I don’t get a bonerd for LEGOs like some people I know whose names start with a J and end with an S and work for a site that rhymes with shmimono, but I have fond memories of spending countless hours as a youth erecting LEGO fortresses and castles and whatever else my imagination could conjure up. It was always about smashing the other fortress and kicking some tiny LEGO ass, but that was at least 20 years ago. Now fast forward to 2009 and while I still like to kick ass, I enjoy doing it on a much smaller scale. Enter LEGO Battles for the Nintendo DS.

If you’re a hardcore RTS gamer then Battles isn’t really for you, but it’s still fun to see tiny LEGO pirates, knights and moon men duke it out on the small screen. However, the charm dissipates rather quickly into story mode one of six. Think of Battles as an introductory course to real time strategy games. I hate RTS, but found LEGO Battles to be amusing and worth the time to review.

The cut scenes are fairly amusing and I have to say that the tiny actors portraying LEGO characters are hilarious, which made me laugh out loud. Multiplayer is about as good as your chosen opponent allows. In other words, find someone who is good at RTS and multiplayer can be pretty sweet on Battles. Another highlight is the free play mode where you can mix and match troops from the Space, Pirates and Castle series to do your bidding.

LEGO Battles isn’t perfect, though. With such a small screen on the DS (and even DSi), trying to control your troops when there’s so much going on can be a challenge. The artificial intelligence is pretty dumb and I spent a few minutes cursing them out when they decided to get lost or stop doing their jobs. Can you imagine a grown man yelling at a video game on a packed plane? Yeah, that was me over the weekend.

I enjoyed Battles but it’s not for everyone. Seasoned RTS gamers will want to pass unless they plan on handing it down to junior RTS nerds in the making. If anything, LEGO titles like Battles are much better than the licensed titles that involve non-LEGO characters like Batman. Just saying.

LEGO Battles

Here’s a cut scene in glorious HD.

Mophie’s Juice Pack for the iPhone 3G is without a doubt a must-have if you can swallow the high price tag of $100. But I’d gladly pay the extra $100 knowing that I can leave the office or my apartment and gallivant around town without fear of having to find a power outlet by mid-day.

Pros
It comes fully charged right out of the box.
Four blue LEDs on the back indicate battery levels.
A single charge, which takes roughly 3.5 hours from dead will sufficiently juice up your iPhone 3G from the dead twice over (almost).
Recharging your iPhone 3G with less than 20 percent juice left takes anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.
The Juice Pack charges over USB, but still syncs with iTunes.

Cons
It’s a bit bulky and does nothing to really protect your iP3G.
It costs $100.
When you initially put the phone into the Juice Pack it vibrates to let you know that it’s connected. When the Juice Pack’s battery is depleted the iPhone has trouble recognizing that and starts to freak out by signaling that it’s connected and then not and so on. So, if you’re a light sleeper or one that keeps this near your bed it could give you a mild heart attack because I almost had one.

Overall
Despite the price tag, I’m going to have to recommend the Juice Pack because it flat out works and doubles your battery life. While the case itself is a bit large, it’s not so big that you wouldn’t throw it into your bag. But I wouldn’t want to put it in my pants pockets either.

Despite claims that 2.2 improves battery life you’re still not going to make it through an entire day without having to recharge. I sparingly used my iPhone 3G before getting the Juice Pack and now I use it till the cows come home and don’t sweat the fact that it’s almost dead by noon.

Product Page

Short Version: The $99 Samsung Highnote is a capable music phone with a 3.5mm headphone jack and built-in stereo speakers. If music’s your thing, the Highnote could serve you well.

Overview and Features:

• Candy bar phone with a face that slides up to reveal a numeric keypad and down to reveal integrated stereo speakers
• Built-in clickwheel for easy navigation of menus and music
• GPS, Bluetooth, and high-speed EVDO data connections
• Two-megapixel camera
• Sprint Music Store and Sprint TV compatible
• Includes 1GB microSD card and 3.5mm headset w/ microphone
• MSRP of $99 after two-year agreement and $50 mail-in rebate

What’s good?

This is a phone for music lovers, first and foremost. If you want a phone that’s good for texting, surfing the web, watching streaming video, taking photos, and/or making calls all day long, then this is not the phone for you. But if you want a well-priced, compact phone with a surprisingly great clickwheel, a full-size headphone jack, and a built-in speaker, then the Highnote is right up your alley.

At $99 after rebate, the Highnote makes a great little portable music player that can download songs directly to the included microSD card. The clickwheel is reminiscent of the mechanical wheel on the first-generation iPods and the wheel found on some of the SanDisk Sansa players. It rotates to let you flip through menu items and also registers up, down, left, and right presses too. I found it to be one of the easier methods I’ve ever used to navigate through a cell phone’s interface.

The actual phone itself is built solidly and makes for an attractive little device. You’ll be able to pocket this thing with ease and the battery lasts a fairly long time between charges. Sprint claims close to six hours of talk time and with general daily use, I only needed to recharge the Highnote every other day. Of course, your mileage may vary – especially if you use it for music all day. In that case, you’ll want to charge it nightly.

Music sounded pretty good when using a $400 pair of noise-cancelling headphones. It’s not going to blow you away by any means, but it won’t disappoint unless you’re an audiophile of Kobrin-esque magnitude.

What’s not so good?

The included speaker, accessible by sliding the phone’s face downward, is a nice feature to have but it gets pretty tinny once you get the volume up to a decent level. It’s okay as a quick way to share audio with others but other than that, you’ll likely want to use headphones most of the time.

And again, don’t expect too much out of the Highnote aside from the music functions. It does GPS pretty well and the high-speed data is nice to have for e-mail and web browsing, but the phone’s small screen and keypad make any serious web stuff an afterthought. Sprint’s music store is easily the best online feature, making great use of the EVDO pipe, but using Sprint TV to stream video was an average-at-best experience thanks to the tiny screen and the phone’s relatively anemic processor.

Recommendation

The Highnote is a good choice for an inexpensive, compact music phone with direct-to-device downloads and a very useful clickwheel. The integrated speakers are a nice touch, but the tinny sound they output at higher volume levels will make you appreciate the full-size headphone jack all that much more.

Samsung Highnote [Sprint.com]

Short Version: The $99-after-rebate Quickfire from AT&T is an appealing alternative for the Sidekick crowd, but the promotion of AT&T’s music features without including earbuds or even some sort of adapter for the proprietary connector a real head-scratcher.

Overview and Features:

• 3G handset with a full HTML web browser and a 320×240 touchscreen that slides up to reveal a nice QWERTY keyboard
• 1.3-megapixel camera
• Support for subscription music via Napster Mobile, plus support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, MIDI, and streaming radio formats
• Built-in AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger along with support for AOL, Windows Live, and Yahoo! e-mail
• Bluetooth, Quad-band, high-speed data connections
• 29MB of on-board memory expandable via microSD cards up to 8GB
• Up to three hours of talk time
• Priced at $99 after two-year contract and $50 mail-in rebate

Pros:

The Quickfire is aimed at younger generations of text-happy kids and, thankfully, it excels in pretty much every aspect of the messaging department. Whether your favorite means of word transference is IM, e-mail, or text messaging, the Quickfire handles each with ease. Conversely, if you’re one of those people who still prefers to actually talk on the phone the Quickfire makes clear calls, so you’re covered there, too. The QWERTY keyboard is spacious and easy to use, though the keys are a bit flat.

Most of the other features – the HTML browser, the 1.3-megapixel camera, the touchscreen, and the battery life – are all average to slightly above average, but the real story is that they’re all included for $99. As the phone is marketed towards kids, though, most of the action is in the messaging features. The rest is a nice bonus.

Cons:

The touchscreen, while nice to have on such an inexpensive phone, seems to have some issues with responsiveness. Scrolling up and down web pages induces a bit of lag from time to time and I found myself having to double or triple tap menu items every now and again. It’s not bad enough to steer anyone away from the Quickfire, it’s just something to consider. Finger scrolling will take some getting used to, as well, because it’s upside-down compared to most phones. Take the iPhone, for instance: sliding your finger up the screen makes a web page scroll down. Same with most other touchscreen phones. On the Quickfire, however, you slide your finger up to make the browser and menu items scroll up, and down to make everything scroll down. It sounds more logical, in theory, but it feels weird and takes time to pick up.

The Polaris HTML web browser is a valiant attempt and a nice addition to such an inexpensive phone, but unfortunately it’s too slow and renders many popular sites too awkwardly for any serious surfing (note the cut-off labels and weird font sizing in the Gmail screenshot below). It’s nice to have in a pinch, though.

The biggest issue with the Quickfire – and one that could easily be fixed – is that it’s touted as a music-friendly phone, yet there are no included headphones and no 2.5- or 3.5-mm headphone jack. There’s a proprietary connector (see below) on the top of the device that’s used with the included charger, and adapters to change the connector to a 3.5-mm headphone jack can be found online for under $20, but such an adapter isn’t available on AT&T’s site, nor is it included in the box. If you’re going to push music features, you have to give people some way to hook up headphones besides the Bluetooth connection. Bluetooth music headphones aren’t cheap.

