BlackBerry Curve 8530 Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless
• Operating System: BlackBErry v5.0
• Display: 2.5-inch 320×240 pixel TFT LCD
• Camera: 2.0 megapixel camera
• Music: MP3, WMA, AAC/AAC+
• Video: MPEG4, WMV, H.263, H.264
• Memory: 256MB internal + microSD expansion
• Dimensions: 4.29H x 2.36W x .55D inches
• Battery: 270 mins talk time | 252 hours stand-by
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1+ | WiFi b/g

Hardware
At just under four ounces, the Curve is a featherweight both smaller and lighter than an iPhone. With a rubber backing and sturdy frame, the Curve seems rugged at first touch. However, the plastic buttons on the front feel flimsy and take away from the build quality and durability. Instead of pronounced buttons like the ones found on the keyboard, the navigation and media controls are flush with the body of the phone and aren’t the most accessible.

Media keys on the top of the body provide quick access to media player controls. You can pause, play, and skip songs without taking the Curve out of your pocket. These controls can’t be locked, but the strategic location of the buttons on top of the phone might help to prevent accidental song changes. This coupled with the standard 3.5mm headphone jack provides the essentials for a decent media player.

It is clear that RIM did not make the Curve’s screen a top priority. The phone sports a mediocre 2.5 inch, 320×250 pixel display. This is not necessarily terrible, especially when you consider the fact that the iPod Classic has a similar screen size. It will seem a bit pixilated to the keen eye and those accustomed to high definition screens, and the low depth of 65,000 colors does not do much for video quality either. Battery life will suffer from the lack of proximity and light sensors, but this probably isn’t a deal breaker. The Curve’s screen does well in cafés and buses, but you can forget about reading email outside on a particularly sunny day. If you intend to use the phone outdoors more often than indoors, I would find a brighter screen.

• Build Quality – 3/5
• Navigation – 3/5
• Screen – 2/5

Touchpad and Keyboard
The famous trackball is one gripe I have always had with the BlackBerry. The old trackball often failed because dirt, oil, and grime had a tendency to collect on the sensor. RIM recently introduced an optical track pad that takes care of those issues and it’s featured on this phone. The track pad is a vast improvement over the trackball and is easily my favorite feature. It works like a combination between the old trackball and your laptop’s touchpad – just glide your finger over the pad in the direction you want to move the cursor. The web browser is infinitely easier to use because the touch pad allows you to navigate sites with a cursor rather than cycling through clickable items. More importantly, I was able to improve my BrickBreaker score by a couple thousand.

Seasoned veterans of the Curve are some of the fastest mobile typists I’ve encountered, and they swear by this layout. The keyboard has a standard QWERTY layout with 35 backlit keys, similar to the keyboards found on older Curve models. The shape of the keys and a slight bow in the layout make typing on the Curve’s keyboard almost as natural as typing on a full sized keyboard. One downside is the keys are a bit small and will take some getting used to.

• Touchpad – 5/5
• Keyboard – 5/5

Software
The BlackBerry OS has not changed much over the years, with only a few variations from model to model. This makes transitioning from BlackBerry to BlackBerry simple, but those who are new to the interface may have a tough time getting used to it. That’s not to say that a BlackBerry is harder to learn than other phones, but the BlackBerry OS is not nearly as intuitive as some of its competitors such as the Android and iPhone OS. For example, both Android and BlackBerry phones have a configurable central notification area. However, the location of the notification area on the BlackBerry OS isn’t as obvious as on the Android OS.

Although capable of displaying full web pages, the BlackBerry’s browser is seriously lacking in speed. Even on Wi-Fi, pages render much too slow to compete with other smartphones. The Curve’s touch pad, as mentioned before, does make the browser easy to navigate. Adobe mentioned in 2009 that they are working with RIM to incorporate Flash Player into the BlackBerry browser, so we may see an upgraded browser early this year.

As for application availability, BlackBerry has the basics covered with Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, document viewers, and a few useful utilities preloaded. BBM users will have to head to the BlackBerry App World to get the latest BlackBerry Messenger; oddly enough the Curve does not have it loaded out-of-the-box.

• Operating System – 4/5
• Web Browser – 2/5
• Applications – 3/5

Call Quality and Signal
Verizon Wireless customers are probably already familiar with the inability to access the Internet and make phone calls simultaneously on a single device. This impediment has lead to issues with lost email in the past. The BlackBerry Curve 8530 has Wi-Fi in addition to CDMA, so it is possible to make calls and use data simultaneously in areas with WIFI signal. The 8530 also has notable advantages over its GMRS sibling, the Curve 8520, in that it is 3G enabled and has GPS.

The phone’s signal quality is not nearly as good as other Verizon phones. The Motorola Droid, for example, had full 3G bars at my desk, while the Curve could barely muster up a single bar in the same spot. But even with full bars on both ends, the audio quality is just average. It doesn’t filter out background noise well enough to use in busy or loud areas, but in general calls are as clear as on any other cell phone.

A note for Google Voice users: the Google Voice application is currently buggy on this phone. It seems to integrate well with the address book, but your contacts do not sync regularly and outgoing calls are seldom connected successfully.

• Signal Strength – 2/5
• Call Quality – 3/5

Camera and Camcorder
Most of the new BlackBerry models have 3.2 megapixel camera, which seems to be the standard for many manufacturers. The Curve’s, however, is a measly 2.0 megapixel, fixed focus, flash-less camera. Zooming is all digital (up to 5x), so in the end there isn’t much of a zoom function at all. With only 256 megabytes of flash memory to share, the Curve’s camera system was outdated before it even hit store shelves. You will need to insert a MicroSD card to use the video camera function. The phone’s memory is expandable up to 16 gigabytes with a MicroSD card, though some users have reported problems with cards larger than 4 gigabytes.

One thing I will say the camera does well is sharing. In addition to standard MMS and email sharing, the camera software takes advantage of the preloaded social networking apps by allowing you to upload pictures and videos directly to Facebook, MySpace, and Flickr. The sharing features are convenient and fast, and I hope to see more from BlackBerry in this area.

• Camera and Camcorder – 2/5
• Sharing and MMS – 5/5

Navigation
The preloaded BlackBerry Maps application has come through for me in a pinch a few times, although it could use a bit of improvement in terms of speed. It takes far too long to acquire satellites; it can take over a minute to get going, even when outdoors in areas where other Verizon phones have great GPS signal. BlackBerry Maps gives reliable directions, but it lacks voice guidance and features found in turn-by-turn navigators. If you are looking for a navigator with turn-by-turn directions, Google Maps or VZW Maps will have to do. Google Maps is normally a fantastic feature-packed alternative that easily fulfils this role, though it does not seem to use the GPS properly on this phone and gives poor approximations. Either way, the Curve won’t be replacing your Garmin any time soon. If you are looking for a phone that will fulfill that role, Android phones like the Motorola Droid and the Nexus One will impress you with a fantastic navigation interface and a huge screen.

• Navigation – 3/5

Media Player
The media player is surprisingly easy to use. In fact, the interface and workflow is in many ways similar to the iPod’s interface. It does take more effort on the user’s part to manage the library since the phone does not come with software like iTunes. The media player supports a variety of formats, including MP3, WMA9, AMR, AAC, MPEG4, H.263, H.264, and WMV9 audio and video. The 3.5mm headphone jack puts out more than adequate audio quality, considering this is a BlackBerry and not something commonly used as a primary portable music player. The external speaker can be very loud, though music sounds how you might expect it to sound on a phone: a ringtone. While I wouldn’t use the Curve to replace my iPod, RIM is taking huge steps in that direction with other models like the Storm.

• Media Player – 4/5
• Audio Quality – 4/5
• Speakers – 3/5

Battery Life
The Curve’s battery life is disappointingly short. RIM reports a 3G talk time of about 4.5 hours and a standby time of 10.5 days, but I find the latter to be a little unbelievable. I used this unit sparingly on most days and was lucky to go a full 24 hours on one charge. There were days when I could barely squeeze a full 16 hours out of it after a full night of recharging. I expected a short battery life and a daily recharge; most smartphones, even the iPhone and Droid, have notoriously short battery lives. However, I never thought it would run out of juice before I did on such a regular basis.

• Battery Life – 2/5

Conclusion
As a lower-end version of the Bold, some of the Curve’s shortcomings in terms of build quality are expected. Current BlackBerry users, especially those who have owned the Curve, will love the familiarity of the BlackBerry OS and the physical keyboard. Don’t count on the Curve replacing your MP3 player and GPS device, though it will do a great job complementing your current devices. If you frequently take photos and videos with your phone, I recommend checking out the Motorola Droid, which has all the great sharing features found on the Curve but also has a 5.0 megapixel camera with flash for higher quality images. Business users, travelers, and BlackBerry enthusiasts should take a look at the more robust models like the Bold and the Tour. If you are looking for the BlackBerry experience on a budget, you can’t go wrong with the Curve. All nitpicking aside, the 8530 is a decent smartphone and a great addition to the Curve family. If you’re ready to pick to pick one up, it’s available for $50 after signing a new two-year contract with Verizon Wireless.

