When I first saw that Kyocera Neo E1100, I thought it was a standard flip style phone but as I went through it, I realized that it had some out of the box features. The stylish elements on the phone are what keeps this handset apart from the crowd. They are complementary and subtle, just like other Kyocera phones and do not distract much. The feature set is pretty functional but that is not a bad thing. Tons of high end smartphones are coming in to the market but this doesn't mean that low end ones are going to die. The Kyocera Neo E1100 is available without a contract for $49 from MetroPCS but you can also get it online for as low as $19. Kyocera Neo E1100 has smooth lines and a very thin profile. The handset is 3.52 inches long, 0.66 inch thick and 1.06 inches long. This is reminiscent of older phones that we had a couple of years ago. I won't call the dated design boring  [...]

There are plenty of experiments done in terms of phone design at the moment but not all of them go well in the market. I think the Nokia Surge 6790 will be one such phone. Nokia has tried a bit too hard this time and there is nothing to like about this design. Looking at the phone, you will instantly get the idea that it is made for the younger generation. Some might think that the Nokia Surge 6790 is a business phone but it is targeted more at younger audience or for social networking enthusiasts. It has everything that you need in a smartphone but the design will be a turn off for corporate users. Business users should take a look at the company’s E or N series phones. The handset has a slider interface and pushing the top half to the right reveals the full QWERTY keyboard. Nokia Surge 6790 has a compact design but the body is made up of plastic, which feels pretty  [...]

The name of this phone is really cool and I was waiting for it to arrive ever since I heard about it in the media. This phone is quite similar to the European version of MOTOROI which is the Android based version of the Motorola Milestone XT720. The manufacturer has just put in a few more features in that phone and a new product was born in the name of XT720. However, the company chose to dump the full QWERTY keyboard which will disappoint messaging freaks. Of course, there is the virtual keyboard but it is not ideal for typing long messages. You don’t get those satisfying clicks while pressing buttons on the virtual keyboard. The display of the Motorola Milestone XT720 is 3.7 inches big and you get a resolution of 854x480 pixels which is really cool. I really liked the screen size, it is really big and you get plenty of room to work around. The higher resolution also sweetens the deal  [...]

Names of phones can be quite misleading. It is like ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. When I first heard the word ‘Gusto’, I thought it would be a high end smartphone. But it turned out to be an entry level basic phone. This handset comes with a very low price tag. It is yours for $19.99 with a rebate. You can also get it online for free. This phone is recommended to senior citizens who just want to make calls and maybe send text messages. On the bright side, the device looks really attractive. Samsung Gusto is a flip model phone and hence you get two displays. The first one is located on the lid and is just one inch big. It gives you all the basics like battery life, signal strength, date, time, etc. You will find all the essentials that you need on this display. Above this, there is a VGA camera which has really poor photo quality. I wasn’t expecting a good photo quality  [...]

Samsung Omnia is a high end smartphone and phone is really costly especially if you purchase it unlocked. Verizon Wireless is also covering this phone and you can check it out, if you are on a stiff budget. The best part about the phone is the big 3.2 inch screen which is excellent for watching movies. You get a resolution of 240x400 pixels which is quite good too. The screen is not as good as some of the highest end phones I have seen like BlackBerry Storm or HTC Touch Diamond but it is still very good. Samsung Omnia comes with plenty of multimedia features. There is Windows Media Player 10 and the manufacturer also gives something called Touch Player which features a good user interface. The functionality is quite similat to the Cover Flow of iPhone. You can play a wide variety of media formats like MP3, AAC, WMA, eAAC+, 3GPP, MP4, Xvid, H.264, and DivX. There are other goodies like  [...]

I bet you know all about this phone before you even start reading this review. A lot of hype was built around the RIM BlackBerry 9800 ever since it was announced by the company. The two main attractions of this phone are the sliding interface (this is the company’s first slider phone) and the new OS. This phone is the first BlackBerry handset to have the new OS 6 and it promises a lot of new features. On the front, you have a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen display which is big enough and gives you plenty of room to work around. The screen doesn’t use the SurePress technology so you don’t have to press down on the screen everytime you want to select something. The QWERTY keyboard is accessed by pushing the top half of the phone upwards. People who love messaging will surely like this keyboard but I would have preferred if the slider interface would have been on the sides since you  [...]

T-Mobile and Nokia seems to be a marriage made in heaven when it comes to affordable smartphones. First there was the Nokia Nuron and now the manufacturer has come with Nokia E73 Mode. This is a QWERTY messaging device which costs $69.99 along with a two year contract from the service provider and after a mail in rebate. Nokia says this phone is life and work solution. The feature set is great considering the price and the handset looks quite sexy too. The keyboard is comfortable to type on. The phone is not perfect though, it does have a few issues. We will still recommend this phone as a nice alternative to the more expensive RIM BlackBerry Bold 9700. The phone's display is 2.4 inches big (measured diagonally) and it has support for 16 million colors along with 320x240 pixels resolution. This is the same as Bold 9700 but the Bold's screen is much better at 480x360 pixels resolution. Hence  [...]

Apple iPhone 4 has a revamped design, new display, fast processor and tons of new features. Apple has made a whole new phone here instead of just putting in some new features like it did for iPhone 3G. This new phone also has the new iOS4 and it also comes with lots of goodies and features. It is the combination of iPhone 4 and the new OS that makes this phone a great device. Some of new features made our eye balls pop out and the hardware inside too is impressive. This device is not totally free from defects though. For instance, AT&T's signal reception for call quality is still a matter of concern. We also doubt if FaceTime video calling will last long once the novelty  [...]

We got the HTC EVO 4G in our labs for testing some time go and it was the first 4G phone from America. Apple has now stolen HTC’s thunder by announcing iPhone 4. This handset is improved in many ways as compared to its already stellar predecessor. The specs have been improved in order to keep the phone on par with other cell phones in the competition. If you are tech enthusiast, chances are that you have seen Steve Job’s presentation about the new gadget. The cost of the eight GB model of iPhone 4 is $199 and 32 GB version will put you back by $299. As compared to this, the iPhone 3GS model is still there in the market for $99. iPhone 4 will released simultaneously in UK, Japan, Germany, France and US on June 24. Apple has promised to release this handset is about 88 countries by the end of this September. Improved exteriors: iPhone 4G’s back and front are  [...]

LG has given a lot of Android phones in the past but all of them have either been for the European or Asian markets. In fact, this is the first Android phone from LG to make it here in the US. This phone doesn’t have anything out of the box but we still like the way the LG has delivered the goods here. The device has a nice display, the QWERTY keyboard is easy to type on and the performance too is commendable. The phone also ships with Android 2.1 which is the latest version of the OS. LG Ally is available for $99.99 and you have to sign a two year service agreement with Verizon Wireless. LG Ally has a 3.2 inch touch screen display with resolution of 800x480 pixels. The display is made up of tempered glass and it supports 262k colors. You get vibrant and crisp images on the display. The screen can stand bright sunlight too. The display is capacitive and is quite responsive to our touches.  [...]