Recommendation:

If you don’t mind doing some extra legwork for a headphone adapter and you don’t need to use the web browser all that much, the AT&T Quickfire is a good, affordable option for a younger crowd that loves to send text messages, IMs, and e-mail.

AT&T Quickfire [AT&T Wireless]

Quick Version: The idea behind the Clarity C900 mobile phone is sound – big keys, bright display, loud ringer, emergency call button – but the interface might be a bit feature-heavy and confusing for most elderly users.

Overview and Features:

• Unlocked GSM cell phone
• Large, monochrome, backlit display with large fonts
• Four main buttons, large number keys
• Volume (speaker, ringer) amplified up to 20 decibels
• Emergency help button on back of phone calls five contacts in a row when pressed
• Built-in flashlight
• Three hours talk time
• MSRP of $269.99

Pros:

The Clarity C900 has huge keys, a super loud ringer, and a bright orange backlight that can likely be seen from space. It also includes a big red recessed emergency button on the back of the phone that, when held down for a few seconds, will call up to five emergency contacts in a row. If your favorite elder is “hip” and “with it”, the C900 even offers niceties such as text messaging, call forwarding, birthday reminders, an alarm clock, and a calculator.

Call quality is loud (very loud) and clear, and the ringer – also very loud – should be sufficient for the hard-of-hearing. If it’s not quite loud enough, the screen flashes and the handset can be set to vibrate during an incoming call, too.

Cons:

Functionally, the C900 is reminiscent of an old-school cell phone from the mid-90s. That’s fine, except that cell phones from that time, while not as advanced as today’s phones, were likely still too complicated for old people. The user interface on the C900 contains multiple menus and everything is presented within two different menu systems depending upon whether or not the screen is slid up or down.

What’s more, the slide-up screen requires a fair amount of force in order to expose the keypad (I can’t imagine someone with arthritis opening it) and, once open, the default menu selection is “SMS Messages”. Granted, you can just start dialing a number straight from the keypad but it still makes things a little confusing. The “Phonebook” selection is two down from “SMS Messages” – you’d think elderly people might want to access their contacts more often than they’d want to send text messages.

These drawbacks aren’t insurmountable by any means, but they’d likely take some initial coaching from a child or grandchild as things aren’t altogether intuitive. If there’s a youngster around to do the initial setup, enter some contacts, and input the emergency contact numbers, it’d make things a lot easier on everyone involved.

Halvsies:

The fact that the Clarity C900 is sold unlocked could either be a pro or a con. On the one hand, it makes the price of the phone $269 which is expensive for a device for someone who might be resisting the whole portable electronics movement. On the other hand, there aren’t any sneaky, tricky contracts to get locked into. So grandma can snail mail T-Mobile or AT&T a check each month for prepaid service (or whatever old people to do send money and pay bills).

Also, the phone is built like a brick shithouse. It feels like a bar of soap, which is good because it seems to be pretty durable. It won’t fit well into pants pockets, though.

Recommendation:

The C900 is good in concept but would likely require an above-average level of expertise from its owner. That being said, the super loud volume and big keys make the phone a good choice for anyone that’s hard of hearing or has poor eyesight.

Clarity C900 [ClarityProducts.com]

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First off, someone at Verizon Wireless must have been drunk or asleep at the wheel when they gave the Omnia the green light because it has Wi-Fi. Isn’t Verizon notorious for stripping that feature from every single phone in its lineup? Something tells me the other manufacturers are going to throw a fit over this bit of news.

Quick Version: The Omnia boasts just about every feature you’d want from a smartphone and Verizon, surprisingly, left it exactly the way it leaves the Samsung factory. Sure, they added their VZ Navigator app and the VZAppZone but we’re okay with that because they left the Omnia untouched. For a Windows Mobile device with a decent skin Samsung calls the TouchWiz, the Omnia is the clear choice for Verizon Wireless customers.

Features

• Access to VZAppZone – downloadable games, ringtones, wallpapers and more

• Playback of MP3 files

• VZ NavigatorSM capability – get visual and audible directions to thousands of destinations, locate businesses and other points of interest, get maps of a location and share directions with others

• Text, picture and video messaging

• Mobile IM using AIM®, MSN®, Yahoo!®

• Bluetooth® profiles supported: headset – mono and stereo, hands-free (car kits), object push for vCard, basic imaging, and phonebook access profiles

• 5.0 megapixel camera and camcorder with flash and zoom

o Face Detection – centers on your face when taking a picture

o Panorama, split shot and anti-shake camera settings

o SmileShot – enables the camera to detect when a person is smiling and automatically take a picture when in the “SmileShot” mode

• Wi-Fi technology (802.11 b/g)

• Support for Divx and Xvid movie files

• Personal organizer with calculator, calendar, alarm clock, world clock, stop watch and notepad

• Dimensions: 4.41” (l) x 2.24” (w) x 0.52” (d) with standard battery

• Weight: approximately 4.34 ounces

• Display: 3.2” display

• Usage time: up to 346 minutes with standard battery or

Standby time: up to 464 hours with standard battery (subject to environmental and other factors)

Hardware

Samsung devices are inherently lightweight and rather stylish, but the thin plastic screens will always irritate me to no end. I simply cannot stand them and after seeing the damage inflicted on John’s Instinct some time ago I feel weary about sticking this in my pocket. Because of its weight I wonder whether or not the Omnia will hold up to the rigors of daily use.

The 5-megapixel AF camera is on par with that of Nokia devices and comes with a bevy of editing apps, various scene modes and a wonky panorama mode that works fairly well. Like any other mobile phone camera, you won’t be capturing any action shots, but it works well for still subjects.

Have I mentioned that the Omnia for Verizon Wireless has Wi-Fi? That’s out of left field and one of the best things about this device.

The optical mouse on the Omnia is superb and doesn’t hinder your flow when navigating the device. You can choose between a traditional 4-way D-pad-like setup or use it as if it were a computer mouse. A stylus is included but you’ll have to attach it as a charm on the left hand side of the Omnia. I think Samsung’s market research hasn’t shown that we, Americans, aren’t very big on cell phone charms.

The 3.2-inch touch-screen is relatively bright and crisp but the 240×400 resolution leaves much to be desired. Again, I can’t help but harp on Samsung about these retched plastic screens. Please, please switch to glass screens or a harder plastic and bump up the resolution. A main menu hard button is located on the side of the top right corner saving you from having to tap the lower right corner of the screen.

I’ve never been a fan of the Windows Mobile touch-screen keyboards and the same goes for Samsung’s TouchWiz keyboards. You’re either going to sit and peck or use the stylus. Both are annoyances.

Software

Snazzy features aside, the Omnia is still just a Windows Mobile device so that in and of itself is major red flag for a number of folks, myself included. The TouchWiz UI immediately draws comparisons to HTC’s TouchFLO 3D UI, which has, in the past, made me forget that I’m fumbling with a WinMo device.

So how doth the Samsung’s TouchWiz compare to HTC’s TouchFLO 3D?

Well, it’s not as pretty and flashy, but it gets the job done. I’d say Samsung and HTC make the best Windows Mobile devices with the latter making the best ‘skin’. However, Samsung has a few tricks up its sleeve to make up for the not so flashy façade.

The reorientation of the screen from portrait to landscape is silky smooth and the sidebar of widgets is super convenient. You can drag widgets from the sidebar to the main screen for a quicker launch. The widgets include a world clock, games, media player, etc.

You can bring up the task manager by swiping up from the bottom, which lowers the aggravation of having to dig down into the Windows Mobile menu system.

The Omnia’s web browser is Opera 9.5 and is much better than the browser the Instinct has, but it’s still a so-so browser compared to the iPhone’s Safari.

If I had to choose between HTC’s TouchFLO 3D interface and Samsung’s TouchWiz, I’d have to go with HTC’s Windows Mobile variant.

Application Store

Verizon’s app store doesn’t contain anything worth noting, but I did come across the IM+ client and it’s ridiculously priced at $40. The overall interface of the app store is pretty archaic.

Overall

If you’re in the market for a Windows Mobile device on Verizon then I’d highly suggest the Omnia from Verizon because of the Wi-Fi feature. The HTC Touch Pro is also a superb device on the network, but it lacks Wi-Fi and given the option it’s sort of a no-brainer. The Omnia will be available online starting tomorrow for $250 after a $70 MIR (debit card rebate) and in stores on December 8th.

The ‘iPhone killer’ label (which I hate using – BTW) has been thrown around since the first touch-screen device hit the market after the original iPhone was launched last year. Unfortunately, nothing has been able to live up to the hype. Both consumers (you) and techies (us) have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the Storm in the hopes that it would knock the iPhone down a peg, or even level the playing field. I don’t want to dash your dreams, but the Storm is not on par with the iPhone. It is, however, the closest device available on the market today to compete with the iPhone. But that’s not saying much. Imagine the iPhone being on top of a mountain with the rest of the touch-screen devices at base camp. The Storm sits atop all the rest, but it’s still at base camp.

