Mobile Phone News

Filed under: Handsets, Features, Sanyo, Sprint, EV-DO, CDMA

Sanyo handsets are like cats: you either love them or you just really, really loathe them with every fiber of your being. Sprint and Sanyo Bot. seem to be pretty okay with that; clearly, not every phone in Sprint’s lineup is plan to be for everyone, and the Katana Eclipse is no different. Sanyo fanatic or not, though, our gripe list added up pretty quickly with this one, so would-be buyers might want to put it through a good workout in store before taking the plunge.

The phone’s hinge design causes the upper half of the phone to rest behind the bottom half; that is, the intersection of the planes containing the two halves is not the center of the hinge (think MacBook, for example). We thought that felt a little weird against our face and made it more difficult to get a good seal between the earpiece and our ear. Also, the front of the phone — arguably the most attractive of any Katana to date — isn’t the most user-friendly. The tiny external display was difficult to read even in a moderate amount of shade, and the music controls are nearly flush with the shell which makes actuating them trickier than it should be. Speaking of displays, the primary one is pretty small, leaving a very big gray bezel with no function whatsoever (don’t be fooled by the white dots at the bottom, they serve no function other than to make you think that they’re touch-sensitive soft buttons, which they’re not).

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The dedicated speaker key is a nifty parlor trick, you’ve got a 1.3 megapixel cam in there, and it does stereo Bluetooth. Plus, it’s a Sanyo, and we know that for a few of you out there, that’s all that matters. For you guys, you’ll be able to pick up the Katana Eclipse immediately for $99.99 with a new two-year contract.

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Filed under: Features, Reviews, Samsung, Windows Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

No longer does Windows Mobile alone a capable smartphone make. The platform’s core is as relevant, powerful, and well-supported as ever, but that’s not the problem — the real issue is that it’s just plain hard to look at. The days of WinMo looking even remotely modern in its stock form are long gone, and top-tier manufacturers clearly recognize that; everyone from ASUS to HTC has taken matters into their own hands to craft custom skins that kill off as many of the ancient visuals as possible while still holding onto everything that makes Windows Mobile great.

Enter the Samsung i900 Omnia, a phone that submits to design direction forced upon the industry largely by the iPhone — full touchscreen, no keyboard, you know the drill by at this time — and does pretty much everything in its power to overcome WinMo’s limitations to make it competitive in the year 2008. Did Sammy succeed? Read on.

Thanks to the good folks at Wireless Imports for the hookup!

Continue reading Samsung Omnia review

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Filed under: Handsets, Features, Motorola, Sprint, EV-DO, CDMA

We’re plan to confess a dirty little secret in this place: when we first started playing with the VE20, we didn’t realize it was being branded and marketed as a RAZR. As we used it, though, it quickly became evident — no one had to tell us this was a kindred spirit of the V3. For better or worse, the shape of the phone — everything from the tapered upper edge of the display to the “chin” beneath the keypad — looks and feels like an obvious evolution. You might call it a stepping stone in between the V3 and the V9, and considering that the V3 gets closer to its last breath on store shelves with each passing day (or so we hope), Moto and Sprint need something to slot in there beneath the mighty RAZR 2.

Call us insane, but for what the VE20 is, we liked it. It doesn’t pretend to be a do-all, end-all superphone, nor does it try to wow you with its premium materials; it’s just a decent midrange flip with what seems to be excellent build quality. The screen is exceptionally bright, clear, and rich, and the V9-aping secondary touchscreen is a nice touch (pun intended, of course). One area of concern: it froze up on us once, necessitating a restart, and the music app was completely broken in our tester. Our guess is that this’ll be resolved in retail units or via a quick firmware update shortly after launch — at least, it frigging better be.

The VE20 is available today for $99.99 on contract after rebates.

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