Palm Centro

The Palm Centro for Sprint is a slick-looking device targeted to first-time smart phone users. It features the same operating system, basic specs, and applications of the Treo 755p but in a smaller form factor. The Centro is very affordable ($99 with two-year contract, after rebates and instant savings) and has enough going for it to entice regular cell phone users to upgrade to something that can keep their life organized while offering e-mail, instant messaging, and Web browsing. The keyboard could be better, but you won't find a better smart phone at this price.


This compact phone (4.2 x 2.1 x 0.7) fits easily in your pocket and is available in two colors: a hip Ruby Red and a more elegant Onyx Black. The touchscreen measures only 2.2 inches, but it has a nice 320 x 320-pixel resolution, which is perfectly fine for the light-on-graphics Palm OS. The phone has a microSD slot on the side but isn't bundled with a miniSD Card. Even though Palm claims the MicroSD slot is external, you still have to remove the phone cover from the back of the phone to get at it. That's annoying.
On the front of the phone just below the screen you'll find a silver bar with the navigation buttons. The Centro comes with a comfortable five-way navigation key, two large answer on and off buttons, and quick-launch keys to access the dialpad, main menu, calendar, and e-mail. On the side you'll find the up and down volume buttons and a programmable key.

The stylus is a bit flimsy, and the backlit QWERTY keyboard is disappointing. Although the keys are raised and rubbery, they're too tiny for average fingers. A teen or someone with narrow fingers will likely manage with it, but the target soccer mom or average first-time smart phone adult user won't feel very comfortable typing on it until they get used to the layout.

Despite Palm's target market, the Centro isn't any easier to use than the 755p, since it runs on the same OS. In fact, the Centro comes with a couple more apps instead of fewer. But it's still easier to use than Windows Mobile-based and Symbian-based smart phones, which have steep learning curves. The Centro comes with the usual Calendar, E-mail, and Contacts applications. It also includes the Sprint Mobile Instant Messaging application, which allows you to log into AIM, MSN, or Yahoo Messenger; on our tests, the phone took an average 18 seconds to log into Yahoo Messenger. You also get the latest version DocumentsToGo Professional for viewing and editing Office files.

The 1.3-megapixel camera on the back produced run-of-the-mill pictures with its 2X digital zoom. Video capture is also available, but the low 352 x 288-pixel resolution is nothing to get excited about, On our tests, it performed poorly in dimly lit areas, which is to be expected for a smart phone.

On our Web-browser tests, CNN.com took an average of five seconds to load on the Centro's Blazer browser, making it comparable to other Sprint smart phones that use the carrier's EV-DO network. Downloading a 1.8MB application from Sprint's severs took only 35 seconds, an impressive speed for this category of smart phone.

We love the Google Maps feature, which we also saw in the Treo 755p. You can view street and satellite maps and get directions and traffic reports. Unfortunately, you still can't use location-based services to get live navigation or to pinpoint your location automatically on the map.

The Centro also comes preinstalled with the PocketTunes Deluxe (normally $39.99). This application lets you listen to your favorite MP3s, AAC files, and DRM-protected WMA tracks, which you can download to the 64MB of onboard storage when you sync your phone with your computer or by simply playing the songs stored on your microSD Card. Music playback was good, but the speaker is located on the back of the phone, so don't plan on listening to music with the phone sitting on a table.

Sprint also offers access to Sprint TV, which lets you watch live content and video on demand from the likes of CNN and Comedy Central. The Daily Show clips we watched started out decent but devolved into a pixelated mess.

During our tests, call quality was good, and like other Palm phones, this one requires an adapter to plug in 2.5mm headphones. The adapter is included in the package, but we'd recommend using a Bluetooth headset as a workaround. Stereo Bluetooth isn't an option, which is a bit disappointing.

Battery life is rated at 3.5 hours of talk time and 12.5 days of standby. That's a little shy of what we expect from most phones these days, especially with the 755p managing more than 4 hours of talk time. After talking for 20 minutes, spending two more hours browsing the Web and navigating the device, and then leaving the Centro on standby overnight, we woke up to a device that still had more than half its juice.

Specifications:

Carrier: Sprint Nextel

Form Factor: Candy Bar

Operating System: Palm OS

Fast Data Network: EV-DO

CPU: 312-MHz Intel XScale

Music Player: No

Video: No

GPS: No

FM Radio: No

Display (main): 2.2 inches 320 x 320 pixels/65,000 colors

Talk / Standby Time: 3.5 hours/12.5 days

Size: 4.2 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches

Weight: 4.2 ounces

Samsung Beat SGH-t539

The Samsung Beat is a sleek clamshell with an onboard music player, quad-band GSM/EDGE support, and a 1.3-megapixel camera for a reasonable $99. A music-friendly accessory bundle and external playback controls make the Beat a capable music phone. It also has useful extras, including a Web browser (despite its lack of 3G), instant messaging, and over-the-air contact sync, but the interface could use a lot more polish, and the keypad is tricky for thick fingers. As long as you can live without over-the-air downloads, the Beat is a decent choice.

This handset measures 3.5 x 1.8 x 0.7 inches, and it weighs just 2.7 ounces--small but cheap-feeling. On the outside of the glossy black shell is a 96 x 96-pixel OLED display, as well as iPod-like playback controls ringed by a lime-green speaker. The camera lens (with 4X digital zoom) is just above the screen, but there’s no flash. On the right side is a covered microSD slot for up to 2GB of expandable storage, as well as dedicated camera and music player buttons, the latter doubling as a Hold button. On the left are the proprietary headphone/sync connector (also covered) and volume buttons. The battery compartment on the back is secure but easy to remove.

Inside, the color LCD is bright but low-resolution at 128 x 160 pixels. The keypad is mostly smooth, which makes no-look dialing impossible, and keys are close enough together to stymie large fingers. One nice touch is an assignable shortcut key. The included 1GB microSD card comes loaded with tracks from Anisha Nicole and Natalie Williams, and you get an SD adapter, too. Also in the package is an AC adapter, a USB cable, a 3.5mm headphone adapter with built-in mic and call button, and Samsung’s own phone-friendly earbuds.

Startup time was a respectable 15 seconds, and navigation through the interface was mostly speedy, though we noticed a lag when accessing content on a microSD Card. While the menus are simple enough to navigate, the graphics are about as advanced as an old Atari, and the fonts are blocky. Options are presented clearly but not very attractively. The directional pad and Select button offer precise navigation for the most part, though we did have the occasional misstep because of their small size. On the bright side, there was no noticeable lag between menus or while texting.

Supported music formats include MP3, WMA, AAC, and AAC+--no DRM here. You can transfer files in Windows via Windows Media Player or drag and drop them onto the drive for Mac and Windows systems. Copying a 50 Cent album (about 80MB) to the memory card took nearly three minutes, which is on the slow side; you’re better off using a card reader. The phone works with stereo Bluetooth headphones, but you can also transfer files and print pictures via Bluetooth. Other extras include a world clock, a calendar, a calculator, an alarm, and a stopwatch. The Beat also does voice dialing and recording, though the former didn’t work so well in our testing. It had a tough time recognizing names that we spoke, succeeding about a quarter of the time. A few basic games come preloaded, but nothing special.