Video after the jump.

The Good

E-mail

It’s a BlackBerry through and through so there are no problems here. You can swipe through e-mails by going left to right and vice versa, but swiping from right to left on the last e-mail will put you back at your inbox.

Cut/Paste

It’s not the most intuitive feature jumping from a standard QWERTY BlackBerry, but the iPhone doesn’t have it, so that’s saying something. However, it doesn’t always register my tap or click in the right spot, which is extremely frustrating. The point is that, I don’t want to take an extra 10 seconds or more to tap/click the sweet spot to select exactly what I want. It works great on my Curve and Bold and takes far less time. But, again, the Storm has it and the iPhone does not. Take it however you want.

Browser

I had zero issues with the Storm’s browser. Zooming in and out is simple and it seems to load most pages fine, except the NYTs as it reverts to the mobile edition and doesn’t want to load the regular site. Anything with a lot of Javascript chorks, though. Everywhere else on the device there are scroll up/scroll down keys but they’re missing on the browser. Seems like an odd move, but the navigation bar would be a bit crowded.

Camera

It has a flash and auto focus, and it takes video. It even zooms in and out by swiping from corner to the center or vice versa. Picture quality is very good and certainly beats out the iPhone. It takes a very long time to focus and capture an image (slower than the iPhone). I believe it’s best suited for still photography.

Visual Voicemail

The interface is very similar to that of the iPhone and works just fine.

Application Center

There are currently eight applications available that include: Visual Voicemail, VZ Navigator, Flickr, Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. It’s no Apple App Store, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

Media

I wasn’t able to test all video formats, so I apologize for that in advance, but the Storm was able to handle all the formats (mostly MP4s) that I threw onto it. The default music player is nothing fancy, but it plays music and that’s all I need it to do. Because of the screen’s size, pictures look crisp and sharp and you can swipe across the screen to get from one picture to another.

Call quality

Seemed fine to me and those on the other end said I came across crystal clear. Voice dialing was peppy and fairly accurate.

The Bad

I like the way RIM handled the touch-screen because it’s different than what every other manufacturer has done, but I’m not the biggest fan of the clickable screen. It’s a BlackBerry, first and foremost, and it’s meant to knock out e-mails, texts, and IMs and I just can’t do those things as efficiently as I would on a standard BlackBerry. When you pull up any one of the three keyboards, you lose half the screen. Yes, the iPhone falls into that trap as well, but I’m also making a direct comparison to other BlackBerrys here. I don’t want to lose that big beautiful screen just because I need to type something.

Because of the nature of the screen I worry that all the dust and dirt will affect its performance in the long run by burrowing into the sides.

The accelerometer is spastic on the Storm. It reorientates itself far too often. I ran into some issues when taking the Storm out of my pocket and unlocking it when it was still in landscape mode where it remained for some time. It’s best to let the Storm get back into portrait mode before unlocking.

I think it’s safe to say that BlackBerry users rely on shortcuts and the Storm obviously fails in this department. By pressing down on the Home key you’re presented with the active apps menu (alt-back button on all other BlackBerrys), but it simply doesn’t get the job done.

The lack of physical keys also takes away the ability to soft and hard reset the Storm. Are we supposed to take the battery out every time we want to reset the device?

Grey area

OS

RIM, please stop worrying about the hardware and speed up the OS updates. Yes, it’s always stable when released, but I don’t like waiting years and years for you to update the software (HTML e-mail, anyone?). You can’t take a nap in this department anymore with Apple and Android becoming major players.

Overall

I love BlackBerrys and will finally admit that the iPhone is not stupid. I refuse to give up one for another, so I carry around both devices. I wish the Storm were the real iPhone killer, but it’s not and I’m afraid there won’t be anything to ‘kill’ it for a while. So, let’s all just move on until someone makes some decent hardware for Android — but that’s neither here nor there. If you can get used to the click screen and I’m sure you will (and so will I, but I’ve only had it for 36 hours thus far) then the Storm combines what’s great about RIM and their products and does a decent job of bringing in the touch-screen aspect. I won’t be ditching my Bold or iPhone 3G for the Storm, but if you’ve been waiting for it then I strongly encourage you to go to your local Verizon Wireless store and spend some time with it. I don’t think you hardcore BlackBerry users will like it, especially if you’re used to shortcuts and hot keys and hammering out text, but if you’re a casual user looking for a touch-screen device (which is the market RIM seems to be going after here) then go for it.

If there’s something specific you’d like me to take a look at, then please drop your questions in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Short Version: The HTC Touch Pro is easily the best HTC device available from US carriers right now. If you’ve been considering a professional-level Windows Mobile phone with a QWERTY keyboard, the Touch Pro is an excellent choice.

Overview and Features:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional underneath HTC’s own TouchFLO interface
• 528MHz processor, 512MB ROM and 288MB RAM
• Gorgeous 2.8-inch 640×480 touchscreen
• Five-row slide out QWERTY keypad
• Built-in GPS, Wi-Fi, and stereo Bluetooth
• Memory expandable via microSD
• 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus
• HTML Opera web browser
• Sprint claims up to 4 hours talk time, AT&T claims up to 7.4 hours
• Sprint EVDO Rev. A data speed, AT&T 3G tri-band HSDPA
• $299 after two-year contract and mail-in rebate ($100 MIR on Sprint, $50 on AT&T)

The Interface

HTC’s TouchFLO interface runs on top of Windows Mobile 6.1, providing an intuitive and slick method to get from point A to point B. Once you start drilling down into menus and submenus, you’ll often find the familiar and plain Windows Mobile screens. But all the basic top-level stuff is wrapped in TouchFLO for the most part.

Moving around is relatively responsive, but it’s not quite a smooth-like-butter experience yet. There tends to be a tiny bit of lag every so often, enough that it’s noticeable without being overly frustrating. I found myself coaxing the device along rather than cursing at it, which I suppose is a good sign. HTC has a habit of patching its phones pretty aggressively during the first few months of a release, so I’d expect to see speed and stability enhancements rolling out soon and into early next year.

The Opera web browser is the same great, full HTML browser found on the Touch Diamond. It’s light years beyond most mobile browsers (though I still prefer Safari on the iPhone and iPod Touch). It’s way, way better than the mobile version of Internet Explorer, although that program is loaded on the phone if you need to use it.

The Keyboard

I preferred Sprint’s keyboard over AT&T’s even though both are identical from a technical standpoint. Sprint’s top row features numbers while AT&T’s has symbols (click the above image to enlarge). This will completely come down to your own preference. I preferred to be able to quickly type numbers without using a function key.

The keys themselves are small and tightly spaced, so you’re not going to bring this phone to the national texting championships or anything. It gets the job done, though, and typing gets easier and faster with time. I have pretty big fingers, too, so if you’ve got bony, pointy digits, you’ll have an easier go of it.

Thankfully, the tactile response when pressing a key is pretty good. Each key travels downward far enough that you’ll know you’ve hit your target. The Enter, Space, and left Shift keys are big, which is nice. AT&T’s keyboard includes a function-selected numeric keypad to make up for the lack of top-row numerical keys.

The simple addition of the keyboard makes the Touch Pro far easier and more enjoyable to use than the Touch Diamond. It gives the device an air of seriousness, too, as it makes quickly answering e-mail messages a far more productive experience.

Size, Weight, and Battery Life

The Touch Pro is a bit chunky, especially compared to the keyboard-less Touch Diamond. Business and power users likely won’t mind the girth and it’s not an insurmountable obstacle, but I was kind of surprised initially. The AT&T version is a bit heavier at 5.82 ounces than the Sprint version, at 5.3 ounces. Both feel very solid, though, which is a good thing to have in a phone you’ll presumably use all the time.

Both versions are the same size at 4 inches by 2 inches by .71 inches. The Sprint version has a flat, silver/grey back, while the AT&T version uses the same jagged-looking back as the HTC Touch Diamond. Again, that’ll come down to your preference.

Battery life is passable, but you won’t want to stray too far away from the charger. With frequent use, you’ll need to plug it in every night. You might be able to squeeze two full days of light-to-moderate use out of it, but the battery indicator might make you a little nervous by mid-morning on day two. Thankfully the phone can be recharged with standard mini USB cables, which are pretty easy to find in a pinch.

You’ll like it if…

…you use Windows Mobile for the functionality but don’t care for WinMo’s look and feel, you want a device that can do just about anything (HTML browser, pretty good autofocus camera, music, video, GPS) and you need an actual, physical keyboard.

If you’ve used and liked HTC devices before and you’re trying to decide whether or not to upgrade to this one, then you can safely do so without being disappointed. It’s easily the best HTC device to date (though we’ll see if the Touch HD takes that crown) and the slide-out keyboard makes a world of difference over the Touch Diamond.