Buy: FREE BlackBerry Curve with contract
Links: VerizonWireless.com BlackBerry Curve 8530

Palm Pixi Specifications:

• Provider: Sprint
• Operating System: Palm webOS
• Display: 2.63-inch 320×400 multi-touch
• Camera: 2.0 Megapixel Camera + Flash
• Music: MP3, WAV, AAC/AAC+
• Video: MPEG4, H.263, H.264
• Memory: 8GB internal
• Dimensions: 4.37L x 2.17W x .43D inches
• Battery: 5 hours talk time | 350 hours stand-by
• Other: Bluetooth 2.1+ | 3.5 mm Audio Jack

The Body: 4/5 stars
The Pixi weighs only a few ounces, looks thin and sleek. The body has a soft feel and offers a good grip. It’s probably one of the better looking phones I’ve come across. There’s a volume rocker, a switch to silence your phone, and a microUSB port on the right side. Accessing the charging/data USB port was a bit of a nuisance. There’s only a tiny sliver of space between the flap and the body of the phone. Even if I did manage to get it open, it immediately snaps back due to stiffness and the magnetic piece. After about a week of struggling with this, the magnet actually just fell out, now the flap doesn’t even close properly. I think it’s Palm’s plan to get us to buy their Wireless Touchstone charger. The back of the phone is essentially a rear “face-plate.” Palm offers various artistic designs. There’s no microSD expansion and the only thing under the rear cover is the replaceable battery pack. The 2 megapixel camera, flash, and speakers are on the upper rear portion of the back side. The power button and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack are on the top. The front face of the phone sports the QWERTY keyboard, a gesture area, and a 2.6 inch display from bottom to top. Overall, it’s a great design and Palm has truly reinvented themselves with a new generation of hardware. I hope to see more device following this cue.

Gesture Area: 5/5 stars
There’s a thin touch-sensitive slit embedded into body between the display and keyboard. It’s unique and makes using the phone much more intuitive. For example, moving back a page in the browser requires a quick swipe to the left. The pad illuminates the the direction you swiped with a neat little animation right after. To get back to the home screen, just swipe up. The Pixi also lights up the gesture area to indicate that the phone is busy performing a task. It’s definitely a more intuitive innovation that the physical home button the iPhone that needs to be double or triple tapped to perform certain commands.

The Display: 3.5/5 stars
The multi-touch screen performed pretty well for the most part. The screen was fairly responsive and looked beautiful. The 2.63 inch display is about a half inch smaller than the one on the Palm Pre. The interface seems to have scaled well to the 320×400 pixel display without any major drawbacks other than loss of screen estate. While I thought that the interface, text, images, and videos all looked bright and crisp, the display actually has only 18-bits of color versus the 24-bits on the Pre. Keep in mind, if I didn’t learn that from the spec sheet, I probably wouldn’t have known. It looks just fine. The device supports multi-touch gestures such as pinching with two fingers to zoom in or out of an image or web page. I was however disappointed with the accelerometer. It was not exactly responsive. It often didn’t rotate a web page at all. Plus, at other times it would enter the landscape mode when I was holding it vertically. That’s especially a pain since I’ll have to type with the physical keyboard which is facing in another direction. the gesture pad also would change functionality from back and forward page swiping to scrolling. While the display looks great, there’s still a few problems that could be addressed with a future software upgrade.

The Keyboard: 5/5 stars
When I first saw the Pixi, I expected the keyboard to be a pain to use. However, I quickly found out that I shouldn’t have made such a quick judgment. The buttons may seem really small and that’s because they are. But despite that, even with by large thumbs that could easily cover half the keyboard, it took me less than about 10 minutes to get accustomed to it. Everything is well placed and they keys have a nice click feel to them. And of course, they are backlit and light up automatically. (Controlled by the ambient light sensor.) While the phone does lack a good virtual auto-correction feature, I was still able to type text messages and reply to emails with little to no errors. Plus, since the keyboard is hidden with a sliding mechanism as it is with the Palm Pre, the Pixi is actually faster to use in many ways. The keyboard is probably one of my favorite aspects of this device.

Operating System: 4/5 stars
A Smartphone’s ability to multitask seems to be an essential feature. Fortunately the Pixi can, which even the iPhone can not. However it’s not all fun and games. The device’s performance begins to lag and hang when running more than one application at a time. In fact, some even froze and crashed. At times, if I had multiple applications open, I couldn’t even make or receive a call. It got too slow at one point that the phone wouldn’t even recognize my several attempts to end the call even though the visual interface seemed to recognize it. I was at least glad that I liked the home screen interface. I was able to rearrange and customize the 5 default programs listed at the bottom. If you click the expand key, it opens a list of all the available programs. The applications were organized into three categories: downloaded, commonly used, and system applications. Launching anything, for example Sprint TV, the current screen is minimized and the program appears. This is great since I can use the ’swipe up’ gesture to return to the home page. It’s now easy to switch to another running window or launch another program. I also loved how you simply “toss” and application up to close it. There were unfortunately no widgets as found on Android devices, but you could customize the background unlike the iPhone. Asides from the lack of performance, Palm has developed a marvelous webOS and I hope to see major feature additions. Hopefully as early as January ‘10 during their press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Synergy & Messaging: 5/5 stars
Wow. It’s that awesome. The Palm Pixi’s webOS offers one central interface to pull information in from a variety of accounts. These include Google Sync, Facebook, Microsoft Exchange, LinkedIn, and Yahoo. My Calendars, Contacts, and Emails were imported from all of them. Instead of creating havoc with a mess of duplicate contacts and data, the Synergy technology handles it quite well. It merges duplicate contacts without destroying your data. Any changes made on you device are automatically relayed to the server and back onto other devices as well. All my Facebook contacts were pulled in with profile photos, email addresses, and phone numbers. This was by far the easiest and most convenient way I’ve come across to import information. As for messaging, the Palm Pixi has a neat notification system. It alerts you with popups and notification icons for emails, texts, missed calls, and voicemails at the bottom of the display. Clicking on one immediately launches the respective application. Composing and reply to emails was an easy task with a great keyboard. My calendar would even display Facebook Events I had replied to as attending and everything from Google Calendar. Text messages are well organized. Conversation logs are separated by name and date. The option to forward items was a handy feature. You won’t even need to copy and paste. The Palm Profile, which you are required to create, automatically performs backups of you device’s data. If you were to loose or break a device, a one-time login will immediately fetch everything.

Call Quality + Network: 4/5 stars
Although I rarely saw full reception in the Sacramento Area, I almost always had at least a bar or two. Surprisingly, I did not experience any dropped calls. The iPhone hilariously has repeated failed calls even though it reports full signal on AT&T’s network. I was able to hear the person on the other end well and they also reported the same. I can make a call by keying a number or a contact’s name with the keyboard. Although I could browse through the contact list, the first method was much faster. There’s also an on-screen dial pad as well. There’s also a log of incoming, outgoing, and missed calls within the call application. Things were especially easy since all my friend’s names were imported from both Facebook and my personal contact list on Google Contacts. The interface even displayed my contact’s profile picture for incoming calls and during one. Downloading data wasn’t as fast as Verizon’s 3G in our area, but was still consistent. For the most part it was sufficient for what the phone offers. As some one who’s always in areas with WiFi connectivity, the inclusion of that component would have been truly appreciated. Hopefully Palm will take a hint from customer feedback and make that addition.

Multimedia: 5/5 stars
The Palm Pixi streamed videos impressively well from Sprint TV. The application features some live channels including the Disney and NFL channels. There’s also a selection of recorded programs. If you pay extra, there’s always more. The phone also supports the major video formats.The Palm Pixi synced smoothly with both my Ubuntu desktop and my Windows 7 Laptop. I just plugged it in using the modular microUSB cable that doubles by connecting to the AC adapter to charge. It’s simply a mass storage device. Just drag and drop items. Once copied over, it automatically recognizes media. The phone also supports Bluetooth AD2p stereo profiles for devices such as the Jabra Halo or Altec-Lansing BackBeat. Speaking of music, Pandora worked quite well with this phone. I had it connected to my car’s stereo through an AUX jack. It streamed music impressively well without any major pauses for buffering. While it’s still no iPhone when it comes to multimedia, it should cover most entertainment grounds.

Camera & Camcorder: 2/5 stars
The Pixi only has a 2.0 megapixel camera, which isn’t much for a smartphone. The Palm Pre has a 3.2 megapixel camera. The quality was merely decent. Images just seemed weirdly colored. They weren’t crisp or clear. The only option available was for the flash. No special effects, resolution settings, or anything else. The turnaround time for a shot was fortunately pretty quick. Images looked best in well lit situations, even despite the flash offering. I was bummed to find that the webOS doesn’t support video recording. While this isn’t the most expensive smartphone, it lacks features even the nearly free Samsung Reclaim has. There’s a lot of work Palm needs to put into this element of the phone. In my opinion, this was the lowest ranked element of the device. If imaging is important for you, this won’t be the right fit for you.

Battery Life: 4/5 stars
The specifications state about 5 hours of talk time, however I’d say that’s a bit of stretch. Especially if you are someone who’ll be using other features that the phone offers. And if you buy a smartphone, why wouldn’t you? And that’s a good thing. I found myself wanting to use this phone. I would browse the web or try new applications. While there’s a claim of a 350 hour standby, that’s nearly impossible. It might be if you don’t touch your phone at all and have it set not to check for emails or have anything running. But that’s impractical. Though the battery life isn’t as great as a non-Smartphone, it should last through a day just fine. It’s a bit better than what the iPhone offers. It’s especially impressive if you consider how small this phone actually is.

