Latest In-Depth Expert Cell Phone Reviews

HTC Touch-Diamond

What’s Good: Stunning hardware design and elegant software user interface; front panel is subdued, intuitive and refined; display is bright and sharp with excellent contrast; sensitive touch-screen; amazing orientation and localized haptic feedback capabilities; secondary camera for video calls; easy internet connection sharing; glorious font rendition. What’s Not Good: Stylus is a virtual requirement for accessing certain parts of the user...

LG Dare

What’s Good: Attractive, highly customizable UI with home screen shortcuts; Compact design with high-res touchscreen; HTML Web browser and Email app with EV-DO Rev A support; VCAST Music and Video Support; Rhapsody streaming music support; 3.2 MP camera with flash and VGA video capture; 3.5mm headphone jack; Accelerometer and proximity sensor What’s Not Good: “Full HTML” Web browser is mildly disappointing; Touchscreen can take a bit of...

Samsung Instinct-M800

What’s Good: Supports every feature Sprint offers; EV-DO Rev. A data speeds; Good touchscreen response; Bright, clear display; Excellent GPS/navigation and voice command features; Good visual voicemail feature; 3.5mm headphone jack and stereo Bluetooth; Second battery included in packaging; Excellent value at $129 retail price What’s Not Good: “Full HTML” Web browser is disappointing; No IM support; No calendar synching; No support for...

LG enV2

What’s Good: Sleeker and smaller than the original EnV. Comfortable QWERTY keyboard and QVGA internal display make texting fun. Huge external keypad makes dialing easy. VCAST music and video support. Support for laptop tethering (phone as modem). What’s Not Good: External keypad makes the phone look like a retro calculator, although I suppose that could be seen as a good thing. Space bar is small and oddly placed. Verizon’s menu system...

Motorola Z9

What’s Good: Great voice quality; fast 3G data speeds; good GPS system; mobiTV compatibility; sleek, attractive design; clean menus and UI; solid build; easy to hold and use What’s Not Good: Rather large for a sliderphone; some may not like tiny buttons; heavy Bottom Line: MOTO’s Z9 is a top-notch featurephone that provides access to nearly all of AT&T’s data and multimedia services in an attractive form factor. The phone is rather large...

Samsung Glyde

What’s Good: Touchscreen and Full QWERTY Keyboard in Compact Body; Clean Menus and “Croix” User Interface; 2MP Camera with Autofocus and Flash; GPS with VZ Navigator; Full HTML Browser; Good Sound Quality What’s Not Good: Touchscreen Can Be Difficult to Use, Especially Around Edges and Using Web Browser; Slightly Thick Profile; No D-Pad Bottom Line: Samsung shrunk the F700 down to a cool, compact size in making the Glyde. The slide-out...

Nokia N82

What’s Good: Incredible Camera w/Xenon Flash; Full VGA Video Capture; Excellent Web Browser; WiFi; Extendable Operating System; 3.5mm Headphone Jack What’s Not Good: Cheap-Feeling and Plasticky; Small Keys; Music File Sort Issues; S60 OS Too Complex for Average User; Device is Bulky; Very Expensive Bottom Line: Nokia’s N82 may be the best camera phone on the market right now, but it’s a bulky, complicated, expensive device for geeks and...

BlackBerry Pearl-8120 Titanium

What’s Good: Integrated WiFi for Web, Email, and HotSpot@Home UMA Calling; Trackball is easy to use; Integrated IM Clients; Second-to-None Push Email; 2MP Camera with Flash; 3.5 mm Headphone Jack; Compact Size What’s Not Good: OS Menus and Fonts Remind me of 1989; SureType QWERTY board will be too small for some; Video capture quality is mediocre Bottom Line: T-Mobile’s new Pearl takes a good thing and makes it better by way of integrated...

LG Venus

What’s Good: Beautiful display; Context-sensitive menus; Extensive feature set; VZ Navigation works very well What’s Not Good: Half a touchscreen sometimes feels gimmicky and frustrating; Touch controls sometimes unresponsive; Poor voice quality with unacceptable hiss on some calls; Somewhat bulky overall Bottom Line: Venus’ half-touch/half-not display is an interesting idea that ultimately frustrated me more than it charmed me.  The...

Nokia N810 Silver

What’s Good: Stylish, compact design with large touchscreen and full QWERTY keyboard; Excellent build quality; Extendable Linux-based operating system backed by Nokia-supported developer community; Ships with Skype and Rhapsody clients installed; Excellent Web browser supports Web 2.0 technologies; WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity; Great for mobile bloggers, early adopters/would-be hackers, and Linux fans What’s Not Good: Touchscreen isn’t...

