WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900, 360 min, With digital camera / digital player, 4.3 oz
THE GOOD
The RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700 boasts a sleeker design that includes an optical trackpad, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a brilliant display. The smartphone is 3G capable and offers Wi-Fi with UMA support, Bluetooth, and GPS. It also gets a faster processor and updates to BlackBerry OS 5.0.
THE BAD
The BlackBerry browser doesn't compare to the competition. The handset's compact size results in a smaller display and keyboard, but they aren't deal-breakers.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700 brings T-Mobile its first 3G BlackBerry and improves on its predecessor with a sleeker design and more power. We only wish it had a better browser to complete the package.
CDMA2000 1X 1900/800, 385 min, With digital camera / digital player, 6 oz
THE GOOD
The Motorola Droid boasts a gorgeous display and the benefits of Android 2.0, including a faster Web browser, Google Maps Navigation app, and better messaging and contact management. It also offers excellent call quality, long talk time, and improved speed over previous Android devices.
THE BAD
The QWERTY keyboard feels flat and the dialpad control is restricted to the home screen. Music and video capabilities still trail behind the competition. Dual-mode functionality for world-roaming capabilities would have been a nice addition.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Some minor design issues and multimedia quibbles aside, the Motorola Droid is the most powerful and fastest Google Android device to date. It fully embraces the openness of the Android platform and offers Verizon customers a smartphone that certainly rivals the other touch-screen devices on the market.
CDMA2000 1X 1900/800, Up to 214 min, With digital camera, 4.2 oz
THE GOOD
The HTC Droid Eris offers a slim design, plentiful features, and satisfying performance. It also has pinch and zoom multitouch.
THE BAD
The HTC Droid Eris has mixed multimedia quality. It comes only with the Android 1.5 OS, there's no file manager, and internal performance was occasionally sluggish.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Though performance wasn't completely top-notch and we would prefer a more recent Android OS version, the HTC Droid Eris is a satisfying Android device that offers a nice contrast to the Motorola Droid. And you can't beat the price.
Up to 510 min (GSM), Up to 390 min (WCDMA), With digital camera / digital player
THE GOOD
The HTC Tilt2 ships with Windows Mobile 6.5 out of the box and offers excellent call quality. The smartphone features a spacious QWERTY keyboard and bright touch screen.
THE BAD
The Tilt2 is bulky and expensive. It lacks a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Delivering an improved design and updated operating system, the HTC Tilt2 is a worthy upgrade and offers AT&T's business customers a powerful smartphone.
CDMA 800, 300 min, With digital camera / digital player, 3.6 oz
THE GOOD
The Samsung Caliber is slim and lightweight with an attractive display. It has plenty of features like a built-in accelerometer, a 3.0-megapixel camera, and a full HTML browser. It also has great call quality.
THE BAD
The Samsung Caliber lacks Wi-Fi, and the touch screen takes some acclimation.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Samsung Caliber could use some refinements, but it is overall a decent touch-screen multimedia phone for U.S. Cellular.
CDMA 1800/1900 (Dual Band), With digital camera / digital player
THE GOOD
The Verizon Wireless Razzle has a smart and functional swivel design with both QWERTY keyboard and music player controls. We like the ergonomics of the tilted keyboard and the multimedia features, and the price is reasonable.
THE BAD
The Verizon Wireless Razzle doesn't offer over-the-air song downloads, and some of the navigation controls feel a bit cramped. For a music phone, we're disappointed it only has a 2.5mm headset jack. Photo quality wasn't that great either.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Despite a few missteps, the Verizon Wireless Razzle's unique design makes it one of the better midrange phones in Verizon's lineup.
Up to 330 min, With digital camera / digital player, 0.4 lbs
THE GOOD
The Samsung Moment has a bright display with a spacious keyboard. Productivity features are plentiful and call quality is clear.
THE BAD
The Samsung Moment's touch interface and controls were a little sluggish. The camera lacks editing features, call volume could be louder, and speakerphone quality was just average.
THE BOTTOM LINE
With its full keyboard and bright display, the Samsung Moment successfully rounds out Sprint's Android offerings.
GSM 900/1800/1900 (Tri-Band), Up to 240 min, FM radio, 3.9 oz
THE GOOD
The Doro PhoneEasy 410 has a bright display with a large font, a spacious keypad with large digits, text messaging, Bluetooth, basic PIM tools, and an FM radio. It is affordable and has good call quality as well.
THE BAD
The Doro PhoneEasy 410 doesn't have any external display.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Doro PhoneEasy 410 is a basic, easy-to-use phone for seniors and anyone who's new to cell phones.
GSM 900/1800/1900 (Tri-Band), Up to 240 min, FM radio, 3.9 oz
THE GOOD
The Doro PhoneEasy 410 has a bright display with a large font, a spacious keypad with large digits, text messaging, Bluetooth, basic PIM tools, and an FM radio. It is affordable and has good call quality as well.
THE BAD
The Doro PhoneEasy 410 doesn't have any external display.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Doro PhoneEasy 410 is a basic, easy-to-use phone for seniors and anyone who's new to cell phones.
