Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008
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
Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008
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
Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008
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 can be confusing. Limited Bluetooth functionality. Still a little bulky.
Bottom Line: Verizon and LG shrunk the EnV and the results are good. While the original EnV was an innovative but (very) big and expensive high-end phone, the EnV2 is smaller, cheaper, and slots into the middle of VZW’s messaging phone lineup. Text addicts who don’t need Voyager’s touchscreen — and additional size and cost — should find QWERTY bliss with this affordable and capable - read full review
Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008
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 QWERTY board is handy and surprisingly comfortable given its small size, and the finger-friendly touchscreen is generally quite good (with a few consistently frustrating quirks). Glyde brings much of Voyager’s flash to a smaller, simpler device, and is a fun new option in Verizon’s messaging phone lineup.
Specs:
Make/Model: Samsung Glyde (SCH-u940)
Network: CDMA 800/1900
Data: 1xRTT/1xEVDO rev.0
Carrier: Verizon Wireless
Size: 103.8 x 50 x 17.8 mm
Weight: 117 g
Form Factor: Candybar with Slide-Out Keyboard
Display: 2.8″ - read full review
Posted by Ed on Oct 17th, 2008
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 unlimited UMA calling, and the inclusion of a 2MP camera with flash and standard headphone jack make this the most consumer-oriented BlackBerry ever. All in all it’s an excellent smartphone that adds some entertainment value to BlackBerry’s renowned push Email service, and is actually a hair more responsive than AT&T’s version.
Specs:
Make/Model: RIM BlackBerry Curve (8320)
Network: GSM Quad-Band
Data: EDGE (2.5G), WiFi (802.11 b/g) with UMA support
Carrier: T-Mobile USA (Locked)
Size: 107 x 60 x 16 mm
Weight: - read full review