty fast. You need to close programs before you open other programs usually and remember to restart it every other day. Also there is some lag time when turning on programs or waiting for the screen to change to horizontal when you open the keyboard. (UPDATE - go to howardforums to find free programs to speed up your Wing and a procedure to fix some of the memory issue. These fixes make it a four star phone I think).

-Phone buttons get pushed easily in the provided holster (even with lock screen enabled - the green and red phone buttons are still active and they stick out and so you will answer calls without meaning to, or hangup occasionally).

-Processor is a slow 201mhz by todays standards. While this makes for good battery life, it is disappointing to see Cingular with the 400mhz Hermes/8525 and Sprint with the 6700 and set to release the upgrade to the Hermes - the 6800 in October. (Verizon has the XV6800 now as well). All are faster machines with faster connections. And, of course, there is the iPhone with a 600+mhz processor.

-T-Mobile help just told me that the darn phone will not always sync recurring appointments correctly. This is of course not a T-Mo or an HTC problem but a WM6 problem. Apparently if you put a time limit on the recurring appointments it solves the problem. Say - this recurring appointment will end after 999 ocurrences.

=============
Bottom line (so far for me): if you have a Dash or MDA (ATT 8125) or something comparable that is still working - save your money and wait for the next ppc. Certainly the various 6800s are better than this.

If you want a qwerty ppc with touch screen - you might be pleased. It may be the best T-Mobile could do given their limited technology (no 3G in my city yet) and customer preferences (small phones are more popular)

Nokia 5610 XpressMusic Phone, White (T-Mobile)

2009-06-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I love this phone. It looks cool, I have 400 songs with me at all times, and it's easy to use! I text all the time and the buttons are easy to hit the ones you want. The speakers are amazing! I was so suprised by how loud they were. I can play music out loud to other people or in my car if I forget my transmitter. The sound quality is as good as an ipod (if the music file is legitimate.)The only issue I have is the battery life. It usually lasts for five days with rgular/normal use. It runs out a lot faster when I listen to music a lot, but I just have to remember to charge it up at night which is no big deal. Also, i get internet on mine, and i have had it freeze a few times (that might just be the sites problem, not the phone.) I spent a hundred dollars on mine, but i don't mind since i needed a new phone, but maybe try to wait to see if the price goes down. I am very happy with it however. Just make sure you buy a case to protect the screen and body. Oh, and the display is beautiful, downloaded videos are okay (again it may not even be the phone with the issue). the screen is kinda small for videos, so movies ect. probably won't be so good, but music videos look great. I highly recomend it if you are looking for an everyday phone for calling, texting, music! It practically replaces an ipod, since i bring my phone evrywhere and not my ipod. I just put my favorite songs on it since I can only fit about 500-600:)I heard you can buy a bigger micro sd and fit around 1000-1500 depending on the size! thats the size of an ipod nano! one more thing! :) try to get a thin case, otherwise the phone is looks too bulky (even though its not!) and it doesn't fit in your jean pockets so well!

LG VX8360 Phone, Silver (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

After many months of searching for a basic phone to replace our aging Motorola e815's, Verizon released the LG VX8360 -- no frills cell phone that has good phone reception at a reasonable price. Data and text messaging are not features I am interested in. I have those functions completely blocked on my service. After 48 hours of use, here are my observations:

Pro:
* Phone reception test -- my basement is a dead zone for many callers -- In a word: GREAT.
* Reception is equal to my old Moto e815, as a comparison.
* Installed and formatted a 2 GB micro-SD card -- works perfect.
* LG's menu system is far better than Verizon/Moto's menu system.
* Camera has increased functions -- better white balance, 3 resolutions of pictures, separate store soft key.
* ICE menu with important notes capability.
* Now able to transfer picture and music files to and from my Palm T5 via BT without firmware hacks.
* My old Moto BT headset paired right up.
* Speakerphone is louder than my old e815 -- the front facing speaker is also larger.
* Full duplex Speakerphone -- a real nice change.
* Phonebook is feature filled in comparison to my older phones.

Con:
* Ringer is much quieter than all of my previous cell phones.
* The phone has to be open in order to use the speaker phone.
* Vibrate mode is weaker than my e815.
* Pulling the phone out of a holster -- too easy to press the side voice memo button.
* LG has an option to change the front small screen in the menu, but selecting a new screen fails to change the default.
* Music files transferred by BT are placed in the My Sound directory, not in My Music directory.
* Non-standard 5 pin micro-USB charging/data port -- a standard mini and micro USB cable will NOT work.

The camera on this phone is better than all of the prior cell phone cameras I have owned. Comparing 1.3 MP from this phone, my Motorola e815 and a old MX-1200 1.3 MP Fujifilm camera, this phone took the best pictures. Having the ability of exposure control, multisegement light metering and corrective white balance with EV adjustment in the fly, pictures come out clear and clean. I'm pleased with these results, but the quality is not the same as a modern, higher megapixal dedicated digital camera. For the convenience . . . .

Overall, I'm pleased with my upgrade. I have recommended this phone to others who are looking for an upgrade at a reasonable price.

Novatel MiFi 2200 Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot Modem (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I had read positive reviews about this product and talked at length with Verizon personnel- I had planned on replacing our Verizon wireless broadband card with it. Bought one as soon as available (May 17, 2009). Unfortunately the installation never got to the activation stage, it reported an error that it couldn't get a strong signal. Strange since each member of my family has a Verizon cell phone and use them in our home with no problem, it must require a very strong signal. Verizon has a "30 day, no worries" return policy so I shipped it back immediately.

Samsung Gravity t459 Phone, White/Aqua (T-Mobile)

2009-06-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I've always thought the 30bucks for the data plans are a waste, and tried the sidekick with and without the data plan. I've never used to surf the web with it, and without it the sidekick (or any smart phone) is severly handicapped. To my knowledge if you have any smart phone (blackberry, G1, sidekick), unless you have the data plan, you can't get emails or chat (yahoo/AIM).

Enter Samsung Gravity for people who doesn't need to surf the web[...].For t-mobile users, it's the ONLY qwerty kb phone tailored to these people.

With a basic plan plan I can do gmail (yahoo, etc) and chat (aim, yahoo, icq). I have the qwerty keyboard that makes it easy as well (not to mention text). And the extras! I'm getting a 2gig memory card for this phone that'll let me play mp3's.. Voice recorder, camera, video recorder, organizer, etc.

The battery does go a bit fast, but I've read that it's a software problem that incorrectly reads the battery life (It tends to read quickly from 5 to 2 bars, and then it tends to stay alive on 1 bar for quite a bit).

A little glitch.. whatever. I don't really have any issues with it.

Love this phone.

Motorola Renew W233 Prepaid Phone, Green (T-Mobile)

2009-06-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This phone is not very well supported by Motorola. The latest Motorola Phone Tools does not even support it, so there is no way to upload your saved contacts from your old phone. You have to type in all your phone numbers manually, which really, really sucks.

Motorola ZN4 Krave Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

i called Verizon and told them about a problem with my current phone and the representive said i was able to receive a discount on a new phone. did i wanna get a new phone? i said there arent any good phones i like out there,
I told him i like the touch phones but i only like flip phones so i never got a touch one, he then told me that they just came out a couple weeks ago with a brand new flip touch phone, i was like "no way!!" so i went to their website and checked it out. They have a "no risk guarantee" so i decided to get it, and....I LOVE IT!!

the things i hate are #1, they charge you for the visual voicemail because that was one of the BIG selling points when the rep. told me about the Krave (but didnt mention they charge you) i think that really sucks, #2 there are NO features on the camcorder and phone, just zoom...thats it!! and #3 the shortcuts when the lid is down are not useful for me, there is V-CAST TV, which i dont want or need, MY MUSIC, which isnt real useful cause i have a Ipod and dont need music, NAVIGATOR, i own a GPS in my car so i dont need it and PICS which is the only thing i use, and #4 the camcorder is kinda crappy looking, very pixelated

i mean but other then the things i mentioned above, it is a AWESOME phone and so glad i got it, its bright, the touch screen is pretty acurate and the speaker is AMAZINg, loud and very crisp sponding.

the only problem i found is that since its such a new phone, Verizon doesnt have the GET IT NOW software available so you cant download ringtones, at least thats what the guy in the store told me when i went to question why i couldnt download ringtones.

IT GETS MY VOTE.....GO GET IT!!

LG Versa VX9600 Phone, Black (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This a great little phone. Its essentially an upgraded LG Dare with an attachable keyboard. I've been through a few Verizon phones, so let me just lay out the good and bad points about this phone.

The good:
- Sensitive touchscreen
- Responsive accelerometer
- Great call quality, with no dropped calls (You really can't beat Verizons coverage)
- Good battery life
- Nice attachable keyboard
- Not as bulky as a smartphone
- Nice browser that supports full HTML and Flash
- A decent MP3 player
- Additional attachments on the way
- Expandable memory

The Bad:

- Screen gets dirty fast, a problem common to touch screen phones
- Battery takes a long time to charge fully
- 2.5mm jack instead of the normal 3.5mm headphone jack, strange considering part of its draw is its MP3 ability
- The attachable keyboard case is not very attractive
- the screen on the keyboard case is lousy - It looks like something you'd find on the cell phones of the 90s.
- No dial pad on the outside of the keyboard case.
-Micro SD card slot is not accessible when the keyboard is attached.

Despite my listed complaints, I still think this phone is a great investment. If you can't afford a smartphone, this is the next best thing. It makes texting a breeze, and looks cool too.

LG enV2 VX9100 Phone, Maroon (Verizon Wireless)

2009-06-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

My previous phone was a Motorola Nextel-style, a couple of years old, and I was fed up both with the phone and with Sprint (terrible coverage both at home and at work, and many places in between). Decided I needed something new, stylish, and capable.

I did not buy this from Amazon as I took advantage of a discount through my employer, but after a week now I am thrilled with the coverage and with the phone. Coverage area is Charlotte, NC/Fort Mill, SC.

Love the phone! Sleek, small but not too tiny and with a very solid feel to it, esp. when opening the phone up. Like the 2-stage opening, up to 180 degrees. Making calls is easy, speakerphone is clear as is all-round call quality. Camera does pretty well for what it is. Video is a little weak, but this is a phone, after all. VZ Navigator works well, keyboard is great for mobile emailing. I have the maroon color and have had several compliments on this.

In short, this is a great little phone. I am neither a heavy texter nor a techie, but am finding myself easily enjoying the various abilities of this little phone. Very impressed with the ENV2 and would certainly recommend it!

Samsung Behold t919 Phone, Brushed Espresso (T-Mobile)

2009-06-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Ok, I normally don't go this far when I do/don't like something. But there are some very frustrating things about this phone that I think a lot of people are failing to mention. Maybe the people that have given reviews thus far haven't had the phone for long, but I find it very hard to believe the fact that no one talks about technicalities of the phone. Also, I don't like the whole "--/5" stars thing, so I'm doing my own scoring system, and breaking it down--how a review should be.

PRICE--6/10

Ok, everyone knows that phones are cheap when you purchase a two year contract. But what about users who already have T-mobile and want a new phone? For you, the phone will probably cost about $368.00 plus tax. No, not $400, but T-mobile might tell you how you get a partial discount. What that might NOT tell you, however, is that the partial discount means you are agreeing to renew your contract for another two years. I don't think $368 plus tax is too bad of a deal, I'm willing to pay that. However, when two companis (T-mobile and Samsung) both have steep claims, I expect those claims to be met with likewise results. See more about what I mean as I review the rest of the phone.

LOOK AND FEEL--9/10

This is one of the greatest selling points of the phone. I really like the phone as soon as I picked it up, simply for it's look and feel. It's small, sleek, smooth, but has a very nice weigh that makes it seems like you're actually holding something that will last a while. It has a brushed metal backing that looks really nice, and it's a great fit in any pocket. I've been a Sidekick owner since the Sidekick 2, and the biggest reason I purchased a new phone was to have something smaller. I work in business as well, and a big chunky Sidekick doesn't look professional.

INTERFACE/NAVIGATION--6/10

This aspect of the phone is kind of on a fence. Overall, the interface is really cool, and super fun. However, when you NEED to send a text, when you REALLY need to access a web page, the phone can be extremely irritating. For a female with small fingers, or anyone with longer nails, perhaps this may not be an issue for you.

1) Despite the fact that you can enter text with either a vertical numeric pad (usually T9) OR a horizontal "full" touch/QWERTY key pad is a really good idea. Naturally, I choose the QWERTY over the numeric pad almost every time. But, there are some really, really annoying design flaws on the pad. Mostly, because the QWERTY is a touch, it's difficult to design it to be able to make shift+ options available. So, when you need to enter additional text, such as numbers, and different punctuations, you actually have to press a button in the corner of the phone, which selects an entirely different keypad of multiple characters; including, numbers 0-9, ",',<,> etc... This can be really frustrating when you just want to enter something like the number "1"

2) The space bar is not centered on the QWERTY keypad. When trying to hit the space bar with your right thumb, you will hit the "?" character if you're not careful, often resulting in sentences?like?this.

3) When entering a password into a website block, you can only use the numeric keypad. This is REALLY frustrating to me, because this forces you to turn off the CAPS button, AND turn off the T9 if you want to use freestyle input. Most of my passwords do not begin with a capital letter, and none them can I use T9 on. If I could just use the QWERTY like with everything else, I would be happy.