Conclusion:
Palm is definitely back in the game. Both the Palm Pre and Pixi have plenty to offer. It may be under-shadowed by the recent advancements of the Android platform, but I’m sure Palm’s got something in store. The only major drawbacks with this phone would be the exclusion of WiFi and poor Camera. However the hardware, keyboard, webOS, and phone features are all great. It’s definitely a step down from the Palm Pre, but the Pixi is available for a third of the price through many retailers. While that still won’t save you from the necessary data plans, it’s a unique phone that everyone else won’t have. The platform is evolving and it has plenty of potential. A simple software upgrade could give it another boost and that’s something Palm seems to embrace that idea. If you are ready to grab one, it’s available for as low as $25 through Amazon.com for Sprint with a new two-year contract.

Links: Palm.com Pixi | Sprint.com Pixi
Buy: Palm Pixi for $25 on Amazon

Note: I’ll be publishing a review of the Palm Pixi Touchstone Charger Soon!

The Body – 3/5 stars
HTC kept the front Touch Pro2 clean and simple. There’s a large 3.6 inch resistive touch screen, a touch zoom strip, and physical keys for Send, End, Start Menu, and Back on front. Along the sides, there’s a completely flush volume toggle button. A slot to store the stylus for the display is in the bottom right hand corner of the device. The proprietary USB charging port is right besides a standard 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom. It also supports up to 32GB microSD expansion, but no card is included, which is a bit dissapointing. If I had to describe this phone with a quote, it would be: “Business in the front, party in the back.” While not describing a mullet for once, the clean-cut front is offset by an odd array of square perforations on the back surrounding the camera and an oddly placed microphone button. Although these perforations may be able to collect dust, they’re actually openings for the fairly respectable built-in speaker. There’s a full-sized QWERTY keyboard that slides out from under the display. Once extended, the screen can actually prop up at an angle, similar to a laptop. Although it is a neat way place on a flat surface to watch Sprint TV, I felt as though it just made the entire mechanism weaker was quite awkward to use when held. I also should mention this phone is huge. It’s thicker and weighs more than just about any smartphone I’ve come across. It’s at least 0.2 inches thicker than the HTC Eris and weighs about 2 ounces more than the HTC Hero. While there’s a demographic that’s needs this type of a phone, I would imagine that most consumers would prefer carrying a more compact device.

The Keyboard – 4/5 stars
The QWERTY keyboard has large buttons which have a “papery” feel. For some this means comfort, for others it may come off as cheap. While the 5 rows of keys were well spaced out, it would have been nice for them to have a more positive “click” when typing. While most phones have an on-screen indicator for Caps Lock and Function modifiers, the Touch Pro2 had real LED indicators as found on traditional keyboards. There’s also a sensor that turns on the back lighting when dark.

Speakers & Headphones – 4/5 stars
In regards to speakers and all things audio, the HTC Touch Pro2 does not disappoint. With decent reception, all calls sounded clear with through the earpiece. It was difficult to use this phone in even moderately loud areas as audio gets drowned out since the ear piece volume doesn’t get loud enough. It would be preferable to have a louder earpiece that needs to be turned down than having to struggle at max volume. Fortunately the speaker on the back is excellent. It’s just as clear a the earpiece, but the speaker-phone mode gets pretty loud. It’s not just for phone calls, but quality was quite impressive for both listening to music and watching Sprint TV. While it may not be the best for audiophiles like me, lacking punchy lows and articulate highs, the average business user won’t even notice.

The Display – 3/5 stars
As with any smartphone these days, the most notable feature is the display. The HTC Touch Pro2 sports a 480×800 pixel WVGA (Wide-VGA) resistive touch screen. Resistive touch screens utilize  layers of conductive material that registers inputs when pressed with either a finger or stylus. Unfortunately this is now a fairly old technology and is quite frankly being replaced by more advance multi-touch capacitive display technologies such as the one on the Sprint HTC Hero. Some people living in colder areas often prefer styluses since capacitive displays, such as the one found on the iPhone, will not work when wearing gloves. The downside of the Touch Pro2’s display includes needing to figure out how hard to press on the display, lack of multi-touch, and it can get activated and accept inputs while in your pocket. The phone ended up accidentally dialing a few of my contacts. Despite that, it was still quite accurate and I rarely missed an item or key when put to use.

Operating System – 2/5 stars
The HTC Touch Pro2 runs on Windows Mobile 6.1. The most recent version of Windows Mobile, 6.5, just missed being available for this phone by a few months. The use of Windows Mobile is also the reason the phone uses a resistive display rather than a capacitive one. It just doesn’t support it yet. For the most part the operating system can adequately handle all of the HTC Touch Pro2’s features, but it’s far from being the fastest or most efficient mobile operating systems out there. It’s just too hard to even begin to explain how much further and advance competing operating systems such as Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone OS, and Palm’s WebOS are. While HTC has added a beautiful TouchFLO 3D interface to overlay the outdated Windows Mobile interface, you still run into those menus and pages. It’s often sluggish to respond when switching through menus, opening programs, and even performing general tasks. It’s simply not as initiative as the next generations of mobile operating systems that are now available. HTC’s hardware is great as we’ve seen on the Hero and Sprint’s network is fairly reliable, it’s the outdated software that’s holding this device back. No one want’s to look at or use “Windows 98″-esque menus.

Sprint TV – 5/5 stars
One feature Sprint touts with this phone is their popular Sprint TV application. It offers numerous channels from Disney to motorcycle racing. It should have something for just about everyone. There’s even live TV for the major channels and full length episodes for primetime shows. To enable Sprint TV, you must first, annoyingly, disconnect from Wi-Fi networks. It only works with Sprint’s 3G network. I can’t possibly imagine why both can’t work in coexistence, but I’ll blame it on the Windows Mobile OS. Despite that, Sprint TV was quite impressive. Even with low reception, I had a crisp and clear image and smooth audio. While AT&T and Verizon are in a war over 3G coverage area, I should note that Sprint’s 3G network is also impressively quite fast. Plus, I’m eager to test their new 4G network.

Wi-Fi & Web Browser – 2/5 stars
I faced issues a couple of times logging into a secured WiFi network that requires authentication through a browser. After several repeated attempts, it finally worked. Once connected, signal strength was quite strong. However it was a bit of a painful process compared to other smartphones that will have you connected in a click or two. I was also unimpressed with the built in browser. It’s behind in several ways: speed, compatibility, and navigation. It takes longer to render pages than on other devices. Even once rendered, it has issues displaying many web pages that work just fine on the browsers on the iPhone, Droid, and Palm. Navigating wasn’t much easier. With out the increasingly popular pinch-to-zoom function, you’ll need to resort to using the touch sensitive strip below the display. Scrolling through pages was not as snappy as other mobile browsers either.

The Camera – 2/5 stars
Should you ever need to use your James Bond-like reflexes to whip out the HTC Touch Pro2’s camera to snap a license plate number, you’re better off not even trying. It takes way too long to load. And even when you’re in the viewfinder mode, it’s still laggy. While the HTC Eris’s 5 megapixel camera performed impressively well, the HTC Touch Pro2’s 3.2 megapixel camera looked about as clear as a 1 megapixel camera on my ancient Audiovox phone. Even with auto-focus, capturing a quality image of an object only a yard away proved difficult. Seeing how far camera technology has progressed, the results of this camera was quite disappointing. While it can record video, I won’t bother explaining that.

Messaging – 4/5 stars
Text messaging and email both worked smoothly on the HTC Touch Pro2. Email was easy to set up and updated itself as scheduled. POP, IMAP, and MS Exchange are supported. Emails are displayed as physical envelopes and are neat to interact with. Replying to messages was easy, but switching between messages required a bit of fidgeting with the touchscreen or the help of the stylus. Text messaging are displayed in a thread format continuing off of the last message sent in the conversation. While it didn’t offer great interface that the HTC Hero does, the HTC Touch Pro2 did prove functional.

GPS Navigation – 0/5
If you are looking for a device to replace a traditional car mounted or built-in navigation system, the HTC Touch Pro2 isn’t the answer. Although the HTC Touch Pro2 advertises GPS Navigation, it’s far from delivering it reasonably. I tried to get the GPS to locate my position, but just about every attempt failed even after trying from many different areas. I repeatedly saw a “Signal reception is poor, please go outside and stand still.” Even if it connected, I wouldn’t be standing still when driving. While the Touch Pro2 repeatedly had issues, the Google Maps app on the HTC Hero worked perfectly in the same locations at the same time. Compared to the navigator on the Motorola Droid which has voice commands, voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, satellite/street views, traffic data, and much more, this phone seems like it’s in the stone age.

Battery Life & Charging – 4/5 stars
The battery life on the HTC Touch Pro2 proved to last about a day and a half with normal use. I would make  some calls, read some emails, send a few texts, load some web pages and show off the Sprint TV on average. This is about average for a smartphone, nothing impressive. Once you receive the low battery notification, you have about 10 minutes before the phone powers itself off. The devices claims about 6 hours of talk time and it sounds about right. Standby is apparently 11 days, but even with slight use, you won’t get nearly as much. You need to charge the phone with the included USB cable. I liked the modular feature since it can connect either to your computer or the port on the AC adapter. I do wish HTC used a miniUSB or now standard microUSB port instead.

