There are not a lot of cell phones under U.S. Cellular’s repertoire but they are slowly starting to increase these days. Samsung Exec is the latest addition to its collection. This phone is available for $99.95 and you have to sign a two year contract after a mail in rebate of $70. This is a sleek smartphone made for people who message a lot, and it has an excellent keyboard and the multimedia and productivity features too are impressive. The performance of the phone doesn’t suffer due to the extensive feature set and the handset handles applications quite well. We will recommend this phone as an alternative to the RIM BlackBerry Tour 9630. Samsung Acclaim and HTC Desire are hitting the market soon and they these two will compete with this handset so it will be interesting to see what features they have to offer. Both these phones belong to U.S. Cellular and come with Android OS. The feature set is enhanced and there is more power so it will be worth waiting for those phones. Both the  [...]

We have already reviewed Kin One here and the small size of the device did puzzle us a bit. This phone has standard design, but still is targeted only at youngsters. Both these phones give instant access to your favorite friends and you can constantly stay in touch with them through social networking integration. The user experience is also different than standard cell phones. Success of such phones depend largely on their pricing as well as data plans. Verizon Wireless is providing service for this phone and Kin Two was offered at $149.99 along with a two year contract and after $100 mail in rebate. Verizon announced a change in price; Kin Two now costs $99.99 (Kin One’s price, on the other hand, has come down from $79.99 to $49.99). Both these phones require a fee of $29.99 a month for unlimited data plan which is similar to other smartphones from Verizon Wireless. We are skeptical about the success of these phones in the market especially since these handsets are targeted at youngsters  [...]

This phone is not meant for you, it is for your kid. Yes, Kin One and Kin Two are made by Microsoft and are targeted especially at the younger generation. But instead of getting excited we saw a lot of doubts in people’s minds. Windows 7 has been announced and hence we don’t know how these phones will do in the market. Microsoft here reiterates that these tiny babies are made for the younger generations who are crazy about social networking. But this answer is hardly satisfactory. These phones aren’t out in the market yet, they release on 6th May and the service provider will ship it within 48 hours once you preorder it on the Website. The duo will go on sale nationwide on May 13 on all Verizon stores. The cost of Kin One is $79.99 and Kin Two will put you back by $149.99. Both need a two year service agreement and come with $100 mail in rebate. On the downside, there are no options for the monthly data plan. Both these phones need a $29.99 monthly unlimited data plan just like other  [...]

>For: Intuitive display, 3.5 mm phone jack, 3 home screens, 3.2 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, GPS Against: Not as good as Samsung Rogue. Photo quality could have been better. The Whiz Kid Speaks: Samsung Reality SCH-u820 is based on CDMA2000 1X technology, it has 128 MB internal memory, phone book capacity is of 1000 entries, downloadable content includes Screensavers, Wallpapers and Ringtones. The 3.2 megapixels camera has the following options for resolutions - 320 x 240, 800 x 480, 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, 640 x 480, 1024 x 768, 1600 x 1200, 2048 x 1536. The camera has 9x digital zoom. The screen is three inches big and has a resolution of 240x400 pixels. Supported audio formats are AAC+, MP3, AAC and WMA. The battery of the phone has a rated talk time of 300 minutes and rated standby time is of 300 hours. Razzle Dazzle: Samsung Reality SCH-u820 is 4.23 inches long, 0.65 inches  [...]

Kyocera Laylo M1400 is here to prove that not all cell phones need to be packed with features. Most people don’t use all the features in the handset and hence it makes no sense in buying a high end smart phone if all you are going to do is make calls and send text messages. Kyocera is a big name when it comes to entry level phones particularly with small carriers like MetroPCS. We will recommend this phone because even though it lacks high end features, you can do basic cell phone tasks very well and also the compact design makes the handset easy to carry around. Call quality is the most important thing that you look for when it comes to basic phones. We were glad to see that the quality lived up to our expectations. All this costs $59 and there are no contract obligations. The phone has a slider interfaces which is much better than a candy bar design when it comes to looks. Opening up a slider there is an incoming call always looks stylish. Display The  [...]

These days looks and high end features are more important for manufacturers and they are relentlessly making sexy looking phones with all the oomph in order to put potential customers in to the loop. MetroPCS doesn’t seem to care much though, they are pretty much content with plane jane looks and basic features. But in the recent months, the carrier has tried to diversify itself, it has brought out a couple of touch screen handsets and has announced introduction of 4G service by next year. All this isn’t reflected in LG Lyric MT375 though. It is still a basic handset with a user friendly down to earth design. The call quality of this phone is pretty decent which is what matters the most in such low end phones. The cost of this phone is $139 and there are no contract obligations from the service provider. You get a discount of $25 if you purchase it online. We really liked the phone and its performance. There are a few drawbacks though, the camera doesn’t have flash, for the headset,  [...]

When you have something like ‘Incredible’ attached to the model name, we expect it to live up to the tag. We get lots of products in our labs which don’t live up to such suffixes but this one is a rare exception. The smartphone is based on Android 2.1 and it may not have any out of the box features but it performs much better than its rivals like Nexus One and Motorola Droid. This phone is our new favorite now and it is due to its power, sleek design and better software. This phone is available from April 29 from Verizon Wireless and costs $199.99 with a 2 year contract and after $100 mail in rebate. The design and shape of this handset is nothing new compared to other smartphones in the market but it is the internal features that make the difference. We will recommend this smartphone as an alternative to Motorola Droid which is another master piece from Verizon. The display is high resolution and the power Snapdragon processor keep the phone working relentlessly.

The Pantech Link is an overdue update over its predecessor – the Pantech Slate. The Link is one of the first devices for supporting the AT&T Cloud services such as Online Locker and the Social Net. It features GPS, 3G/HSDPA support, music player and 1.3-megapixel camera. The Link is available for $9.99 with two-year AT&T contract. It is one of the thinnest messaging phones available in the market, but still suffers from some issues such as its call quality needs improvement. In addition, the HTML browser is not useful due to small screen. Speaking about the design, you will find the micro-SD card slot and the volume rocker on the left side. The camera button and charger/headset jack are on the right side. We will prefer the manufacturer to include the 3.5mm standard headset jack instead of combined port for headset/charger. The camera lens with self portrait mirror sits on the back. If you need a cheap messaging phone with good QWERTY keyboard, then the Pantech Link remains a  [...]

The Samsung SGH-T659 has a design which was popular three years ago. It offers nothing special except the 3G service. If you need a boring and dated design then you can select the SGH-T659. The speakerphone call quality of the T659 is average, while the keypad is slippery and flat. On the bright side, the display is enough bright to display colorful images and fine text. The navigation array is simple and very easy to use. The call quality and captured picture quality are impressive. The SGH-T659 is available for $69 with T-Mobile contract. If you are looking for a modern design then you have to look elsewhere. You have to slide down the phone to access the alphanumeric keypad. Speaking about the exterior of the SGH-T659 – the micro-SD card slot and volume rocker are on the left spine. You will find the camera shutter and charger/headset jack on the right spine. The camera lens with self-portrait mirror is on the back. We will advise you to open the Samsung SGH-T659 prior to capture a  [...]