Other than these few issues, navigation isn't too bad. The touch screen is actually pretty decent and responsive. However, those crucial flaws, when entering text, make me feel that the phone deserves no more than 6 out of 10.

CALL QUALITY--10/10

This part is simple. All calls made were heard very well on both ends, and the speaker phone is very loud and works very well. I don't think it's fair to judge the phone based on network problems such as dropped calls, but I've had only one dropped call with the phone, which is pretty normal.

CAMERA/MEDIA--10/10

A pleasant surpise on the phone. Picture quality is very good, at least for a camera phone. Also, the phone features some really cool shooting and filming modes. My favorite, the panoramic, automatically shows you where to point the camera, and stiches 6 photos together to make a panoramic photo. Forwarding the phone through emails also worked very well.

Music and Videos--both internet and taken through your phone--are heard very well. No complaints here.

WEB BROWSING--2/10

This is single handedly the most frustrating and disappointing aspect of the phone.

Bottom line, the phone uses a 3G network, costs $400 retail, and the rate plan from T-mobile is $25 or $35 a month. For all that, I expected lightning fast internet, and FULL HTML BROWSING CAPABILITY, just like both T-mobile and Samsung claims the phone to have. Well, after using the phone for only 30 minutes, I noticed that something strange was going on with the browser. If I never had a phone that had to use mobile browsing (aka WAP) I wouldn't have recognized it so quickly. The phone kept automatically reverting my URL requests to mobile versions of almost every website I went to. If the browser didn't switch me to a WAP url, then it chopped the page up into a single column.

At first, I was calm, and thought that surely Samsung had already, or was going to come out with a firware update. My sidekick THREE could view real pages, OR mobile pages, whichever I wanted. Even though they're only on a 2G speed phone, c'mon!

Now, that's not the worst part. I was so certain that it be fixed easily. The phone had no settings to change this. So the first thing I do is call t-mobile and tell them the problem. It took longer to explain to them my complaint than it did for them to tell me their answer. Basicially, there's nothing they could do.

Over the next few days, I contacted Samsungs mobile support. Let me preface this by saying they are awful, awful, AWFUL. They were rude, impersonable, and didn't show the least bit of concern about my needs. Through four phone calls, I got the same bit of useless information each time. Apparently, Samsung has no current software updates, and do not plan on making any in the future. Yes you heard that right, and yes that came directly from Samsung Supervisors mouthes.

This really makes me mad. The phone is everything I want except for the mobile browser. I was willing to overlook all the little stuff because I like it so much. However, I can't afford the unlimited data rate, and recieve ancient services. Needless to say, if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have returned the phone.

BATTERY LIFE--3/10

The battery will not last more than 8 hours if you plan on playing games, or using the internet. I wake up at 6am every day, after charging for almost 12 hours, the battery will not last until I get off work, which is 6pm. Well, actually, the battery retains enough enery to actually make the phone work, but from about 3 till when I got home and plugged the phone in, the phone vibrates for a total of 10 seconds, about every 3 minutes. This is extremely annoying, can not be turned off, and wastes even more battery! Very bad design.

In total, this comes out to about 6.6 out of 10. Pair that with how much I dug into the phone, and I don't think that's a good score.

I hope this review is helpful.

Nokia 6650 Phone, Silver (AT&T)

2009-06-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

At first I was a little disappointed with how many applications AT&T loaded this phone with, and how none of the keys could be modified from AT&T's preset application to run other apps of the users preference.

Then I loaded "Tracker" on my phone.

Now I have the Push-To-Talk button set to load my music player, the GPS button loads another program I downloaded - Google Maps (which I can use for free) instead of AT&T Navigator (which is a pay service), and the Media NET button can load the Bluetooth menu, or any other program I desire. This phone has lots of capabilities, especially since it runs the Symbian s60 operating system, which has hundreds of compatible programs.

The phone is solidly built, good for someone like me who works out in the elements. I haven't had any problems like those I had with the LG Shine I ended up returning.

Samsung Propel A767 Phone, Green (AT&T)

2009-06-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This is a great entry level texting phone for all the text message whores out there. Despite all the pictures advertising the phone, it only appears to be big and bulky but it's the complete opposite. The phone is actually very slim & slender. I love that it comes in 3 different colors (Green, Blue, & Rose White) and probably more on the way. I picked up the green one and i love it. I originally purchased the Samsung Epix PDA phone and was so disappointed by the awful operating system and returned it right away. Finally the Samsung Propel hits the stores and it's basically a PDA smart phone without the Window Mobile operating system (Which is awful by the way). I love the Samsung Menu and UI. It's easy to use and just navigating through it is a breeze. You don't even need to look at the manual to operate this thing. The one downside to the Propel is that the screen could be a bit bigger and the colors could be a bit more vibrant. You only get 65K colors as oppose to the usual Samsung high end phones that come with 262K colors. So, that was one of the disappointments with this phone. Samsung knew this phone was strictly for the teens so i can see why the price is so cheap. Considering the friendly price is probably a big reason why you don't get the 262K colors. Another flaw is the Instant Messaging. You do get AIM & Yahoo but the buddylist is not in real time. You will only be able to see a few friends on your buddylist not all. But if you IM them they will respond even though they appear to not be signed in. The best thing about my Sidekick LX is that IM is in real time. I signed on from both devices and had about 50 friends on my buddylist appear on my SK while the Propel only had 3. As i stated before even though only 3 appear you can still IM the ones that don't appear and chat with them. Also AT&T for some reason is so stingy with the accessories. I wish it came with an additional USB charger, free micro SD memory card, or a case. Unfortunately NONE. All you get is the cell & wall charger. Overall i am very pleased with my purchase and recommend anyone looking for a texting phone or any device that might come close to a Sidekick on the AT&T network, this would be the phone 4 u.

Pros:
Sleek sexy design
Comes in multiple colors
Camera/camcorder (Really should be 6.0 megapixel by now)
Built in Messaging Clients (AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Etc)
Access to Emails
Qwerty Keyboard
MP3 Players
Samsung Menu
GPS
Slider Phone
Micro SD (Up to 8GB)

Cons:
Only 65K Colors on screen
Only 1.3 Megapixel Camera/Camcorder (Really should be 6.0 by now)
Battery is really thin so carry an extra charger with you
AT&T is really cheap with the accessories (Only device & charger included)
Wish a USB Charger was included

Sony Ericsson W760a Phone, Black (AT&T)

2009-06-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I'm surprised with the reviews sometimes. You want to buy something and you want to check whether people like it by reading the reviews but what you find is such different opinions that it's impossible to find out if the item is really good or not. So I bought this phone before anyone posted a review on amazon.
I actually took two same phones - black one for me and red one for my wife. We are both happy as we use them as just the phones. I doesn't look cheap and it looks way batter then previous model w580i. I would even say that w580i is just a crap. I owned w300i before and it would be a great phone if not for the buttons. It didn't have green/red buttons to make a call and disconnect as all normal phone have. Instead it hasd C button. This phone has all the buttons you neeed and they are big and have enough space between them.
The screen is big, bright and has good resolution. I like the menus and that you can create shorcuts on arrow buttons. Also Address book is accessible by pressing right button, camera is turned on by left button, menu is selected by "enter" button so you can program 4 arrow buttons anyway you want.
I also considered z750 but read a lot of bad reviews about its battery. I hope this one performs better. People recharge z750 after 1-2 days, these two phones already two days since the last charge and still have 75% of their charge. I guess it will become worse but still...
What else... You slide the phone to close it and it locks itself to prevent accidental press of a button, you slide it open and it unlocks or you can press two buttons to unlock it which means you don't have to open it at all unless you need to dial. I guess this is standard.
The speaker is good and loud. You can even listen to the music on it (of course the quality is not like a boombox).
One of the reviewers rated this phone with one star by saying that it doesn't have memory to store songs and the sync up software is bad. I can add to this that this phone doesn't have a flashlight, a karaoke, a scanner, a printer and windows vista premium. I guess this is because it's just a phone. What a sync software has to do with the phone? I don't even have this software so I have no idea if it's bad or not. And memory - 4gb flash card costs around 20$!!! And when you buy a digital camera do you get much memory with it? This review is just for the phone not for add-ons.
I'm actually angry with all the phone manufactures that they don't make standard headphone jacks on the cell phones. You need to have an adapter and this phone doesn't even have one in the package! w300i came with one but it's a pain to remember to take it with you so I listened to the music just couple of times as I never had the adapter with me when I needed one. Shame on you SONY and everyone else! You already created a mess with batteries, charging devices and cables now you added this headache with the headphones.
I don't know if the camera is good. it doesn't have a flash so it's like an "emergency" camera. I've never used a camera on the phone.
So my resume. This is a great phone and the best I've seen so far. If it proves itself as reliable as w300i I would say this is the best CELL PHONE ever made.

Samsung Epix i907 Phone, Black (AT&T)

2009-06-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

IMO, this is the best smartphone currently available, but it did take me a little while to get it there.

My priority was a phone that would work with our Exchange 2007 system (without installing the Blackberry server and server certs), provide WiFi, let me dial one-handed without looking at the phone, and have usual fun goodies. In addition, I use a database app for the PPC, and this one handles it fine (Windcows Mobile comes in two versions - Smartphone and PPC; most phones run under the Smartphone edition but the EPIX adds the required touchscreen and stylus for full PPC apps).

Pros: Loaded with features: GPS, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, Exchange 7 compatible, WiFi, excellent voice dialing recognition, nice touchpad, great battery life, small enough to fit in the pocket, and keyboard allows one-handed dialing with some practice. Keys are small, but separation is adequate. Provides the higher-end WinMobile PPC rather than SmartPhone OS.

Cons: The default configuration does not provide a very good out-of-box experience; WiFi didn't allow surfing initially, and WiFi support from the usual sources was not adequate (you will see lots of complaints that WiFi doesn't work. However, there is a simple solution.

The good news is that everything eventually worked:

1. Internet now defaults to WiFi if available and only switches to slower 3G when WiFi is not available. Had to go to the MS WinMobile user group site to find the solution (disable the Proxy server, but do it from a clean hard boot).
2. I wanted to use the phone routinely without the stylus. One of the highly frustrating issues initially was that there are no dedicated 5-way navigation keys; modifying the touchpad for that function (an option) didn't make sense. But you can reassign the function of four keys on the lower row, and that gives you both mouse and 5-way navigation.
3. Downloading the Google Mobile desktop toolbar is a must. Goes onto your desktop as a transparent search bar. I had initially installed the Opera browser, but went back to IE after installing Google. Tried the LiveSearch application, but (a) it kept changing my keyboard to symbols and (b) it thought I was always trying to look up something close to my geographical location (instead of letting me look up a WikTionary word to settle a bet with my wife).
4. After transfering my contact list from Outlook, voice dialing worked well without training, and far better than my RAZR. If you want to type instead of talk, then the search algorithm is another nice improvement (at least over my RAZR); simultaneously looks for a match on either a name or phone from your typing.
5. Rhapsody To Go worked for me, but it's theoretically not supported yet on WinMobile, and I did find a few anomalies when transferring music files.

Problems have been minimal. OS 6.1 has been stable, with the only lockup coming when I tried to use voice commands with the ATT Navigator/ GPS service. Only thing I haven't figured out is an initial delay in switching over to my Bluetooth car speaker when receiving the first incoming call; works OK after that.

Overall, this phone is doing exactly what I hoped it would do.

LG Incite CT810 Phone, Silver (AT&T)

2009-06-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Wow! The reviews of this item are all love or all hate! I suppose nobody posts a review if they feel just okay about an item. But I thought I'd put something up here that doesn't sound like a press release and also doesn't make this sound like it will give you diseases.

This is a perfectly good phone/organizer with which you will be perfectly happy if you don't set your standards irrationally high. It's got a load of features and they all work as advertised.

The major complaints seem to be about it being slow and unresponsive. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1. Slow and unresponsive are hallmarks of the Windows brand, what did you expect? But it is fast enough to make your calls and organize your contacts and play your music, which is what you want this phone for. If you want this phone for too much else, you don't want this phone: you want an iPhone, and you're going to have to pay for an iPhone.

This is not an iPhone, but it also doesn't cost nearly as much as an iPhone.

I think a major culprit to the "slow and unresponsive" complaint is the "haptic response." This is a cool idea that has fallen a little behind in the implementation. The idea is that it runs the vibrator a little when you hit a key. Unfortunately, what it does is it hits the vibrator a little *after* you hit the key. This immediate feedback really makes any little lag hit home. If you turn this feature off, you probably won't notice the delay at all: it'll run just like any other of your Windows CE or Windows Mobile devices.

Also, for a speed boost, try deleting some of the Java game demos and parasite-ware that come on it. If you're not going to pay for the full version of Ms. Pacman or Finance Mobile, wipe them and get that memory back.

The complaint about the full qwerty keyboard being too big is entirely valid. It is really useless. However, it still has the default Windows Mobile full qwerty keyboard available---which is much smaller---and one of the best handwriting recognition tools in the hand-held device market. (If you're really feeling hackish, try out the Dasher input method!)

