Huawei is not so famous in the United States and Europe because the company is basically into just basic entry level phones like this one. However, Huawei has attracted the market slowly in past year. It has built the T-Mobile Tap last year and now it is launching M750, which costs around $159 without a contract. CDMA2000 1x technology based M750 uses Metro PCS as its service provider. It supports the CDMA 2000 1X 1900X800 / AWS 1700/1200 band. The phone has additional features like 1.3 mega pixel camera, Web browser, Bluetooth and touch screen with some basic features to attract the market. The call quality was good and impressive. However, M750 didn’t impress us much because it lacked features like video player, video recorder and Wi-Fi etc. 2.8-inch size is a bit small for touch screens, but the display has vibrant colors. The phone does not have internal accelerometer to rotate the display, which is quite annoying for typing text messages.

Whenever we see a water and shock resistant phone, we automatically assume that it is going to be ugly. And most of the times, this is true because there is a lot of padding on the handset for standing through shocks and water. Brute i680 meets military specifications for elements like salt fog, low and high temperature, vibration and shock and dust. Though it is a water resistant phone you can’t take it with you for swimming with you underwater. But you can use it while talking in the rains. We held the phone under running tap in our labs and the device wasn’t damaged at all. For testing the shock resistance, we put threw the phone around on concrete floor as well as carpet. There wasn’t a single scratch on the device and it was working well too. The Brute i680 is made for Nextel, you can get it for $119 with service. Other features on the phone include a music player, camera which though not the best, are still nice to have on a phone. The call quality is also good, overall we didn’t  [...]

LG is a big player in the touch screen phone market. A lot of its products go to big carriers like AT&T Wireless (LG Xenon and LG enV Touch) and Verizon Wireless. A few of its phones make to U.S. cellular which is a regional carrier. This handset is a lot like LG Tritan but the Bliss doesn’t have a low resolution camera or physical keyboard. This product is quite slim and is packed with features, which is what you look to in a phone. The Bliss has built-in accelerometer which gives you a full size QWERTY keyboard when you turn the phone. The buttons on it are spacious and easy to type. It has a 2.0 mega pixel, something that we were disappointed with. Usually you’d expect a 3.2 mega pixel camera but this low resolution camera was surprisingly good in photos.  We had very little to complain about the phone, it had pretty good features. Our only complaint was the feel of the device which feels cheap plasticky in the hand. The handset is yours for $99 along with a 2 year contract  [...]

We all know what HTC is capable of when it comes to smart phones. They have given us plenty of them and very rarely have they failed to make an impact in the market with their handsets. They along with Samsung have been really good in smart phone sales. Such is their impact that Nokia recently announced that they will be cutting down on smart phone production and will be instead concentrating more on mid range handsets because they are unable compete with these two big players. We have always had a soft spot for HTC phones because they never fail to deliver with their devices and hence we pounced on the Tilt2 when it landed in our test centers. This is officially the successor to HTC Tilt but looks more like HTC Touch Pro2 which is available on Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. The design of the two phones is the same, it has the same speaker layout and the chrome edges which we saw in the unlocked Touch Pro2. One big difference in this handset is the inclusion of Windows Mobile 6.5 so you  [...]

This is an entry level touch screen handset from Motorola but it does have some features up its sleeve that will interest you. We found the display was a bit small and will really get you when you browse through Web pages or try to watch a video. The small display also gives a smaller resolution which adds to the woes. The 2 mega pixel camera located behind the handset is pretty basic and doesn’t come with editing options. But other than that, the features offered are satisfactory and the call quality too is good though we would have appreciated if the volume was a bit louder. You get a music player which plays a wide range of audio formats and we thank Motorola for giving us a 3.5 mm phone jack. It lets you plug in any standard headphones of your choice. The memory card slot is also located on the sides of the phone so you don’t have to go digging inside the battery cover to take it off or change it. The Crush is sold by U.S. Cellular for $69.95 with a 2 year agreement and after a  [...]

This device is the successor to LG Lotus Elite that we got back in 2008. The looks are the same but the handset is now sleeker, curvier and there is a stunning resistive touch screen on the lid through which you can contacts and messaging without opening the lotus elite handset. We couldn’t get enough of this external display and spend a lot of time fiddling around with it in our test centers. Usually the external display’s on the phones are quite disappointing, they only give basic information like signal strength, time, data and caller ID. But we had absolutely no complaints about this external display. The Lotus Elite also has integration with social networks like Twitter and Facebook. But apart from that, the features are about the same which was a bit disappointing considering LG had a year to come up with new ideas.  This handset is made for style conscious people. LG Lotus Elite will put you back by $99.99 and comes with a 2 year contract and a mail-in rebate of $50.

Not everyone out there is a gizmo gadget freak. They don’t need a high end cell phone, all they want is a device which can do basic calling and text messaging. So why buy a cell phone with all the features if you are not going to use them? You can buy a low end phone and save your hard earned money. LG LX-290 from Sprint, is a basic entry level phone and it doesn’t have music player or 3G. But on the bright side, you get a GPS with turn-by-turn directions, Bluetooth, lots of e-mail options and a entry level 1.3 mega pixel camera. The LG LX-290 phone has a slider design which we are a bit wary about because the lubricants in the slider wear out over a period of time and hence phone becomes hard to move the two halves. We really liked the four shortcut keys above the slide out keypad. The LG LX-290 costs $29.99 with a 2 year contract and after a mail-in rebate. LG LX-290 phone has a support for variety of e-mail providers. There is no EV-DO which we were a bit disappointed with.

Verizon Wireless Razzle is one of those smart phones which can is great for messaging and provides great music too. We think it can be used by business men as well as the youth. The Verizon Wireless Razzle cell phone looks like a business handset with the full sized QWERTY keyboard and when you swivel it around, you get dedicated keys for controlling music playback. There is a bit of downside though, we were disappointed that there is a 2.5 mm headphone jack. We would have preferred a 3.5 mm jack for plugging standard earphones. For messaging enthusiasts, the keyboard is tilted to one side which is great ergonomics for typing messages and e-mails. We also liked the task bar shortcut key on the sides that gives you shortcuts for various applications on the cell phone. There no EV-DO either, so you cannot download songs over the air. The handset costs $19.95 with a two year contract from Verizon Wireless. The phone is manufactured by Pantech and is marketed, developed and distributed by PCD.