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 screens are beautiful and the morphing menus great, but I found myself wanting to touch the entire screen and not just the lower portion.  Some won’t mind this, though, and for those Venus may be a dream come true: it’s a feature-rich slider with a beautiful high-res display and access to all of Verizon’s multimedia offerings save VCAST TV.

Specs:
Make/Model: LG Venus (VX-8800)
Network: CDMA
Data: EV-DO (1x EV-DO r0)
Carrier: Verizon Wireless (Locked)
Size: 102 x 51 x 15.7 mm
Weight: 107 g
Form Factor: Slider with - read full review

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 responsive enough and can be hard to use even with stylus; Top row of QWERTY board is cramped, and all keys are mushy to type on; No Stereo Bluetooth support; Overall experience isn’t ready for mainstream consumers; Pricey

Bottom Line: Nokia’s making steps to evolve the N-Series tablets from “strictly for geeks” to “consumer friendly gadgets.”  The N810 - and newly launched N810 WiMax Edition - represent another step in that evolution, but this is still an Internet device for geeks and not mainstream consumers.  To be fair, it’s those - read full review

LG Rumor White

At a Glance:
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 shone in my tests.  I found the handset easy and fun to use so long as I kept to its strengths: Messaging and more messaging with voice calling and limited Web  and media functionality thrown in.  Rumor’s comfy QWERTY board, rugged design and soft-grip finish, and auto-rotating display make it a solid choice for cell phone users who value texting as much (or more) as voice calling.

Specs:
Make/Model: LG Rumor
Network: CDMA
Data: EV-DO (1x RTT)
Carrier: Sprint (Locked)
Size: 109 x 51 x 17.8 mm
Weight: - read full review

Samsung Mysto

At a Glance:

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 features are excellent, this handset’s electrostatic touch controls are more trouble than they’re worth.  Helio fans may love Mysto as a companion to their Oceans, but others may look elsewhere.

Specs:
Make/Model: Samsung Mysto
Network: CDMA
Data: EV-DO (1x Rev. 0)
Carrier: Helio (Locked)
Size: 105 x 50 x 12.7 mm
Weight: 95 g
Form Factor: Slider
Display: 2.2″ Color LCD, 320 x 240 (QVGA) resolution, 262,000 Colors
Memory:  106 MB built-in, microSD card slot
Notable Features: Integrated GPS with - read full review

Treo by Palm Centro Onyx Red

At a Glance:

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 access (yet)

Bottom Line: Get Centro in your hands.  If you like the way it feels and if the buttons aren’t too small for you, you might have found yourself the best value currently going in a full-featured smartphone built for consumers.  Palm OS is not slick, but it works well and Sprint’s fast EV-DO data network and excellent music store add value to the device.  But the cramped buttons and small screen will be deal-breakers for some.

Specs:

Make/Model: Palm Centro (690)
Network: CDMA
Data: - read full review

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