Bottom Line:
Overall the HTC Touch Pro2 is a great phone for business users. It has many of the features to be a mobile office in your pocket. The most important aspect, calls sounded great and signal strength was stronger than on other Sprint devices. The build quality is fairly good and the QWERTY keyboard is useful for composing messages. It’s still nowhere as intuitive or “fun” of a device compared to competing smartphones, but that’s mainly due to Windows Mobile 6.1 being truly outdated. The HTC Touch Pro2 also has the largest touch screen Sprint offers. I wouldn’t recommend this phone to just anyone. It will run you nearly $349 with a new two-year contract, making it the most expensive phone Sprint currently offers. It’s not for average dad, mom, or student. They will find the HTC Hero a much more pleasurable device. However for business users, it’s probably one of the best phones out there.

Links: Sprint.com HTC Touch Pro2

Body Design: 4/5 stars
Keeping with the environmental theme, the Samsung Reclaim is available to customers in two colors: “Ocean Blue” and “Earth Green”. Although the colors are quite bright and standout, it has a nice glossy feel and texture. Plus, it stands out and is a nice change from the standard black and silver trimmed phones that most phones have today. The Reclaim has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which is great for texting. Although they keys were somewhat narrow and cramped, it should be fine after some getting used to. There are dedicated left/right soft keys and send/end buttons. A speakerphone key, okay, and back key are also included. The large size and color almost reminded me of Fisher Price toys, but they are solid and comfortable. There’s also a volume rocker and a camera shutter key on the side. I was also truly surprised to see a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, which even some smartphones launched earlier this year didn’t offer. There’s also a standard microSD card expansion and an micro USB port concealed under a plastic cover. Other than that, sliding out the keyboard reveals a 2 megapixel camera on the back. The device is fairly compact to fit into just about any pocket.

Display and Interface: 4/5 stars
The Samsung Reclaim sports a 2.6-inch QVGA 320×240 pixel display. Although the colors and graphics aren’t stunning, it’s appropriate for a phone in this price range. The phone uses Sprint’s fairly new “One Click” user interface. Everything is controlled by the directional pad and text entry with the slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The UI is well polished, fairly responsive, and even has an “eco-friendly theme” incorporated. It’s fast to navigate, easy to use, and you’ll find the usual array of address book, calendar, world/alarm clock, calculator, memo, and stopwatch programs. Furthermore, there is even a chat client (AIM, Live, Yahoo), Facebook, MySpace, and a Mobile Email client. Although the Web Browser isn’t anything to get excited about, staying informed and even updating Twitter statuses is painless.

Camera: 3/5 stars
I didn’t expect too much out of the Reclaim’s camera when I picked it up. The quality is mediocre, images lacked color and were a bit blurred even with a steady hand. I did like the dedicated capture key on the side, which was convenient. The max capture resolution is 1600 x 1200 pixels. Fortunately, the user interface was quite impressive. It has plenty of options including self-timers, brightness setting, custom tones, night shot, and a few other fun features. The phone surprisingly also offered the ability to share images by uploading Facebook or Flickr as well as MMS. The Reclaim can also capture videos, however quality isn’t any better than taking photos. A newer iteration could use a few improvements.

Music Playback & Sync: 3.5/5 stars
The multimedia features were quite impressive for a phone in this price range. With a standard headphone jack and microSD expansion, this can easily be turned into a fairly decent MP3 player. Although the included card was unfortunately only 512MB, picking up a 8GB microSD is just $20. The phone supports playback of most major formats (MP3, AAC, & WMA) including support for Amazon MP3 and iTunes Plus Tracks. Transferring media over is quite simple with a micro USB cable, which I wish Sprint had included with the packaging. The Samsung Reclaim also has access to Sprint’s Music Store. It’s also compatible with Stereo Bluetooth Headsets such as the Jabra Halo.

Phone Calls + Texting: 4/5 stars
The most important feature of any phone is making calls. The Samsung Reclaim fell a bit short compared to other devices with slightly worse signal strength. Despite that it didn’t lack on quality for the most part. The person on the other end could hear me just fine. The speaker phone was a bit choppy at times. The phone battery can last through about 6 hours worth of calls with a full charge. When not in use, it should last at least 2-3 days on standby. Plus, with a full QWERTY keyboard messaging others is quite a snap. It was quick to send text messages and even using the instant messaging features.

Environmental Benefits: 5/5 stars
If I wasn’t told this was a recycled phone, I wouldn’t have known. The build quality is pretty impressive and it’s actually better than many other phones in this price range. If there’s a way to get people to “Go Green,” this is one of those. While most eco-friendly devices are over priced or lack on features, the Samsung Reclaim doesn’t linger on either. Sprint has taken the initiative to cut down on technology wastes in the next several ears. Along with Samsung, they managed to manufacture a device from bio-plastic, making the phone 80% recyclable. Even the packaging is entirely recycled materials and the printed ink is from soy-based materials. Although cell phone chargers don’t consume much power, Samsung even emphasized on the Energy Star approved AC Adapter. The phone is also pre-loaded with a number of links to Guides to living a healthy eco-friendly lifestyle. Sprint also donates a few dollars of the proceeds made with each sale to programs that help benefit the environment.

Bottom Line:
While most people are caught up in the smartphone trend, devices and initiatives such as these are often overlooked. Non-smartphones such as this Samsung Reclaim still account for the vast majority of mobile phone market share. The price is probably the best part. It’s available for just $49 with a new two-year contract. It’s probably even free if you are eligible for an upgrade. This phone has just about all the features an expensive top of the line device had just a year or two ago. I wouldn’t recommend this phone for Business or tech savvy customers, however it’s beyond excellent for students, those on a budget, or those looking for an environmentally friendly device. The Reclaim doesn’t sacrifice any important features. I would definitely love to see Sprint push this initiative further and apply it to even the smartphones that are becoming increasingly popular. If you are looking for a new device to make calls, text, and even to listen to music, definitely take a look at Sprint’s Samsung Reclaim.

Deal: Samsung Reclaim for FREE
Links: Sprint.com – Samsung Reclaim

The Pixie shares a lot from Pre, but has a few changes. The form factor is similar to BlackBerry-esque single candy-bar device. The Palm Pre has a slide out keyboard. The display is a bit smaller, but still is a fully capable multi-touch interface. The Pixie will also be compatible with the Touchstone cable-free charger. There will even be new and updated social networking applications including an upgraded version of Facebook. A new version of Synergy which syncs contacts with all your networks, will also connect with Yahoo. The biggest difference might be the lack of WiFi. Despite that, Palm hopes to reach a larger market by introducing another webOS device with a new form factor at a lower price-point.

Links: Sprint.com | Palm.com Pixie

Samsung Rogue SCH-U960 Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless (1.9 GHz /850 MHz CDMA)
• Displays: 3.1-inch 800 x 480 pixels & 18 bit colors
• Camera: 3.0 Megapixel Camera w/ Autofocus, Flash & Image Editor
• Music: MP3, M4A, WMA, AAC/eAAC/eAAC+
• Memory: 512Mb (internal) / 16GB microSD (external)
• Dimensions: 4.29″ L x 2.17″ W x .65″ D
• Battery: 280 Minutes Talk Time & 300 Hours Standby
• Other: Bluetooth 2.1 | 3.5 mm Audio Jack

The Body: 4/5 stars
The Samsung Rogue shares the same form factor as the Samsung Glyde, a sliding keyboard under a touch screen, but it has a new look. Although this phone is taller than the Glyde, it is thinner and has a more streamlined finish. The face of the phone is very simple. Underneath the 3.1″ touch screen, there are three “brushed metal” buttons: send, clear, and end. The back of the phone has a rough bronze-colored texture, which offers a decent grip. The speaker, a 3.0 megapixel camera, the flash, and a tiny mirror for self portraits are on the back. The position of the camera causes one small issue. Each time I picked up the phone, I had a tendency to place my index finger directly on the camera lens. I found this to be annoying since it was a pain to continually have to clean the lens, but then again, this might be an issue only for me. The volume controls and the USB connector, used for both charging and data transfer, are on the left side of the phone. On the right side there’s a screen lock, voice command, a zoom in/out button for the camera, and a camera capture button.  The lower portion of the right side features the 3.5mm headphones jack and the microSD expansion slot.

The Keyboard: 2/5 stars
Verizon Wireless advertises the Samsung Rogue as great phone for texting. Therefore, I expected it to have a great keyboard, unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. There are four lines of keys instead of having a additional symbol function. This makes things easier to find and faster to type. The keys are not small or cluttered, but are neatly spaced out. Unfortunately the problems begin with the layout of the keys. Some buttons are too far off to the left and others are properly centered. Even though the keys feel great to type on, their locations don’t feel natural. They feel as though they are a bit jumbled and not placed in traditional keyboard format.

The Display: 5/5 stars
I was impressed with the 800 x 480 pixel (AMOLED) touch screen display. With a higher resolution than Apple iPhone’s 480 x 320 pixels, the Samsung Rogue’s display looked beautiful and had rich colors. Even with a mid-range brightness setting, the display was fairly visible even in direct sunlight. The Rogue also has haptic feedback. Every click results with a small vibrating pulse in addition to audible feedback. A built in accelerometer changes the orientation of the display automatically from portrait to landscape and vice versa. A proximity sensor automatically turns of the display when the phone is held up to your ear to save battery life.