I’m not too keen on comparing one company’s phones against other phones, but if I had to do so, I’d say the Touch Diamond sits squarely between the iPhone and a BlackBerry — it’s a good mix of business and fun. It doesn’t do the interface and web browser as well as the iPhone and the messaging and typing angles aren’t covered as robustly as they are on a BlackBerry. I’ve very much enjoyed using the Touch Pro, though, because it covers both areas broadly and performs most functions with ease.

But not if…

…size matters or you’re looking for an iPhone or BlackBerry killer. Like I said, the Touch Pro can perform a lot of functions and handles most of them pretty well. It’s just not likely going to appeal to either of the extreme ends of work and play. And it’s built more like an SUV than a Ferrari. It’s not ugly by any means, but it’s built for function.

Also, at $299, the price seems to be just out of reach for the casual user. Business users, though, might not be all that put off by the price tag, especially considering that you get WinMo 6.1 Professional with all the Microsoft Office features.

Recommendation:

Windows Mobile users who want to get some work done during the day followed by a little fun at night are strongly encouraged to take a closer look at this phone. The interface is unique and easy-to-use and the web browser, entertainment features, and business applications round out the best phone we’ve seen from HTC yet.

The ClarityLife C900 succeeds in so many places that the iPhone fails that it’s not even funny. First of all, it’s unlocked and, at $269.95, it’s not that much more expensive than an iPhone with a two-year contract. Once you get to a certain age, locking into contracts is silly. As my ninety-one-year-old grandmother says when asked about remarrying, “What’s the point?” The same can be said for cell phone contracts.

Second, the ClarityLife C900 has a ringer that’s “twice as loud as an ordinary cell phone,” which oughta scare the bejesus out of anybody under the age of 60 while providing optimal ring volume for our beloved seniors. Oh, and lest you think that the phone simply rings when a call’s coming in, the blaze-orange LCD also flashes like mad and the phone vibrates as though the old folks’ home sat atop the San Andreas fault.

Third, the phone has only four ginormous buttons and none of that fancy, convoluted, voodoo multi-touch stuff. Just some good, old fashioned button mashing.

And not to be outdone by Apple, there is, of course, “one more thing.”

On the back of the phone is a red, heart-shaped emergency button. Press it, and the C900 “calls and sends text messages to five pre-programmed numbers,” cycling through each contact until someone picks up. Boom. Mind blown? I know.

Now all Clarity needs to do is add a flashlight feature to the phone and – whoa, whoa, whoa, I spoke too soon. It’s got a built-in flashlight. I’ll be damned. Mind blown again.

ClarityLife C900 Amplified Mobile Phone [ClarityProducts.com]

How can I put into words how I feel about the BlackBerry Bold? In short: I love it and never ever want to let it go, ever. For any BlackBerry user/fan the Bold is everything you’ve wanted and expected from RIM. Sure, it took a little longer than we all expected, but it’s definitely worth the wait. It’s far superior in every respect from anything that RIM has put out on the market. Of course, those of you with a hankering for a touch-screen need not apply. The Bold is for the hardcore CrackBerry addict or is it?

Let’s begin.

Hardware

The Bold sits in between the Curve and 8800 series from all around perspective. In terms of size it’s much closer to that of the 8800 series and is more or less a step-up from that series. However, it takes a handful of features from the Curve and melds them together to make a Super BlackBerry.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the 8800 series keyboard since I’d been using the Curve since its launch, but I quickly adapted and I can now type faster on the Bold than I ever could on the Curve. The overall quality trumps the Curve. In fact, the word cheap comes to mind when I switch from the Bold to the Curve.

The half-VGA screen is…gorgeous. It does come at a cost, though. Previous BlackBerries had a protective piece of plastic covering the screen, but the Bold has a thin and rather flimsy screen this go around. You’ll want to invest in some sort of protective cover for it.

Is that microSD slot on the exterior of the phone? Yes it is! Oh, and the 1GB of internal storage is straight fire (good).

The addition of the 2-megapixel camera will surely make those with an 8800 series giddy or jealous, but Curve owners won’t be too impressed. The camera is par for the course, but it does capture video.

Because the Bold is only available through AT&T you’ll be privy to GPS, but this time you also get Wi-Fi. There is one caveat, however. The BlackBerry Maps app is blocked in favor of AT&T’s Navigator. That’s great for people who drive, but it sucks for city dwellers like myself because I don’t need all that extraneous crap that the app comes with. But the GPS finds me within seconds of loading the app, so I can’t complain too much. You’ll want to download Google Maps. Unfortunately the “My Location” function doesn’t work with the Bold at the moment.

I was never able to connect to my home network using the Curve, but I can now with the Bold. I can’t tell you why that is now, but I don’t question it. It also takes a few extra seconds to connect compared to other devices I have around the home.

This qualm is more of a network issue than it is hardware one, but you can’t utlizie Wi-Fi on the Bold to make calls or send BB IMs over UMA like you can with the Curve on T-Mobile. That’s basically what I did while overseas to save money.

Battery life was thought to be an issue on the Bold by many, but it lasted three days before I decided to juice it up. There is no option to switch from 3G to EDGE, which I think is a travesty because every other 3G smartphone on the market (mainly the iPhone and G1) has the ability to do so. But it lasted three days and that’s fine by me. This will depend on the user, though.

Overall, the hardware is a perfect blend between the 8800 series and Curve series devices. It may be a bit too wide for some folks, but I’m okay with it. It’s roughly the same width as an 8800 series. The keyboard takes some getting used to if you’re moving from any device other than an 8800, but it’s silky smooth. The camera is as good as you’re going to get out of a 2-megapixel sensor, but it does have an LED flash and captures video, so that’s good for something. On top of said camera, the Bold is the first BlackBerry to have GPS and Wi-Fi. I believe it’s the first BB to have Wi-Fi on the AT&T network as well.

Software

OS 4.6 takes a bit of time to get used to because the icons are kind of funky and maybe it’s the AT&T version of the BlackBerry OS that throws me off, but I hate all the folders and what’s allocated into each. But, actually having folders is a nice addition once you organize things the way you want.

Oh yeah, HTML e-mail is FINALLY here.

A ton of games are also included: BrickBreaker, Word Mole, Texas Hold’Em King 2, Sudoku, and Klondike.

DataViz provides a suite of applications for the business folks to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. They work well, but I rarely have to view preadsheets or PPT presentations.

RIM has finally done something right with their Web browser. It’s nothing to write home about thanks to Apple, but it’s way better than previous versions. I probably won’t even install Opera if that tells you anything.

The apps are also nothing to fawn over, but I’ve never associated the BlackBerry with applications. Perhaps that’s my downfall in this review, but finding applications is nowhere near as easy as it is on the iPhone or G1. We’ll just have to wait and see till the official BlackBerry App Store opens next year.

Google apps are either not supported are just don’t work at all. When trying to fire up Gmail I’m presented with errors and have yet to run it successfully. The Google Mobile App and Sync are also incompatible with the Bold, which sucks a lot because I rely on Sync to, well, sync my Google calendar with my BlackBerry calendar. Hopefully Google patches these issues or you’re going to have a lot of angry folks like myself.

Network

The BlackBerry excels in the 3G arena where the iPhone 3G falls short. The Bold stays connected where the iPhone would revert to EDGE and stay there for all eternity.

The End Result

The Bold is unequivocally the best piece of hardware that RIM has ever put out. The Curve and Pearl series drew the attention of the masses while the 8800 series was the device of choice for the suits, but the Bold clearly appeals to both. It’s a more polished and refined BlackBerry than we’re used to. Is it perfect? No. If you’re looking for an app experience comparably to Android or even the iPhone then you’re going to want to wait until next year. But if you just want the latest BlackBerry then this is the one to get.

Sorry, T-Mobile users, but you’re going to have to settle for the Javelin aka Curve 2 or fork over the $550 to get one with no commitment and have it unlocked.

The Bold is available now for $300 with a 2-year contract and MIR.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Blackberries? Well, I do.

The Pearl series will never have a place in my pocket, but 70 percent of the population in the US who own a mobile phone carry a clamshell. To bridge the gap between the consumer sector and business sector, RIM introduced the Pearl and Curve models. The Pearl Flip 8220 is the device RIM hopes will saturate the market even further.

This won’t be a traditional review in the sense that I asked a current Pearl owner whether or not he would switch and what he thought about the Flip version.

Breken, a friend with a Pearl, pointed out what he did and didn’t like about it compared to his Pearl 8120.

Pros

Bigger screen
Bigger keypad
Spellcheck
Call quality was on par with his current Pearl

Cons
Feels cheap
The sunken trackball is awkward to use
It seems a lot bigger compared to the older Pearl because of its form factor
The font on the keyboard itself seems off

Me: Would you trade your Pearl 8120 for the Flip?
Breken: No.

Product Page

Quick Version: The Samsung Rant is an excellent phone for text messaging addicts who want to be able to do a bit of light web browsing over a high speed data network but don’t want all the feature overload of a full-fledged smartphone. And at $49.99 with a two-year contract, it’s priced to move.