There's a complaint that the interface, beyond the "Today" screen, is standard Windows Mobile fare and requires the silly little stylus fob. True, the stylus fob is really... well... it's gay. (It's gay in that way that homosexual people almost never are, if you must know.) On the other hand, the touch screen (slow as it is) is pretty good at working out where the center of your finger is. I've got big flat sausage fingers, but I can navigate the Windows menus fine and even play the tiny little game of solitaire without the silly little stylus. So the stylus is a non-issue. (And get yourself one of those pen/pencil/stylus combos from any Wallgreen's if it is an issue for you.)

Someone had a complaint that the registration was off: when you hit the screen with the stylus, the hit registered off on a diagonal. You need to configure your screen. There's a little test they give you where you have to chase a cross around the screen with the stylus. They used to do this on first boot and whenever the OS was reset. Now you have to dig a little to find the program that does this, but it's still there. Under the Start Menu (upper left) hit settings, then hit the "System" tab and hit "Screen." This is a pain, I know, when your screen is badly misaligned (as it will be out of the box), but the thumb-wheel will help you. You need to run through it three times: once for portrait mode and once for each of the landscape modes.

Here is the absolute coolest part of this phone: Google.

AT&T has a turn-by-turn GPS map app that they charge you extra to use. But the GPS is built into the phone. If you download Google Maps, it is able to use the GPS data from your phone and track you in real time... for free! (Well, you're still paying for the data package, but you're not paying additional for the map service.) Google Sync also works: for this device, Google pretends to be an Exchange Server and you point Active Sync at m.google.com. This syncs your Google Calendar and GMail Contacts to your phone. (These can by synced to your desktop or laptop with other software.) The mail app has IMAP support, so you can use that to sync to your GMail messages or use the mobile version of GMail in either of the two built-in browsers (IE or Access Whoozit, the AT&T browser.)

Google Docs all have mobile versions. There's a mobile YouTube app if you don't like the Cingular Video service. Post to your Orkut profile with ease (you have an Orkut profile, right? No? Well, anyway...)

This phone + Google's mobile apps is really pretty fly!

Here's the bottom line: if you've played with an iPhone and are looking for an iPhone: get an iPhone. This is not an iPhone.

If, on the other hand, you're looking for an inexpensive organizer/phone with a fair amount of style (stupid little dangly stylus aside), or if you're upgrading from an older Windows CE device, this is really a solid choice. There's a lot of value here for the money.

LG Vu CU920 Phone, Wine (AT&T)

2009-06-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I chose the Vu over the iPhone & a few other touchscreens--not b/c the Vu is better than or just as good as the iPhone, but because for my purposes, it makes more sense. I wanted a stylish-looking phone that was lightweight and easy to use, that could check email and get on the internet, that could handle a few apps, and that didn't cost much. I'm pretty happy with the Vu, even recognizing that I would prefer an iPhone if cost didn't matter. Here's how I decided:

1) After reading online reviews, narrowed my choices to iPhone, LG Vu, LG Xenon, & Samsung Eternity (I was already an AT&T customer). Visited the AT&T store to try out phones, and narrowed it further to iPhone or Vu based on ease of use and size/weight. In terms of functionality and ease of use, the iPhone wins; its touchscreen is superior to any brand, it supports the most apps, it does cool tricks (like that turning-on-the-side thing), and it's easiest to sync with my Mac. But the Vu was lightweight, fun, and intuitive to use.

2) Cost comparison. For me, iPhone's required data plan was more than I wanted to pay. The math: Vu over 2 years (life of contract) works out to about $1,590 ($6 phone/shipping + 450-minute plan + monthly taxes/fees + $15 unlimited data plan). iPhone, if I bought a refurbished 8GB (cheapest option), would be about $2,050 ($99 phone + cheapest iPhone plan + monthly taxes/fees). Difference = approx $460 over 2 yrs. So, were iPhone's advantages worth that much to me? Ultimately, no.

3) Things I like about Vu:
- Easy to use. Simple & quick to get on the internet, make calls, reach your apps, change settings, etc. The few physical buttons are convenient and easy to get used to.
- It is a really sweet-looking phone. Love the wine color.
- Screen is bright, crisp & easy to read.
- Lightweight & compact compared to other touchscreens. iPhone is bigger (won't fit in a pocket as well) and significantly heavier.
- Can't comment on Mobile TV since I don't get service in my area. That would not have been an important feature to me.
- Voice dialing works great.
- It's a bargain and accessories are cheap.

4) Drawbacks of Vu:
- Limited ability to download and use apps unless you're a pretty proficient hacker/programmer (see #5 below).
- Generally, touchscreen works fine but scrolling can be tricky. The screen simply isn't as responsive and accurate as the iPhone. But we all knew that, right? It's fine for dialing. For text, you can use the dialpad or a QWERTY keyboard. QWERTY keys are quite small so I do make mistakes; this is a problem with all touchscreen phones. A stylus might help. I wouldn't write a thesis on the phone, but I do update my facebook status, check email, run searches, send text msgs, no problem.
- Lack of Gmail or POP/IMAP support. You can use the phone's email software for Yahoo, Hotmail, a few others, but not Gmail. You can download Gmail's user-friendly app which works great except...see #5.
- Fingerprints like you wouldn't believe. It's ok, though. No one's looking that closely.
- Limited # of bookmarks allowed. Irritating since AT&T forces some useless ones on you that you can't delete.

5) About apps. One thing I love about iPhone is the ability to download a gazillion useful apps. For Vu, there are a few apps available, all with monthly subscription fees, from AT&T. Bleh. Here's the thing. The Vu has a lot of untapped programming potential. It supports Java, which theoretically could give you functionality pretty close to an iPhone's; you can find non-iPhone mobile apps all over the internet. But AT&T, no doubt to protect the iPhone's market position & higher-priced plan, has placed an annoying Java security feature on the Vu so that when you run a 3rd-party app (i.e., one AT&T didn't sell you), you get an annoying permission screen at every turn. If you go to www.lg-vu.com, you can find detailed instructions (even video) for how to hack your Vu to get rid of this feature, as well as delete all the trial version apps and other nonsense that are on the phone. I'm working on this--haven't succeeded yet, but others have, so I'm hopeful I'll eventually get it. Meantime, I downloaded gmail and googlemaps (free apps) and I put up with the security feature. Doesn't prevent me from using the apps; it's just annoying. Happily, there are lots of mobile websites optimized for phone use, everything from shopping to news to lolcats, so you can do quite a bit even without apps. You do not need an app to use facebook or twitter or to look up movie times, gas prices, or weather, or watch youtube (it's blurry).

So if you really want an iPhone, get an iPhone. If you know the limitations of the Vu and nevertheless think it meets your needs--esp. if you just want a good phone (no internet/apps)--I think you'll be very happy. This is a really nice device. Just don't expect it to be an iPhone.

Samsung Rugby A837 Phone, Black (AT&T)

2009-06-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Got this phone due to having others drop and suffer damage. I read every review I could find online. Some people said and are correct that the PTT button on side is easy to press-it is but you learn to pretty much stay away from it. The speaker on front of phone is BY FAR the best I've ever heard. Once you answer or start a call you can activate the speaker and close the phone and enjoy the hands free-great in vehicle or if doing a project. I drive a diesel work truck and have NO problems hearing the speaker on this phone. The camera for a 1.3 mega pixel actually takes better pics than I expected. I have not activated the GPS since I have one and I think the $9.99 a month is too much for how often I'd use it. The buttons have a very good feel. I've already woked out in the rain and the phone got very wet-still woks No problems. The ringtones that come on the phone are probably the worst I've had yet. I use phonezoo.com (FREE) to download graphics and ringtones to phones now. Its a great free site. The call quality is very good. My wife says it is ALOT better than my previous Sony and my last Motorola. This is my first flip-phone that I've had and kept- I tried one a few years ago, it was to thin and I just couldn't open it very easily w/ one hand. That is no problem on this phone. It is a little thicker than most flips, but that has to due to its ruggedness. I would give this 5 stars if not for the fact as many other reviewers say about the front display not staying on very long. Kind of petty but I feel it is a legitimate gripe. I have not taken any videos yet so I can't comment on that. Also, want to mention that if you have alot of experience w/ different brands of phones, you probably don't need to open the manual. I have not yet and I had the phone figured out very quickly.

HTC FUZE Phone, Black (AT&T)

2009-06-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I've owned my Fuze for about a month. It's my second WinMo smartphone (I previously owned a Samsung Blackjack II), and I do WinMo software development in my spare time.

Out of the box, the phone has many features that put iPhones and Blackberries to shame.

Pros:
+ VGA touchscreen (twice the resolution of iPhone's display, and 4 times the resolution of QVGA)
+ QWERTY keyboard has lots of keys that are small, yet easily accessible with my large hands.
+ Accelerometers- might seem gimmicky at first (Teeter is a fun game), the ability to mute a phone call by turning it face-down is surprisingly useful
+ Opera as default web browser. It blows Pocket IE away in terms of speed and usability.
+ Community support- even though HTC doesn't seem to care about customer's support ("We don't care if 3rd party software can't run on your device..."), the folks at xda-developers.com are great about tweaking HTC phones to near-perfection.
+ Wireless connection options are great. Supports AT&T's 3G/HSDPA network. Connection to a Wifi network is surprisingly fast for this little device (I wish my laptop could do this).
+ Supports HSUPA (needs to be unlocked), which increases upload speeds ten-fold (for me at least), which allows much snappier web-browsing
+ MicroSDHC expansion slot, allowing up to 32 GB of extra memory
+ TouchFlo3D front end
+ WinMo has more available apps than most (all?) other smartphone platforms, and is very easy to develop new apps for WM
+ Extra little surprises like the light sensor, very bright LED flash, snazzy notification LED (looks very cool), TV-out functionality (requires $20 cable), and a capacitive touchpad below the screen.

Cons:
- Small screen
- Crappy settings out of the box... Touchflow is jerky on default AT&T rom, GPS lag, hardware Direct3D support (easily fixable with a custom rom from xda-developers)
- AT&T bloatware, trial software wasting precious rom space (again, easily fixable with new rom)
- Glossy black finish = fingerprint magnet and very slippery device. The HTC Touch Pro overseas had a rubber matte back that was much nicer and felt more solid in your hands. No idea why they changed this for the US version.
- Lack of proper hardware drivers for video and 3D acceleration.*

*This is unacceptable. Even after HTC made assurances after the Kaiser driver debacle that future "devices" would be better supported. This thing has awesome hardware that is being advertised as one of the fastest mobile chipsets out on the market (Qualcomm MSM7201a, which has impressive specs on paper), but it runs video and games slower than my Dell Axim PocketPC produced back in 2003.

Overall, this is a great phone that with an impressive number of features. If you can excuse the mediocre video playback and lack of OpenGL ES support, this is an ideal phone. But if you're looking for a robust multimedia device that can handle 640x480 videos as well as 3D games, I'd suggest avoiding HTC phones until they fix their drivers.

T-Mobile Sidekick Phone, Black (T-Mobile)

2009-05-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

If you have the Sidekick LX theres no need for you to purchase the 2008 T-Mobile Sidekick. All of the exhancements that are on this SK is available on the older models as well which will arrive via software/firmware upgrade. Yes this model has a 2.0 camera rather then 1.3 like the LX but Sharp hasnt been exactly known for having mind blowing pixels on their camera so i doubt you will miss the 0.7. Also you will now be able to enter chat rooms from the AOL Instant Messenger. You can now record video, but it only records 20 seconds and you cant view the the film in full full screen. When you select full screen it only enlarges so much. Its also pretty pixelated as well. Also the recording voice memo feature to send as a text message has been extended from 20 seconds to 1 full minute so that was a welcomed change. Other then that the changes are very minor. The one plus thing about this new model is the ability to create your own SK outter shell. Other then that this model is very boxy & square. Not to trendsetting. Also the screen on this model is small like the SK iD. But i guess for the price point it hits its target audience of the teens that cant shell out the 300.00 for the SK LX. Other then that i hope the next incarnation of the SK will be something more worth wild because these small minor upgrades really dont make a difference.

Samsung Memoir 8 MP Camera Phone, Black (T-Mobile)

2009-05-31T20:17:00.001-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Well, the title says it all. I was so excited to get this phone but after I took so many pictures I found out that most of my indoor pictures are yellow (flash is not strong enough) and blurry. It's on the way back to Tmobile now. The outdoor pictures are not great also. It's about the same as my old Tmobile Dash phone.

PalmOne Treo 650 Unlocked PDA Phone with MP3/Video Player, SD/MMC--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver)

2009-05-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I bought this phone beause I didn't want to swtich my current service.

This is a great, easy to use phone. It is perfect for someone who's looking for something easy to work with, it has a simple and in detail user's guide, the battery has a long life span, and it has a good size screen.

I read many negative reviews on this phone on various webpages but I still decided to buy it. I have no regrets. A lot of people said this phone has a bad camera quaility. From the pictures I've taken I see no worse quality in this camera phone than any other. A lot of other flip phones have a longer display screen inside which tends to strech the picture. This phone is a perfect screen size that keeps the picture to the right dementions.

The caller ID is simple and shows on the outside of the phone when someone is calling. You can set your option to show a picture and where you have to open the phone to answer it.

The speaker phone is another good feature on this phone. It is very loud and clear and is perfect for when you are driving or need your hands free.

I've already dropped this phone and acidentally smashed it underneathe my chair. There are no sratches on it and its still in perfectly good working condition. A lot of people said this phone was like a toy as was fragile. I don't understand how it can be fragile if I can put a metal chair on top of it; unless the person that said that was throwing this at the wall repeatly or beating it with a baseball bat I see no problems with it.

