A lot of phones have been coming out recently so how do you separate the good from the bad? With this handy Holiday Phone Guide of course! The Christmas rush has finally died down and all of these wonderful phones, are up for grabs. Of course now you have to worry about the Easter buying rush, but that’s not so much of a problem usually.
We’re covering some of the best of the best in current cellphone offerings. Check them out!
Sprint
Touch Diamond – The Touch Diamond is a touch screen phone (duh) from Sprint that uses the new Touch Flo 3D interface. The interface is very sleek and functional with easy controls and user-friendly look. It has nice animations and the icons show what your clicking on, before you click it. Very easy to read without actually reading. The design of the phone is beautiful with the front being entirely a touch screen. The back is a magenta/scarlet color that looks amazing. The stylus matches the color so it doesn’t feel out of place. The rest of the phone is standard Sprint excellence, you’ve got email, Sprint TV, Internet, and much more. I’m only docking this because the on-screen keyboard is hard to get used to and it has no actual keyboard. I wonder if they’ll ever make a phone with that…
Rating – B
Price – $550
Features
- Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
- SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
- Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
- Games 1, motion-based + downloadable
- GPS with A-GPS support
- Java MIDP 2.0
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF viewer)
- Voice memo
- MP3 player
- Built-in handsfree
Touch Pro – The Touch Pro is essentially the same phone as the Touch Diamond WITH a slide keyboard. The design has changed slightly. There is now a silver back to it. It’s also thicker than the Touch Diamond which is understandable. It still seems a little larger than it needs to be. I think they could have made it slimmer if they tried but it is a better phone than the Diamond which was great.
Rating – A-
Price – $580
Features
- Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
- SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
- Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
- Games
- GPS with A-GPS support
- Java MIDP 2.0
- TV-out (cable not included)
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, PDF viewer)
- Voice memo
- MP3 player
- Built-in handsfree
Rant – The Rant is cheaper sliding phone than the Touch Pro and is made for a more casual buyer. It has an even simpler interface very reminiscent of the Touch series’. It has a nice design but it feels a little cheap in your hand. his is a simpler phone for the simpler people. The Touch series was more business-like while this is aimed more towards teens. It is a great phone that comes with all the standard Sprint fare. Recommended for teens wanting a high quality phone at a dirt cheap price.
Rating – B-
Price – $300
Features
- PhoneBook
- Caller groups supported, 600 -names capacity, Multiple Numbers Per Contact, Picture ID, Ring ID
- PIM
- Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, World Clock, Memo
- Voice
- Dialing, Commands, Recording, Speaker Phone
- GPS
ATT
LG Incite – This is LG’s first outing on the Windows Mobile OS and it is a very strong debut. It has a super sleek James Bond-esque design. I could see this being used in a Bond film as one of their gadgets. It looks very sleek and beautiful. Windows Mobile is a very strong OS and it still is here. This phone also has a scroll wheel which I love. Scroll wheels have always been a favorite of mine as they’re very functional and convenient. The touch screen is very responsive, even compared to the iPhone. The call end and call buttons are a little too small but this is nit picking. A very strong LG Windows Mobile debut.
Rating – B+
Price – $500
Features
- Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1
- Alarm
- Calendar
- Organizer
- Wallpaper
- Address Book
- Package Manager
- Yahoo! Messanger
- Windows Media Player
- AOL Instant Messenger
- Windows Live Messenger
ATT Fuze – This phone is the ATT version of the Touch Diamond. Instead of Sprint TV you have ATT’s version and various flip-flops like that. The design change is once again, on the back of the phone. This time it is black and indented into a prism like sculpture. It is beautiful to look at but feels a little slippery in your hands. If for some reason you had a choice between this and the Diamond, go for this. The back just looks awesome.
Rating – B
Price – $500
Features
- Internet Sharing
- Adobe Reader LE
- Bluetooth Explorer
- Java Virtual Machine (Esmertec Jbed)
- Jetcet Print, QuickGPS
- Remote Desktop
- Sprite Backup
- Streaming Media for Video
- Zip for unzipping
- the Teeter game
- A whole gamut of trial-ware like MobiTV, Ms. Pac Man, etc.