Click through for the full review.

Overview and Features

• Full slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• Sprint One-Click user interface
• GPS, stereo Bluetooth, high-speed data
• Two-megapixel camera
• Won “Best Cell Phone” award at CTIA 2008
• $49.99 after instant savings, a $50 mail-in rebate, and two-year contract

Good for…

…people who send text messages or e-mail all day long. Sprint bills this phone as “the ultimate texting machine” and, while that might be a slight misnomer (everyone knows the ultimate texting machine would be some sort of robot that answered all your e-mails and text messages, showed emotion, and was capable of rational thought), I found the Rant to come pretty close thanks to a great keyboard and simple UI.

It’s a good choice for the person who likes the idea of a smartphone or a pocket PC (or whatever they’re called now) but doesn’t want to deal with all the features. There’s no touchscreen here, there’s no stylus, and there aren’t menus buried within menus buried within menus. It’s just a phone with a little added kick. It’s not that bulky either. There’s a little junk in the trunk thanks to the keyboard but it’s not that noticeable; the Rant will fit in all but the tightest of pockets.

The UI that Sprint loaded on the Rant works pretty well because you can customize it to your liking. The main screen is made up of a series of “tiles” that, when selected, display a few various programs that you can launch. For instance: the Google tile.

Hey, I use Google! When I first selected it, up popped selections for Google Maps, Calendar, G-Mail, Notebook and YouTube. Well I don’t really use Notebook and I’m not a big YouTube-on-your cell phone guy, so I replaced those two options with Google Reader and Google Calendar. You can do similar things with the other tiles. Nice.

Not so good for…

…people who want a more robust online experience. The actual web browser will do in a pinch, but you’re not going to sit and surf from site to site on your phone for very long. That’s a minor gripe, though, as I didn’t find too much I didn’t like about this device. I never thought I’d get along with a non-smartphone, yet here we are. The only thing missing for me is a better browsing experience, but that’s not what this phone’s all about and it’s, admittedly, expecting too much out of a $50 device.

Conclusion

Great phone, great keyboard, great price. It’s perfect for text-happy kids and also for adults who want e-mail and text messaging without all the other smartphone hoopla.

Samsung Rant [Sprint.com]

Quick Version: The Motorola Renegade V950 is a good choice for people who want a rugged phone with excellent call quality and push-to-talk capabilities. What’s more, Motorola and Sprint-Nextel manage to throw a little fun into the mix as well.

Overview and Features

• Rugged, military-grade flip phone
• Nextel Direct Connect Push-to-Talk
• GPS
• EVDO Rev. A data
• Bluetooth
• External display with dedicated music buttons
• $129.99 with two-year contract

Perfect for…

…people who want a phone first. This thing has excellent call quality and you can drop it, kick it, throw it, and try to feed it to your dog. It’s a phone for people who just want a phone – and perhaps klutzes.

It’s not just a phone, though. You also get GPS, fast EVDO data, Bluetooth, a 2.0-megapixel camera, mobile web and e-mail access, and the walkie-talkie goodness of a Nextel Direct Connect device. At the end of the day, too, you can kick up your steel-toed heels and watch Sprint TV content or download stuff from Sprint’s music store.

Not so good for…

…those of you who want a good looking, fully-featured wonder-phone. The V950 is basically like a Motorola Razr wearing a puffy winter coat – if that coat were made of tough rubber. It’s certainly not going to turn any heads. If that kind of thing is important to you, you might get teased at school for lugging this thing around. Luckily, it could probably double as a weapon if things get too intense.

Conclusion

The Motorola Renegade V950 is a great phone for simply making and taking phone calls. Plus, there’s a little added fun when you dig into the web, music, and video stuff. It’s definitely not a kid phone but put this thing on any construction site in your neighborhood and it’ll hold its own and then some.

Voice quality is excellent – kind of a Motorola hallmark (at least it used to be). Battery life felt a little bit short, as the phone needed to be recharged about every day and a half to two days. I had it set to check my e-mail every hour and I was sometimes using it to access the mobile web and stream TV, though. I’m guessing the rough-and-tumble target audience for this phone won’t be using the data as much as I did.

All in all, the V950 is a tough-as-nails phone with a little extra fun inside. It’s a good choice if you’re looking for a rugged phone with push-to-talk features.

Motorola Renegade V950 [Sprint.com]

Like this video? View more here…

I will keep this review short and straight to the point, folks. You know how Google likes to keep things in Beta for years and years? Well, Android is no different. Like many of you I was excited at the prospect of a new OS to muscle it’s way in and take down the iPhone, but I’m afraid Android is not it – at least not yet. The OS actually isn’t that bad, but it does have its issues and those cannot be overlooked. Unfortunately it’s the hardware that will be Android’s folly this go around until the other manufacturers can churn out some better goods.

Let’s start with the hardware.

The Good

The variety of input mechanisms is superb. The keyboard is quite responsive and laid out very well. It’s almost on par with the Sidekick keyboards and we all know those are the gold standard. The trackball has a nice tactile feel to it and I especially like that it’s dark grey, so it won’t show dirt and grime over time. But it remains to be seen whether dust, dirt and anything else that can get into it will affect its performance. The touch-screen is nice and bright and quite responsive. It’s not as big as the iPhone screen, but it gets the job done.

The camera works great and takes decent photos when there’s enough light, but in low light situations it stinks and that’s to be expected. It fires up rather quickly when you tap the hard key firmly, but a quick tap won’t do anything for you, so make sure you give it a good push.

I wasn’t keen on the placement of the speaker when I first saw the G1, but it’s a heck of a lot better than being placed along the bottom of the phone like the iPhone. Being super loud isn’t always a good thing but audio quality on the G1 doesn’t deteriorate when it’s at full volume. It’s still just a speaker on a phone, but it’s loud and crisp. Even when it’s placed speaker side down on a table the audio doesn’t get muffled. I’m actually listening to Bob Marley’s Legend while writing this review and it sounds great (speaker side down).

Call quality is relatively clear on both ends and does pretty well out on the streets. It’s par for the course. Nothing great but not terribly bad.

The screen’s hinge is rather strange, but it works. Greg and I are both heavy users of the Helio Ocean, so we know a good hinge when we see one and HTC did very well with this. It slides open and out and does not “fold” like most smartphones. It’s much more similar to the TK than anything else.

The Bad

My biggest gripe with the G1 is that the GPS does not work. I thought maybe it was because I lived in Manhattan, but my iPhone never has a problem finding me within seconds and neither does my T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve (no GPS but at least I’m within a few hundred yards based on cell tower triangulation). Regardless of whether or not I enable the GPS satellites, I’m never where I’m supposed to be. And if it does manage to find me, it immediately drops me off two or three blocks away. Even on my way to JFK earlier in the week, I thought there would be enough exposed sky for it to accurately locate me. No dice. It stinks and turning on the GPS satellites drain the battery like nobody’s business, which brings me to my next point.

If you thought the battery life on the iPhone 3G was bad then you haven’t had to deal with a G1. The first day I had it I managed to kill it within six hours and I was just cruising the Web (medium heavy), sending/receiving e-mails and getting used to the device. I figured it needed a drain and a full charge overnight to cure itself, but I woke up the next day and did some light Web browsing, checked a few e-mails and attempted to locate myself via GPS for 10-15 minutes and the battery drained down to 7x percent within an hour. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I used it as much as I do my BlackBerry or iP3G. The battery life is atrocious. It drops 5-10 percent after 30 minutes of unplugging it and not even doing anything.

While the keyboard rocks that hip with the hard buttons makes it extremely awkward on your right hand and I still haven’t found a comfortable way to hold the device and type on it. I’m sure with time it’s something I could get used to, but I shouldn’t have to. Seriously, who gave this design the green light? It reminds of the Wing and Tilt, but a fugly mishmash of the two. It’s huge and that section with the hard keys is angled up making it uncomfortable to put in the front pocket of my jeans. And I’m no hipster wearing skinny jeans. I see the Touch series and wonder why something like that wasn’t used for the G1.

And last but not least, no 3.5mm jack. That’s right, you’re forced to use the headphones that come with the G1 and connect via USB. Weak sauce.

Now on to Android.

The overall UI is clean and easy to figure out. I hate making comparisons to the iPhone, but Android does a good job in this area. The layout is similar, but with smaller icons, which could look a lot better. I can’t really say that Android is good or bad, but my initial reaction was that it seemed to be slapped together last second and held together by duct tape. It’s not as buggy as the iPhone first was but it looks and feels archaic.

Before I go on a rampage I will point out the few little gems that Android has to offer. The notifications bar is a nice touch and keeps me up to date on what’s going on and it’s easy enough to access by swiping from the top of the screen down. The variety of inputs can be confusing at times and I barely remembered that the menu hard key was there, but it’s something you just have to get used to. It gets much easier and you can whip through the device rather quickly once that happens.