Over all I give this phone a 5 star rating. I've had no problems with it and it is well worth the money you are paying for.

Palm Treo 600 Unlocked PDA Phone with SD/MMC--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver)

2009-05-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Okay, this phone isn't perfect but it gets 5 stars. Why? Because at this moment its the best value for your money. Sure, the 650 is better, but unless you want to lock yourself into a 2 year contract its going to cost significantly more. Other comparable options cost similar to the 650.

What I use it for: I'm a T-mobile customer and this phone is a) cheaper than the phone through T-mobile and b) is unlocked. So when I'm in Europe this spring I can simply replace the SIM and go. Note that this is the GSM model - it won't work on Verizon or Sprint.

Pros: Syncing is effortless, scheduling software mimics Outlook 2003 perfectly. Phone works great - good reception and sound quality.

Cons: No bluetooth, no WIFI (the 650 lacks this as well). Screen isn't hi res, camera quality is low (if you want quality get a digicam, I have a Canon S400). Lets be honest - this is yesterday's technology.

Unknowns: Reliability. I've only had this phone for a few days, and we'll see how it stands the test of time.

Conclusion: If you want the latest and greatest get the 650, Nokia 9300, or something else. But you'll be paying that early adopter premium. If you want something that elegantly does the job at a great price then get this.

Sony Ericsson P1i Unlocked Cell Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Micro Slot--International Version with No Warranty

2009-05-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Features

This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel and Sprint.
Unlocked tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 cell phone with International 3G compatibility (2100 UMTS) and GPRS data capabilities
Symbian OS smartphone with dual-function QWERTY/numeric keypad; 2.6-inch touchscreen; included stylus
3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder; digital audio player and FM radio; Memory Stick Micro expansion; Bluetooth stereo music; access to personal email
Up to 10 hours of GSM talk time, up to 440 hours (18+ days) of standby time

Sony Ericsson W850i Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, 3G, MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Pro Duo Slot--International Version with No Warranty

2009-05-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I just bought this cell phone last week and get it 2 days ago, it's amazing, I guess it's simply the best phone ever; you got all you would like a cell phone to have... and more!

I'm one of those persons who like cell phones just for what they do, make and receive calls, but I discover that this device is amazing, bluetooth connection is smooth and won't get drop, the sound is clear, you can watch your videos and listen to your music in a clever way, even turn on the FM radio and go all the way. Tha camera has so many features it doesn't seem a cell phone, the contact information is amazing, storing more than just numbers in it and you can back it up in your outlook folder. I just have two days with it and don't know all the functions but seriously, it's more impressive that I thoguth it would be.

It's clearly the Swiss Army of the phones!

Sony Ericsson K810i Cyber-shot Unlocked Cell Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, Media Player, M2 Memory Slot--International Version with No Warranty

2009-05-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I've owned the k700 (stolen), k750 (returned to employer when I quit), k800 (wife washed with clothes) and now the k810 and the k810 is the best of the lot. Round buttons are easier to use than old square ones, camera (with excellent flash) takes detailed photos, and I find the software much easier to use than Nokia, Siemens or Motorola. k810 is also thinner than earlier k series, camera cover less lumpy, and phone feels very solid. Screen is very bright and sharp, and scratch resistant. I have a 1 GB card in it, so I never worry about filling it up with photos, mp3s, etc., phone connects to windows, mac and linux via (supplied) USB cable. Battery goes almost a week on a charge with steady use.

Sony Ericsson W810i Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Duo--International Version with No Warranty (Black)

2009-05-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Going from an old Nokia 6200 (which had great call quality and was ahead of its times) to a Moto Razr I suffered the torments of usability hell. No memory, no headphone jacks, terrible address book, substandard camera, terrible alarm clock, etc etc.

The day I got my digits on the W810i (i for international, unlocked quad band) was a happy day for me. Now, one year into using it I can expertly outline the pros and cons, and authoritatively issue bouquets and brickbats.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hot -

* Great battery life. I don't measure this in terms of hours and minutes but the reality of how often I had to charge. I use the phone quite a lot for listening to music especially and have never run out of charge when on the road. On days of low usage I have gone 3 days without a recharge, but topping up for 1 hour everyday is all you need. With the Razr I was constantly being stranded with a dead phone.

* Superior voice quality - as distinct from CALL quality, which thanks to Cingular sucks like a vaccuum cleaner!

* Walkman quality music - I use iPod earbuds for a good reason, sometimes a Sony MDR 7506- More later.

* An expandable Sony ProDuo memory slot of upto 2GB.
I bought the phone with 512 MB and have not needed to upgrade yet.

* A feature rich 2 MP camera with flash, white balance controls, macro mode, night mode, zoom, resolution settings, and effects settings. This is quite adequate for point and click oppotunities - but also great for video, I bring out my Rebel XT 8MP only for more "artistic" photography.

* A great FM radio. Works really well, although it does require the customary earphone-jack extension that also works as an antenna. I say "customary" because I don't think there is any phone that can play the radio without having to attach the headset cord.

* The proprietary audio jack (Sony Ericsson only) actually ends in a generic RCA type stero headphone plug! This saved the phone and allowed me to jettison their earbud in favour of the iBud, or my Hi-Fi studio monitor when I feel like it. You can easily switch from whatever you're listening to -- the radio, the MP3 player or the video player and take a phone call by clicking a button. The song is paused, and will continue where you left off after ending the phone call. The iPhone is trumpeting this feature, but its been a part of the W810i for over a year.

* Has an MIDP 2.0 mobile java O/S, which means you can download any and every java app. I use the Opera Mobile browser instead of the packaged Sony browser and google maps which are are also a free j2ME download - *no more paper printouts for me*. I also use a mobile app from cricinfo.tv for streaming cricket scores, and the pre-loaded Music Mate which playes basic guitar chords and also has a pitch pipe for tuning musical instruments.
I am a non-starter in video games so i won't comment, except to say i tried the "JC does Texas" preloaded game - it was fun, but did not convert me into a gamer ;-)

* The Address book is really excellent. It has a full featured contact list system like a vCard that includes full address and multiple phone numbers for the same contact. In theory the calendar and address books can be synched with Outlook if you download the Sony Ericsson PC Suite and connect use Outlook to synch calendar and contacts. I have no reason to believe this won't work, except my work place will not allow personal devices to be installed or synched up on the work machine. At home I don't use Outlook, so I'm missing out on all the calendar and reminder functionality

* A nice alarm clock that lets you select days of the week you find" alarming".
So my alarm does not go off on weekends, then comes back on every day of the week.
This is a big improvement over the old way where you had to manually set the alarm for each day.
You snooze, you lose.

* I found this out very recently - but the phone plays videos appreciably. There is a minor geek factor to this, but well worth it. You can take pretty much any video file you have - from P2P, DVDs, flash, etc and convert it to the 3gp format. I use a free universal encoder that's quite a wonder. Its called SUPER and you will find it at e-rightsoft - For example I watched the final episode of Heroes on my phone in a flight. Downloaded from bittorrent, encoded to 3gp to a 176*144 format that took all of 90MB. You can watch full length movies doing this, but the movie player functions like bookmarking are sorely missing for long files. If you don't watch the full movie at a stretch, you'll spend minutes simply forwarding to the correct spot the next time.

THIS IS HUGE -- you can take any YouTube video with you on this phone. Yeah, yeah its a two step process but which one of you is busy saving the world anyway. Get a firefox plugin for downloading YouTube videos as .flv files (flash videos), then use SUPER to encode into 3gp. Voila! -- I have Rihanna's Umbrella and Fergie's Bumps accompany me on all my rides.

* The phone is recognized a USB plug-and-play drive. Need I say more?
This is very useful, because its easy to move files and also charge it anywhere I have a computer with USB! Forget DRM, everyone is going away from that anyway. Also, Apple's way of requiring iTunes and having to register a device by deviceID before using it, that is way too restrictive.
My kingdom for USB P'nP freedom!

* W810 has Bluetooth and Infra Red ports. Use them for file transfers, synching or for headsets.

* An email client that is configurable for POP3 so I get my gmail, no problems. This is not a business phone so there is none, and never will be support for corporate email. Its easy enough getting to your personal email though, even without POP. Use the browser, doh!

* pretty standard but worth mentioning - has voice dialing, that can save you in some situations.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not -

* No WiFi !

* No GPS receiver. This means that when you use google maps you have to manually figure out where you are, then also check if you are sticking to the route. I have had no problems with this myself, but could be incovenient for some.

* The T9 texting system is disappointing. The Razr did it much better. There is no multi-select word completion, and there is not auto-add to dictionary any time you type out a word that was not in the dictionary. The process of adding your own short forms, cute names and whatnot is very manual and laborious. Also, the auto completion with the Razr showed multiple word possiblities in a multi-select as you typed (like the AJAX javascript lookups in gmail adress) so that meant you could really fly through the message.

* An open chat interface called MyFriends (under the Messages menu) using which you can log on to all your chat clients at once - AIM, yahoo, msn and IRC - possibly google chat but i've not cracked that nut yet.
The setup is strictly for nerds/geeks/professionals - an average user could never set this up. After spends hours on many forums I was able to set it up. You need the use of a free third party registration system: Yamigo to create a chat profile to which you can add your chat accounts. When you create your MyFriends profile in the W810, you need to provide the URL as the server and select the Allow Connection tab to "Any Network" or else this won't work.
MyFriends is a very ambitious concept and works in essence but fails in usability.
It keeps the internet connection open always because it relies on an HTTP service. When you lose connection it logs you out of all your chat systems, requiring you to re-login. PAINFUL. It also drains the battery a lot. Sony would have done better to do what the Razr did, have an AIM chat client onboard that connects directly to the AIM server, so you did not have to use a third party http service.

The best option is to set up the AIM and yahoo accounts to forward to cell phone when not signed in. Works like a charm.

* The phone is capable of playing streams really - but bleeds to death on Cingular's cutting "EDGE".
Hear me ye all - Cingular is the one thing that can kill Apple's iPhone. The situation can only be rescued if Jobs takes it over and refurbishes their network from the ground up.

I have NOT found a realplayer for java mobile yet, so it is really a player problem.
I'm sure there's an open source java project out there that can play all the streams.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shot -

* The earbuds from Sony are pure product suicide. They are so bad that I could barely hear the music and calls. If I had not tried the iBuds I may have hated this phone, only because of Sony's lazily and badly produced earbuds. That would have been a real shame because this is really quite an instrument.

* browsing pictures on the phone is painfully slow.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What you got - The W810i is already more and does more than the iPhone will ever be, or do. Hi-Fi music, first class camera, great voice quality (when the signal exists!), calendar, addressbook, reminders, notes, alarms, email, SMS, MMS, bluetooth, video recording and playback. The iPhone will conquer the world anyway, because it has sex appeal and ease of use like never before. Contextual buttons that come and go, basically an expanded interactive menu system. Brilliant breakthrough in usability. For those who don't want to spend the big bucks, you can get all that and more in less than half the price here.

Sony Ericsson Z520a Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, MP3 Player--U.S. Version with Warranty (Blue/Silver)

2009-05-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I've been using this cell phone for more than a month now and up to now I'm glad with the purchase. Being a Motorola user for the past 2 years, I preferred this phone over the Motorola V3 black since now everybody has the V3. At every corner you see someone using it, whereas the Z520a is not even being sold here in my country... that, and a 60$ difference when I bought it. Also, the fact that the Z520a came with over 17 MB of internal memory and the V3 only has like 6 MB.

Now, the Pros: Nice design, sturdy construction, its small, better user interface than Motorolas, 17 MB memory for storing lots of pics, vids, themes, games, and of course, mp3 ringtones. Useful external screen, the battery last almost a week without charging. I like the file manager, it sorts files by type and gives access to the entire flash memory and the address book is very accesible, displays useful information and it's neatly organized. The external speaker plays mp3s loud and clear enough. The option for taking self portraits with the help of the external LCD is great. And the side lights are a nice add-on to show to your friends (look: shiny lights!!).

The Cons: Well, first, I would have given 5 stars to this phone if it came with any type of slot for additional storage (My kingdom for a transflash slot!)... second, both LCD screens are hard to see on a sunny day. It's difficult to open the phone with one hand (something I could do easily with my old V-551). The speakerphone is not so loud when you are in a conversation even if the volume is all the way up. Finally, I have a Motorola HS-820 bluetooth headset that I used with my last phone, but it seems the Z520a doesn't likes this headset. I cannot voice dial and if you make a call using the phone's keypad you have to keep the phone open, or it will hang the call, which is not very pleasant. Maybe its a configuration setting I'm not making but who knows. On the other hand, the wired hands-free that comes with the phone is very nice. It has great sound and you can use it as a one-ear headphone for mp3's since it has better sound than a lot of other cheap headphones.

In the overall, I think its a great phone except for those problems I mentioned. I recommend it.

Sony Ericsson W300i Unlocked Cell Phone with MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Micro Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Shadow Black)

2009-05-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

The Sony W300 phone is stylish and works great, both as a phone, a walkman and a radio. I listen to the radio on a regular basis and really really like this feature in the phone. In addition, the included headphones and mike make hands-free talking on the phone a very pleasant experience. The headhpones are comfortable and adjustable, allowing you to block out external noise by fitting them more tightly if you choose. Audio quality of the other caller on the headphones is so much better than on the phone speaker (although that works fine too). The mike is on the headset cord and it comes with a clip so that you can position it below your chin, and picks up your voice without any problems.