LG Rumor White

What’s Good: Compact, rugged design with full QWERTY keyboard; Easy to use; Auto-rotating display; Good SMS, IM, and Email integration What’s Not Good: Limited functionality beyond voice calling and messaging; No Power Vision access makes for slow Web browsing; Reports of laggy software and keyboard issues (I encountered none); Weak camera Bottom Line: Rumor is a basic candy bar phone with a focus on messaging, and in this regard it really...

Samsung Mysto

What’s Good: All kinds of multimedia, Web, and location-based features; Super slim profile; Speedy EV-DO access; GPS; 106MB Internal Memory What’s Not Good: Touch sensitive controls are very finicky; End key in an odd place; Call quality only so-so; Camera not as good as original U600 Bottom Line: Samsung brings their Ultra U600 sliderphone to the US in the form of the Helio Mysto.  While Mysto’s thin profile is sexy and Helio’s myriad...

Palm Centro Onyx Red

What’s Good: Full-featured, easy to use smartphone for entry-level price; Clear, bright, high-resolution touchscreen; Compact body with rounded edges; Zippy EV-DO data with access to Sprint TV service; A-GPS works with location-based services What’s Not Good: QWERTY keys are small and cramped; Display is smallish (if still easy to read); Hardware and software design feels a bit dated; Noticeably thicker than comparable devices; No Music Store...

BlackBerry Curve-8320 Pale Gold

What’s Good: Excellent QWERTY keypad; WiFi for Email/Web and UMA voice calling; Legendary push Email system; Trackball navigation; Media player with 3.5mm headphone jack.What’s Not Good: No 3G data; No GPS; Web browser not on par with best smartphones; Memory card hidden behind battery. Bottom Line: T-Mobile’s version of the Curve is one of the best smartphones around.  It lacks high speed data access data but adds WiFi for data access and...

Samsung Beat-SGH-T539

What’s Good: Compact, solid flip phone with front-mounted music controls/speaker, stereo Bluetooth support and straightforward music player; Includes 1GB memory card; Good IM support; Inexpensive. What’s Not Good: Signal strength issues; Low-res display and less-than-pretty UI; Wired headphones require use of proprietary adapter. Bottom Line: Beat is a simple flip with a pretty good music player and low price tag. The phone’s design...

Samsung Blackjack-2-SGH-617 Black

At a Glance: What’s Good: Compact, stylish Windows Mobile 6 smartphone; HSDPA (3G) high speed data; Improved battery life; GPS; Center mounted jog wheel What’s Not Good: QWERTY keys are a little small and a little slippery; No touchscreen; Display is smallish for a smartphone Bottom Line: Blackjack II is a solid improvement over its predecessor.  There’s nothing revolutionary here, but faster hardware, improved battery life, and...

HTC Shadow

What is Good: Shadow is a sleek slider with a custom interface and jog dial that make it easier to use than the average Windows Mobile smartphone.  The SureType keypad fits a QWERTY layout into the space of a regular numerical keypad but has larger buttons than the BlackBerry Pearl or Samsung Blast.  Built-in WiFi and myFaves compatibility. What's Not Good: Not everyone will like Shadow’s keypad.  Wider than most slider...

Motorola Q9m

I first glimpsed the successor to the MOTO Q back at CTIA Orlando in April of this year. A Motorola executive seated next to me at a Smartphone Summit panel discussion pulled a pre-production Q9 from his packet and used it to check his email while I tried to sneak a look. Eventually he noticed, and after I introduced myself he let me check the device out. I remember being impressed by the new Q's QWERTY thumbboard - the layout and individual...

Samsung SCH-U470-Juke Red

The Samsung Juke for Verizon is a cool little phone that makes calls, plays music, and tucks away almost unnoticed in a pocket or purse.  Featuring two gigabytes of built-in storage, a front-mounted scroll wheel for navigating through your music library and contacts list, and a unique switchblade design, Juke is small, slick, and easy to use. Samsung and Verizon left a lot out of Juke in order to make it tiny and inexpensive. ...

Samsung Blast-SGH-T729

What T-Mobile might lack in the way of a high speed data network, they more than make up for with service plans and features geared towards families and messaging addicts. Their myFaves plan and Sidekick family of devices have caught on with budget-conscious parents and their SMS-obsessed teenagers alike T-Mobile is working to (finally) roll out their 3G network in 2008, and they've also been working with manufacturers on a fleet of fun...