Music sounded very good through Samsung’s earbuds as well as through our own high-end Shure SE420 earbuds (via the adapter), with rich, clear sound marred only by some system noise between tracks. The external speaker is more useful for speakerphone than music listening, since bass was nearly inaudible. The music automatically stops when you receive a call, and it picks back up where it left off when you hang up. Unfortunately, neither the button on the included earbud cable nor the one on the headphone adapter can pause music; they just answer and end calls, but the music stops automatically when a call comes in.

Pictures and videos captured with the Beat looked pretty bad on the screen, so we wouldn’t necessarily bother uploading them wirelessly to my.t-mobile.com for online sharing. Our favorite feature is the ability to sync contacts wirelessly online--even with Outlook--via my.t-mobile.com. Web browsing was reasonably speedy for an EDGE device; CNN’s mobile Web site loaded in about 15 seconds.

The Beat’s call quality was acceptable, but T-Mobile’s reception is quirky. The phone showed four bars of service out of five, yet when we called repeatedly from our Verizon phone, the Beat failed to register the call about half the time. Voices were loud and clear through the included earbuds, and our own voice came through the hands-free mic clearly on our test calls. The Beat’s battery life is rated at about 6 hours of talk time and 360 hours (15 days) for standby, which is about average. For typical use, this phone needs to be charged about every other day; if you use the speaker and music player regularly, you can expect to charge the Beat daily.

If you opt for this phone, don’t expect the attractive speaker on the front to replace your boombox, and be sure to carry a real camera with you if you want to take clear pictures. Other than that--and yesterday’s user interface--this music phone offers a decent music player and some handy Web features that will satisfy bargain hunters.

Specifications:

Carrier:  T-Mobile

Form Factor:  Candy Bar

Fast Data Network:  EDGE

Internal Memory:  28MB

Memory Expansion Type:  miniSD Card

Music Player:  No

Video:  Yes

GPS:  No

FM Radio:  No

Display (main):  128 x 160 pixels/65,000 colors

Display (secondary):  96 x 96 pixels

Talk / Standby Time:  6 hours/15 days

Size:  3.5 x 1.8 x 0.7

Weight:  2.7 ounces

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T-Mobile Dash

Sexiness meets versatility in the T-Mobile Dash ($199 with two-year contract), a compact Windows Mobile smart phone that attempts to one-up both the BlackBerry Pearl, by featuring a full QWERTY keyboard, and the Moto Q, by packing in Wi-Fi. This diminutive device keeps you organized and entertained on the go, but its occasionally sluggish performance and T-Mobile's spotty network coverage prevent us from giving the Dash a top rating.

Designed by HTC, the Dash is one of the sleekest smart phones around. It's nearly as thin as the MOTO Q (0.51 inches versus 0.47 inches) and weighs only 0.1 ounces more (4.2 versus 4.1). More importantly, this device feels better in the hand, thanks to its soft-touch texture and larger four-way navigation button. The keys are packed very tightly together, but they offer excellent tactile feedback. We also like how you can type special characters by just pressing and holding a key, as opposed to using an Alt/key combination.

The Dash boasts a bright, 2.4-inch display with 320 x 240-pixel resolution. It provides more than enough room for looking up contacts, surfing the Web (when Windows Mobile 5.0 doesn't mess up the formatting), and checking e-mail. To the right of the screen are two touch-sensitive volume controls; these take some getting used to but worked fine once we changed the tap speed to Fast.

The left side of the device holds the power button, and on the back side, underneath the cover, is a slot for a microSD Card. At least you don't have to remove the battery to insert a card. The 1.3-megapixel camera lens is located above the battery cover, complete with a tiny self-portrait mirror.

To help you stay connected, this smart phone packs in three wireless radios: GSM/EDGE, Wi-Fi, and stereo Bluetooth. We especially like the Comm Manager utility, which makes it simple to toggle each connection on and off. From this same screen you can also access the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings, activate ActiveSync for syncing with Outlook, turn the ringer on and off, and beam info to other nearby devices. Unlimited data costs $29.99 per month, which inlcudes T-Mobile Hotspot access.

Like other Windows Mobile 5.0 phones, the Dash manages your contacts, calendar, and tasks, but T-Mobile's intuitive setup wizard makes it especially easy to get e-mail wirelessly. Unlike the Moto Q, the Dash lets you enjoy instant messaging out of the box using your choice of AIM, Yahoo, or ICQ. Unfortunately, our experience didn't exactly feel "instant," as it took an average of 25 seconds to sign onto Yahoo and anywhere from 4 to 40 seconds to send and receive messages.

Web browsing wasn't much faster over T-Mobile's EDGE network. It took us about 50 seconds to download the entire New York Times homepage. The BlackBerry Pearl, which rides on the same 2.5G network, is faster because it uses a more efficient Java-based browser. Switching over to Wi-Fi on the Dash helped, but it still took a rather pedestrian 27 seconds for the same page to load.

In fact, the Dash was a little bit sluggish overall. We experienced a number of delays when opening and closing applications, and when we tried to open an e-mail while the device was downloading new messages, the device crashed, forcing us to reset. Some of the blame goes to the relatively pokey 210-MHz TI OMAP processor (compared with the Moto Q's 312-MHz Intel XScale CPU), but the Windows Mobile 5 OS itself also continues to be flaky.

Note that this isn't the more robust Pocket PC version of Windows Mobile, either; it's the Smartphone edition, which means you don't get a bundled Notes application, and you can't edit e-mail attachments. Yes, you can view Office docs with the included ClearVue suite, but it was impossible to see a Word file without zooming in. And even then we couldn't see all of the text within the margins, requiring us to scroll from left to right.

The Dash fares better as an entertainment device. Its Windows Media Player 10 Mobile software allows you to listen to your own MP3s or tunes you've purchased from any online PlaysForSure service. And thanks to its stereo Bluetooth support, we could enjoy our tracks wirelessly using Motorola's HT820 headphones.

The 1.3-MP camera takes pretty sharp pictures for a smart phone, providing plenty of details in shots, even if they were a bit washed out. What makes the Dash stand out as a camera phone is how easy it is to share your shots and low-res video footage; clicking on the envelope icon after you're done recording takes you directly to an MMS or e-mail message prepopulated with your photo or video attachment.

As a phone, the Dash is just adequate. During our tests, it delivered decent volume but only mediocre audio quality. We noticed a slight gurgling on the line during most calls. T-Mobile's network continues to lag behind other carriers when it comes to coverage, but at least the Dash's signal strength wasn't any worse than the BlackBerry Pearl's.

On the plus side, the new MyFaves feature gives you unlimited calling to the five U.S. numbers you call most often, with plans starting at $39.99 per month. You can even customize the Today screen to display the pictures of those five people for easy, one-click dialing.

T-Mobile rates the Dash for five hours of talk time and nine days of standby time. In our tests, this smart phone lasted about a day and a half, but that was with the Dash set to automatically retrieve new e-mails every 15 minutes and with intermittent use of the Wi-Fi connection.

Overall, typing on the Dash is easier than on the BlackBerry Pearl, and the Dash offers faster Web surfing (when you're in a hotspot). However, these perks are nearly outweighed by the phone's less-than-snappy performance.