The ability to add things to the home screen was also a nice touch like shortcuts. Having folders that I can dump certain apps like games into is convenient and takes up less real estate.

A minute detail that many might overlook that I found quite useful was the status menu for the device to see vitals like battery level and signal strength. I just wish I could make a shortcut for it to put on my home screen.

Now here’s the bad (and good)

Gmail
-Inability to have more than one Gmail account linked to the device. I know it would throw off everything else linked to it like the calendar and contacts, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask to have the option of switching back and forth.
-Surprisingly not as polished as the BlackBerry Gmail app, but everything is more streamlined. Depends on the user, I suppose.
-Digging through menus isn’t fun when you just want to spam an email. Not being able to trash your entire spam folder is also a negative.
-Despite the aforementioned quibbles Gmail on Android works and it works well.

Google Maps

-If the GPS would actually work I might shower Maps with flowers, puppies and praise, but it doesn’t so I won’t.
-Street View is phenomenal, but it shows me locations that are nowhere near where I am or where I want to go. Maybe it’s because the GPS doesn’t work, I don’t know.
-The compass (you have to download the app Spare Parts to even get it) in Maps that I thought would kick ass was underwhelming and it’s hard to tell which direction it’s pointing you.
-The entire app is underwhelming due to the non-working GPS and when it is able to locate me it’s slow to update.

Google Calendar
-It works, but it takes a while for things to sync.
-The home screen icon should reflect the actual day.
-I’d like to see the calendar on the notification bar but when the keyboard is closed that wouldn’t leave too much for notification icons. It does show up when you pull the notification bar down though.

Google Search
-It works. No problems here.

Browser
-After using the iPhone’s Safari browser I’m spoiled, but the Android browser can firmly rest in second place among mobile browsers.
-Zooming in and out is a smidge painful when you’re having to tap the + and – icons, but like I said, it’s way better than every other browser on the market except for the iPhone.
-Eight separate browsers should be enough for anyone.

YouTube
-It’s not as polished as the iPhone’s YouTube app, which is appalling, but it works.
-You can also comment on each video’s direct page, but do we really care about that?
-No dedicated video player other than this. That’s rough.

MP3 Player
-No equalizer.
-Longpressing on an album, song title or artist will bring up links to search the Amazon MP3 store, Google and YouTube.

The Market
-I cannot give this a fair review because the apps that are currently available are not very good. But Namco’s Pac Man is FREE! Rejoice!
-The whole barcode scanner app is lame. Comparing the price of items doesn’t locate local pricing for me and I don’t care how much a bottle of Jack costs online. Maybe it’s because my GPS wasn’t working. Who knows?
-Deleting applications is far more difficult than it needs to be. When you hold down on an icon from the home screen the tab at the bottom displays a trash can which you would think is actually a trash can, but it’s not. It’s a receptacle where all your apps are stored. You must delete apps from inside the Market. Fail.
-I’m sure with time the Market will get better, but right now it’s nothing to swoon over.

The Network
T-Mobile’s 3G network is strong in the markets that it is currently deployed in. I’ve had great coverage in NYC, SF and Chicago thus far and have had less switching between EDGE and 3G than on the iPhone 3G. Download speeds are comparable to that of AT&T’s network and I didn’t drop any calls. Oh, and the actual phone works great.

Other gripes
Did they choose black as a background just because the iPhone uses white (grey/blue)? From the home page everything looks vibrant but once you jump into settings or IM or anything then it turns dark and dreary. At least let us change the themes or something. Beyond the home page it’s an ugly and unpleasant experience.

Conclusion
If you’ve been waiting for Android then I suggest you keep waiting. The overall OS seems to be held together by duct tape and needs a lot of work. Apple focuses on the minute details to enrich the overall experience for iPhone users and Android could learn a lesson or ten from it. The hardware design is dated and while the touch-screen and keyboard are great you can’t just forget about the wretched battery life, horrible GPS and the overall ergonomics of it. I wish the G1 were better in every respect because I don’t think the iPhone is that great, but I find myself wishing it were more like it. It’s the best alternative to the iPhone, but it’s just not there yet.

I’ve been putting this one off for a while, but it’s time you youngsters learned about this lovely little device. It’s the latest in Nokia’s E series of smartphones, and as you will learn by clicking above and/or below, it’s a bit of a conundrum. By the way, that part of the video review is supposed to be boring.

First, the good news.

The Good News

This phone is a magnificent piece of work. Everything about it screams “quality” from the texture of the keys to the styling and heft. Everyone I saw, be they users of iPhones, BlackBerries, flip phones or what have you, everyone thought it was a beautiful piece of hardware. It’s well constructed, uses a fair amount of real metal, and has a weightiness to it that seems out of keeping with its slight frame. And it is slight: it’s nearly as thin as my old Samsung Trace, and it’s narrower than a BlackBerry.

So with limited space, you’d think there would be compromises. If there are, I didn’t notice them — at least after a little use. If I’m honest, the keyboard could be a little larger, but it didn’t affect my typing once I figured out the layout. Trouble is, there isn’t a staggered layout like a regular QWERTY: Z is directly below A, which is annoying until you get used to it. Also, the modifier keys are small and right next to each other, so you may find yourself typing a capital letter instead of a number every once in a while. Still, I’m being more hard on it than it deserves. It feels great, and I know I could get even more words per minute out of it if I tried a little harder (we bloggers are a lazy lot). Locking and unlocking the phone was a little more trouble than I’d like, but it was nice having a main button for all major actions — the top button allows you to change modes, turn it off or on, hit up airplane mode, lock the keypad and more.

The screen is very sharp and fairly bright, and does that thing where you can see it in the sunlight, but it looks kind of weird. I’m not winning any prizes for eloquence there, but you know what I mean. It works. The graphics were occasionally not up to the screen’s capabilities; the 3.5G indicator especially was a bit fuzzy, and I learned to recognize it by its indistinctness.

Basically, all the hardware and industrial design aspects of this phone are outstanding.

So much for the good news.

The Other News
Is it bad news if the phone is too good for its OS? It is if that’s the only OS you can use on it. Let’s be real here: Symbian is the old guard. It’s been retrofitted and retrofitted and retrofitted, and now the capabilities of phones are just beyond what can be made convenient in S60. Support is there, certainly, for every function of the E71, but it’s not elegant and it’s certainly not fun. The list of things this phone can do is like a page long, but each thing has its own page-long description of how to get to it, configure it, and so on.

I’m getting off track and criticizing S60 here, but this phone deserves more! Switching modes is supposed to counterbalance the fact that you can’t fit everything you want to do on one home screen. But that’s basically admitting that this is too much phone for this OS.

One more thing: messaging. Setting up e-mail was a breeze in the built-in e-mail app, but oh my god is it slow. Even in 3.5G zones it would take ages — ages! — just to open messaging, go to my inbox, and open a single short message. Configuring it to take advantage of different wi-fi spots was annoying; you don’t want it to ask every time, of course, but you also don’t want it to just fail when the default isn’t available. A popular replacement app, Seven, worked all right but is still not reliable enough to use full-time, and having it on true push tends to kill the battery due to how long the thing wants to take to check a message.

Other things worked great: GPS worked like a charm most of the time, although I’d recommend Google Maps over the built-in maps program (which is passable). The browser is old school but actually was pretty quick. Browsing was easy, relatively fast, and downloads are blazing when you have good coverage. Installing apps is easier than finding them, especially when the E71 isn’t totally supported yet by many developers, but I found plenty of good stuff. Tethering was easy and browsing via the phone was pretty fast — way faster than checking e-mail.

So what’s the bottom line?
I think I can pretty easily recommend this phone to anyone who uses Symbian. It’s certainly the loveliest phone out there running S60 and a worthwhile upgrade from the earlier entries in the E-series. Trouble is, it’s difficult to find. I think AT&T might be picking it up, but it’s still going to be expensive as hell. So if you’re looking to invest in one last Symbian phone before moving on to the next big thing, this is really your best option.

In my humble opinion, the biggest issue concerning the Peek e-mail device isn’t whether or not it does what it’s intended to do, but who is it intended to serve? There’s a big market out there, to be sure. Who doesn’t have e-mail nowadays? Doesn’t matter, there aren’t many of them and they’re not reading CrunchGear.

I’ll make that first question – Who is Peek intended to serve? – two pieces of bread in a delicious gadget sandwich. The meat inside will be the review of the device itself.

And so we dance.

Overview and Features

The Peek device is nearly identical in size (but not weight) to a pack of your favorite square-shaped gum. So if you’re able to fit some Dentyne Ice in your pocket, you’ll undoubtedly have room for the Peek. It’s just under four ounces, which gives it a not-too-heavy-but-definitely-solid feel.

The device costs $99, plus $20 per month for service. Everything is set up on the Peek itself when you first turn it on and there are no long-term contracts to sign. You basically enter your credit card number along with your e-mail address and password and that’s it. A baby could do it. A little, dumb baby (that can somehow read and type and has a credit card – man, this baby actually sounds more cool than dumb).

