PhoneTalk

LG Chocolate Touch: Is this the sweetest music phone yet?

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Friday, November 20, 2009 (permalink)

We just got in a LG Chocolate Touch. It's the first cell phone in that line of music mobiles to sport only a touchscreen. It's thin, shiny, and comes with two different back covers. But is it the perfect music phone? Watch the video below to find out.

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Palm Pixi: Is this the smartphone for you?

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (permalink)

The Palm Pixi for Sprint is one of the more affordable smartphones to hit the market. But does that mean it's light on features? Watch the video below to find out. Need more information? Check out our expert review of the Palm Pixi by clicking here.

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BlackBerry Bold 9700 for T-Mobile has noteworthy upgrades

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (permalink)

Interested in the latest BlackBerry Bold? T-Mobile announced the BlackBerry Bold 9700 is available today. This is T-Mobile's first BlackBerry Bold and it comes with support for a popular functionality for T-Mobile customers: WiFi calling. Essentially this allows users to seamlessly roam to a WiFi network during calls without interruption when in a weak service area. If you move into improved service area it seamlessly switches the call from a WiFi network to T-Mobile cell phone service. This helps keep calls from being dropped or interrupted.

That's not all the connectivity the BlackBerry Bold 9700 offers. It also has 3G connectivity and built-in GPS. The smartphone comes with a 2GB microSD card for storage of photos, music, videos and documents and will support up to a 32GB microSD card. Two big differences between this model and the BlackBerry Bold is the display, the 9700 is much sharper and the 9700 also sports a 3.2-megapixel camera compared to the original Bold's 2-megapixel camera.

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T-Mobile's Jet helps keep Mac and PC users connected on the road

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Friday, November 13, 2009 (permalink)

T-Mobile has always been a fan of WiFi offering cell phones that have the feature as well as a way to make the most of the technology via UMA (a feature that allows users to seamlessly move cell phone calls from towers to WiFi networks) and the company's HotSpot @ Home service. It's no surprise that the recently announced webConnect Jet USB Laptop Stick aims to keep users connected in just about any environment. The USB stick that works with both Macs and PCs is all about getting an Internet connection on the road. The webConnect Jet works with T-Mobile's 3G network, EDGE, or any T-Mobile WiFi HotSpot. Since it's a USB stick you can also use it for extra memory via a 8GB microSD card. You'll need to get a data plan with this device that start at roughly $30 dollars a month. If you travel a lot and need a connection on the road this type of option may end up saving money in the end when you consider the added costs you may incur when connecting at places such as the airport or in a hotel.

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Can the Samsung Mythic keep you entertained?

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Thursday, November 12, 2009 (permalink)

Cell phones can do a lot these days and you don't necessarily need to get a smartphone in order to have access to all the fun features you might want. Case in point is the Samsung Mythic for AT&T. This touchscreen cell phone works on 3G networks and that's important because you'll need that functionality if you want to have some real fun. See, the Samsung Mythic supports AT&T Mobile TV so you can watch full episodes of tons of shows from CBS, NBC, and even MTV. Don't think you can really watch TV on a cell phone? That's probably not going to be the case here, since the Mythic has a lot of screen real estate - 3.3 inches to be exact, which is almost as large as the display on the iPhone.

The cell phone also has Samsung's TouchWiz interface that helps bring all your favorite information from the web front and center on the display. It also has a 3.2-megapixel camera, will support up to a 32GB MicroSD card for storing songs and videos, and stereo Bluetooth. What the Mythic doesn't have is a hidden keyboard, so you'll be using a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard to compose messages. Finally, since this cell phone is web and media centric you'll likely want to get an added data plan with it.

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Palm Pixi: First impressions

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Thursday, November 12, 2009 (permalink)

The Palm Pixi for Sprint will be available next week, but I've had a chance to spend a little bit of time with it. First, I have to say, it's a lot slimmer than the Palm Pre and a smidge longer. The Pixi isn't going to take up a lot of room in your bag. The construction feels sturdy. The back of the Pixi uses the same rubberized backing that comes included with the Touchstone when you purchase it for the Pre. The keypad, while not as spread out as the Palm Pre sports more rectangular keys, that are a bit easier to use. Also, the keys have a similar plastic raised style that's found on the Pre. However, if you look at the keyboard from the side, there's a bit of a 3D effect occurring, which is interesting. Instead of the button to shrink the size of apps found on the Pre, the Pixi has a white line that you touch to activate the same action. The display is not as big as the one found on the Pre, but it is still highly usable and crisp. The touchscreen is receptive and responds well to gestures, we did find that we had to occasionally touch the Done button a couple of times.

As far as the user interface goes, it's just like using the Pre. We particularly appreciate the fact that since we already created a Palm account on the Pre we just logged into it when first starting up the Pixi and all our contacts were loaded. We didn't just get our contacts, we also got all the apps we downloaded from the Palm app store. When the Pixi isn't in use, the screen goes dark. Simply press the power button found on the top left hand corner of the cell phone to activate the display. While it's not ideal, it does give you the sense that you won't accidently launch anything when the Pixi is loose in a pocket or a purse. The only thing we missed on the Pixi is the inclusion of WiFi. If you can live without that feature, the Pixi definitely has a lot to offer.

If you want to know more about the Palm Pixi, leave a comment and you can also check back next week for our full expert review

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BlackBerry Storm2: Is it a worthy upgrade?

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (permalink)

Almost a year later, the second touchscreen-only BlackBerry smartphone arrives for Verizon Wireless. Although there's not a lot that's changed in the BlackBerry Storm2, there are few nice enhancements. To see what they are watch the video below. Want a more in-depth look at the new BlackBerry cell phone? Read my expert review of the Blackberry Storm2.

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Use your cell phone to rent a car and we're not talking about making a phone call

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (permalink)

Renting a car before you head out on a trip is one thing, but doing it once you're on the road is typically not the easiest task. When you travel, things come up - that's just the nature of being on the road. Even though you can access a web site from your cell phone to rent a car it can be a painful process; not to mention the amount of data you use to download pages or extra costs involved in calling 411 to get a phone number. Enterprise car rental has just launched a mobile site, Enterprise.mobi (enter that on your cell phone web browser), and it truly is a site designed for mobile phones where you can do just the basics (rent a car, modify/cancel reservation, etc.). Regardless of how you rent a car, I'm happy to see cell phone apps that are truly mobile and that aren't limited to a particular platform. In my book, anything that gets you back to your scheduled travel is a good thing.

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Samsung Moment: A First Look at Sprint's latest Google phone

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 (permalink)

Sprint's second Android smartphone, the Samsung Moment, has arrived. See what's different about this Google phone and if its right for you by watching the video below.

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HTC Droid Eris: How does it stack up against other Android cell phones?

by Joni Blecher Follow me on Twitter
Friday, November 06, 2009 (permalink)

The HTC Droid Eris is available today for Verizon Wireless. The second smartphone running Google's Android OS also sports HTC's Sense experience, which will allow users more customization of the device and the ability to access text messages, e-mails, phone calls and even Flickr streams and Facebook updates from a single contact card. The Google smartphone will also sport a 5-megapixel camera, WiFi, a 3.5mm headset jack, GPS with a digital compass, a pre-installed 8GB microSD card for storing pictures, tunes and more. To get a closer look at the HTC Droid Eris check out Verizon Wireless' demonstration video below.

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