Specifications:

Carrier:  T-Mobile

Form Factor:  Candy Bar

Operating System:  Windows Mobile OS

Bluetooth Type:  Bluetooth Stereo

Fast Data Network:  EDGE

CPU:  210-MHz TI OMAP

Internal Memory:  64MB RAM, 32MB available for users

Memory Expansion Type:  TransFlash/MicroSD

Music Player:  No

Video:  Yes

GPS:  No

FM Radio:  Yes

Display (main):  2.4 inches (320 x 240 pixels, 65,000 colors)

Talk / Standby Time:  5 hours/9 days

Size:  4.4 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches

Weight:  4.2 ounces

AT&T Tilt

As AT&T's premiere Windows Mobile 6 device and the only phone with a unique angle-up display, the Tilt has a lot to offer power users. The device supports BlackBerry Connect (a first for an AT&T phone), has built-in Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity, and features a sharp 3-MP camera. This do-it-all gadget also doubles as a GPS navigator, just like the BlackBerry 8820. The integration of AT&T's music and video services was a bit lacking on our tests, but overall the Tilt is one sweet smart phone.

Designed To Be Different
The redesign is more than just a novelty.The hefty sliding panel with a 2.8-inch touchscreen display can be used parallel to the QWERTY keypad or slanted upward to a maximum 40-degree angle. This orientation is welcome when surfing the Web and viewing documents, but we found ourselves angling the screen back down to make text messaging and composing e-mail easier. The keyboard layout is spacious and offered decent tactile feedback despite being flat. We also like that the number keys are highlighted in silver for easier dialing. Two poorly placed soft keys above the Tilt's keypad are hard to push because of their proximity to the screen.

HTC moved the phone's Send and End buttons to the top of the navigation pad beneath the screen on the sliding panel (they were on the bottom on the 8525 model). The company also introduced two small dedicated Internet Explorer and messaging keys into the mix. The perimeter of the phone is overloaded with the scroll wheel, the stylus holder, and buttons that turn the device on and off, enable the camera, activate PTT, and select onscreen icons.

Solid E-mail, Surfing, and GPS
Communication is the Tilt's strongest suit. It's the first Windows Mobile device in the U.S. to include BlackBerry Connect software (Version 4.0), enabling wireless calendar and e-mail synchronization, and it supports popular corporate systems such as IBM Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise through the BlackBerry's Enterprise Server. You can access personal e-mail through the BlackBerry Internet Service or by using the Xpress Mail feature and receiving POP3 or IMAP e-mail. Instant messaging on the cellular network was speedy (AIM, Windows Live, and Yahoo clients are on board), but we didn't like that we had to disable the Wi-Fi radio to IM in the office or at home, where the Tilt connected automatically.

Surfing speeds were generally quite good. We tested how long the Tilt took to open CNN.com, Google, and IMDB. Using Wi-Fi, even 50 feet away from the router, the sites opened in just a few seconds, and we moved through those sites swiftly and easily. HSDPA was a little slower depending on the number of bars of reception. With one or two bars, the Tilt took up to 20 seconds to load pages. But in areas of strong reception, pages loaded in five seconds or less.

The built-in TeleNav GPS system is unobtrusive in its design (a little black nub on the back of the phone is presumably where the receiver is) and is a thorough system to have on board when traveling for business. Mapping was accurate and quick, and the TeleNav offers a deep bench of features, including voice guidance and traffic alerts with rerouting. Its more management-focused attributes are base-tracking and travel timesheets. TeleNav GPS Navigator costs between $5.99 (for ten trips) and $9.99 (for unlimited trips), while the TeleNav Track service plans range from $12.99 to $21.99 per month.

Thanks to a reasonably fast 400-MHz dual-core processor and 68MB of program memory, overall application performance was pretty snappy most of the time. We experienced a bit of a lag when toggling among Word Mobile, the TeleNav GPS map, and the Instant Messaging app, and sometimes we'd tap on an icon and have to wait for a response for 10 seconds or more. This was annoying, but it only happened every once in a while.

Multimedia: A Mixed Bag
Admittedly, the Tilt's 240 x 320-pixel screen gave us very high hopes for the device's Cellular Video feature. We managed to get a few uninterrupted seconds of the hourly CNN news digest via RealPlayer, but it looked fuzzy and sounded even worse-as though it were playing underwater. We had better luck with MobiTV2 ($9.99 per month), which offers a full-screen mode. A stream of ESPN looked pretty smooth, and the audio was only slightly out of sync with the video.

AT&T Mobile Music is the device's integrated audio entertainment system and offers users a good selection of song downloads. Billboard sponsors a fee-based service with access to musicians' bios and discographies, but it's little more than a thinly veiled way to sell ringtones at an average $2.99 a pop. XM Radio Mobile, which comes preloaded on the device, is available for $8.99 per month and worked well running over both HSDPA and Wi-Fi.

We experienced lag when we surfed XM's many music channels while simultaneously composing an e-mail. Incoming calls, however, placed the music on hold smoothly and quickly resumed playing upon hangup. However, accessing the Push-To-Talk feature while listening to XM caused the Tilt's screen to stall and go blank for close to a minute. Once again, the Tilt's sound was lackluster, yet XM sounded marginally better than video did. Buyers interested in the device should treat the Tilt's music features as a bonus rather than a selling point.

The built-in three-megapixel camera has superior picture quality and a quick zoom, whereas the identically priced BlackBerry 8820 lacks a camera altogether. You'll also find white-balance settings for the Tilt's video camera and some tacky graphics that you can superimpose onto your photos before snapping them. For video, stationary filming worked far better than shooting while on the move, but the sound was poor and muffled in both cases.

Better than the Competition?
As a phone, the Tilt performed well. Call quality was clear, and calls placed during testing connected quickly and easily. Battery life is rated for 4.5 days of talk time or 8.3 days of standby. We left a fully charged Tilt on over a long weekend, and when we returned, the unit still had three out of four bars of battery life. We were then able to do a good deal of surfing, checking e-mail, and listening to music before having to power back up.

The AT&T Tilt and the new BlackBerry 8820 both have a lot going for them, but users deciding between the two should take a few things into consideration. The Tilt is for those who like their smart phones packed to the gills with multimedia bells and whistles and who need the ability to view and edit Office attachments out of the box. The 8820 is for those looking for a sleeker device that's easy to use, although it doesn't have 3G. Given that the Tilt has BlackBerry's push e-mail functionality, too, this device is a compelling option.

Specifications:

Carrier:  AT&T (formerly Cingular)

Form Factor:  Slider

Operating System:  Windows Mobile OS

Bluetooth Type:  Bluetooth Stereo

Fast Data Network:  HSPDA 

Wi-FI:  N/A

Internal Memory:  256MB ROM; 128MB SDRAM; 4GB MicroSD corporate and personal e-mail support

Memory Expansion Type:  miniSD Card

Music Player:  No

Video:  No

GPS:  No

FM Radio:  No

Display (main):  2.8 inches (240 x 320 pixels), 64,000 colors, tilting/touchscreen

Talk / Standby Time:  4.5 hours/8.3 days

Size:  4.4 x 2.3 x 0.7 inches

Weight:  6 ounces

MOTORIZR Z6tv

When Verizon introduced its V CAST video download service almost three years ago, the deliverable content revolution launched a full-scale sortie on our mobile devices. With the new MOTORIZR Z6tv, Motorola's first U.S. phone to include V CAST Mobile TV, the revolution is not only televised; it's in real time. While viewing and listening quality were impressive, the vastly varying reception gives a whole new meaning to "location-based services." (View Z6tv photo gallery.)