Once those two minutes of your life have passed, you’ll be greeted with your inbox. I was able to set up my Gmail account and watch the messages slowly (and I mean slowly) trickle in. I thought something was wrong at first because nothing showed up for about twenty minutes. Once all the wheels started spinning, though, messages came in relatively fast and non-threateningly furious. Peek has automatic settings for most popular e-mail providers and you can set up three accounts if needed – messages from all three providers will come into the same inbox, though. The service uses the POP3 protocol, so messages you delete on your Peek won’t be deleted from your regular inbox. There’s currently no IMAP or Exchange support, which shouldn’t be a surprise for a device focused on dead-simple e-mail.

As far as message handling, it’s pretty much text, text, and more text. The device does handle JPEG images as attachments, but that’s about it. It won’t display images embedded in messages or any HTML. It’s just plain text. Here’s an image attachment:

Pretty standard. It actually looks better in real life. My camera picked up some pixilation there. The real thing looks just fine. The device has a 2.5-inch 320×240 screen that’s bright and crisp. Battery life is rated at 2-3 days with moderate usage, which seems to be about right. I haven’t sent a lot of messages from the device, so I’m guessing I’ll be able to squeeze another day or two of juice out of it.

According to the company, service is provided by “a prominent US nationwide network,” which is a fancy way of saying T-Mobile. I can’t tell what speed the data’s running in and out at, but if I had to guess, I’d think it was EDGE. It definitely feels faster than GPRS and there’s not a whole lot of point to pushing text-only e-mail over T-Mobile’s new 3G network. It’s possible that it could be a GPRS connection, though. Whatever the case, it’s quick. Oh, and new messages are checked every five minutes.

The keyboard is above-average. Not the best mobile device keyboard I’ve ever used but much better than most of them on the market right now. There’s a dedicated top row of numeric keys, which is a nice touch, and it’s pretty easy to type combinations of letters, numbers, and symbols quickly. I’m not crazy about the delete/backspace key being next to the L key as I’m used to it being next to the P key on most keyboards, but I’m pretty sure I’ll live. I’ve already accidentally deleted a few e-mails, though.

Recommendations

And now we’re back to our original question: Who is the Peek intended to serve? Perhaps the question’s not mine to answer, but I’ll give it a go anyway.

First off, if you’ve researched the device and you’re wondering about how well it works and the build quality and all that, go out and buy it. You won’t be disappointed.

If you already have a smartphone or PDA device with a QWERTY keyboard and a data plan, then Peek wouldn’t really make much sense for you. On the other hand, if you have a regular cell phone and want to be able to read and respond to e-mail, then you’ll have to decide to either drop $100 on the Peek and another $20 per month for service or to upgrade your current phone and add a data plan. Both options would probably come out to about the same monetary amount.

If you’re an e-mail junkie but hate to talk on the phone, this is the PERFECT device for you. However, if you’re an e-mail junkie that wants to leverage the mobile internet, this is NOT the device for you, as there’s no web browser.

If you’re a parent and your good-for-nothing kids send text messages all day long but never talk on the phone, buy them each a Peek immediately. This thing could be huge with kids. However, keep in mind that it doesn’t play games, there aren’t any ringtones, and there’s no camera. If you’re a tough-but-fair parent, this could be a good compromise for when your two-year old starts asking for a cell phone (that’s when most kids these days start getting phones, right?).

Whatever the case, the device itself does what it’s intended to do, so don’t worry about that. It’s well-built, relatively affordable, and it “just works.” Now Peek needs to see if enough people actually want the device. There probably won’t be any middle ground, either. It’ll to be this year’s Furby or collapse on itself like a dying star.

Actually, lowering the monthly fee to $14.99 or $9.99 might work wonders. We’ll see, though. It’s still early and the holidays are right around the corner. All in all, the Peek is a thoughtful, “just works” device that’ll hopefully find a niche somewhere.

Peek [GetPeek.com]

So we return to the Palm Treo Pro, a $549 unlocked Windows Mobile Treo aimed squarely at the business set. It’s been about a week and I’ve used this guy off and on. It kept a nice charge – two days, for the most part, without much data use – and fit nicely in the pocket. But is it the Treo of which we all incessantly dream? Is it the Treo that will bring us closer to world peace and better burritos on the East Coast? Is this the Treo for you?

Yes, it is the Treo for you if you are a business professional forced to use Windows Mobile and you travel quite a bit and hardware price is no object. This is also the Treo for you if you’re buying a few cellphones for the CEO and the CFO and you want them to be productive without having to change your Windows-based IT and communications infrastructure. If you are neither of those people, think of the Treo Pro as a vision of Palm’s future.

The Treo Pro is one of Palm’s most attractive Treos to date. Gone is the lumpen plastic of the Centro and the low-gloss ho-hummery of the 800w. Whereas the Centro and the 800w took design cues from the lower end of the market, Treo tapped HTC to design this new looker and for good reason. The RIM, in a general, sense, was eating their enterprise lunch and the Centro was doing just fine.

So we have the Treo Pro. As its name implies, this isn’t for amateurs. Because it’s unlocked and unsubsidized you’d better have a damn good reason for going Windows Mobile. This could mean IT departments buying in bulk for their executives or a mobile professional who wants a messaging phone but still likes ActiveSync. Europe loves them some Windows Mobile, so their unlocked model is a good move. The US market, sadly, looks at expensive phones and then looks elsewhere. The Blackberry Curve didn’t get where it is on its good looks.

The phone is very thin and the keyboard very usable. I had no issues with tapping out emails or messages and once set up it’s easy to get mail and surf the web. The rounded hang-up and call buttons are a great touch but the odd center “Palm” button and the additional OK button made for some odd moments – which one does what? Aren’t they the same? Reader, I don’t know. The phone also has G.P.S. built in.

A dedicated silencing switch on the top and a dedicated Wi-Fi button on the side are probably the most useful features. Windows Mobile has been streamlined quite nicely with Wi-Fi discovery and connection made a snap by the button and search and messaging made easier with an uncluttered front page.

Who is this phone going against? I’d say Palm is aiming at two other handsets. One starts with B and ends with -old and the other starts with i and ends with Phone. The Bold is the Pro’s closest rival with its updated styling. This phone also goes against the stunning new Nokia E71.

Right now, if I were to recommend a QWERTY smartphone to someone with a little money, I’d say the Bold was the best in the RIM category, the Pro was the best in Windows Mobile, and the E71 was the best in Symbian. That, I’m happy to say, is a great feeling. I’m a long-time fan of Palm and their dips of late have disturbed and depressed me. I’m still not in love with the Centro and the 800w was ho-hum but the peppy processor and attractive styling of the Pro made me rethink my misdirected anger.

What are my concerns? That people see the nearly $600 price tag and balk. Nokia can play in the unsubsidized market simply because it’s been working in that space for quite a long time. When we think of the Treo we think of carrier-specific models – to untether the Pro, even though they’ve done the same for the Centro with little fanfare, is distressing. I’ve been promised good things from Palm in the next few months but I worry their time has passed. Android could replaces Palm OS as the geek OS of choice and the iPhone and its various knock-offs are what’s popular with the kids. This is a step in the right direction. Let’s hope the next step comes sooner than later.

Also making its way into CG HQ is the Sprint Katana Eclipse from Sanyo. This too is a simple, yet effective flip phone. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s the tiny details that make this particular device stand out from the crowd. Said tiny details are the two light bars on the front flap that can be customized for contacts, messages, phone calls, etc. in one of 40 different variations that range from simple blinks to elaborate light shows. The colors include, red, green, blue, yellow, purple, orange and light blue.

The 1.3-megapixel camera is nothing to write home about and neither is the camcorder. It’s GPS enabled and has the ability to stream video via the Sprint TV service. It’s a simple device that makes and receives phone calls with a few added bonuses from Sprint’s array of services. I do, however, like the three external MP3 player controls.

It’s available now for $100 with a 2-year agreement. Specs after the jump.