User Interface: 4.5/5 stars
To lock the phone, there’s a physical side button. To unlock it, just press any button so the display turns on, then click the on-screen unlock button. The home screen is quite customizable, you can change the brightness, the banner, change the text font, the wallpaper, and even the clock format. There is a collapsible side bar that holds all the supported widgets. You can easily drag the ones you use the most on to the home screen by simply dragging them over. There’s an analog and  digital clock available as a widget as well.  On the bottom of screen, there are two rows for actions. The first row is for notifications for missed calls, voicemails, text messages, calendar, alarm clocks, and more. The second row contains four buttons for the phone dialer, contacts, messaging (text, picture, email, etc.), and  the full menu. These two rows are static and can’t be customized. It would be a great idea if they offered the ability to dock other programs such as the web browser or media player to that menu. In general, the user interface is clean, simple, well designed, and works!

Call Quality & Features: 4/5
The call quality was excellent, plus there were a few extra unique features added in. For example if you are in a library or a lecture hall and have to whisper, there’s a mode for that! Just click the “Whisper Button”  and it amplifies your voice so it sounds almost normal for the person on the other end. For the most part, the regular voice quality was excellent on both ends, no complains. The only reason the phone didn’t live up to a five star rating was because of the speaker phone. The speaker wasn’t loud enough or clear enough. It works fine if you are in a truly silent room, but it’s quite difficult to hear when in a car. If you normally use a Bluetooth headset, you won’t need to worry about this.

Messaging: 4/5
Just like most phones today, the Rogue supports text, picture, video, and voice messages. Text conversation history is saved to keep track of everything that’s been said. You can compose a message with either the pull out QWERTY keyboard or the on-screen digital keyboard. The digital keyboard isn’t in a QWERTY layout, but a normal alpha-numeric keypad.

Voice To Text: 1/5 stars
This was a feature I was truly excited for. It theoretically allows you to say a phrase to your phone, which should automatically be converted into text. Unfortunately this feature barely worked. Even after training my voice, I only had successful results about 25% of the time. The rest of the time, the program types in something completely incorrect. For it to work, you’ll have to speak very slowly and clearly, emphasizing each word. For example, I said “This is a cell phone review” and the program typed in “This is itself under view”. It doesn’t accept slang too well either. Another example, I said “Let’s go see Zombieland at 10 o’clock” and it typed in “Left to see some reliant@koch”. To wrap it up, this feature is a great idea, but needs a lot of work. For now it’s not worth using; it’s faster to type the message yourself.

Camera & Camcorder: 4/5 stars
The camera on the Rogue has all the standard features you would expect: zoom, flash, and focus. There are alternate image options such as mosaic, frame, panoramic, and multishot. Image resolution and brightness are also modifiable. After you take a picture, you can edit it with some fairly cool effects. In addition to the standard effects such as sepia and black & white, some other effects such as sketch, emboss, soft-elegant, and fright are thrown in. For the most part, the camera takes excellent photos. The only issue I faced was a small lag from when you click the capture button to when it actually takes the image. If you make any sudden movements, it looses focus. That results in blurry image quality.

The camcorder mode can record video only limited by the available space on the memory card. However you can only MMS clips that are a max of 30 seconds. It records at a 640 x 480 pixel resolution. There are five recording effects, similar to the ones for the camera. Quality looks fairly good for a phone, but gets choppy at times. It obviously isn’t comparable to a decent camcorder or even a Mino Flip.

Music Player: 3.5/5
The Samsung Rogue was designed to be a full MP3 player with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. The media player has a search function and lets you browse your library by Artists, Genres, and Albums. During playback, the album art isn’t shown on the full screen, but rather as a thumbnail. Other than that, the interface is quite nice. Controlling playback, such as play/pause, next track, and so on, are easy to use and work without any problems. The media player has a shuffle and repeat mode. The audio quality with headphones was great and it didn’t cackle when turned up too high. The speaker on the other hand was an issue. They just weren’t loud enough and wasn’t clear. Another major issue is the lack of multitasking. You can’t do anything else while playing back music. Phones such as the LG enV Touch allow browsing the web, texting, and doing other things while the music player runs in the background. This is a major drawback and needs to be addressed.

Other Features: 4.5/5
There are a lot of other features that this phone offers. Some built-in tools include a calculator, a tip calculator, and a unit converter. The Rogue also syncs to your computer with the included USB cable to transfer music and data. The media player also supports playing video files, however quality isn’t too great and supported file formats are limited. The web browser was impressive. It still isn’t on par with a browser such as the one found on smart phones such as the iPhone. But for the most part it has all the essential features such as navigation, favorites, and zoom. It rendered most pages fairly quickly as well. The VZ Navigator works really well. The GPS module tracked my location very precisely. I do feel that the navigation interface could use a bit of a face lift. The program also offers voice turn-by-turn directions, but once again the poor speaker quality was an issue. Another truly unique feature is the business card reader. All you have to do is take a close up image of a business card in a fairly well lit location. It automatically scans the card and creates an entry in your address book with all the information from the card. It worked really well with just about every card I tested it on. The final feature I’d like to note is the document viewer. It supports viewing Microsoft Office files (Word, Excel, and Power Point) and PDFs. The interface allows scrolling and zooming for all files. To get files onto the device you can simply copy them onto a pre-created folder on the microSD card or sync them over using the data cable.

Conclusion:
After spending a little over a week with this phone, I was fairly satisfied. I was impressed with some of the rather unique features such as the voice-to-text and the business card scanner. The largest drawbacks were probably the odd layout of the slide-out QWERTY keyboard and the quality of the speakerphone. Other than that, the phone performed quite well. The home screen is one of the best parts of the user interface experience. The phone excelled in the most import aspect, call quality. I suggest going into a Verizon Wireless store to handle the phone before buying it over the phone or online. If you are ready to buy it, the Samsung Rogue is available online for price of $99.99, with a 2 year contract.

Buy: Samsung Rogue for $99
Links: VerizonWireless.com Samsung Rogue

The Body: 4.5/5 stars
The unit stands about 4 inches tall, 2.5 inches wide, and is under a half inch thick. This places it at about the size of most handheld devices, phones, and media players. With an initial glance, most people will notice the 2.5 inch display and the backlit QWERTY keyboard on the front of the device. Further examining the device, there’s a jog dial on the right side, a flush power button on top, and the charging port on the left. Other than that, the only other thing left to mention would be the 700mAh battery found under the metal lid on the back.

The device reminded me of the early BlackBerry 5790 from 2004 which not only looked similar due to a QWERTY keyboard, display, and jog dial control; however also due to the fact that it was also a data-only device which only supported email and SMS. BlackBerry left this sub-market niche a long time ago, but Peek has picked up where they left off with current technology and the modern day consumer kept in mind. As for the body of the device, the unit looks fairly attractive. The keyboard is easy to use, feels great to type on, and has a click to each key stroke. The one main quirk I ran into was the fact that the jog dial and back button are on the right hand side of the device. Meaning if you happen to be a left handed person, there’s no question it’s going to be awkward or even difficult to use. This was also one of the reasons RIM moved their jog dial on their BlackBerry devices into a wheel on the center of the phone. Other than that quirk, the unit has an excellent build and due to its unique look when pulled from its included Peek-branded sleeve in public, people will often ask you about your hand held.

Email: 4.5/5 stars
The most important aspect of this device, email, actually functioned as advertised and even surprised me with some features I hadn’t seen before. As a computer geek, it’s usually a breeze setting up email on just about any device. However I was truly impressed how simple Peek made it. The average consumer will know little or nothing about incoming POP/IMAP servers or outgoing SMTP servers. They have no reason to be afraid when it comes to the Peek since the only thing the Peek prompts a new user for is their email address and password. Behind the scenes, Peeks engineers have done their magic to setup servers to figure out all the settings for just about every major email provider. (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) What impressed me the most was the fact that the device was instantly able to even figure out the settings needed for a corporate email address and for Skatter Tech email accounts. I actually had to look up information for some special settings when I attempted to setup the same email accounts on an Apple iPhone. Once configured, old emails aren’t imported, but every new message that reaches your inbox will be delivered to the Peek. Although Peek advertises a Push system for immediate notification of new messages, I had varied results. At certain times the Peek would light up its Mail indicator within seconds of shooting out a test email from my computer, but at other times it took as long as 5 to 10 minutes before a message reached my device. Although email isn’t fast paced enough that a few minutes would matter in most real world situations, don’t always expect emails that would be viewable on your computer immediately to arrive on your Peek at the same pace. The only major issue I had with email was the fact that content is almost entirely text based. Sure, the Peek Pronto does support viewing certain attached files such as PDF, DOC, and images; however this still won’t make up for HTML rich emails.