The latest phone in Motorola's RIZR brood, the Z6tv retains the same sturdy slider design as former Z3 and Z6 models and keeps its V CAST music and video download services intact. The phone's sleek finish is classic, albeit pretty smudgy after we held and fiddled with the unit to watch TV. It's still light and slim enough to fit unobtrusively into a pocket or a purse, and the firm keys offer that cool blue Motorola glow that gives the Z6tv a modern edge.

Unlike previous generations, however, the Z6tv offers Mobile TV. Powered by the FLO TV service from MediaFLO USA, Mobile TV lets NBC News junkies, American Idolizers, and Heroes worshipers watch real-time television programming on the Z6tv any time of day. For now the service offers live television shows and content from CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2GO, NBC News2GO, and Nickelodeon. And the shows look really good, too-most of the time. But if you're going to spend the monthly $13 to $25 it costs to use Mobile TV service on the Z6tv, you better make sure you live in one of the few cities that actually provides the service.

For right now, the V CAST Mobile TV service is available in 23 states and in an ostensibly arbitrary collection of cities therein. Subscribers in Corvallis, Oregon, and Brownsville, Texas, can watch Dora the Explorer on a Z6tv, but if they try to tune in to 24 in San Francisco, or CSI: Miami in Miami, they're out of luck because Mobile TV service is not available in those major markets. Verizon has plans to expand to more service areas (its Web site offers an e-mail alert system to tell users when their city comes online). But in the indefinite meantime, buyers of the Z6tv who live in Houston, San Diego, or Boston will have to wait a while to watch Mobile TV.

Luckily for us, the service is available in New York City. One Wednesday night at 9 p.m., we tuned in to watch Bionic Woman, NBC's moody reboot of the hit 1970s series. The show's broadcast was steady and continuous for its duration, and the hour of viewing used only one bar of battery life. The sound was also surprisingly crisp (and was even better when we wore headphones). At one point, we could clearly hear simultaneous squealing tires, explosions, and crashes through the Z6tv's speaker.

Areas of darkness didn't show up well on the phone's two-inch screen. Scenes shot in shadow looked muddy and blurred, and we found ourselves trying in vain to angle the phone to be able to keep up with the show's action. On the other hand, when we switched to a brightly lit episode of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, we had no problem seeing the image. We even read baseball scores scrolling across the bottom of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

One thing we like about Motorola's interface design on past RIZR phones is its economy in keypad designation. The Z6tv is no exception. Access to the camera now shares button real estate with Mobile TV on the left side of the sliding face. Tap once quickly to access the program guide, or hold it down for a second to snap pictures or record video with the two-megapixel camera. The Z6tv also has the ability to take and view photographs and videos in portrait or landscape mode-a nice touch that, combined with the very good image quality of the camera, makes picture-taking with the Z6tv superior to many other midrange camera phones (with the exception of the Sony Ericsson W580i Walkman).

The Z6tv comes with other nice features, including the optional VZ Navigator service, with access to over 14 million locations; and stereo Bluetooth support for wireless music and video enjoyment. Another sweet design perk is the Z6tv's button lock, which prevents unwanted tune-skipping and video-stopping while on the go. The Access button for downloading V CAST music has also been relocated to the Z6tv's left side next to the volume control. Text messaging, instant messaging, and finding and dialing contacts are all still easy to do using the main menu and keypad. All of our test calls connected quickly, sounded clear, and remained sharp.

We think users (within available service areas) will be jazzed about the overall high quality that V CAST Mobile TV has to offer on this slider. There's enough variety in the programming on the few channels currently available to satisfy dial-flippers, and the Z6tv's other features round out the phone's profile nicely. In the end, this is probably a device best suited for parents and domestic travelers. Being able to soothe restless youngsters in the minivan with Nickelodeon or getting breaking news from MSNBC while stuck in traffic make the V CAST Mobile TV capability worthwhile. But if soccer practice isn't in the service zone and your travel plans take you out of range, you'll need to find some other form of entertainment.

Specifications:

Carrier:  Verizon Wireless

Form Factor:  Candy Bar

Fast Data Network:  EV-DO

Internal Memory:  40MB

Memory Expansion Type:  miniSD Card

Music Player:  No

Video:  Yes

GPS:  No

FM Radio:  No

Display (main):  2 inches, (240 x 320 pixels, 65,000 colors)

Size:  4.2 x 1.8 x 0.6 inches

Weight:  3.7 ounces

Sony Ericsson W580i Walkman Phone

Designed for active users, Sony Ericsson's Walkman W580i phone packs a good music player and plenty of other features into a sleek, durable slider. This handset is the first from the company to offer Shake Control, a feature that allows you to change tracks simply by shaking the phone. Like its predecessors, it also includes stereo Bluetooth, Web browsing, a two-megapixel camera, and fitness applications. And while it skips out on 3G connectivity, you get plenty of bang for you buck for $79.99.

At just 3.3 ounces and half an inch thick, the W580i fits easily in a pocket. Its bright two-inch screen takes up most of the front surface, with six buttons and a four-way touch pad filling the lower third. Thanks to the phone's tough plastic shell, the phone feels sturdy in the hand and is low-maintenance enough to take along to the gym. We like the big Play/Pause button in the middle of the navigation control, but we found the area around it too narrow.

The W580i sports an attractive backlit keypad and comes in three color combinations: gray/blue, white/orange, and black/orange. A two-megapixel camera is located on the back panel beneath the slider. As an added touch, that panel is decked out in a coordinating accent color. There are even cool LED lights on the side of this slider, which glow different colors depending on the theme you choose.

The phone booted up quickly, and its interface way easy to use; you can navigate your way through most of the software using just two soft keys and a return button. For added convenience, there's also a Walkman and a shortcut key. Every time you turn the phone on, you'll be asked to choose between Normal mode and Flight mode. The latter disables the FM radio and all connectivity features so as not to cause any disruption while in the air. The phone supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ music formats.

The W580i is the first phone in the Walkman line to include Shake Control, and as promised, it's easy to use. Simply hold down the Walkman button while music is playing and flick your wrist. When done correctly, the phone will vibrate slightly. In general, we liked this feature and found it very intuitive, regardless of whether the phone was open or closed.

In addition to Shake Control, the Walkman packs some older features as well, including TrackID, which records small clips from the included FM Radio and identifies the title and artist. The W580i also includes several Fitness functions: a pedometer, calorie counter, and running meter, which tracks distance, time elapsed, and average speed.

The W580i offers excellent sound quality: All of our songs sounded loud, clear, and full in tone. You can manually adjust five equalizer modes: normal, bass, mega bass, voice, and treble boost. Unfortunately, the volume settings return to their default each time you boot up the phone. Downloading songs with the proprietary USB cable and bundled Disc2Phone software was a breeze. The phone has 12MB of internal memory and comes with a 512MB Memory Stick Micro-enough space to hold about 120 four-minute MP3s. If you like, you can use a card with as much as 4GB of space.

We might like the FM radio even more than the Walkman player, however. Even with TrackID disabled, the phone displayed the artist's name while a song played. Users can save up to 20 favorite stations, which is useful, since you can skip through stations only in ascending order.