The phone is very small, fitting comfortably in my pocket, and has good battery life. The user-interface was easy to learn, and has lots of features that I appreciate, such as alarms, calendar and tasks.

The main complaint I have so far is with the software that came with the phone. It wanted to install a bunch of Microsoft .NET junk on my laptop, which I didn't want to do, so I'm still looking for a better 3rd-party program to let me transfer mp3 files to the phone.

Sony Ericsson W580i Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Micro--U.S. Version with Warranty (Urban Gray)

2009-05-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I have had several different phones over the years. I am a long time AT&T, then cingular and now back to AT&T customer. My own preference was to get an unlocked phone and not deal with the locked version (when i wanted to upgrade, the current selections sucked).

I do agree with the previous remark on the keys. They are quite small and from the touch, seem delicate. I sometimes wonder if the keys cracking are due to pressing the keys with a finger nail vs the tip of your finger. Time will tell with this phone. I will remark later if any of my keys start cracking.

The OS on this phone is very good, I used to have a nokia and liked the symbian OS, so this feels very similar to that. The Windows OS for the smart phone is not very good. Actually it was quite cumbersome, all the subscreens and white screens of death (oh yes, even the OS's they create for phones have this windows fault).

Reception quality has been very good, the camera is ok (no standard flash like the other sony ericsson phones),the fitness feature is interesting (if you exercise enough), Internet Gui is still better the Windows OS version and the phone is very compact.

This phone overall is good, not perfect (what phone is), it gets the job done and has the extra bells and whistles to keep you entertained at church.

Sony Ericsson S500i Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Micro Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Mysterious Green)

2009-05-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I bought this phone in purple - in support of pancreatic cancer awareness and because I wanted a quad band phone.

It is nice to look at, has a nice "feel", but the features are basic.

There is very little you can do with it in terms of the telephone aspect of it. I guess it is great for photos, especially since it has the photo editor. The screen is the best feature on this phone. It is big and performs well even in direct sunlight (a plus for the camera users). After 6 photos which I transferred from my Nokia I was told that the memory was full. My Nokia 6320 has loads of photos and music on it.

With regard to ringtones, you'd probably have to buy the memory card, or stick with what they have on the phone. I was not too enthusiastic about the ringtones the phone came with. I like naturelike sounds and classic ringtones. I read a review which said that Sony was targetting the younger folk (I am 45), so that accounts for the type of ringtones and graphics which are embedded in the phone.

The slide mechanism is sturdy, as is the keypad. The slits which represent the select and menu buttons can be a tad difficult if you have long nails, or large fingers (again the target was young folk).

The downsides are that the vibrating mechanism is weak and for some reason unknown to me, after 45 minutes of talking on it, the phone cuts off.

Samsung U700 Unlocked Cell Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, International 3G, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Metalli

2009-05-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I got this phone yesterday & have been playing around with its features 2 days straight. And so far, I have to say this is a great phone. First of all, the style of this phone is amazingly beautiful compare to other phone I've seen. Next, the functions are pretty simple & easy to use. And since this is 3G phone I just popped in my T-Mobile Sim card & voila it worked perfectly. Only thing I have to complain is that this phone is from swiss so there were no English manual but it's O.K. I just googled that manual from net in sec. Overall I love this phone & would recommend this phone to anyone. (P.S. why don't any of U.S. carriers have this phone is beyond me anyways hope this help)

Samsung E840 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Ice Silver)

2009-05-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

When I took this phone out the box I was soooo impressed with with the design and it looks alot more expensive than it actually is. The phone arrived in a blink of an eye (in two days WOW!!!)It's definitely eyecatching and worth every penny, I put my SIM CARD in and that was all I had to do! It has FM Radio capability and it's a great MP3 player, it's the slimmest & lightest phone i've ever had and I'm really happy with this purchase. I'll definitely be buying from MobileCity Online again!!! :-D
P.S It scratches very easily so I suggest buying a case when purchasing the phone.

Samsung X820 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3 Player--International Version with No Warranty (Black)

2009-05-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

As I said, if it's slim & sexy you're looking for then this phone is for you. After lugging a Treo 650 around for nearly two years I couldn't take it anymore, I had to go thin. I looked at several options and settled on the x820 and it hasn't disappointed yet. I have my POP3 email, SMS and MMS a good camera (unlike the Treo which was a waste of time) and a good screen too. I'd even say that the keys give good feedback when they're pressed unlike the Motorola which look very cool but that's where it stops.

The menu's are a little long but work fast unlike motorola or sony-ericsson that try to do too much with no processing power. The memory size is only 80MB, so if you want a full-on MP3 play this isn't it, go for something with a micro SD slot instead.

I am still figuring out how long the battery life really is due to my irratic charging of the phone the first couple of days, as you'll appreciate, the battery is also very thin so there's not much of it, best guess at present is about 3 days with about 1-2 hours of talk time.

In conclusion, if you want a very very good phone and you're only away from your computer for short periods and wont need Gigs of email or MP3's then this phone is worth considering seriously. I love it

Samsung SGH-U600 Unlocked Cell Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, Media Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Sapphire Blue)

2009-05-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

No question about it, Samsung has created a beauty in the Ultra Edition 10.9, also known as the SGH-U600. This Phone is a a minimalist in design, with buttons kept to a minimum. The Two silver Receive and Reject Buttons are actually Touch Sensitive pads and so are the two LED lines on top of them. A couple of times i accidentally called people because my fingers would brush across the call button.

The U600 slides beautifully but the screen is somehow attracted to my fingerprints, The Display quality of the phone is brilliant though. The Music was Ok though it would be better if their was a 3.5mm audio out. The audio Jack that came with the phone tripples as a charger and a USB Jack. so it limits the headphones that we can use, because i fine the attached microphone to the headphones annoying.

The 3.2MP camera shot clear outdoor and indoor pictures, but it did not handle low light shots well, specially not in dark places, the U600's small bluish camera light could not do its job of illuminating dark places well. The camera responded slowly also. The unit comes with an embedded 60mb memory and support for expansion with a microSD slot.

Overall the SGH-600 won me over with its sleek look and slender design.But there are a few things about it that is just not right.

Samsung I320 Unlocked Cell Phone with Windows Mobile 5.0, Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Black)

2009-05-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I am one of the few lucky people in the US who has a Samsung SGH-i320 phone. I actually received it at an industry conference I attended, and I immediately popped the SIM out of my T-Mobile MDA and into the SGH-i320. It's a sweet little phone!

The display is excellent - bright, clear, and crisp with brilliant colors. The user interface, which has been less than desirable on older Windows Mobile Smartphone devices, is well done. The speaker on this phone is quite loud and it makes a decent speakerphone. The keyboard is easy to use and makes it simple to use the SGH-i320 as a device for mail.

On the negative side, this doesn't yet support "push email", although you can easily set it up for POP, IMAP and Exchange accounts on a "pull" basis. I set mine up to go out and check for mail every 15 minutes. The SGH-i320 comes with two battery packs and that's good because it really chews up the batteries. One other negative is that the buttons near the 5-way pad occasionally act up and you can find yourself inadvertently performing functions you didn't want to!

All in all, I would probably get a T-Mobile Dash before I'd buy one of these. Since I got mine for free, however, I'm going to use it for quite a while!

Samsung SGH-D900 Unlocked Cell Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, Media Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty

2009-05-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

My biggest disappointment is the built-in 3 Mpix camera. Images are almost always out of focus and blurred - no matter the lighting conditions, or which settings you are using. Viewing and scrolling through previous pictures is also very, very slow, especially if the pictures are stored on the memory card. The camera is fine for occasional and spontaneous pictures, but I guess I was hoping for something more.

On the other hand, the user interface is great and the phone is packed with features. However, I have to say that most of these features (although cool) are of little use to me (for instance, conversation recording). The features that I do use, instead, are also found in older versions of this phone, such as the Samsung t629 which only costs $150 from T-Mobile.

Therefore, overall, I'm not sure whether this phone is worth its sticker price.

The package came with a USB cable and headsets.

Motorola Ming A1200 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Red)

2009-05-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I loved this phone. It worked great with my network tmobile. Relatively fast internet connections and email. Very easy to use. PDA was great so I tossed my palm pilot. I purchased this phone and had for approx. 1 yr before it was stolen. Loved the touch screen and the clear cover to protect the screen. My insurance company replaced my a1200 with the tmobile MDA...yuk! Unlike the MDA this phone is small and light weight because of the clamshell design my cheek doesn't accidentally disconnect or mute my calls like the MDA. The buss. card reader is a great time saver it will scan and store info in your contacts....no more losing other people's business cards! Voice recognition works well. I loved how easy it was to use. It's built well...pretty tough I could never find a good cellphone cover for it and it held up really well being tossed in my purse and even dropped it a few times and it never got a scratch. The stylus is sturdy and easily accessible. The 2meg camera is great for pictures and videos outside or in bright lights but has no flash....it's one major downfall, that and the phone had a few applications that I was unable to use, do to language barrier (some of them in chinese)that's why only 4 stars. My contract is up with tmobile and am looking to purchase another a1200 in red. Red was the color no one wanted about a year ago and now it's the one that costs extra.....they're calling it special edition red now! Go figure.

Motorola ROKR DUO Z6 Unlocked Cell Phone with Motorola S9 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones, 2 MP Camera, MP3 Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version

2009-05-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

If you would like buy a phone so people can tell you how good it looks, then this is the phone for you. If not, this is not a good choice.when i get this pnone i was very so happy because -look so good,but i send back ,the phone was missing parts.But after one week using I was TOTALLY disappointed with this phone, even after being very impressed with the design .battery is dead after one day using only talk time,Battery life is too short.All I can say if you are looking for a gorgeous phone, and don't mind the price, or the short battery life, I will 100% recommend

Motorola RIZR Z8 Movie Edition Unlocked Cell Phone w/ Motorola S9 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones--International Version with No Warranty (Black)

2009-05-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Features

This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel and Sprint.
Quad-band GSM cell phone compatible with 850/900/1800/1900 frequencies and International 3G compatibility via 2100 UMTS/HSDPA plus GPRS/EDGE data capabilities
Kick-slider mechanism achieves a "fit-to-face" profile by gliding open in a curve to match your facial contour; includes Motorola S9 Bluetooth Stereo headphones
QVGA display with 16 million colors; 2 megapixel camera with 8x zoom and lumi LED light; Bluetooth stereo music; MicroSD expansion
Up to 7 hours of talk time, up to 16 days of standby time

Motorola V220 Unlocked Cell Phone--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver)

2009-05-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Motorola V400 Unlocked Cell Phone--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver)

2009-05-20T02:33:00.001-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

order took 2 weeks because the package came back to them from the post office damaged. at least they upgraded it to a slightly better phone for it, but it still shouldnt have happened in the first place

Motorola KRZR K1 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Silver Quartz)

2009-05-20T02:29:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

The Motorola KRZR K1 is a very stylish phone. It will surely impress people. The only thing you need to worry about buying this phone from Amazon is that it may come from another country. This means that an American adapter is included for the foreign plug and the language is in British English, which is not a big deal but odd for people used to Personalize instead of personalise. The phone is extremely shiny because it is made of polished metal and glass. Glass is an odd material for a mobile phone, but looks nice considering how fragile it is. The screen color and resolution are also very nice. Call quality is decent. All in all a 9 out of ten for looks and 8 out of ten for quality.

Motorola RIZR Z3 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with Warranty (Red)

2009-05-19T02:26:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

While many people have said that they do not like this phone because of the small keys, as a female I have not found them to be too small and I have average size hands.

I do text, everyday, perhaps not as often as others, but nevertheless, find the texting not to be an issue.
PROS
I love the camera, my phone came with a USB connector, it is so easy for me to transfer pictures. THE FLASH is amazing!! it is so bright, i like using it as a flash light

The mp3 player has amazing speakers

I bought this phone so i would have a good camera, mp3 player all rolled into one for me.
One thing i dont' like is that it won't take really big memory cards (8gb) i think its limit is 1 gb.

Overall i have been pleased i have had it for about 5 months now. One thing i don't like is that it doesn't display the date, just the time, but that really isn't that big of a deal.

Motorola SLVR L9 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Stainless-Steel Grey)

2009-05-19T02:23:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I just got my new Motorola L9 and it is the best phone I have ever owned. I've tried just about every phone (not including smart phones) on the market. There is nothing this phone can't do. Music, pictures, video, internet, clear call quality, battery life (amazing). It does take a little bit to get use to handling the phone (as far as the keypad and texting) but once you do...be ready for the best phone you will ever own. It even has a rubberized back to make it easier to hold which is just another plus. If your deciding between this phone and others...trust me, this is a phone you will not regret getting. Motorola for life!!