Texting: 4/5 stars
Today, most cell phone carriers today offer “nearly” unlimited texting plans which cost around $15-20 per month. The Peek Pronto offers unlimited text messaging to any mobile phone in the United States at no additional charge. If you value text messaging, this in essence gives the device a lot of value. Since the Peek is an email device, I assumed that texting would require me having to figure out each contact’s special email address associated with their carrier. For example you can send a text message to a phone by composing a message to a ten digit phone number at @vtext.com address on Verizon Wireless or a @txt.att.net for AT&T. I was quite wrong; the engineers over at Peek do the work for you once again. All you’ll have to do is enter in the phone number and that’s it. Peek’s servers will figure out where it needs to go. Although texting is unlimited for Peek users, it isn’t for others. Since there isn’t a 160 character countdown when composing text messages, lengthy messages may end up costing the recipient more than one text. The only other quirk was the fact that all text messages are all thrown into your global inbox, meaning it’s mixed with all the emails the device receives. Although it may not be a big issue for some and in fact some may prefer it, as someone who receives a few too many emails it was a bit hectic to find text messages amongst them. Despite that, if you are or think you’ll be a heavy “texter,” this is a pretty good deal.

Built-in Services: 4/5 stars
Since the Peek doesn’t have a built-in web browser, there are some special services offered by Peek. There are special entries for Local Search, Maps, News Headlines, Traffic, and Weather added into the device’s Contact List by default. Composing an email to any of those contacts with a search term will result in an email being delivered to your inbox with the query results. I found to be an excellent way to get updated data while on the go. The only issue with this feature is time. Since the search results are delivered by email, it faces the same issue as anything being delivered to your inbox. Setting that aside, the services did actually work as intended. Results for weather, news, and maps all worked quite well.

And that’s not it when it comes to those built-in services. According to contact at Peek, there are some new goodies coming in the coming weeks: Facebook and Twitter. We can’t say much, however we do know that it will work in a similar fashion as the other tools work. When the feature rolls out, Peek users will be able to update their Facebook status or Twitter status by simply composing an email. In addition we have word that you can set up “summary emails” to be delivered to your Peek at a desired interval of everything that happens on your Facebook News Feed or Twitter Stream.

Interface: 5/5 stars
One of the things that make a device great is a simple and functional user interface. The Peek provides us with both. Just about all the things you’ll need to do are contained in menus that appear when the jog dial is clicked in. It brings up a simple menu that has a list of commands such as new message, delete message, reply to message, save message, or mark read/unread. The interface allows switching over from the inbox view to the sent, drafts, saved, and trash folder. A search function is built right in as well. Other than that you can browse your Contacts or access the Settings Manager to configure accounts, sounds, themes, and a few more things. Just as the hardware reminded me of the BlackBerry, the interface is also quite similar to slightly older versions of the BlackBerry OS. Borrowing the ideology of how an interface should feel, look, and function, which made the BlackBerry an icon, is also making the Peek a better device. The bottom line would be that it’s easy for just about anyone to use and doesn’t lack necessary features.

The Cost: 4/5 stars
The Peek Pronto now costs just $59 and Peek Classic is only $19. The Peek Classic has most of the features of the Pronto, however has been cut down with no Push support, no unlimited texting, search, and a maximum of two email accounts (Pronto supports 5). The monthly service will run you $15/month for either device. A smart phone plan from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint will start at about $40/month for just the calling portion. Adding the required data services for email is usually an additional $30/month. Further adding texting will rack on more charges. Most smart phone bills will be quite expensive. The Peek obviously can’t do much of what a smart phone can do, however it will keep you covered when it comes to emails and texting. At $15/month, the service is actually a fairly good deal for those who need access to email while away from their computer. Plus you can even pay your bills right from your device!

Overall the Peek Pronto is an excellent device. Everything from the hardware to the software just works. The device runs of the T-Mobile network, so you may want to check if you have coverage in the areas you’ll be using this device before purchasing it. The device was able to run for a couple days without needing to recharge it with casual use. If you are a computer geek, this probably isn’t the device for you, however if you happen to be in the need of an email-only device, this is definitely the way to go.

Links: GetPeek.com
Buy Now: Peek Pronto | Peek Classic

The main reason for the existence of this product is the way keys have been designed. The first time you use this keyboard you will immediately love the way it provides tactile feedback with the press of each key. I personally found the “clicking” sounds that comes with the press of each key quite irritating in the beginning, but came to like it after some time. It might be a problem in some situations, say if you are working around others or if someone in the room is asleep. If you don’t like the idea your keyboard sounding like a type writer, this is not the right keyboard for you. I can guaranty that most people who use it will find it extremely comfortable for brief or extended periods of use.

For those of you who are gamers, you might be interested in the Das Keyboard’s “n-key” rollover feature which accepts up to 12 simultaneous key presses without any jamming. I put this feature to the test by pressing all the keys in the “QWERTY” row down at once. It did indeed succeed to input them all into my text editor instantly. My $10 Logitech keyboard on the other hand constantly failed to accept over four simultaneous key presses while my laptop keyboard would jam after six. So not only does the keyboard feel and sound good, but the designers kept technology in mind making it a very accurate keyboard.

As for the visual aspect, the keyboard is pretty darn minimalistic. The Keyboard has the standard QWERTY layout and a numeric keypad with a total of 105 keys. There are no special programmable buttons or other features of any sort. There are blue LEDs to indicate the status of Caps Lock, Scr Lk, and Num Lock. The Das Professional is actually one of the heaviest keyboards I have seen to date, which may be a good thing for desktop users since it will remain steady on your desk. There are also two pop-up feet on the bottom to create an angle for typing if desired.

The Das Keyboard Professional is compatible with Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. All you need is a functional USB or a PS/2 (adapter not included) port to plug it into. The Keyboard has a high quality 6.6 foot long cable which is useful for plugging into machines far away. The two USB 2.0 ports can be used to connect flash drives, mice, or even charge gadgets. If the overall power demand is too high, the hardware automatically shuts down one of the ports to prevent full failure. Although I found it interesting to see a USB hub on such a simply designed keyboard it is none the less a neat aspect.

The Das Keyboard Professional is now available for purchase for a retail price of $129 on the company’s website. This device is definitely much pricier than most keyboards on the market. There are plenty of decent keyboards available for a much more affordable price. However if you are looking for something which truly feels comfortable for long durations of typing and is extremely accurate, this is the way to go. I have gone through many keyboards over the years and this is probably the most comfortable one I have used to date. If you know of or use a more affordable or better keyboard, please point it out.

Links: Das Keyboard

LG VX9100 Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless (800MHz / 1.9GHz CDMA )
• Form Factor: Laptop-like w/ QWERTY keyboard
• Internal Display: 2.4-inch 320 x 240 pixels
• Media: MP3, WMA, AAC plus WMV, MP4, 3GP
• Imaging: 2.0 mega pixel camera and camcorder
• Other: Bluetooth, microSD (8GB max), stereo speakers
• Battery Life: 320 Mins Talk-Time or 520 Hrs standby
• Dimensions: 4″ H x 2.13″ W x .65″ D (inches)
• Price: $130 after $50 rebate plus a 2 year contract

LG enV2 Body: 4/5 stars
The enV (VX9900) was a more compact version of the LG V (VX9800) and now the enV2 is even smaller. The phone is quite small and can fit in just about any pocket. It’s a bit heavier than I had imagined (4.23 oz), but it’s still lighter than the enV. The enV2 is a whole lot shorter and thinner than the enV, however it is slightly wider. Both the front and back are pretty flat and all edges are smooth and rounded. It’s a pretty good looking phone and is easy to handle as well. On the front you’ll find a tiny display at the top and improved numeric keypad right below. The backside of the phone has the removable battery and the 2.0 megapixel camera. The right side of the phone has the 2.5mm headphone jack and microSD card reader/writer while the left side has the volume toggle keys and the camera button. As for the inside of the phone, the top portion features the 2.4-inch display with stereo speakers on the sides and the bottom portion has the QWERTY keyboard. And finally a micro-USB port can be found on the bottom under a socket cover for charging and data transfer. The only thing that I found disappointing was the extremely small screen on the front which has been rendered almost entirely useless. I feel that there would have been more to gain by making the keypad a bit smaller and by adding a larger screen.

The Screen(s): 4/5 stars
In terms of brightness and colors, both the internal and external displays are top notch. The internal screen is much bigger and brighter than the one on the enV. It looked quite good especially when I was able to view images I had taken in a full screen mode, which the enV didn’t allow. Watching videos on the internal display was quite decent as well. The external screen is now a rectangular strip which doesn’t offer enough room to perform most tasks. The external display on enV was more of a square and it’s menu system was quite fulfilling. Both screens were bright enough to be visible in direct sunlight.

User Interface: 4/5 stars
After messing with the internal interface of the phone I’ve got to say there’s a lot of improvements. Everything was quick and easy to learn and use. The interface will be quite familiar for previous enV owners. The phone also offers a layouts for messaging or multimedia, in case you plan on using one or the other more. I personally opted for the standard menu interface. Some of the stylish curves seems to have eaten up some screen estate which could have been used for displaying more information, however it wasn’t a problem. Overall the internal interface has been improved and works smoothly. The main fall back of the phone would have to be the external interface which I feel is a disaster. First off to get into the interface you’ll have to unlock the keyguard using the OK button. Next since there are no true soft keys, the up and down buttons launch the your contacts and message, respectively. The clear key which is usually centered on most phones has been placed at the top right which was quite awkward to use. The top left button is now the ‘Music’ button which should have just been one of the two customizable soft keys. The contacts list can only display two contacts at a time, however you’ll survive since it has a search function. The phone allows sending a text messages from the tiny front display, however the interface is confusing and slow. Even viewing ‘recent calls’ was quite tedious. If LG had offered a larger display and Verizon had built a better interface this would have had potential.