The W580i supports stereo Bluetooth, but we also recommend using the bundled headphones and hands-free adapter. The headphones' padded earbuds blocked out so much external noise that even the lowest volume setting was loud enough in an office environment. The adapter (which attaches to the headphones via a 3.5mm jack) includes a mic and button for answering and ending calls. When you receive a call, the music automatically pauses.

Despite its small size, the phone's 262,000-color screen is bright and crisp. Annoyingly, the screen goes dark after a short period of time, even if you're actively using the phone. We like that the phone comes with two games: Lumines Block Challenge and The Sims 2.

The W580i's camera held up well in low light, although our pictures and movies appeared slightly pixelated. Our video clips showed minimal latency, but the sound was barely audible, even with the microphone enabled. We also wish you could use the 4X zoom for photos and not just video. However, the camera wins points for its customizable features: You can shoot pictures in black-and-white or negative, record video in Night mode, adjust the white balance, and choose from one of four shutter sounds.

Even better is the phone's picture blogging feature, which lets you upload photos to a mobile blog. Once you capture and upload your first photo, the phone automatically creates a mobile account on Blogger.com that you can find in your browser bookmarks. Uploading is easy but sluggish. You can also edit your captures right on the phone and use the PhotoDJ and VideoDJ apps to create slideshows and movies set to music.

If you're looking for fast data speeds, look elsewhere. Loading Laptopmag.com on this phone's EDGE data connection took 34 seconds, and loading the images on CNN.com took 20 seconds. Without images, the phone loaded these sites in ten and five seconds, respectively.

As a phone, the W580i was occasionally unreliable. The voice quality was loud and clear, but our first call-to another AT&T phone, no less-was dropped within 30 seconds. However, our subsequent calls to land lines and other cell phone carriers went uninterrupted. The phone is rated for nine hours of talk time and 15.4 days of standby, which seems about right to us. After two days of idle use with intermittent texting, game-playing, and radio-listening, our battery life was down to one bar out of four.

The Sony Ericsson Walkman W580i is one of the few phones that offers excellent music quality for a budget price. For just $79, you get volume, bass, and enough features to entertain athletes and road warriors alike. We love the Shake Control and the included high-end earbuds. If you can deal with the small buttons and not-so-speedy Web browsing, you'll get your money's worth and then some.

Specifications:

Carrier:  AT&T (formerly Cingular)

Form Factor:  Slider

Bluetooth Type:  Bluetooth Stereo

Fast Data Network:  EDGE

Internal Memory:  12MB

Memory Expansion Type:  Memory Stick Micro

Music Player:  Yes

Video:  Yes

GPS:  No

FM Radio:  Yes

Display (main):  2 inches (240 x 320 pixels, 262,000 colors)

Talk / Standby Time:  9 hours/15.4 days

Size:  3.9 x 1.8 x 0.5 inches

Weight:  3.3 ounces

BlackBerry Curve 8320

it's not the first BlackBerry with built-in Wi-Fi, but it's the best. In fact, the BlackBerry Curve 8320 is the best BlackBerry we've tested--period. RIM and T-Mobile took our favorite keyboard-equipped smart phone and added unlimited Wi-Fi calling for a reasonable $19.99 per month (starting in October), whether you're on your home network or at one of thousands of T-Mobile HotSpot locations. Add in the same sharp two-megapixel camera, robust media player, and good call quality we loved on the AT&T version--and throw in MyFaves and instant messaging--and you have a winner.

Weighing only 3.9 ounces and measuring 0.6 inches thick, the light and sleek Curve 8320 looks nearly identical to the AT&T-branded model, but you do get two color choices: titanium and pale gold (we tested the latter). We still love the rounded edges, the fast, spacious keyboard, and bright 2.5-inch display. You also get the same intuitive trackball for menu navigation and a 3.5mm audio jack for listening to tunes using your own headphones.

One unique (and welcome) difference is the new T-Mobile Zen-themed main menu, which includes five spots for your myFaves contacts. You get one-click access to these contacts via e-mail, calling, or text messaging right from the home screen. (You can even IM contacts from this menu if the other person is signed in.) Beneath this area is a row of icons for accessing frequently used applications like e-mail, calendar, and the browser.

The Curve 8320 is very much like its cousin in the features department, too. A 312-MHz processor provides snappy performance; the 2-MP camera takes sharp pictures without much of a shutter delay (but doesn't capture video); and the bundled Roxio software makes transferring music, photos, and videos to the device easy. We especially like we can multitask; we could easily switch from the music player to the Web browser without missing a beat and still have control over our tracks' volume. And like all BlackBerrys, the 8320 is an excellent push e-mail device and personal organizer.

What makes this model better than the AT&T version is how T-Mobile leverages the Curve 8320's Wi-Fi connection. Unlike the BlackBerry 8820, which merely uses Wi-Fi as a stand-in for EDGE when surfing the Web and viewing e-mail, the 8320 can make phone calls over Wi-Fi using the T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service. The carrier offers specialized routers along with this service that do a good job of prioritizing calls over other types of data traffic, but because they use the older 802.11g technology, we stuck with our own 802.11n-based home network. Call quality was still quite good, and voices came through loud and clear on our end of the line.

The 8320 also did a fairly good job handing off calls from Wi-Fi to GSM, and vice versa. The experience was a little smoother than when we first tested the T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service with the bargain-basement Nokia 6086. When standing outside a Starbucks in Manhattan, one of nearly 8,500 HotSpot locations in the U.S., our phone took about a minute to recognize and switch over to the T-Mobile HotSpot network, but our test call connected without any issues. As we walked away from the coffee shop, the call automatically switched back to T-Mobile's GSM network without a hiccup.

At home, we experienced some dropped calls when walking away from our house in one direction as the call switched from our Wi-Fi network to GSM but not when we walked in another direction. If you start a call on Wi-Fi and switch over to cellular, the call counts against your unlimited HotSpot @Home plan, not your monthly allotment of cellular minutes. However, if you start a call and then roam onto your home network or a T-Mobile HotSpot, that call will eat into your cellular minutes.

We were pleasantly surprised with the call quality of the Curve 8320 over GSM as well, especially compared with other T-Mobile phones we've tested. Although one caller complained that it was tough to make out some of our words, other callers said we sounded fine, and we were generally satisfied with the clarity and volume on our end. A button on the right spine automatically activates voice dialing, and we had no problems pairing a Motorola stereo Bluetooth headset for calls and music.

Data performance was also quite good. Surfing over Wi-Fi didn't really speed things up, mostly because RIM's servers already compress Web pages, but we were impressed with the speed of the 8320's EDGE connection. In most cases, surfing on this device was just as fast (or faster) than with the AT&T Curve. Yes, the formatting is crude, but in most cases we got the info we wanted in less than 15 seconds. Unlimited data costs a reasonable $19.99 per month.

Another unique perk on this Curve is the array of instant messaging client s. In addition to BlackBerry Messenger, T-Mobile bundles AOL, Google Talk, ICQ, Windows Live, and Yahoo. We tested Google Talk and Yahoo and found both services snappy. Yahoo had better emoticons, but Google Talk's IMs showed up in our general Inbox.

As with all BlackBerrys, the Curve 8320 lasted a pretty long time on a charge. With moderate usage our device lasted about 3.5 days, compared with 4 days for the Wi-Fi--less AT&T Curve. Rated talk time is 4 hours and standby time an unrealistic 17 days.