Motorola W375 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, FM Radio--International Version with No Warranty (Pink)

2009-05-18T02:20:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Features

This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel and Sprint.
Tri-band GSM cell phone compatible with 900/1800/1900 frequencies and GPRS data capabilities
3.1-ounce super-slim design with lustrous black housing and a unique vertical external screen
VGA camera with 4x zoom and multimedia messaging; built-in FM radio; web browser; personal organizer; SMS/MMS/EMS messaging
Up to 7.5 hours of digital talk time and 250 hours of standby time

Motorola RAZR V3i Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Silver/Gray)

2009-05-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I purchased this phone unlocked about two months ago. I am not sure why it is not readily available in any US store. There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about this phone. The V3I is awesome. Hands down the best cell phone device that I have EVER purchased. The itunes capability is great, even though the song limit is 50, it works great as an ipod back up. The sound is as good as you can expect and you can listen to your itunes songs over the speaker without having to use any headphones. The best thing about this phone is the removable transflash card that can be used (up to 1gb) that can be used to store songs, use as a thumb drive, or whatever you would need a 1gb worth of space for. In addition, the one megapixel camera is a definite upgrade from the old V3. Also, the video capability is awesome. Unlike its predecessor's, the V3i will take as long of video as your memory will hold (three minutes, thirty minutes etc). The looks and feel of this phone are amazing too. The gunmetal look stands out among the sea of normal RAZR phones. Also, I love the front blue light, which you can program to flash differently for different things. The only problem with the phone is the fact that you cannot purchase it at any United States phone dealers. You either have to purchase it here or someplace like eBay. I purchased mine on eBay for about $250. Go for this one, you wont be disappointed.

Motorola KRZR K1 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Fire Red)

2009-05-17T02:12:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This phone is very sleek and has very cool applications although I haven't fully explored all its features. It's the perfect phone for someone who wants a nice phone but is not overly fussy.

Motorola Ming A1200 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Black)

2009-05-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Before I bought this phone, I had the V3 that I got from Cingular. I was really unpleased with it, it wasn't what Motorola made it out to be. Then I got the V3x, which I wouldn't have done if I knew that it didn't support the 850 GSM Band. It was a lot better than the V3, had an MP3 player, but it didn't support 320kbps MP3's. I had problems getting a signal with it, cause of the 850 GSM band Cingular uses. Then I saw the Motorola MING (A1200). I've had this phone for a month, and I haven't had any problems with it yet. It plays all my MP3's and it even comes with Real Player, so if you wanna play Video's, you can, but you have to convert them first. It sucks, but the phone does come with some converstion software. I've also tested the phone with some software that I found off GetJar. I only had a problem with one of the programs, it was an Internet radio. But the Messengers worked fine. The Hong Kong site says that the phone comes with MSN Messenger, but I haven't found it. It supports 1GB MicroSD and can record videos up to 2 hours. The only downfall of the phone is the fact that it doesn't have any 3G capabilities. I, myself, don't use 3G since it my provider doesn't have Video Calling yet and I'm sure that when it becomes available, it'll be expensive and no one that I talk with will get it for years to come. The phone uses Linux as it's OS. That kind of scared me at first cause I don't know how to use Linux that well....heh, but it's pretty easy to use. The OS is also Open Source, you can get it from the Motorola Open Source site (https://opensource.motorola.com). The phone has a virtual keyboard on the screen that you use to type. There is also a virtual keypad that is used when dialing a number or when entering info that requires only numbers.

Here is the short version...if you want a great phone that doesn't support 3G technology, that supports J2ME applications/games, and you can see small letters close up, then get this phone. If you have to have 3G, then get something else.

Hope this helped ^_^.

Motorola RAZR V3xx Unlocked Cell Phone with 3G, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Licorice Black)

2009-05-16T01:59:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Description
Featuring the perfect blend of broadband-like speed, dynamic multimedia capabilities, and cutting-edge design, the MOTORAZR xx is the ultimate combination. The MOTORAZR xx delivers high-speed connectivity and premium multimedia capabilities in the award-winning RAZR form. The first Motorola handset to ship with High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and EDGE technology, the MOTORAZR xx brings effortless style and the power of high-speed connectivity — no compromises necessary. A compact entertainment machine, the MOTORAZR xx knows how to connect you quickly to the information and content that matters most. Demand the best in elite style and unrivalled functionality and enjoy the best of both worlds with this stylish new model. Peerless style The design of the MOTORAZR broke ground with industry-leading design and legendary style. This revolutionary form factor offers the MOTORAZR xx head-turning elegance for even the most style-conscious user. This slim phone packs advanced functionality into an ultra-desirable package, with premium metal finishes, a precision cut keypad and a svelte form measuring barely half an inch thick. Slender, stylish and luxurious, the MOTORAZR xx is set to impress from the word “Go.”

Product Description
The MOTORAZR V3xx is the ultimate combination. The MOTORAZR V3xx delivers high-speed connectivity and premium multimedia capabilities in the award-winning RAZR form. The first Motorola handset to ship with EDGE technology, the MOTORAZR V3xx brings effortless style and the power of high-speed connectivity - no compromises necessary. A compact entertainment machine, the MOTORAZR V3xx knows how to connect you quickly to the information and content that matters most. Demand the best in elite style and unrivalled functionality and enjoy the best of both worlds with this stylish new model.

Motorola RAZR V3i Dolce & Gabbana Unlocked Cell Phone with MP3/Video Player, MicroSD--International Version with No Warranty (Gold)

2009-05-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This phone sucks. The software is slow, especially when the phone is loaded with lots of pictures. The buttons are clumsy to push, especially if you have big fingers. Ergonomically you would do better with an older model Motorola cellphone. The buttons on the side are laid out in a manner that when you handle the phone you frequently tend to change the ringer to off inadverdently. That is a real design boo boo.
The RF section is, however, pretty sensitive and stacks up well against any other phone in terms of talk distance and reception.
Don't waste your money.

Motorola PEBL U6 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, Bluetooth--International Version with No Warranty (Graphite Black)

2009-05-15T02:52:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I just got the PEBL and I love it. I had been waiting for its release for several months and it was well worth it. Many of the ticky-tack features that I didn't like in the Motorola RAZR have been corrected here. While not as thin as a RAZR, the PEBL is lightweight. The black cover has a rubberized feel and the oval shape means that it sits comfortably in your hand. The hinged mechanism to open the phone is great - and one of its most distinctive features: One flick of the thumb and the phone gently flips open. The sound quality is great, from video clips to HiFi ringers to speaker phone. It's loud and clear. The camera and video features are decent. Overall, it operates like any other Motorola - the menus are standard. If it bugged you that the Call and End buttons were flipped right to left in the T722 models, Motorola has returned to its senses and placed the Call button on the left and end on the right side. As for fingerprints, they do show up on the cover and key face. The PEBL is still no v60, but it comes pretty close. If nothing else, it definitely has the Wow factor.

Motorola RAZR V3 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, Video Player--International Version with No Warranty (Cosmic Blue) Other products by Motorola

2009-05-15T02:48:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Cellphone and manual are in French [can also be Chinese language], charger is European plug [cannot be used]. Merchant lied that Amazon would not allow changes on their site [False according to Amazon].

Paid $12.95 for expedited 1-3 day delivery, but got confirmation that delivery would be 4-9 days. Arrived in 6 days.

I gave bad rating and seller left message on my voice mail asking me to change rating, but left no phone # to contact[again bad customer service].

I complained in email to Amazon who sent me merchant's phone #. However, merchant supplied Amazon with wrong # so I could not contact manager except by email. I notified Amazon of wrong merchant phone # [Amazon got right # for me].

I contacted Merchant by phone and he was rude, talked over me so that I could not get answers to questions, then he hung up on me.

Merchant stated that all his customers had same problem so it was no big deal...customer could just 'download' an English version of manual, said sometimes cellphone comes in Chinese language...these are meant for overseas use.

Merchant made no offer to reimburse, and stated Amazon would not allow him to change misleading info...he just attached his add to Amazon's site. This is false and this merchant cannot be trusted.

My business has suffered for a week with this nightmare merchant's lack of responsibility and fraudulent misrepresentation.
Jack

Motorola RAZR2 V8 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player--International Version with No Warranty (Dark Pearl Grey)

2009-05-14T02:41:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Well I'll keep it short and simple.. if you check out Motorola's website for this phone, you get a pretty good idea of the kind of phone you're getting.

In my case I upgraded from a V3i to this V8. I can only say it's sturdier, has a way faster menu navigation, louder sound and a sleek design.

It seems to me slightly bigger than the v3 and it's just slightly smaller and thinner than the trendy iPhone. However.. when opened up it's mermerizing.

I don't want to spoil your customer experience, so I'll just say... you'll love it the minute you get it, even the original box and packing will impress you.

If you like flip phones... you're gonna love this baby.

Motorola KRZR K1 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Cosmic Blue)

2009-05-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I just upgraded from a RAZR phone, and this new KRAZR is exceptionally nice. The phone has great reception, the sound quality & volumn are very good, the menus are very easy to get around,it fits your face well (not too short as many phones now are) and operating the phone is simple. This phone is clearly evident of Motorola's evolution in the cell-phone industry. By the way, you can customize the "soft-keys" to be whatever you want them to be. Likewise, you can customize the menus to appear as you would like. They have really thought of the user and have made this phone very User Friendly as well. It seems that the majority of the people I talk to aren't as interested in "whistles & bells" as much as they just want a plain old GOOD phone. This is it! However, if you want more, you can load your MP3 music on to it, you can use the calendar, you can take a picture, and if you are really adventurous, you can access the internet, and also retreive your email! By the way, this phone is capable of taking advantage of the Cingular/AT&T EDGE network which gives you 'faster than usual' internet. I highly recommend this Good Looking, Well Working phone.

Motorola RAZR V3 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, Video Player--International Version with No Warranty (Magenta Pink)

2009-05-13T02:25:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Features

This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel and Sprint.
Quad-band GSM cell phone compatible with 850/900/1800/1900 frequencies and GPRS data capabilities
VGA digital camera (640 x 480) with video capture; 5 MB memory (not expandable)
Bluetooth for handsfree communication; full duplex speakerphone; access to personal email; web browser; SMS/MMS/EMS messaging
Up to 6.67 hours of digital talk time and 250 hours of standby time

Lets get one thing straight - you will never buy this phone for its features, so why give it a bad review because of its lack of features? This phone is meant for one thing -- Style. And not one other phone in the market comes close to this phone in style - and the sales of this phone prove it.

The signal strength on this phone is very good. In elevators where I didnt get signal with other phones, this phone picks up enough signal to carry the conversation through without any of those "didnt hear you - can you repeat that?". I really havent seen another GSM phone with signal quality as strong as this one, which is funny because this phone's antenna doesnt even stick out (internal antenna). Bluetooth audio is clear - I have verified this with the Jabra BT200 and the Motorola HS820.

Camera is good, but not as good as some other phones out there. Video is good, not as good as other phones out there. No memory card. Here's the bottom line - if you want a phone that works like a good phone and looks damn good, this is the phone for you. If you want a phone that does videos / audio etc, then look elsewhere - or wait for the v3i.

Want a good looking phone with great voice quality? Buy this phone. Theres really no competition. Want a camera + camcorder + mp3 player + organizer + toaster? Skip it...

Motorola SLVR L7 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Black)

2009-05-13T02:13:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This is a very nice phone. Call reception and battery life are excellent on the Cingular network. The iTunes features work fine but it won't replace my iPod nano any time soon. This phone has a very solid feel to it. The SLVR is not without flaws but show me a phone that isn't.

PROS:

Very solid, slim and sexy.
iTunes
Quad band
Expandable memory
Excellent reception
Excellent battery life
Bluetooth

CONS:

Camera (0.3 megapixel is pathetic in this day and age)
No high speed data (EDGE)
100 song cap on iTunes (not shocking, Apple still wants to sell iPods)
No dedicated headphone jack ( form over function compromise)
USB 1.1 transfer is VERY slow
Same old Moto OS ( Contacts list Stinks)

Conclusion:

If you're looking for a very sexy looking phone that has excellent reception and battery life I can think of no better choice than the SLVR. If you need a smart phone or all the latest bells and whistles there are better choices.

Motorola V190 Unlocked Cell Phone--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)

2009-05-13T01:56:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Phone Nokia 6682 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, Media Player, MMC--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver)

2009-05-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I'm reviewing the unlocked/unbranded version of this phone (not customized by a particular carrier).

First you should ask "is this the phone for me?" It's a complex phone with advanced features beyond just making and receiving calls and if you don't like reading manuals you should probably stay away. If you are unable to program a VCR you should probably stay away. If you don't have a need to synch your contacts and calendar with a PC, this phone and its size are probably overkill.

I upgraded from a Motorola RAZR and the utility of this handset is superior to that one in almost every way except size. Much like any higher-end Nokia the reception and sound/voice quality are excellent. The Symbian s60 operating system allows you to install any number of applications to suit your needs including advanced email applications, GPS navigation, web browsers, games etc. The menus are very responsive and switching between running applications is quite easy. Nokia also provides their Nokia PC Suite software for easily synching your contacts and calendar entries either through the provided USB cable or over a bluetooth connection should your computer support it. I've done all of this in the first two days that I've had the phone. Additionally Nokia's contact system is far superior to that of Motorola, collapsing all information for an individual into a single phone-book entry. On a Motorla every phone number, email address and other bits of information are in separate phone book entries which can make for quite a mess. Another great feature Nokia offers on this phone (as on many of their phones) is the ability to LOCK and UNLOCK the keyboard with two simple keypresses. This is quite useful if you tend to throw your phone into a book bag or pocket where you might accidentally call someone. If you are too lazy to take this simple precaution PLEASE DON'T BLAME THE PHONE! The camera takes adequate pictures in good lighting for a CELL PHONE. These are not images that you will blow up and hang on your wall but simply images that will successfully capture the moment, whatever it happens to be. It will not replace a competent digital camera, and phones on the horizon will offer better images. With an increased size DV RS-MMC the available memory for photos, applications, music and other files can be (at this time) increased to 1GB - I won't carry my flash MP3 player much any longer.