1.3 megapixel camera and video camcorder

Capture high resolution images with the digital camera and zoom. Create your own video clips and easily share them with family and friends.
Illumination

Select an illumination scheme to reflect your personality.
Bluetooth® Enabled including Stereo BT profile

Enjoy the convenience of hands-free communication by using headsets, car-kits and other Bluetooth-compatible devices.* Stereo Bluetooth lets you listen to your music on the go or listen to your music using compatible accessories without wires. *Bluetooth wireless accessories are sold separately.
GPS Navigation

Receive audible and visual turn-by-turn driving directions, map your location, or conduct local searches direct from your handset.
Sprint Music Store Enabled

Download stereo-quality tracks instantly to your wireless phone or PC. Choose from thousands of artists in virtually every genre, and listen wherever you go.
MP3 Player with External Controls

Transfer music files from a PC or download over the air from the Sprint® Music Store℠. Listen to your favorite music using your phone’s MP3 Player. Change songs easily without clicking through the phone’s menus.
MicroSD Card Slot

Add a MicroSD card and increase your storage capacity for pictures, videos, voice memos and music files. Supports up to an 8GB MicroSD memory card.
Text, Pic and Video Messaging

Tell your story to friends and family with text, pictures and video taken in the moment. Send messages to other phones, email addresses and more all from your phone.
Sprint TV® Enabled

Watch live TV and video-on-demand with full-motion video and vivid sound. Catch the latest news, sports, weather, entertainment and movie trailers on the go.
Sprint Mobile Email

Get easy access to your favorite home email services including AOL, Yahoo!, Gmail, and MSN/Windows Live Hotmail and more…
Sprint Mobile Email Work

Now access work email on the popular non-PDA phones. Receive email from Microsoft Exchange 2000, 2003, 2007 and Lotus Notes Domino versions 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 with our latest software update.
Internal Phone Book

Store hundreds of entries, each one capable of storing phone numbers as well as e-mail and Web addresses.
Wireless Backup

If your phone is ever lost, stolen, damaged or replaced, you can use Wireless Backup to restore your contact information quickly and easily. Additional charges apply.
Picture caller ID

Identify callers at a glance by linking downloaded photos and other images to your phone book.
Voice-Activated Dialing

Say the name of the person you want to call, and the phone dials the number automatically.
Restrict and Lock

Restrict incoming and/or outgoing direct dial calls as well as limit access to data services.
Bright, Colorful Main Display

See brilliant images, text and graphics on a 2.0″ LCD screen covering a range of 65k colors.
T9 Text Input

Compose your messages easier and faster with prediction text input using the phone’s built-in dictionary. T-9® Text Input lets the device predict the text you enter. It makes sending messages simple and more efficient!
Voice Memo/Recorder

Record and store as many as 300 different voice memos, with hours of playback anytime.
Speakerphone

Enjoy easy, hands free communication with a speakerphone that lets you hear callers loud and clear.
Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC)

This handset has been certified as Hearing Aid Compatible in accordance with applicable industry standards. This handset has a HAC rating of M4 for hearing aids operating in the acoustic mode. This handset has a HAC rating of T4 for hearing aids operating in the telecoil mode.

Landing in the CG office is the latest flip phone from Motorola to hit Sprint, the Motorazr VE20. My first reaction to the VE20 is that it’s very thick, but that’s in comparison to the original RAZR line. The VE20 may be fatter, but it certainly has more features.

The VE20 is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera capable of video recording. The camera loads up rather quickly once you activate it via the right side button and choose between camera and camcorder. When the camcorder is activated it prompts you to choose between “video mail” and “long video.” It appears the only difference is that “video mail” is smaller than 1MB in size whereas “long video” takes up more space. You can also take photos of yourself without ever opening up the phone since the camera is located on the front flap. Nothing revolutionary, but it’s very convenient and I wish other manufacturers would follow suit.

The MP3 player is nothing special, but I like the ability to sideload files to the device over USB is pretty. It also supports stereo Bluetooth. My only real gripe here is that the included 256MB microSD card is located underneath the battery.

As are most Sprint devices, the VE20 is GPS enabled and is powered by telenav. Unfortunately, my review unit doesn’t seem to be enabled to do anything fun like use GPS, download songs from the music store or watch TV programming, but let’s just say that it works.

The really smart thing about this device is the external touch controls that pull up your messages, music player and shortcuts (My Pics & Videos, Recent History, Bluetooth Power, and Voice Recognition). If you don’t hold down the icons for more than a second then you get an obnoxious message telling you to do so if you want the controls to work properly. It’s needed, but annoying nonetheless.

Overall, the VE20 is just another RAZR. The only thing I disliked about this device was the keypad. Each number has raised lettering that seems to all meld together and it isn’t the easiest device to navigate if you’re not looking at it and most of us do that quite often. But, then again, I’ve never personally liked the keypads on RAZRs. Other than that the VE20 does everything it says it can do and doesn’t fail in any specific area.

It’s available now from Sprint for $100 with a 2-year agreement.

2.0 megapixel camera and video camcorder

Capture high-resolution images with the digital camera and zoom. Create your own video clips and easily share them with family and friends.
Sprint Music Store Enabled

Download stereo-quality tracks instantly to your wireless phone or PC. Choose from thousands of artists in virtually every genre, and listen wherever you go.
MP3 Player

Transfer music files from a PC or download from the Sprint® Music Store and listen to your songs via the speakerphone or a stereo headset accessory.
MicroSD Memory Card Slot

Store songs, video, and pictures to a removable memory card, easily transferred to your computer. Supports up to an 8GB MicroSD memory card
Bluetooth® Enabled including Stereo BT profile

Enjoy the convenience of hands-free communication by using headsets, car-kits and other Bluetooth-compatible devices.* Stereo Bluetooth lets you listen to your music on the go or listen to your music using compatible accessories without wires. *Bluetooth wireless accessories are sold separately.
Text, Pic and Video Messaging

Tell your story to friends and family with text, pictures and video taken in the moment. Send messages to other phones, email addresses and more all from your phone.
Sprint TV® Enabled

Watch live TV and video-on-demand with full-motion video and vivid sound. Catch the latest news, sports, weather, entertainment and movie trailers on the go.
Sprint Mobile Email

Get easy access to your favorite home email services including AOL, Yahoo!, Gmail, and MSN/Windows Live Hotmail and more…
Sprint Mobile Email Work

Now access work email on the popular non-PDA phones. Receive email from Microsoft Exchange 2000, 2003, 2007 and Lotus Notes Domino versions 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 with our latest software update.
Internal Phone Book

Assign up to 600 entries, each storing seven numbers for a total of 4,200 numbers and up to 1,800 email and 600 Web addresses.
Wireless Backup

If your phone is ever lost, stolen, damaged or replaced, you can use Wireless Backup to restore your contact information quickly and easily. Additional charges apply.
Ringers

Personalize your phone by downloading unique ringers and assigning them to numbers in your address book so you’ll know who’s calling by the sound of the ring or style of animation.
Screen Savers

Download unique images to use as screen savers – or make it easy to tell who’s calling by assigning specific images to numbers in your address book.
Voice-Activated Dialing

Say the name of the person you want to call, and the phone dials the number automatically.
Bright Main Display

See brilliant images, text and graphics on a 2.2″ LCD screen covering a range of 262,000 colors.
Large External Display

Check Caller ID and other information at a glance even when your phone is closed on the large QVGA external screen.
Speakerphone

Enjoy easy, hands free communication with a speakerphone that lets you hear callers loud and clear.
Built-in Productivity Tools

Access your planner and scheduler; check your task list and more. Also includes a world clock, calculator, memo pad, and alarm clock.
Games

Download and play entertaining, interactive games that you’ll want to play all the time.
TTY

Able to connect to a TTY device and allow anyone who is hearing-impaired to communicate.
Hearing Aid Compatible (HAC)

This handset has been certified as Hearing Aid Compatible in accordance with applicable industry standards. This handset has a HAC rating of M4 for hearing aids operating in the acoustic mode. This handset has a HAC rating of T4 for hearing aids operating with a telecoil mode.

That said, I’m going to try to be calm and objective and state, for the record, that the Treo 800w is one of the better Windows Mobile phones I’ve seen in recent years, even surpassing phones like the HTC Touch Diamond. and the T-Mobile Dash in terms of performance, price, and durability.

The phone has a large, bright 320×320 pixel touchscreen and a full keyboard with the standard easy-to-tap Treo keys. Four dedicated buttons around the central directional button offer a Windows menu, an “OK” keypress, access to your calendar, and access to your messages. A central “Palm” button seems to mimic the OK button, a design choice I would not have made.

The phone runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and all of the applications were snappy and worked well under heavy multi-tasking conditions. The Instant Messenger app, which you must download before you can use, worked well in the background. In these two basic functions, the 800w excelled. The default home screen shows you your current unread mail count and offers two different search systems, one based on GPS – which is built-in – and other based on Windows Live Search.

There is a full-sized stylus that hangs out in the phone’s right corner. The stylus feels a bit flimsy compared to the rest of the phone. The entire phone is built like a rock with lots of battery – you get about 4.5 hours of talk time and 200 on standby, which I confirmed by carrying this thing for about a week with only one or two recharges – and it weighs five ounces. It has a 2-megapixel camera with video capture.

I know that for many Windows Mobile is the only way to go when it comes to corporate network interaction. I am aware that it is quite popular in Europe and that it plays nicely with Exchange server. To that end, I can recommend the Treo. It is sturdy, handsome, and easy to use for the vast majority of smartphone users. It is not quite a “casual” grade device – it’s too thick for that and the Palm Centro already has that space sewn up. At $249.99 with two-year contract the 800w is a direct competitor to most of the BlackBerry offerings and, taken as a whole, the phone can be taken as a proud member of the smartphone community. What it lacks in good looks it makes up for in utility.

Full Specs
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