If this device has a letdown, it's the integrated Maps application from Tele Atlas. It's certainly a useful app, but it feels like a watered-down version of TeleNav, which you'll find on some AT&T BlackBerrys. We like that you can look up addresses and get directions and that the software integrates with the Curve 8320's address book, but you can't search for businesses, and you don't get real-time turn-by-turn instructions as you do with the BlackBerry 8820.

You really can't go wrong with either the AT&T or T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve, but those looking to ditch the landline should consider the latter because of its ability to make unlimited calls via Wi-Fi for an affordable price. For $50 more, you get a smart phone that can be your only phone.

Specifications:

Carrier:  T-Mobile

Form Factor:  Other

Operating System:  BlackBerry OS

Bluetooth Type:  Bluetooth Stereo

Fast Data Network:  EDGE

Internal Memory:  64MB

Memory Expansion Type:  TransFlash/MicroSD

Music Player:  Yes

Video:  Yes

GPS:  No

FM Radio:  No

Display (main):  2.5 inches (320 x 240 pixels, 65,000+ colors)

Talk / Standby Time:  4 hours/17 days

Size:  4.2 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches

Weight:  3.9 ounces

BlackBerry 8820

For many BlackBerry fans (and haters), the lack of Wi-Fi has been at the top of the proverbial pet peeve list for years. Well, the wait is over. The BlackBerry 8820 is the first cellular device in the company's stable to offer 802.11 connectivity. While the Wi-Fi was simple to set up, it wasn't exactly blazing, and we wish you could do more with it (like VoIP). This world phone/organizer/media player/GPS navigator has more than enough going for it to warrant the $299 price tag but not enough for current 8800 owners to upgrade.

Design

With the exception of a Wi-Fi logo in the top-right corner of the 2.4-inch display, the 8820 looks and feels pretty much identical to its predecessor. And that's mostly a good thing. Sure, it's heavier and larger than the 3.9-ounce Curve, but the black-and-silver 8820 retains the relatively light (4.7 ounces) and slim profile (0.6 inches) of the 8800. You also get the same tightly packed but speedy keyboard and slick trackball for navigating menus.

Simple Wi-Fi Setup

RIM did a nice job integrating 802.11a/b/g without making it complicated. You simply click on the Manage Connections icon on the bottom of the main menu, which brings up a list of options that includes Mobile Network (AT&T/EDGE), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. A built-in wizard steps you through scanning for and connecting to available networks, whether the phone is in the office, at home, or near a public hotspot. Should the network you're trying to connect to be encrypted, you can easily type in the encryption key (WEP, WPA, etc.)

We appreciated that the 8820 automatically connected to networks saved as profiles. Once we set up our office profile, the 8820 took only five seconds to latch onto our wireless network after turning Wi-Fi on. The device's range could be better, however. When we walked about 30 feet away from the router, our 8820 showed only one bar of Wi-Fi coverage (out of five), compared with the iPhone's two bars (out of three). Plus, you can't tell how strong your Wi-Fi coverage is on the 8820 while you're surfing the Web; you have to be in the Manage Connections utility.

How Fast Is It?

On our side-by-side tests, the 8820 downloaded pages over Wi-Fi noticeably faster than the BlackBerry Curve did via EDGE, but the margin wasn't very wide. On average, the 8820 started loading CNN.com and other sites a few seconds faster than the Curve, and it loaded pages completely two to seven seconds faster. The reason for these less-than-dramatic results is that no BlackBerry has a direct connection to the Internet; Wi-Fi simply queries RIM's own servers a bit faster, and those servers have always done a superb job delivering compressed Web pages in a hurry. (We downloaded Opera Mini, which offers a more desktop-like surfing experience, but it wouldn't work over Wi-Fi.)

Having integrated Wi-Fi is less of an advantage in terms of e-mail, mostly because RIM nailed that eons ago with its push delivery. We noticed a mere one-second speed advantage when downloading a Word attachment over Wi-Fi versus EDGE. You can use the 8820 at nearly 10,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots in the U.S. ($7.99 per day, $29.99 per month) and at thousands of other hotspots worldwide with which AT&T has roaming agreements. Connecting to those hotspots costs $39.99 per month.

Sorry, No VoIP Here

Unfortunately, you can't use the 8820's Wi-Fi connection for making VoIP calls. For now, at least, it's for Web surfing and e-mail only. We did get Shape Services' IM+ for Skype to work on the 8820, but it worked only when we had the device's EDGE connection turned on. We're hoping the company will add Wi-Fi support in an update to the client.

GPS Still Good, Improved Multimedia

In most other respects, the 8820 is just as good as or better than the 8800. Like its predecessor, this BlackBerry can provide turn-by-turn directions when you purchase the TeleNav GPS Navigator software ($9.99 per month unlimited). We noticed much improved route-calculation times and appreciated how close to real time our location was displayed on the device. The 8820 incorrectly identified an illegal left turn as part of one route, but in general we were impressed with the accuracy of the results and the robust local search functionality.

The 8820 has also improved on the multimedia front. It's compatible with AT&T's music offerings, including XM Radio ($8.99 per month). That service delivered decent reception, but it works only over EDGE; we'd like to see Wi-Fi support added. As with the Curve, the 8820 ships with a media player that synchronizes with supplied software from Roxio, making it a cinch to drag and drop music, photos, and videos onto the device. You also get the same great multitasking capabilities as you get with the Curve, so you can surf the Web while listening to tunes through stereo Bluetooth headphones. (You can also use the 2.5mm jack.)

Solid Phone and Battery Life

Call quality was good on our tests. We noticed a little background fuzz on our end of the line, but conversations sounded pretty clear and loud overall. Other callers said we sounded very clear and almost too loud. The speaker provided more than enough volume for calls, music, and navigation. Our only nitpick is that calls sometimes took a while to connect, a complaint we also had about the Curve.

The 8820 is rated for 5 hours of talk time and 22 days of standby time. Not surprisingly, having Wi-Fi on and being connected to a network reduces this smart phone's endurance, but as usual, RIM does a nice job with power management. Even though the 8820 uses the same 1400-mAh battery as the 8800, the device lasted nearly three days with intermittent use.

Verdict

Mobile workers who consider Wi-Fi a check-off item when shopping for a smart phone won't be disappointed by RIM's implementation, but they won't be blown away, either. We consider the 802.11 connection a good backup plan for EDGE, especially when you can't get a strong cellular signal indoors. So long as you don't need a built-in camera, the 8820's snappy overall performance, GPS navigation, and multimedia features make it a solid choice for AT&T customers. Others may want to wait and see what RIM cooks up for T-Mobile.

Nokia 6555

AT&T is aggressively pushing its 3G network, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Nokia 6555. Priced at just $49 with a rebate and two year contract, the 6555 is an attractive little clamshell that sports a decent feature set, including a 1.3-megapixel camera, AT&T Music, integrated IM clients, push-to-talk (PTT), and stereo Bluetooth.

The Nokia 6555 looks pretty nifty, if somewhat retro. The first thing you'll notice when the phone is closed is the silver racing stripe around the face and back battery panel. We appreciate the sporty look, but the stripe calls to mind an '87 Trans Am a bit too strongly. PTT is accessible from the 262,000-color, 128 x 160-pixel resolution external LCD, but that's about it. You can use the external display to take pictures and video, but you first have to initialize the camera from the keypad.