Media Playback: 4.5/5 stars
The interface for playing back music on the enV2 is pretty much the same as what it was on the enV. There doesn’t seem to be too many changes. I do however feel that it is about time that the player got a new look. Despite that caveat, the has and continues to player run without any problems. For those who have not used the interface on a previous phone, it allows searching or browsing by Songs, Albums, Artists, or Genres. It supports MP3, WMA, and AAC formats. It’s good news for both iTunes Plus and Amazon MP3 customers since all that content will be compatible. The V CAST Video also has been improved, streaming seems to function smoother than before and there wasn’t as much frame rate drops as there was on the enV. If you want to add your own video clips onto the phone, you can do so easily using 3rd party software and converting the content into WMV, MP4, or 3G2 formats.

MicroSD + Syncing: 5/5 stars
The LG enV2 doesn’t have too much room for storing content on it’s internal memory, however it has a microSD expansion which solves the problem. The phone now supports up to 8GB microSD cards, which should be plenty for the majority. Syncing music onto the phone is also a cinch. You can either use a micro-USB cable and sync content using a program such as Windows Media Player 11 or use a microSD card reader to copy content into the automatically created folders on the card. Even those with limited computer knowledge should be able to figure it out easily!

Speakers & Headphones: 5/5 stars
LG has once again improved the speakers on the enV2, making it better than those on the enV. I’m glad they improved on this, I was worried after I heard the speakers on the expensive LG Voyager. The speakers are clear at even full volume and manage without beginning to crackle. The sound great both for listening to music and when used as a speaker phone. If you plan to use headphones you’ll need to purchase a 2.5mm to 3.5mm converter to use with standard headphones. Listening with headphones will satisfy the average consumer, however don’t expect top notch music playback out of this phone.

Digital Camera: 4.5/5 stars
The main improvement in the digital camera on the enV2 would probably have to be the speed it takes pictures at. The enV constantly lagged and it often took forever for the camera to focus, snap, and save the image. The enV2 acts almost instantaneously. There are few disappointments with the enV2 such as the loss of the build in flash, which made a big difference for closeups taken in under-lit situations. The camera is also still a 2.0 mega pixel which was the same as what was on the enV, so no improvement there. And finally the lens cover has also been removed leaving the camera exposed. The video mode functions smoothly as well, there were no problems there. The front screen can be used to take photos and can also be used for self portraits when flipped open, however due to the small screen size, only a small strip of the full image will be visible. Overall the enV2’s camera functions as it should with some speed improvements, however the camera hasn’t been upgraded and there are no new features.

GPS VZ Navigator: 5/5 stars
I have to mention this feature, since it is one of my favorite part of Verizon Wireless phones. The VZ Naviagor, now on version 4, now includes tons of new features including traffic alerts. The interface is quick and easy to use and the phone can detect your exact location in a matter of seconds. It’s actually much more accurate than the locater on the Apple iPhone. The application will be an addition to your monthly bill unless you have a premium plan. The maps offer live turn-by-turn directions with voice overs which actually state the street names. Address can be saved into the phone. The local search can help find businesses or restaurants instantly. The program also displays the phone number of the address and can dial the number for you. And finally it can lookup movie showtimes near your location and assist in booking tickets. The new version also locates the cheapest gas in near your location.

Messaging (IM, Email, & Text): 5/5 stars
This is a great phone for those who message a lot. It’s got a built in chat client which supports AIM, MSN, and Yahoo!. The software now allows viewing your full contact lists, which was previously limited. The new Mobile Email client supports Yahoo Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, AOL/AIM Mail, and Verizon. If you use another provider, you can just enter the POP3 or IMAP servers and it should work perfectly. The Email Client also can be setup to notify you each time an email arrives in any of your inboxes. The text messaging component is vastly the same, but there are some improvements. The inbox and outbox is no longer limited to 50 messages. (In addition the phone can now hold 1000 contacts.)

Conclusion:
This is a great phone for those who love to message others wirelessly since it has a QWERTY keyboard. The phone is also a great improvement to the enV with a whole new look and a compact design. I wasn’t too fascinated by the maroon color, but I found the black version to look a whole lot better. It does lack some features such as a flash, a lens cover, and auto-focus all for the camera. It also doesn’t yet have a HTML browser. The main complaint I have would have to be the tiny external display, but if you set that aside the rest of the phone is quite impressive. The phone is also quite affordable and will be of interest to many Verizon Wireless customers looking for a new phone. The phone is now available on Verizon’s website and in Verizon Wireless stores for $130 after a $50 rebate and 2 year contract.

Limited Time Deal: LG enV2 for $50 with a 2 Year Contract
Links: Verizon Wireless | Data Sheet (.pdf)
Related: LG VX9900 Review | LG VX10000 Review

The phone everyone’s been waiting for is finally here. The LG Voyager, which is also known as the LG VX10000, is an upgrade to the popular LG enV (VX9900), which we reviewed around this time last year. Skatter Tech was lucky enough to get a hold of this unit, courtesy of Verizon Wireless, and I’ve been putting it to the test since I got it last week. Just for a quick overview, the Voyager features a touch-screen display plus an internal wide-screen, a full HTML browser, a QWERTY keyboard, Mobile TV, and a ton of other new features. Although LG seems to be taking their communicator series in a whole new direction, I would still say that Voyager is definitely a worthy upgrade to the enV.

LG VX10000 Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless (1.9GHz / 800MHz CMDA)
• Form Factor: Laptop-like w/ QWERTY keyboard
• Dimensions: 4.64H x 2.12W x 0.71D (inches)
• Battery Life: 240 mins talk time & 480 hours standby
• Screens: 480 x 240 pixel TFT external & internal
• Digital Camera: 2 megapixel camera and camcorder
• Storage: ~185MB internal + microSD (8GB max)
• Special: external touch screen and mobile tv
• Others: Bluetooth 1.2 + Stereo Speakerphone
• Price: $299 with a new 2-year contract

LG Voyager Body: – 5/5 stars
The VX10000 is a bit larger than your average phone, but no one should be complaining once they see what it has to offer. The phone stands 4.64-inches tall, is .71-inches thick, and 2.12-inches wide. The Voyager retains the same height as it’s processor, the enV, but is slightly wider and thinner as well. The phone should fit into most pockets, but might be a bit of a stretch for tight jeans. On the front of the phone, you’ll find the large touch screen display followed by the SEND, CLR, and END hard-keys lined up at the bottom. On the left of the phone, there’s a camera button, a spring-loaded hold key, and a toggle volume control. The microSD card expansion and the 2.5mm headset jack are the left side, while the charging port, which doubles as the USB connector, is on the bottom. You can charge your phone via USB as well! Other than that, there’s a two mega pixel Camera centered at the top on the back and a battery pack right below it. One the inside of the phone, there’s another display located between two speakers on the top portion and the illuminated QWERTY keyboard on the bottom. The keys are well spaced out are are large enough to type quickly, making it possibly the best keyboard I have seen on a phone to date. Also, unlike the enV, the Voyager actually sits flat on a surface, so no wobbling!

The Two Screens: – 5/5 stars
The biggest disappointment in the LG enV was the extremely small external display. All that has now changed since the LG Voyager’s 2.81-inch touch screen display takes over the entirety of the front and even replaces the numeric keypad. The phone’s internal display is also 2.81-inches diagonal, but isn’t a touch screen. Both the screens have a resolution of 400 by 240 pixels and a color depth of 262K. The quality of both displays were excellent. They were bright and clear enough to view in direct sunlight. The accuracy and responsiveness of the touch screen display was great, but some buttons and items were too small and hard to reach, so interface could use a bit of work.

Music Player: – 4/5 stars
I had a great experience with the Music Player on the enV and was hoping for a big upgrade, but it seems as though there hasn’t been any chances. The main complain would be that the interface for the player is completely different on the external and internal displays. The interface for the outside portion has been designed for use with the touch screen and works fairly well. It actually looks quite neat and allows browsing by Songs, Albums, Artists, or Genres. You’ll have the ability to purchase music from the mobile store, shuffle your music, and search your library. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the internal interface. The music player on the internal display is still using the standard theme found on the enV and a plenty of other Verizon Wireless phones. In addition the developers have managed to make such as simple program actually look worse and just for starters it doesn’t even utilize the full display. Instead the program has been cropped to a 320 by 240 pixel frame with black borders. Despite this, the playback functions work quite smoothly and the player didn’t have any other major flaws. For supported formats, the Voyager can playback unprotected MP3, WMA, and AAC files in addition to songs purchased through the phone. (Will work with Amazon MP3 & iTunes Plus!) Overall the player is functional and even displays Album Artwork for a nice touch, but it could have been better.

Speakers & Headphones: – 3.5/5 stars
One reason I liked the enV and its predecessor the LG VX9800 (aka “The V”) was the fact that they all had built-in stereo speakers. The LG Voyager carries on that tradition, but there’s a problem. The speakers in the LG Voyager sounded quite horrible and began to crack terribly even before we got close to reaching full volume. (No bass as well.) I would have expected for an even better experience, but these speakers prove otherwise. Since the LG Voyager is also a music phone, I would have also expected them to implement a standard 3.5mm headset connector. Instead, the Voyager maintains a 2.5mm headset jack meaning that you’ll need to purchase an adapter for use with your regular headphones. As Bluetooth headsets are becoming so cheap and barely anyone uses wired headsets anymore, I wonder how long it will take for manufacturers to phase out 2.5mm jacks and replace them with 3.5mm ones. Fortunately, listening to music with headphones on the VX10000 was a much better experience than with the speakers, but quality was still no where as good as on the VX9900.