Up to 360 min, With digital camera / digital player, 0.2 lbs
THE GOOD
The Samsung Intrepid ships with Windows Mobile 6.5 and includes Microsoft's Tellme voice-activated service. The world phone features a touch screen, an easy-to-use QWERTY keyboard, and upgraded camera. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G are all onboard.
THE BAD
Keyboard feels a bit cheap. The smartphone has a lower resolution screen than competitors.
THE BOTTOM LINE
While not the flashiest smartphone on the block, the Samsung Intrepid offers Sprint customers an affordable and solid messaging world phone.
GSM 900/1800/1900 (Tri-Band), Up to 180 min, FM radio, 3.5 oz
THE GOOD
The Doro PhoneEasy 345 has a bright legible display, a large display font, a roomy keypad with big keys, a flashlight, text messaging, Bluetooth, and an FM radio. It has great call quality as well.
THE BAD
The Doro PhoneEasy345 has a low-resolution display and a rather staid design.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Doro PhoneEasy 345 is an easy-to-use and affordable choice for seniors, and it boasts a few unexpected goodies, too.
GSM 900/1800/1900 (Tri-Band), Up to 180 min, FM radio, 3.5 oz
THE GOOD
The Doro PhoneEasy 345 has a bright legible display, a large display font, a roomy keypad with big keys, a flashlight, text messaging, Bluetooth, and an FM radio. It has great call quality as well.
THE BAD
The Doro PhoneEasy345 has a low-resolution display and a rather staid design.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Doro PhoneEasy 345 is an easy-to-use and affordable choice for seniors, and it boasts a few unexpected goodies, too.
The Palm Pixi features a remarkably thin design and an improved QWERTY keyboard. An updated OS brings Yahoo integration as well as enhanced messaging features. It also offers Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G support.
THE BAD
Lacks Wi-Fi. The smartphone can be sluggish and battery can drain quickly. The camera's picture quality is subpar and still lacks video recording and editing options.
THE BOTTOM LINE
While not as powerful as the Pre, the Palm Pixi offers first-time smartphone buyers a decent set of features in a sleek little package. However, to be really competitive, we think it needs to come down in price just a touch.
GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband ) / HSDPA 900/2100 (Dual Band), With digital camera / digital player / FM radio, 119 g
THE GOOD
The Samsung Blue Earth has a stylish design and a functional midrange feature set. Green fans will appreciate the solar panels that charge the phone.
THE BAD
The Samsung Blue Earth's small display feels rather crowded. It lacks a full keyboard and call quality isn't top-notch.
THE BOTTOM LINE
With its eco-friendly design and spiffy solar panels, the Samsung Blue Earth is more than just a gimmick; it's also an appealing cell phone with character.
Sony Ericsson Equinox TM717 - carbon black (T-Mobile)
EDITORS RATING
6.7
SPECS
WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900, Up to 600 min, With digital camera / digital player / FM radio, 3.4 oz
THE GOOD
The Sony Ericsson Equinox TM717 has a bright display, multimedia features, and decent call quality.
THE BAD
The Sony Ericsson Equinox TM717's external display and controls aren't easy to use. We continue to push Sony Ericsson to abandon proprietary ports and memory cards. Speakerphone quality is average.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Sony Ericsson Equinox TM717 has potential, but its multimedia features are undermined by design missteps and a subpar speakerphone.
TwitterPeek Mobile Tweeting Device with Lifetime Service Included (Gray)
EDITORS RATING
3.0
SPECS
3.8 oz
THE GOOD
The Twitter Peek is slim, lightweight, and has a handy jog dial on the side for scrolling. You can do almost everything on this that you can do on the Twitter Web site. We also like the feel of the QWERTY keyboard.
THE BAD
The Twitter Peek does not display full 140-character messages on the home screen, links in tweets lead to badly rendered text-only Web pages, you can only view images from TwitPic and no other Twitter photo service, you can't have multiple Twitter accounts on it, it can take a long time to load new tweets, and it doesn't load all the missed tweets between when it's powered off and back on. It is also far too expensive for what it does.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Twitter Peek does not deliver a positive Twitter experience, which is especially disappointing because that is its only purpose.
TwitterPeek Mobile Tweeting Device with Lifetime Service Included (Aqua)
EDITORS RATING
3.0
SPECS
3.8 oz
THE GOOD
The Twitter Peek is slim, lightweight, and has a handy jog dial on the side for scrolling. You can do almost everything on this that you can do on the Twitter Web site. We also like the feel of the QWERTY keyboard.
THE BAD
The Twitter Peek does not display full 140-character messages on the home screen, links in tweets lead to badly rendered text-only Web pages, you can only view images from TwitPic and no other Twitter photo service, you can't have multiple Twitter accounts on it, it can take a long time to load new tweets, and it doesn't load all the missed tweets between when it's powered off and back on. It is also far too expensive for what it does.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Twitter Peek does not deliver a positive Twitter experience, which is especially disappointing because that is its only purpose.
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