Flipping open the clamshell reveals a two-inch QVGA screen capable of displaying 16.7 million colors. The phone felt a little flimsy in our hands: The plastic casing was just a bit too easy to bend and ply. We like the tactile keypad, as well as the hot keys for jumping directly to AT&T Music, Cellular Video, and the camera function.

The Nokia 6555 uses AT&T's slower UMTS data network (not HSDPA), but we were able to surf at good speeds using the MEdia Net browser. NYTimes.com loaded in 8 seconds; CNN.com loaded in 6; and Yahoo.com, which tripped up because of browser formatting, loaded in 11 seconds. Video clips also queued up quickly. Cellular Video content from CNN and ESPN loaded in just five seconds, but we noticed some lag, and the videos looked grainy. A 200KB game of Konami's Pirate Poppers downloaded in just five seconds.

Although this phone integrates Napster and Yahoo Music, we found the experience sorely lacking. Both services offer only side-loading via your PC, and Yahoo has the added drawback of requiring login information, which you can't create from the phone. XM Radio implementation was much better; it lets you start your free trial or purchase service from the phone and gain access to XM's streams. Music ID also worked well, and we were able to identify our Coheed and Cambria tracks accurately.

We were intrigued by Billboard Mobile's "The Buzz" music portal; using The Buzz you can search artists' discographies and biographies, download ringtones, and browse tour dates, although you can't purchase concert tickers over the air.

AT&T includes integrated IM clients, which impressed us. Using the options menu, you can sign into your AIM, Windows Live, or Yahoo Messenger accounts. The implementation was very clean, and we were able to sign in easily and leave the app running in the background. We couldn't find a way to sign into multiple accounts on AOL, Windows, or Yahoo, however.

Voice quality on the 6555 was good. We didn't notice any muffling, echoes, or garbling on our calls, even though the volume seemed a bit low. Battery life is satisfactory, at a rated six hours of talk time, but we noticed that using the 3G data connection shortens that very quickly. We had to recharge the phone after just over a day of heavy data use. We were also easily able to connect the phone to our Altec Lansing T515 speaker via Bluetooth, which provided good stereo sound.

If you need an excuse to jump into 3G, the Nokia 6555 may be just what you're looking for and is a decent alternative to the Samsung Sync.

Motorola Q music 9m (Verizon Wireless)

A work-and-play device that wears its dual personalities on its sleeve, the Moto Q music 9m features a unique multimedia-centric Home Screen you can launch with the push of a button. This slick smart phone rocks Windows Mobile 6, over-the-air V CAST Music downloads, and one of the best keyboards we've used. Unfortunately, Motorola's makeover of the Q didn't extend to the processor or Web browsing experience.

At 4.8 ounces, the 9m is heavier than the original Q (4.3 ounces), but the black-and-red paint job helps this smart phone look the part of a hip messaging device-music player hybrid. It's still only half an inch thick, and the soft-touch finish on the back makes it easy to hold while making calls. Navigating menus is simple-if not fast-thanks to the scroll wheel on the right side and the oversized D-pad. Like all Windows Mobile devices, application performance depends heavily on how many programs are open. And this Q sports the same 312-MHz processor as the old one, which doesn't help matters. (View photo gallery)

The star of the 9m's design is the completely retooled keyboard, whose tightly packed layout and excellent tactile feedback enables rapid typing. However, the Delete key is still above the keyboard; placing it with the rest of the letter keys would be far more intuitive. You'll also find two soft Menu keys nearby as well, along with the Send, End, and Home keys. They all lie flat but are large enough to press easily. We would have liked to see dedicated volume controls; simply moving the scroll wheel raises and lowers the volume when you're on a call, but when in other applications you have to press and hold the wheel first to adjust the volume.

The 9m's other most interesting feature is its dedicated multimedia interface. Pressing the Home Screen Toggle key on the bottom of the layout launches a second desktop screen just for multimedia, but takes a sluggish seven seconds to do so. At first it looks like just a skin for Windows Media Player Mobile, but this oval-shaped UI offers one-touch launch keys for V CAST Music, the camera, and your pictures, as well as playback and volume controls. A separate Library icon launches a menu with quick access to your music and videos, as well as the Shuffle mode.

On the other hand, this multimedia interface could be more intuitive. It's not always clear what option is highlighted, and in some cases you have to press the Back key to jump from one side of the oval to the other. We also don't like that you have to update your library with new media manually, whether it's videos you've shot with the 9m's mediocre 1.3-megapixel camera or music you've downloaded from the V CAST Music Store. You can download full tracks over the air-a first for a Verizon Wireless smart phone-but they're too pricey ($1.99 each) and take too long to download (about a minute). And the few Connect Errors we encountered didn't inspire much confidence.

You're better off sideloading tracks to a miniSD card; Verizon includes a measly 128MB card in the box, so we recommend you pump that capacity up to 4GB by purchasing your own card. Tunes sounded good and loud both through the 9m's stereo speakers on the back and through Bluetooth stereo headphones. We like that we could easily hear the music even when the device was lying down on its speakers. The 9m also includes a 2.5mm headphone jack on the top. One noticeable omission is V CAST Video support; with the exception of a few Reuters Top News video clips available two clicks away from the browser's default home page, you're on your own for content.

That brings us to the 9m's second annoying flaw: Web surfing. Even though this smart phone taps into Verizon Wireless' EV-DO data network, Internet Explorer Mobile was notoriously slow loading pages. CNN.com took 15 to 20 seconds to show up on the square screen, versus less than 10 seconds on the EDGE-enabled BlackBerry Curve. Downloading Opera provided better page formatting and improved speeds (about 8 seconds for CNN.com), so be sure to make that your first order of business.

As a productivity device, the 9m offers everything you would expect from Windows Mobile 6, including easily searchable e-mail, a calendar with enhanced week view, and contacts with a smart dial feature. But Motorola went the extra mile by bundling Documents to Go. That means you can view, edit, and create Microsoft Office attachments. You can also view PDFs and decompress ZIP files. And we appreciated the shortcut buttons for messaging and the speakerphone on the keyboard.

The 9m excelled as a phone on our tests in Manhattan and New Jersey. Other callers could tell we were on a cell phone, but they didn't have any complaints about volume or clarity. Calls on our end were always clear with minimal muffling, even on the noisy streets around Times Square. By including a bigger 1170 mAh battery this time around (versus 1130 for the first Moto Q), the 9m offered good endurance on our tests. With light usage, the phone lasted through a weekend without a recharge, so power users should expect to be able to get through a full day.

We would like to see how well the Sprint version of this device performs, especially considering that carrier's cheaper data plans, but overall the 9m is a good messaging and multimedia device with excellent call quality. If you demand snappier performance, want to be able to gab overseas, and don't care about a camera, spend $50 more on the BlackBerry 8830. But if you want quicker access to your media and better Office document support out of the box, you won't be disappointed with the Moto Q music 9m

Samsung Blast SGH-t729

Samsung calls the 20-key alphanumeric keyboard on its newest T-Mobile phone "QWERTY-like." But the messaging-centric Blast slider ($99.99 with a two-year contract) is an awkward compromise, even compared with SureType-enabled devices like the BlackBerry Pearl. And while the preconfigured e-mail and instant messaging clients for AOL, Windows Live, and Yahoo make the Blast attractive on paper, the experience fell short of our expectations.

