Cell Phone Reviews By John Walton

Samsung Omnia HD i8910

Overview What's good: the 3.7" AMOLED touch-screen at 360 x 640 pixels looks fantastic; the 8 MP cam is probably the best I've used on a phone - for still photos and video, which are easily shared; 3.5mm audio jack doubles as TV-out; comes with 8 or 16 GB of internal storage and supports microSD up to 32 GB; 1500 mAh battery and good sleep...

HTC Hero CDMA

Overview What's good: same beautiful display found on G1 and myTouch; optimized version of HTC's Sense improves performance over earlier version; possibly the best virtual keyboard design currently available (though it will require more powerful hardware to surpass iPhone keyboard performance); 5 MP cam with elegant custom interface; 3.5mm audio...

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic Black

Overview What's good: great looks; 3.2 MP auto-focus cam; MMS; Wi-Fi; Bluetooth, FM radio; accelerometer; proximity sensor; resistive touch screen is pretty sensitive; under $300; cool new home screen; a great little media player. What's bad: no 3G; although adjusted for touch screen use, Symbian S60 still doesn't feel like a touch OS; on-screen...

HTC myTouch 3G White

Overview What's good: *extremely* customizable - both inside and out, sleek design, excellent touch screen, the "with Google" brand means that it's open and ready for modification.What's bad: no multi-touch, stock Google keyboard not as good as third-party replacements, no camera flash, a little more power would be nice, major software problem...

Nokia N97

OverviewWhat's good: cool slider form-factor, widgets, 3.5G, 5MP cam with dual LED flash, 3.5" 640 x 360 pixel display, N-gage gaming. What's bad: maddeningly glitchy software was not improved by a recent update; operating system has not been properly reworked for touch screens; bad reception and poor call quality; unpredictable behavior; nag...

Samsung Ultra Touch S8300

Overview What's good:8MP auto-focus cam with *bright* dual LED flash; 30 FPS wide screen video; lovely, high-contrast 2.8" AMOLED capacitive touch screen at 400 x 240; great phonebook and in-call UI; TouchWiz now has more widgets and a multi-panel home screen; accelerometer, GPS, proximity sensor. What's bad: typing is a serious chore; browsing is...

HTC Hero

Overview What's good: Killer virtual keyboard; Sense UI is inviting and full of wow; gorgeous 3.2", 320 X 480 display with oleophobic coating; design is sophisticated but makes a statement; 3.5mm headphone jack; 5MP cam; Teflon on select colors; Hero represents a new day for Android. What's bad: You need to go without the Sense extras for a...

HTC Touch Cruise

Overview What’s good: small and very pocketable, cool form factor, Footprints, 3.2 MP cam with geo-tagging, D-pad doubles as scroll wheel, TouchFLO, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, bluetooth, 3G.What's bad: Windows Mobile experience. TouchFLO helps a lot in this regard, but the same flaws still sit under the surface. Introduction The Touch Cruise 2009 is a...

Nokia E75 Silver Black

Overview What’s good: 3.5 mm audio/video jack, Internet radio, 3.2 MP camera, video at 30 fps, secondary camera, text-to-speech, long battery life. What's bad: priced way out of range, dual-purpose soft-keys responsible for many mistakes, awkward keyboard. Introduction The E75 should be a handy and simple messaging device, but a couple of design...

Nokia 5800-XpressMusic Blue

Overview What’s good: form-factor looks nice, fantastic in-line music controls, 3G (AT&T only for US), secondary camera for video calls, full touch screen, landscape mode, proximity sensor, Carl Zeiss optics, Flash support, music player, good video playback, and the 3.5mm output pumps out audio and video. Also integrates with the Ovi store...

Sharp Sidekick LX Carbon

Overview What’s good: Incredibly intuitive hardware controls, full QWERTY, 3G, 3.5mm headphone jack, body slimmed-down since previous incarnations, 3.2 MP still and video camera, social features galore. What's bad: Youthful image drastically limits audience, flashing lights and goofy sounds. Overall, a great design and interface are disguised by...

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220

At a GlanceWhat’s Good: surprisingly music-friendly; external play/pause button; stereo bluetooth, standard headphone jack; UMA capable; unique form factor; slick new BB interface; more compact than other BlackBerries; still has the BB office apps that keep executives aboard, but feels like a fun phone. What’s Not Good: no GPS; weak web browsing;...

Samsung Highnote M630-Blue

At a GlanceWhat’s Good: Very music-friendly; loud and clear speaker; 3.5 mm (standard) headphone jack; stereo bluetooth; comes w/ 1 GB microSD and accepts 16 GB; dedicated music button; Sprint's One Click carousel interface; Sprint TV and Music Store capable; GPS; click-able scroll wheel; SD adapter for quick swapping. What’s Not Good: One...

Samsung i900-Omnia

What’s Good: Universal landscape mode and universal landscape QWERTY; optically-enhanced action button functions as a scroller or track pad; appropriate use of haptic feedback and accelerometers; excellent 5 MP camera with LED flash, auto-focus and face detection; secondary cam for video calls; embedded GPS; FM radio and overall A/V-friendliness;...

HTC Touch-Diamond

What’s Good: Stunning hardware design and elegant software user interface; front panel is subdued, intuitive and refined; display is bright and sharp with excellent contrast; sensitive touch-screen; amazing orientation and localized haptic feedback capabilities; secondary camera for video calls; easy internet connection sharing; glorious font...