- WikiMobile
- Worldcard Mobile Business Card Scanner
- Download links for Xpress Mail and BlackBerry Messenger
ATT Eternity – The Eternity uses the new Samsung OS which is very Android like in design. It is very simple and user-friendly without being dumbed down. This touch screen is very responsive. Even compared to my iPhone it felt great. The phone is very slender and smooth. The black backing gives the look of brushed steel and feels great in your hand. The rest of the phone is very smooth. The calling buttons are just the right size and the touch screen is large. I highly recommend this phone to any ATT customer.
Rating – A-
Price – $370
Feature
- PhoneBook
- Caller groups supported, Multiple Numbers Per Contact, Picture ID, Ring ID
- PIM
- Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, TO-DO, Stopwatch, World Clock, Timer, Converter
- Voice
- Recording, Speaker Phone
- GPS
T-Mobile
Android G1 – Here is the big holiday phone that everyone is watching. The G1 is the first phone ever to use Google’s new OS, Android. Android is a little, green robot that lives inside your phone and makes it awesome. In other words, the OS is very good. It’s extremely stable as I’ve had no crashes when having multiple apps open or loading, it looks good with nice animations and the cute Android robot. It has all the bell and whistles a great phone should including Android’s very own app store. Just like Apple! While this is no where near the iPhone’s level, it is still good with plenty of useful apps out there. I expect that once people have more time to develop and learn the Android software better, the apps will improve just like the iPhone’s. The Android has a nice design with a responsive touch screen, cool flip/slide keyboard, and a handy track ball. I say flip/slide because while it technically is a slide, it flips outward some for a very cool look and feel to it. Nice little design choice there. The trackball, while nice, takes getting used to.I just don’t like the texture of them. Maybe in the future Blackberry and others will change it but for now, it works fine. The T-Mobile service is one of the best with wide-spread service it’s hard to find a spot with no bars. Great phone, amazing OS, and a nice design.
Rating – A
Price – $400
Features
- HSDPA 1700 / 2100 plus quadband EDGE
- WiFi
- 3D graphics acceleration
- 3-megapixel camera
- 256 MB integrated storage, 1GB microSD card included
- Android Market for on-device app purchases
- Amazon MP3 app for on-device music purchases
- Push Gmail support with full HTML client
- Bluetooth (but no A2DP)
- Google Maps with Street View
- No Microsoft Exchange support
- No desktop synchronization — it all happens over the air
- 350 minutes talk time over 3G, 406 minutes over GSM
- 402 hours standby over 3G, 319 hours over GSM
Gravity - Here is the cheaper phone for those out there without $400 to spend on a G1. This is for people who want to text without spending a fortune for a ton of extra un-needed features. The Gravity not only 
features a full Qwerty keyboard that slides out, but also a 1.3 mega pixel camera, an MP3 player, and some great texting and email clients. While having some great features the actual phone’s call quialty is less than stellar. Your voice sounds garbled and distant from the other line, but for what it is, it’s good.
Rating – B-
Price – $200
Features
- Size 4.5 by 2.1 by 0.7 inches
- Weight 4.6 ounces
- Screen 2.1 inches, 176×220 pixels, 262K colors
- Touch: No
- OS and Platform Proprietary
- Network GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- Talk time Measured: 6 hours
- Claimed: 5 hours
- Messaging clients AOL, MSN, Yahoo and ICQ for IM. Presets for e-mail including Gmail, .Mac and Verizon.
- Keypad Full QWERTY
- Camera 2 Megapixel(s)
- Video recorder with CIF resolution
- GPS
- Memory under 128MB out-of-box
- microSD memory slot (4GB)
- Connectivity – 0.2 EDGE
- Bluetooth 2.0
- USB
Written by Haydn