The Blast's expanded keypad doesn't make it physically expansive. It's nearly the same size as the original RAZR, just a quarter-inch taller, thanks to its bright 2.1-inch screen. Below the screen is the usual navigation and control array, including a direct T-Zones Web-access key. On the right spine is the 1.3-megapixel camera activation/shutter button and the proprietary AC-headphone jack; on the left are the volume toggle and the microSD Card slot (view photo gallery).

Under the slider is the flat keypad. The red number keys highlight the white backlit numbers for dialing. Typing, however, is only marginally easier than standard multi-tap typing, and in some cases, such as proper names, typing is harder. Four input modes toggle through in sequence: T9 predictive text, regular multi-tap, numeric only, and symbols. When you move from T9 to multi-tap for proper names, you then have to toggle through numeric and symbol modes to get back to T9. You'd never use T9 for entering e-mail addresses, but you still have to toggle through it. The frequently used @ sign, easy to find by toggling through the 1 key on any standard cell, is buried in the symbols menu, as are such frequently used punctuation marks as commas and apostrophes.

Signing in on the preinstalled AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo e-mail accounts requires only your e-mail address and password, but we frequently encountered annoying "Invalid user or password" error messages even during initial usage, then intermittently while trying to download, read, or send messages. And our Yahoo e-mail messages never synched for us, even though Yahoo instant messaging worked fine. Setting up a POP3 account was anything but intuitive, and unfortunately the manual didn't help. On a brighter note, once you're signed into your AOL, Yahoo, or Gmail account, you stay signed in; you won't have to re-enter your user name or password.

Access to T-Mobile's EDGE network in New York City was spotty. In locales where AT&T's EDGE network had five bars of coverage, T-Mobile gave us two bars. Unfortunately, there's no icon to indicate EDGE or GPRS modes. When we had access, WAP Web service was surprisingly smooth and swift. The main T-Zones menu page loaded in less than ten seconds, and subsequent news and information pages such as ABC News, CNN, and ESPN loaded in three to eight seconds.

The Blast includes an MP3/AAC music player, but there's no direct music button; it takes three clicks to get to the player from the menu. Unlike other musical cells, the phone offers true random play, where a different song starts each time you activate the player. We like that you can access paired stereo Bluetooth headphones directly through the music player rather than via a separate menu.

The 1.3-MP camera took bright, clean, pictures up to 1280 x 1024 pixels, as long as you hold the phone steady; QCIF videos (176 x 144 pixels) are too tiny and pixelated to recognizably render anything but large objects in bright light.

Voice and ringer volume were loud enough at their upper levels, but the choice of ringtones lacks imagination. Voice quality never rose above mediocre on our tests. Other callers sounded hollow and thick, as if they were conversing through a tube. Battery performance was exemplary, however; we got 10 to 15 minutes more than the rated five hours of talk time, and standby time is rated at 8.3 days.

If your T-Mobile priorities lean more toward messaging, the Sidekick ID is a better choice for your money, even though we're not big fans of that device, either. On the other hand, the Sidekick isn't as svelte as the Blast, and it lacks the Blast's MP3 capabilities. If talking, listening and shooting pictures are as important to you as e-mail and messaging, we'd recommend spending $50 more for the BlackBerry Pearl.

Motorola RAZR2 V9 (AT&T)

Among the three new RAZR2s, the V9 model from AT&T stands out for its superb voice quality (especially in noisy environments) and speedy surfing using a full HTML browser. We also like that you can do just about anything while listening to music. It's not perfect, but the V9 is the best clamshell the carrier offers.

The V9 is close to the same size as the V9m for Sprint and Verizon Wireless but just a tad thicker (0.52 inches versus 0.46) and a little heavier (4.4 ounces versus 4.13). It also sports a shiny Mahogany finish and the same slick but sturdy design as the other models, complete with vacuum-metalized finish, chemically hardened glass, and a chrome hinge. But that's not what you notice first when you pick up the Motorola RAZR2 V9; it's the gorgeous two-inch external display. Like the V9m's screen, it sports 320 x 240-pixel resolution but more colors (262,000 versus 65,000).

The large external screen lets users open and scroll through their music libraries, as well as launch the camera for taking self-portraits. The display is also used for picture caller ID. Using the buttons on the left side of the phone, we were able to scroll through playlists, songs, and albums and alter the volume, as well as fast-forward, skip, play, and pause tracks with the haptic controls. Motorola wisely lets you lock the external keys to prevent accidental presses.

Flipping open the phone reveals an equally gorgeous and even larger (2.2-inch) internal display with the same resolution and colors. Besides the standard cell phone buttons, the RAZR2 V9 features a dedicated Opera browser key for quickly accessing the Web, and another that takes you directly to Cellular Video, which contains tons of clips from Comedy Central, ESPN, HBO Mobile, and other media outlets. The D-pad is smaller than the ones found on the Sprint and Verizon V9m, but we still found it easy to use.

The Daily Show segments loaded in just under 15 seconds on AT&T's high-speed HSDPA network, and for the most part featured decent video and sound. Although video quality on this model wasn't nearly as crisp as on Sprint's version of the RAZR2 V9m, AT&T's offering lets you pause playback and watch clips in full-screen mode (features that Sprint's V9m lacks). Verizon's V9m also offers full-screen viewing and the ability to pause playback, but the video quality wasn't as good.

When we accessed YouTube Mobile, it performed like a champ in both normal and full-screen modes. Unlike Sprint's V9m, however, you can't watch video on the external display when the flip is closed. Diversion-seekers can also tune into XM Radio Mobile ($8.99 per month) or MobiRadio ($8.99 per month), as well as access MySpace Mobile ($2.99), although MySpace wasn't yet available during our testing. Oddly, this multimedia dynamo lacks AT&T's new Video Share feature.

With the plethora of features crammed into cell phones these days, it's easy to forget what a mobile is first and foremost designed to do: make calls. AT&T's version of the RAZR2 V9 features CrystalTalk, which utilizes noise-canceling technology to improve voice quality. Even on a loud, bustling midtown Manhattan street, friends and colleagues reported exceptional call quality with only a hint of background noise. The V9 bested both the Sprint and Verizon Wireless V9m in this test.

Multitaskers will love the RAZR2 V9's ability to play their favorite tunes while surfing the Web, sending instant messages, and even using the two-megapixel camera--something you can't do with the Sprint and Verizon versions. You can sideload songs by synching the phone with Windows Media Player or using a microSD Card. Unlike other AT&T handsets, this one doesn't support over-the-air music downloads via eMusic. We say skip the proprietary USB/audio jack for listening, and use a stereo Bluetooth headset instead.

Surfing the Web on the RAZR V9 is a joy, thanks to the included Opera Web browser, which loaded HTML Web pages quickly. When we visited CNN.com, text loaded within 6 seconds, with photos loading about 15 seconds later. Page formatting wasn't perfect, but sites were relatively easy to navigate. Assuming you'll be in coverage areas with HSDPA data, the RAZR2 V9 is rated at 3 hours and 25 minutes of talk time. That's not very long, but it's on par with other 3G phones on AT&T's network.

Although the Motorola RAZR2 V9 is pricey, its excellent voice quality, smooth Web-surfing, loads of multimedia content, and beautiful design make it one of best mobiles that Motorola has ever produced and one of the best with AT&T, period.