Digital Camera & Camcorder: – 3.5/5 stars
The LG Voyager features a 2.0 megapixel camera, which also functions as a camcorder. Photos can be taken at a maximum resolution of 1600 by 1200 pixels, while videos can be recorded at a max of 320 by 240 pixels. No improvement for either of those functions have been made since, as those were also the maximums on the enV. The camera and camcorder allow setting the white balance and choosing color effects for captured content. The external display can be used to take self portraits when the phone is flipped open. The camcorder can record up to 1-hour videos, however only clips under 30-seconds can be emailed. On the other hand, images of any size can be emailed. The camera also has an auto focus function, which drastically improves the quality of your photos. The part that was quite disappointing was the fact that LG has removed the retractable cover, which protected the lens, and the built in flash, which was quite handy in low-lighted situations. Overall, the image quality seems to have actually degraded.

microSD + Syncing: – 4.5/5 stars
LG has taken a big jump with microSD technology, now supporting 8GB cards. That’s a fairly good increase considering that the enV was limited to 2GB microSD cards. Although 8GB cards might be a bit pricey at this point, you should be able to purchase a 4GB microSD card online for under $40. As for syncing music, it was as simple as it could get. Your computer will recognize the Voyager as portable media player (mass storage device), so no additional drivers were required. You will, however, need to pop in the CD and install the drivers if you do wish to use your phone as a data modem. Once the device was recognized I was able to use Windows Media Player to transfer the music onto the Voyager. If you prefer to directly copy files onto the phone using the file explorer, that works smoothly as well. Mac OS X users, unfortunately, will have to use an SD card adapter to copy their music onto the microSD card since USB drivers are not yet available. Even Windows users will also end up having use a SD card reader/write occasionally, since it isn’t possible to access your photos and videos when using USB.

Bluetooth: – 4/5 stars
There hasn’t been exactly too much improvement with Bluetooth technology either. The LG Voyager continues to use Bluetooth v1.2, which the enV already had. Most new phones including the LG Muziq, which we reviewed a few months ago, and the Apple iPhone now boast a Bluetooth v2.0 platform with Enhanced Data Rate. Despite this, the LG Voyager was still able to work perfectly with my Samsung WEP200 headset, which uses Bluetooth v2.0. The VX10000 also supports using Bluetooth for use as a dial-up modem, with wireless stereo headsets, for transfering phonebook/calendar entries, and sending images to your computer. So it should still be able to do just about everything important.

HTML Browser: – 5/5 stars
First off, let me say that this is in no way comparable to the Safari browser on the iPhone and iPod Touch, which is amazing. This is, however, a HUGE improvement over the standard BREW browser found on most Verizon Wireless phones, which could only handle WAP pages. The browser is simple, easy-to-use, and works with both the external touch screen and the internal display. Even large web pages (ex. digg.com) loaded eventually, but using it was not practical since it took too long to load or navigate. The browser doesn’t support flash or ajax, but was sufficient enough for viewing text, images, and links. Most of the websites we tested it with worked surprisingly well. When using the external display you’ll be able to drag the page around with a finger, otherwise you’ll have to use the four-way navigation pad. Additional “screen optimized” and “text only” views are available along with the zoom function. The Voyager also delivers the web content over a 3G network which is faster than the iPhone’s 2G.

The Interface: 4.5/5 stars
The LG Voyager external interface is probably the most attractive interface I’ve seen on a phone from Verizon. To use the screen, you’ll have unlock it first by either clicking on the un-lock key on the screen or by pressing the hold key on the left spine. At the bottom there are four quick access buttons: Messages, Dial Pad, Menu, and Phone book. Clicking anywhere else on the screen will bring up a shortcut menu with even more icons to different apps. Just about all the phone’s features including the music player, navigator, web browser, V Cast Videos, camera, and text messaging is use able through the external screen. There are some applications including Mobile Email and Get It Now programs that can’t be used through the external display, so you’ll have flip open the phone. Another neat hardware feature implemented into the Voyager is tactile feedback. When something on the touch screen is clicked, the phone emits a vibrating impulse indicating that an action has been detected. The internal interface has received a clean makeover, but will remain very familiar to enV owners. The enV’s “Email Key” has now been replaced another shortcut menu, offering easy access to plenty of functions. Although the interface wasn’t perfect, it looks good, was usable, and was quite impressive.

GPS Navigator: – 5/5 stars
One feature I did truly did enjoy was the built-in GPS Navigator. The program, which costs $9.99 per month, gives subscribers access to maps, turn-by-turn directions, and local searches. The part that I like the most was that the voice narration actually read out street and highway names instead of simply stating “Turn left ahead” or “Make a right turn”. For example, actually reads out “Turn left onto Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road,” “Exit freeway on the right for San Francisco,” and “Keep right on Mission Blvd.” Most navigators I’ve used including those built into Lexus/BMW cars and portable Garmin/Magellan, couldn’t do this. The one’s I’m talking about were over an year old, so I’m sure new ones can read out names and do much more. Purchasing a decent navigator can cost a few hundred dollars, so spending $120 for a year of subscription isn’t too bad. In addition, if you don’t want subscribe and don’t use your navigator that often, you can pay a one-time fee of $2.99 for 24-hour access. Overall navigation tool was well polished, worked on both screens, and will come in handy if you’re ever lost.

Messaging: – 5/5 stars
In addition to text, picture, and video messaging, the VX10000 also has an easy-to-use email client which will work instantly with your Yahoo! Mail, Live Mail, AOL/AIM, or Verizon accounts. If you do happen to have your own server or use another mail service such as Gmail, you can even enter in your own POP3/IMAP and SMTP servers. The only downside was that the functionality was quite basic and didn’t even allow opening links in messages. Despite this, it remains a good way of getting a sneak peak of your inbox, replying to messages, and composing new ones when you’re away from your computer. The phone also has a built in Instant Messaging client which will work with AOL, Windows Live, and Yahoo! protocols. The program runs smoothly on both screens, allows viewing your buddy lists, and participating in multiple conversations at once. Both the Mobile Email and Mobile IM clients have the ability to run in the background and display notifications when new content reaches your phone.

Other Goodies: – 5/5 stars
The LG VX1000 comes with a bunch of extra tools including a calculator, calendar/date-book, alarm clocks (3), stopwatch, world clock, notepad, tip calculator, and a voice recorder (1 hour max). The address book can hold one thousand entries with five numbers and two emails per contact. Unique ringtones and photos can be set for each contact as well. The voice dialing feature allows making calls by reading out names in your address book or dictating numbers to dial. The final extra feature we’d like to touch on is Mobile TV. We would have reviewed this feature, but there was one problem. What’s the problem? There was no coverage in our area. The service only works in three cities in California and a total of 25 cities through the entire United States.

Despite my minute complains over speaker/headphones quality, the music player, and camera, the LG VX10000 is still probably the best phone offered by Verizon Wireless. In my opinion this will be a big seller for the holiday season and will probably be difficult to get a hold of. I strongly recommend this phone if you plan to actually use the features it offers, otherwise going with a more compact phone will suffice. Verizon Wireless has even been kind enough to throw in a USB cable so you don’t have to purchase a Music Essentials Kit to sync your music. If you plan to purchase this phone it will be available online and in stores on November 21st, 2007. You should also be able to pre-order the phone by calling Verizon Wireless or visiting their website. The LG Voyager will run you nearly $299 after signing a new 2-year contract and submitting a $50 mail-in-rebate. If you are eligible for upgrade, you should be able to get another $50 or $100 kicked off price based on your current calling plan. Overall the phone will take a bit getting used and even though it’s a bit on the pricey end, you are bound to enjoy what it has to offer.

Deal Alert: LG Voyager for $199! (with new 2-year contract)
Links: Verizon Wireless | Voyager Data Sheet (.pdf)
Related: LG enV VX9900 Review | Voyager Video Walkthrough

Yesterday LG Electronics announced the availability of their new phone titled “Rumor” for Sprint customers. The LG Rumor sports a full QWERTY keyboard, email access, and instant messaging services (AIM, MSN, & Yahoo!). The phone also boasts access to social news websites such as Facebook. The unit is available in white with silver or black with blue.

“We are excited to introduce Rumor by LG because it is great-looking, easy-to-use and very affordable,” said Danny Bowman, Sprint VP of Product Development

The LG Rumor will also support Sprint’s new messaging services which allows sending texts to landlines phones. (recipient hears the text in audio) Other neat features include a built-in fully functioning GPS navigation system with on screen turn-by-turn directions. As for now standard features it includes a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, microSD (4GB), MP3 player, and access to Sprint’s music store.

The Rumor by LG will be available later this month for $79.99 after a 2-year-contract and a $50 mail-in rebate. It’s going to be interesting to see how this stands up to LG’s enV which we reviewed last year. LG is also releasing an iPhone competitor, the Voyager, which is being launched on Verizon’s network and will be easily over double the price of the Rumor. We’ll try to get a hold of one of these so check back!

Links: LG Rumor FactSheet | Sprint.com
Related: Sprint LG Muziq (Review)