To Cell or Not to Cell

By Michael Demby

So you’re looking for a new cell phone? And you think that reading an article titled "To Cell or Not to Cell" will help you answer all your questions about some of the best of the best smart phones on the market? Well, you’re right. The Blackberry Pearl, the Motorola Q, the Palm Treo 700p, and a few from T-Mobile (MDA, SDA, and the Dash). These are just six phones (there are so many on the market) that will change the way businessmen and entrepreneurs handle their business. Before you go out and buy one of your own, check this out and you’ll have a better idea of which will get the job done best.

First we start at the beginning of the alphabet with the BlackBerry Peal. This marks the first multimedia capable BlackBerry phone. With abilities to take pictures and record video from it’s 1.3 megapixel camera, store and play music with 64MB of memory (expandable with micro SD cards), type emails on the Qwerty keyboard, and do all this with an incredible battery offering 8 hours and 30 minutes of call time, this multipurpose phone is everything you can imagine for just a list price of 9.99. You can even send and receive files to and from your computer via Bluetooth. But for all things good, the Pearl does have a downside. The keyboard is small and the multimedia file system needs work. But considering this phone is as thin as a closed RAZR and as narrow as any other phone (2 inches), I think I can get used to typing on a small keyboard and the whacked file system. Check out more reviews:

Next at bat is the much talked about, the very sexy, a favorite of mine, the Motorola Q. By far, the best phone offered by Verizon, this phone lacks one thing… a kitchen sink. This 2.5 inch wide, 0.5 inch thick, 4-ounce tablet is a RAZR on steroids. The scroll wheel on the side of the device and five-way pad above the keyboard will have Verizon customers conveniently using this phone with one hand while driving with the other. Should we start blaming Verizon for a potential increase in car accidents? I don’t think so… instead, lets thank them for giving us a phone with 5 hours and 25 minutes of continuous talk time. Or how bout letting users play music files with Windows Mobile OS? Still not enough? The 1.3 megapixel camera will give you some of the clearest pictures and recorded video for a device this small. It will even let you listen to music over your Bluetooth headsets while surfing the web from your phone. But try to keep away from watching videos on this thing. Apparently there’s a video bug that causes video to stutter. Besides not having Wi-Fi, only 49MB, and the inability to edit Office documents, this phone is incredible for only 9.99 directly from the manufacturer.

First, I want to thank all the other phones on the market for making an effort. Now, it gives me great pleasure to announce the ultimate in mobile smartphone technology… The Palm Treo 700p. Let’s see, where to start. I think one of the best features on this phone is something called "ignore with text." Imagine you’re on a date and your "+1" calls. You can ignore the call and have the phone automatically send that person a quick text saying "Working late tonight, will call you on my way home." Niiiiiiiice! What else… 1.3 megapixel camera takes great pics but only decent movies. Not to worry, Sprint’s TV streaming video service lets you watch live TV, although they apparently come in a little blocky (who cares, you’re watching Seinfeld on your phone). 60MB of memory available (included SD slot for up to 4GB cards) plays music and movies, 5 hours and 16 minutes of talk time, and the ability to use the phone as a modem, makes this phone a great catch for under 0. Problems? No Wi-Fi nor built-in voice dialing.

Okay, next we will take a look at a few phones from T-Mobile. The SDA, MDA, and the Dash are 3 phones that could make your life a lot easier. The cheapest of the three (when purchased with a T-Mobile plan) is the SDA. Punching in at 9.99, weighing a cool 3.74 ounces, and standing 4.5 by 1.8 inches, this Wi-Fi enabled candy-bar phone will last over 9.5 hours while talking. The fact that you can use internet anywhere with the Wi-Fi is great, although you won’t be typing emails until you can get used to the small keyboard. The 1.3 megapixel camera apparently takes horrible pictures and the mini-SD card slot is located behind the battery (not cool). Apparently you must "pay to play"… on the better phones… never mind, just look at these links and figure it out yourself.

Following up with a price of 9.99 is the Blackberry-ish T-Mobile Dash. Apparently big things come in 4.4 by 2.5 inches and 4.2 ounce packages. Specifically made to take on the Blackberry, Q, and Treo, T-Mobile might have succeeded with this 200mhz powerhouse. This baby packs 69 megs of storage (enough for a full 2-hour Danny Tenaglia MP3 mix, or about 20 minutes of video from Pacha) and an expandable port for up to a 2 gig SD card fortunately located so you do not have to remove the battery. Not enough for ya? How bout Windows Mobile OS… unfortunately you will not be editing any documents, but the keypad is soft and large enough to comfortably type-up emails in a jiffy. And thanks to it’s Wi-Fi capabilities, you can easily chat with anyone on AIM, ICQ, and/or Yahoo!

Last on the T-Mobile side of things, we have the MDA… ooooh baby how sweet it is to be loved by you. This is my favorite, and most expensive (9 with plan) of the three. Considered the Sidekick for grownups, the MDA sports Windows Mobile on a screen bigger than the Treo 700w (that’s pretty big). Overall, the phone is just good enough to be happy you bought this impossibly small (4.2 by 2.2 inches) phone. The 1.3 megapixel camera (are we ever gonna see a 2 megapixel cam?) takes mediocre pictures and video on its 37 megs of free space (expandable SD slot available), but the coolest part, is the slide out Qwerty keyboard. Thirsty for more info on this Wi-Fi enabled beauty? Check out the links below.

You know what… I’ve been itching to learn more about Nokia’s new N93. This might not be a smartphone like all the others above, but this clunker sure is awesome!

It simply is a beast! It would have to be… Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, music player, FM radio, e-mail (T9 typing), picture and video recording on it’s 3.2 megapixel camera!!! You can’t fit that into a normal phone and expect to pay anything less than half a grand. But you’re going to get 50 megs of onboard memory, 3x optical zoom (20x digital) with autofocus, MP3 player and ringtone support, video phone calling, voice dialing, and TV out. Not only will it cost you a lot… all those features take a toll on the battery. This 4.6 by 2.3 inch monster gives you about 4 hours of talk time (7 days of standby is pretty decent though).

If that has yet to get your mouth watering, check this baby out…

It’s a concept phone from Nokia. Think of a phone that changes its function based on what you’re using it for. The phone has a touch-screen that basically covers its entire surface. It will change to a QWERTY keyboard if you are typing an email or text message. You will be able to view and touch pictures on your phone as thumbnails. Imagine the possibilities.

So let me tell you what’s good about this Internet. Places like this www.infosyncworld.com make the Internet such a happy place. Click here to see their take on the Top 15 phones out in the US right now… http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/7082.html.

Thank you again for joining us…

Remember to always keep your buzz on…

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