What the phone does it does very well so I give it 4.5/5 when compared with the other options available today that work on U.S. GSM carriers' bands (850/1900). I didn't give the phone 5 stars due to:
- the buttons are too close together, particularly the 2 which is just below the navigational button - I'll get used to this.
- the on-board RAM is a bit too small and can result in out of memory errors when using Opera's browser.
- the camera lens slide cover feels a bit flimsy and will require some caution to keep from breaking.
- picture quality could always be improved.

Phone Nokia N73 Unlocked Smartphone with 3.2 MP Camera, 3G, MP3/Video Player, MiniSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)

2009-05-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I bought my N73 few months ago, fist time I got it and turned it on, it took forever to start, I thougt ok maybe it is because it was the fist time, but I was wrong, every time I turn my phone I have to wait about 4 minutes, the phone is very slow, and if you add applications to it, it gets slower... And it is not just my phone because my cousin owns one and it is the same!!!! Too slow!!! Love its functionality but I am a bit dissappointed!!!

Phone Nokia N95-3 Silver/Bronze Phone (Unlocked) North American Version

2009-05-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This is an amazing...digital camera....video recorder....GPS....portable internet browser....music player....and Oh it's a cell phone too! This phone does a lot of things and does most of them very well. My wife has joked with me, I needed a Nokia pHD to use this phone. The manual is thick, and you pretty much need to read it to learn how to use this phone. The funny part on this phone, there's a ton of pages on applications, the cameras, the browser, the GPS, the music player, and the excellent contact management. But there's nothing, absolutely nothing in it on how to use predictive text... what a strange thing left out.

I've used this phone for over a month now and really do love it. The 3G connection is fantastic, it works fabulously well and very fast. WiFi is simple fast and easy to use. There's actually 3 different GPS programs, frankly the Yahoo maps one works and looks the best. Pictures are sharp, easy to take, excellent. The videos are very nice, good solid large on a computer with no pixellation. The browser works amazingly well. The music player is just wonderful.

So what's not to like?
1) It's not intuitive to use. On the GPS, to get the GPS to follow along on the map, you have to press the 0 key. That would be a function not documented anywhere. I still can't figure out why my pictures and videos are stored in the Image Gallery, and the videos I download are stored in the Video Center. Menus are buried in funny places. I can't figure out how to quickly change the ring volume, or silence it. The volume key seems to have a mind of it's own, sometimes it changes the volume in the application, sometimes it does nothing.
2) The camera - overall very good. Well no spectacular for a cell phone. It is slow to start up, it's slow to actually focus, and once you've taken a picture, it's kind of slow to be ready to take another picture. The flash - well it is effective from about 6 inches to maybe 2 or 3 feet. But, I have a 5 MegaPixel camera in my pocket all the time. That's something amazing.
3) The GPS - it's needlessly complex. Like I said there are actually 3 applications to use the GPS. Nokia Maps, an application that takes an eternity to start up. Middling performance. A Maps function buried deep in a menu someplace - it's sort of you on a map with not much else to offer. And then Yahoo Maps - this is well near incredible. Satellite imagery on a moving map, so how cool is that. Navagation is not bad with Yahoo and Nokia Maps. I tried the 3 day (get that 3 days only) trial of voice navagation, definately not worth the price. In a pinch, this thing works rather well. Oh, satellite connection, it takes a very long time. Relax.
4) The music player. When you use audiophile grade headphones (shure e3c), there is a definate hiss in the background. I've actually never heard this in any device before - iPod, portable DVD players, tape players, CD players. It just basically sounds like they used a very cheap op amp to power the headphone jack. Otherwise the player works very well. It's like all the others out there.
5) Syncing or moving things from a computer to the phone. You cannot just drop images, sound files, videos, etc. into the proper directory on the MicroSD card. The software actually has to insert it, otherwise you never see any of those files. PC Suite works just fine. But it's not exactly computer savvy friendly at all. LifeBlog is just plain weird. It records everything you do, pictures and videos taken, text messages sent, etc. and then puts those on a timeline on your computer. Be aware, the files get stored with a serial number, and they are very hard to figure outside LifeBlog. It's all very strange.

So the good stuff - it's a solid phone. Sound on phone calls is excellent. The phone book is just outstanding. The screen is gorgeous. You can actually read the screen in bright direct sunlight. I love reading the New York Times on this phone. The browser is wonderful. The number pad is perfect even with my large hands. Very quickly I got used to the navagation buttons - direction, select, back/cancel, accept... all work really well. It's a dream.

Phone Nokia N95 Unlocked Cell with 5 MP Camera, International 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with Warranty

2009-05-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

My take on some of the features:

Camera - It takes two seconds to load up, two seconds to focus, and two seconds to see the photos on the screen after a shot is taken, which hardly qualifies for a point-and-shoot. Overall picture quality is dependant on the environment where the photo is taken. If the surrounding is well-lit, photos look impressive. But, in a relatively dark environment, photos look pretty awful.

Media Playback - I played mp3 tunes and quality was pretty good. Obviously it doesn't sound as good as dedicated mp3 players like my iPod, but I think the quality is more than acceptable. But, I noticed that there was some noise in the background. This is especially noticeable when I was listening to my music in a quiet environment. Video playback is pretty decent too and the screen size was large enough to allow me to watch my recorded tv show comfortably.

Battery - I know a lot of people moan about N95's short battery life. But, I thought it was pretty decent considering all the features this phone offers. The first day I got this phone, I listened to music for about half an hour while commuting, browsed Google map to get directions, check news online for about half an hour, took about twenty photo shots, talked on the phone for about half an hour, and I still had several bars of the battery left. As long as you don't overuse WiFi or GPS, you should be fine with everyday charges.

GPS - This is my least favorite feature in the phone. It is simply too slow to lock down the location. I find myself using Google map (for mobile) more often than this feature.

Design - It is passable, but certainly does not look like a $700 cell phone (since it won't attract others, is this a good thing?) One thing that bothers me the most is the front slider. It is wobbly, so whenever I press a button it makes that 'click' sound. You do get used to it after a couple of days, and there is a DIY way of fixing this (available on the internet), but I don't think I want to open up my phone and risk breaking my $700 investment!

Conclusion - I was a bit hesitant at first because of the price and the well-known drawbacks discussed above. But if you're a semi - power user like me and wouldn't mind the features being just above average rather than fantastic, you will not regret the purchase.

iPhone or N95? - I pondered waiting for the iPhone, but ultimately decided against because 1) I don't like the idea of using touch screen to make phone calls. These are first and foremost cell phones, so the convenience of making phone calls matters the most to me. 2) iPhone does not have 5mp camera. 3) I do not want to make a two year commitment to AT&T (I like my month-to-month contract with T-Mobile, thank you) and who knows how much it will be if unsubsidized? Also, I don't know when it will be actually available unlocked. 4) I love Apple's simplicity and elegance, but I needed flexibility (of a Symbian based smartphone) and functionality.

Alternatives? - I also considered getting Sony Ericsson's upcoming W960, but I coulnd't wait that long!

Phone Nokia 7390 Unlocked Cell Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, International 3G, Media Player, MicroSD Slot--International Version with Warranty (Pink)

2009-05-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Features

This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel and Sprint.
Tri-band GSM cell phone compatible with 900/1800/1900 frequencies and International 3G compatibility via 2100 UMTS plus EDGE capabilities
3.2-megapixel camera and VGA camera for video calls; expandable via MicroSD memory cards
Bluetooth stereo music; digital audio/video player; FM radio; integrated stereo speakers; organizer
Up to 3 hours of talk time and 220 hours of standby time

Phone Nokia N73 Unlocked Smartphone with 3.2 MP Camera, 3G, MP3/Video Player, MiniSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty

2009-05-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Just received it this week. Replacing my Nokia N90 with this model, the photos are much better (both have optical Carl Zeiss lenses, but this is 3.2 mp vs. 2.0 on the N90). Also, the N73 covers all radio bands, making the reception on my Cingular coverage very very strong everywhere (supposedly two internal antennae). The N90 lacked one of the frequency ranges used by Cingular, so depending on the city I was in, I occasionally had very spotty coverage. The Symbian operating system in the N73 is faster than the older version on the N90, and best of all, it is much more compact than the N90, fits nicely in the palm of my hand and in my jeans pocket. Last, there is a very smooth operating lense cover on the back of the phone, protecting the camera lense (why aren't they all like this?). As usual, the flash isn't the equivalent of even a moderate digital camera, but otherwise I see this phone as the best of both worlds.

Phone Nokia 6126 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera, Media Player, MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black/Silver)

2009-05-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

He Nokia 6126 Pros:
texting on keypad is fast
external screen is bright and large
keys are slightly raised for good tactile feel
Excellent Internal Screen resolution and color depth.
Press button to open
Slim enough to shirt pocket
Reliable on call signal
Music player can be used while multi-tasking other phone operations without slowing down software.
When using headphones with a Nokia adapter, audio quality is very good.
Micro SD slot under back cover, where you don't have to remove the battery.
Pairs well with Bluetooth devices
Fast power up and power down times

Nokia 6126 Cons:
poor placement of exterior, volume - power - camera - rocker buttons, not tactile enough to feel, you have to visually find them most of the times.
Needs a side access for micro SD card
no back light timer adjustment
Battery talk time and standby time is not good.
Navigation speed through menu is just O.K. Faster than Motorola, slower than Samsung.
Speaker phone audio quality is not as good as with other phones. (High frequency audio drop off) Speaker volume is just O.K.
Ear piece volume is slightly low, and needs to be centered just in the right spot over ear canal to hear.
Camera photo quality is not good, (video noise)
Using the low light option seems to reduce video noise at the expense of slow shutter speed.
Still image color is not accurate.
Can't categorize music play lists

Phone Nokia 6101 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)

2009-05-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Got this phone a little over a year ago, and within the first week I knew I didn't like it. It's poorly made, the interface is archaic, and it has literally NO memory for anything but text messages. That was the one good thing about the phone, I could store up to 300 messages at once. The gallery only held about 15 pictures at any given time, and anytime someone sent you a picture, you'd have to delete some from your gallery to even view it. The screen went blank in 3 months, and the darn thing had a habit of turning itself off whenever it wanted. I never abused the phone or dropped it any more than the average owner, but from the get go it was just a piece of...

I'd been pleased with every Nokia I'd ever purchased before, so to have such a disappointment in this one was rather shocking. Stay away at all costs.

Phone Nokia 6103 Unlocked Cell Phone with Camera--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)

2009-05-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

If you need a simple phone this is for you. I lost my phone. AT&T wanted $350 for an unlocked Razor. No way that was going to happen. I still had a year on my plan so I needed an unlocked phone. I don't take pictures, text or any of that stuff. I just want to call out and take a few calls when I wish to. Why pay for extra features you do not use. The buttons a good, large and the menu is easy to use. The phone is compact and the sound is great. No issues. I just put in my sim card and went.

Phone Nokia 6010 Unlocked Cell Phone--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver)

2009-05-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I've had my 6010 for years. It just never breaks down, never locks up, never goes wierd. I've fallen back to it several times, once after my blackberry became quirky, and once with an international phone. Originally, I purchased a much more expensive spiffy phone with camera, bells and whistles. I brought it back to exchange for this phone failing to get a clear line. I live in a poor reception area. The sales person said the signal would be better and there would be less hassels. He was right. I can always depend on this little fellow. It doesn't look like much, but I am secure that my calls will happen when I want them to. This is a great back up, no headache phone.

Phone Nokia N95-4 8GB Unlocked Cell Phone with 5 MP Camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, Media Player--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)

2009-05-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I am a Nokia user ever since I started using mobile phones and I also have Nokia N800. After in hyper excitement mode ordering Nokia N95, I am quite disappointed.
1) The browsing in N95 is not quite friendly at all.
2) It doesn't 'just works' So many user tweaks needed on the phone to use its functionalities.
3) After using a iPod Touch and seeing a iPhone, iPhone trumps N95 on ease of use, looks, screen. While N95 is the king in specifications and features, for me I think I would go with iphone as ease of use is one of my main reason.
4) For Techies can put so much into technical settings and installing and finding various applications and N95 is the best choice! (I learnt a bad lesson by buying Nokia N800 which is not 'General User Friendly' at all compared to IPod Touch.

I am not a apple fanboy but after using both Apple Products and Nokia Products, I feel that If I go with Apple I will always have stuff that 'just works' and so intuitive and friendly to use!
I am returning the same and will be going for a iphone!

Update : 3 days after N95 8GB

1) I am feeling that my right side slider has become bit loose. The left side remains perfect while the right one becomes wobbly.
2) An annoying bug in which memory card has to be reformatted as my video recording pauses every 10-15 seconds and continues again. Not able to get continuous recording.

For a 640$ device (which say in mobiles is a very significant investment) these bugs are really annoying and completely unsatisfactory.

