Handheld Review

Positives: The LG VX8700 has a stunning and attractive stainless-steel design. It also has impressive multimedia features, and the call quality was great. Negatives: The LG VX8700 has a flat keypad and lacks external music player controls, and the microSD card slot is inconveniently located behind the battery. The VX8700 does not come with a USB cable or a microSD card, so there are additional costs to reap the full benefits of the music player. Facts: The LG VX8700 is a gorgeous phone with plenty of multimedia features that are sure to please if you can get past its design flaws. Also, the need to purchase additional accessories can be a pain.

Positives: The Motorola Razr V3 has a striking design and comes with a worthy list of features including Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and world phone support. Negatives: The Motorola Razr V3 supports only video playback, the controls take acclimation, and the call volume is a bit low. Facts: The original thin phone, the Motorola Razr V3 has a sexy design and useful features, but its performance isn’t always up to par. Note: This product is part of the Motorola Razr series. .

Positives: The Nokia 6215i is a cute and compact flip phone with a VGA camera, a speakerphone, voice dialing, and a wireless Web browser. Its OLED display is also quite pleasing to the eye. Negatives: The Nokia 6215i has a keypad that’s a little too flush to the surface, and the internal display is rather small. The pictures taken were disappointingly blurry and grainy. Facts: The Nokia 6215i is a sleek entry-level VGA camera phone for those that want an attractive and slender package without a lot of frills.

Positives: The Cingular 3125 sports a slim clamshell design; a sharp, vibrant display; and a 1.3-megapixel camera. The smart phone also has integrated Bluetooth, EDGE support, good call quality, and Windows Mobile 5 with robust e-mail capabilities and PIM functions. Negatives: The Cingular 3125 has some design flaws, such as the Micro SD slot’s location behind the SIM card. It was also sluggish to perform some tasks in our tests and lacks integrated Wi-Fi. Facts: The Cingular 3125 changes the look of smart phones with its sleek, flip phone design, and while some minor quirks and performance issues exist, it’s still a solid Windows Mobile device.

Positives: The Samsung SGH-T329 Stripe has an appealing design with user-friendly controls. It also offers a decent feature set including Bluetooth and a speakerphone. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-T329 Stripe had patchy sound quality and lacks true world phone capability. Facts: Though the Samsung SGH-T329 Stripe offers Bluetooth and an appealing design, sound quality wasn’t reliable. Note: This product is part of the Samsung SGH-T329 Stripe series. .

Quick Take: The Samsung SCH-A850 is an attractive black and silver flip phone for Verizon Wireless. It offers basic features, including a VGA camera, a speakerphone, text and multimedia applications, organizer applications, and a WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. The dual-band SCH-A850 is $199 with a one-year contract. Check back soon for a full review.
Samsung [...]

Positives: The Pharos GPS Phone 600e features a slim design and integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It also has a 2-megapixel camera and an FM radio. Negatives: The 600e is expensive and doesn’t come with navigation software. Call quality was also subpar. Facts: The Pharos GPS Phone 600e isn’t a horrible smart phone, but the lack of navigation software and subpar call quality detracts from its overall appeal. Plus, you can get more for your money with other GPS-enabled smart phones.

Note: This product is part of the Motorola Razr series. .

Quick Take: The Nextel Motorola i560 is almost identical to the Nextel Motorola i850. The main differences between the two phones are that the i560 has a more rugged exterior with rubber edges but no VGA camera. For a full report on the Nextel Motorola i850, please read our review.
Nextel Motorola i560 w/ Two-Way Radio [...]

Positives: The Pantech PN-218 offers voice commands and a speakerphone. Also, the landscape display may be attractive to some users. Negatives: The Pantech PN-218 has a dull design, an awkward shape, and poorly designed controls. Facts: The Pantech is certainly different, but we couldn’t get past the design flaws.