Update : One week after N95

Hmm tough one.. There are some items which takes time to get used to it.. kind of 'acquired taste'. I would put N95 into that category. Though it may not 'wow' me like iPhone whenever I touch the phone, the versatility is amazing. The kind of apps available and freedom to used bluetooth keyboard, easy tethering with N800,nice applications to use makes this device a swiss army knife. I have decided to keep it with me albeit tolerating some minor annoyances ("acquired taste" / "undocumented 'features' " ).

**** Update 2 weeks later!

I am liking the phone! Like the feel when pressing the keys! Got used to the phone... Things going pretty smooth. Installed lots of applications without much trouble. Camera quality is pretty good for a mobile phone camera. Volume from music player is great. Though Video player (real player) doesnt support too many formats. Need thirdparty applications.

**** 2 Months Later *****
The Gallery is slow!! Believe me it takes atleast 45 seconds to 2 minutes to load the gallery after you have taken a picture to see a thumbnail of the picture if you have even a modest number say 75 pictures totally!! Completely unacceptable in a 600$ gadget! When I have to show my pictures to someone its like taking whole age just to get a thumbnail while everyone just open their stuff to show the pic!
Sometimes the phone becomes sluggish and needs restart couple of times a week...
There are a lot of nice applications and one can choose as per their needs... The s60 browser sucks a bit and I would recommend opera mini over s60 browser any day!

Overall I am still having some positive view over the phone but the gallery load time alone will make me to think twice before buying the phone again...as I got this as mainly for my mobile camera usage and i cant even see the pictures in my mobile easily without waiting for 2 mintues or so....

There are no other phones with similar tech specifications in terms of hardware... but if i have to go over the process again... i may go with iphone 3g for the ease of use and the usablity unless nokia fixes these issues my next purchase wouldnt be a nokia device!

5 Months Later...

The phone is utterly annoying... and unbelievably slow.... just load 50 odd photos and it takes for ever to open the gallery... frequent reboots.... slow hang-ups... I have wasted my money.... I am giving this phone to my dad.. I just want to get rid of this phone....

LG Xenon GR500 Phone, Blue (AT&T)

2009-05-07T02:05:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

- I wanted a phone a step below a smartphone with cool features... no need for web browsing, navigator or the higher priced data packages.
- small enough to fit in my pocket
- physical qwerty keyboard for tons of texting (the touchscreen qwertys really irritated me so buh-bye iPhone and Samsung Eternity)
- decent camera

I narrowed it down to the LG Xenon and the Samsung Impression. They are both great and are almost identical in looks and features. The Xenon won for two reasons: the price on amazon at the time of purchase (a penny vs. $49) and the size... the Impression is just a tad larger. Also, I've owned many LG phones with Verizon (switched because of no reception at my parent's new home) so I guess I could throw in brand loyalty to that list.

And after five days of ownership, here are some PROS: great battery life, very intuitive, responsive and bright touchscreen, memory slot is easily accessible on the side, three tabs on the homepage to organize/group your favorite contacts(very useful!), the camera (with flash) is AWESOME even at just 2MP, the huge and rubbery qwerty keyboard and I actually like the blue "xenon" color. And judging from the LG phones I've owned in the past, this phone should be very durable and reliable.

CONS: the speakerphone is horrible for both the talker and the listener (kind of a shocker because all my past LG phones had great speakerphones) and I'd like it if the slider were a bit more resistant (now I'm just nitpicking).

Overall a great phone!

LG Dare VX9700 Phone, Silver (Verizon Wireless)

2009-05-07T02:01:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Ok, I don't have time for a full detailed review but I'll try to cover the basics. This phone is awesome, I bought it the day it came out after looking at the Voyager and the Glyde and reading several reviews for months on all the different touchscreen phones. This thing looks far better than both and the features are much better as well.

The screen is 3 inches, slightly smaller than the Instinct and Iphone but its bigger than the Voyager and Glyde. Trust me, it's a good size. When you turn the phone from vertical to horizontal while looking at pictues or the internet the screen will automatically rotate with it, much like the iphone, which is cool! I didn't like the white un-organized main menu that you see in all the pictures of the phone but you can change it to an organized black one more like the iphone which looks a lot better if you think the white one doesn't look so great.

The camera is much better than anything I've seen on a phone and you can edit and draw on any of your saved pics and then save it. The camera button is in the exact spot where it would be on a digital camera and you can even hold the button half way down to focus just like any digital camera. The headphone port allows you to use any headphones without a stupid adapter that you're never going to carry around.

The onboard QWERTY keyboard works pretty good, I have no complaints but I do hit the wrong key every now and then (I've never had a QWERTY before this phone). The Voyager's actual keyboard may be more user friendly but this one works well and is very convenient.

My buddy got the Samsung Instinct, which is supposed to be the Sprint Iphone, two days before I got the Dare. We compared them for over an hour (while sitting in a bar) and he was definitely upset with some of the features mine had. Camera was much better, bluetooth syncing was better, keyboard options were better.

Lastly, if you were thinking about the Voyager or Glyde, I would definitely go with the Dare. I saw a guy with the Voyager the other day and I almost laughed at him. The Dare is smaller and thinner with a bigger screen and its better looking. You really can't go wrong with the DARE!

Samsung Impression A877 Phone, Blue (AT&T)

2009-05-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

I shopped for over a year before deciding on this phone but had to give it 4 stars because of the weak battery.

I am very happy with the features, but the battery is almost fully drained by only about 2 hours of web browsing or music/video playing. If a high-capacity battery becomes available, I'll get it even if it means the back of the phone bulges out.

Without using the media features, the battery lasts as advertised.

If you are concerned about cell phone radiation, this one of the *BEST* phones availble. Head exposures are all well below 0.5 while Blackberry, Apple, etc. cook your brain with 4-5 _times_ more radiation.

SAR ratings from the Impression User Manual:

GSM 850:
* Head: 0.277 W/Kg.
* Body-worn: 0.916 W/Kg.
GSM 1900:
* Head: 0.147 W/Kg.
* Body-worn: 0.547 W/Kg.
WCDMA 850:
* Head: 0.195 W/Kg.
* Body-worn: 0.384 W/Kg.
WCDMA 1900:
* Head: 0.349 W/Kg.
* Body-worn: 0.833 W/Kg.

Other notes:

Even with low SAR numbers, I've had excellent reception so far.

Phone is very stable to hold when the keypad is out, but is slippery and can easily be dropped while deploying the keypad. If a silicone case becomes available, I'll get it.

Does not have a 3.5 mm headphone jack but an adapter is available for about $10. Using the cheap headphones that came with my first generation Zune, this phone produces some of the best sound I've ever heard from a music player.

The CPU seems more than adequate for all applications, but it can heat up (the back of the case near the camera gets warm) and that probably accounts for the fast battery drain.

Despite the 400x240 resolution, video is only supported at 320x240 or lower.

Screen is bright with excellent contrast and color even at the dimmest setting.

Samsung Eternity a867 Phone, Black (AT&T)

2009-05-06T01:50:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

This is a really neat little device; the QWERTY keyboard is really good and it makes an excellent messaging device, but the lack of voice dial and speed dial *greatly* diminish the usefulness of this device as a phone. The old "phonebook index + #" trick is pretty useless since it only works with numbers stored on your SIM, and there's no way to know which number is at what index. On top of that, if you were to store your numbers on your SIM so you can use the really crude "speed dialing" others have alluded too, it doesn't store your entries as it does in the phone's memory, so the messaging features don't integrate well. What was Samsung thinking???? (My guess is that Samsung was asked by AT&T to specifically disable voice and speed dial functions to force customers to use AT&T fee-based voicedial feature.)

As it stands, this phone is downright DANGEROUS to use in the car. Sure you can use a bluetooth handsfree kit to receive calls, but to initiate a call you have to fumble through multiple menu selections to find the number you want, then initiate the call manually. While the device may have some neat new functions previously not available in non-smartphones, as a phone, it's just very cumbersome.

Other dislikes include:
- The nifty little widget bar can't be customized beyond disabling the standard widgets.
- No way to quick dial. This kinda falls in the "no speed or voice dial" complaint. There's simply too many steps to initiate a call. It's a real PAIN! My 2-year old Razor is light years ahead of this thing in terms of PHONE useability.
- I don't like the way it automatically locks the touch screen once a call is established. Makes more enabling the speakerphone more cumbersome.

On the plus side, the touchscreen implementation is very good. The QWERTY keyboard is really nice, and is the only reason I'm even keeping this phone. I just hate messaging using the standard phone keypad that much. Battery life is good, call quality is good, the Music Player works good. All that's needed to make this a top-notch phone is for Samsung to implement the basic functions that have been available for years on just about every phone out there.

Sprint Blackberry 8130 Pearl Cell Phone Brand New in Box No Contract Required

2009-05-05T01:40:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Description

NFL Mobile Live Listen to live audio broadcasts of every regular season game and watch the live broadcasts of all NFL Network games. Get real-time red zone alerts, scores, stats, live NFL Network 24/7 and more. Manage your fantasy football team like a pro with up-to-the-minute insights, analysis, stats and alerts. How to Access: Text "NFL" to 7777* on your Sprint phone to download a full version of the application or download NFL Mobile Live from Sprint Digital LoungeSM. *Standard text messaging and data rates apply. SureType® keypad Enhanced predictive text typing technology. Quickly and accurately dial or type. Trackball Navigation Centered on the front of the device for easy maneuvering for right or left handers. External Micro SD Card slot Increase memory with MicroSD card for work files, media files, and more. 2MP Camera - 5x zoom, enhanced flash Take Pictures - Just snap and share it right away via email. Capture videos and enjoy watching them on the high resolution display. Stereo Bluetooth Pair up any Bluetooth stereo accessory. Media Player Download and play music, videos, audio files, pictures and ring tones. 3.5mm Jack Stereo headset with microphone and mute switch included GPS Assisted, autonomous, simultaneous. Supports Sprint Navigation, BlackBerry Maps & other GPS applications. BlackBerry Maps View maps and driving directions. Email maps to other BlackBerry users and launch maps from your address book. Voice Notes Make a voice note and send as an email .wmv file attachment. Voice Command and Voice Activated Dialing Speak commands to look up contacts, place calls and get key information. Speakerphone Easy hands free operation. Phone as Modem Capable Use the included USB cable to connect to laptops for a wireless modem, or choose to run this capability via Bluetooth with no USB cable requirement. Mobile Broadband Capable EV-DO Sprint speed for the fastest BlackBerry Pearl Smartphone available

I bought the cell phone with all the services for a blackberry. I'm not using this cell phone in Tmobile service and I cann't conect to internet because is block by tmobile

Sprint Blackberry 8830 Cell Phone Brand New in Box No Contract Required

2009-05-05T01:30:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

The 8830 offers a truckload of features without overwhelming the user and it can be easily customized to fit its owner's needs. It is a very good email device and it performs well as a phone and mobile Web browser.

Before the Bold I used to carry a fully-loaded (just kidding) Blackberry 88x0. It was one of the smartest smartphones at the time it was launched and it's not too shabby these days either. One of my kids, actually, just got an 8830 and I would be very happy with it myself if I didn't have to carry the company-issued Bold.

Briefly about the Blackberry 8830:

- It was originally launched as a Verizon device but it's now available from other carriers as well, such as Sprint.
- Unlike most of its predecessors it's actually 'black' in color or it could be silver for Verizon's 'World Edition' issue.
- Has pretty good bandwidth for emails and voice but.
- Good QWERTY keyboard - it's a FULL keyboard, great for texting or emails.
- Unlike the 8820 series it does NOT support Wi-Fi.
- Supports Bluetooth.
- Comes with a working Web browser and it accepts third-party such as Opera.
- Allows for downloading third-party apps and I had Facebook, Yahoo!Go, Gmail, GoogleTalk and Opera downloaded and performing well on it.
- Many applets are preloaded: scheduler/calendar, contacts list, BlackBerry Messenger, Bricks, Calculator, Notepad and so on.
- Plays downloaded videos, music and stores photos.
- NO CAMERA
- The phone can use the address book info for dialing.
- Of course, it integrates well with a corporate messaging infrastructure and it works well with Microsoft Exchange/Outlook.
- Practical battery life - about 2 days, 3-4 if not used a lot.
- Charges through the USB port.
- Elegant design.
- Bright, color screen.
- Speaker.
- Easy navigation with the ergonomically-placed track ball.
- Excellent customization: ring tones, alarms, custom folders, themes and so on.
- Solid build - ours is almost 3 years old and it looks and feels as good as new.

All I can say is that, if my boss told me that I had to surrender the Bold and get an 8830, I would not mind too much.

Blackberry Pearl 8110 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, GPS, MicroSD Slot, Digital Media Player--U.S. Version with Warranty (Titanium)

2009-05-04T01:24:00.000-07:00

Buy this product from Amazon.com

Product Features

This unlocked cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile. Not all carrier features may be supported. It will not work with CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless, Alltel and Sprint.
Quad-band GSM cell phone compatible with 850/900/1800/1900 frequencies and GPRS/EDGE data capabilities
Slim, powerful Blackberry messaging phone with SureType hybrid numeric/QWERTY keypad; GPS for turn-by-turn navigation
Push email delivery from up to 10 email accounts (personal and corporate); 2.0-megapixel camera with video capture; MicroSD expansion; Bluetooth stereo music
Up to 3.5 hours of talk time, up to 240 hours (10 days) of standby time