The HP TouchSmart TM2 or TM2t does a 180 from HP's long-running line of TX convertible tablet PCs. Gone are the plasticky looks and AMD CPUs that shouted "budget PC". For roughly the same price as the outgoing TouchSmart TX2z, the TM2 has a brushed aluminum casing and chiclet keyboard borrowed from the high-end HP Envy line. The HP TM2 has a non-grainy capacitive touch screen and a Wacom active digitizer for pressure-sensitive drawing and note-taking. The new TouchSmart runs on an Intel 1.3GHz CULV SU7300 processor that's long on battery life and cool running and it comes standard with a fast 7200 RPM hard drive. We look at the retail store model, the TM2-1070US, that comes with 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM, a 320 gig hard drive, 3 USB ports, HDMI, Intel's 4500HD graphics, WiFi 802.11n and a webcam. This full review includes 3 video reviews.
The Nokia E72 is the follow-up to the extremely popular Nokia E71 that earned our Editor's Choice award 1.5 years ago. Can the E72 live up to its admirable predecessor? It boasts a 600MHz ARM 11 CPU and an upgraded 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash and a few other goodies that give it a running start. The E72 is an unlocked GSM world phone with 3G HSDPA on AT&T's bands. It's sold in the US without contract, and like the E71, the price isn't bad. Other features include WiFi, GPS with free navigation, Bluetooth and an FM radio.
That dynamic duo of Palm webOS phones are back, this time on Verizon. They're nearly identical to their Sprint cousins, but they gain a plus thanks to double the flash storage on the Palm Pre Plus and added WiFi on the Pixi Plus. The Palm Pre Plus is a QWERTY slider smartphone with a vivid 3.1" capacitive touch screen, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and 16 gigs of storage. The Palm Pixi Plus has a 2.6" capacitive touch screen, a QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and 8 gigs of flash storage. Both have 3G EV-DO Rev. A that works with the downloadable Mobile HotSpot application to share the 3G connection over WiFi with notebooks and other WiFi enabled devices.
The Toshiba Satellite Pro U500 isn't just a 13.3" notebook, it's a touchscreen notebook. It has a multi-touch capacitive touchscreen and a standard non-convertible notebook design. Though the laptop is oddly thick for a 13 incher, it's not terribly heavy and it looks good jazzed up with Toshiba's Luxe finish. The machine has a T6670 Core2 Duo 2.2GHz CPU, 3 gigs of RAM, a built-in DVD burner, WiFi 802.11n and plenty of ports including HDMI and eSATA. A fairly powerful and affordable touch screen Windows 7 notebook.
The LG Lotus Elite is a significant upgrade to the very popular LG Lotus. This wide body QWERTY flips dares to look difference, just like the original model. But the Elite is more rounded, more solidly built and it adds two cool new features: an external QVGA touchscreen and the latest version of Sprint's OneClick UI. It supports Sprint's many services including EV-DO data, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV and Sprint Music. It has a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, an SDHC microSD card slot and a GPS. It's available in red and black is coming. This review includes a video review. One of the best QWERTY feature phones on the market!
The Samsung Mythic is the follow up to the very successful Samsung Eternity on AT&T. It's a tweaked and improved version of the Eternity and it gives you the goodness of a pocketable touch screen phone on AT&T without the iPhone's pricey data plan. The Mythic has a 3.3", 360 x 640 pixel touch screen with haptic feedback and an accelerometer. It runs Samsung's TouchWiz UI as do most of their touch screen phones, and that means it has a three screen desktop and widgets. Other goodies include a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with flash, Bluetooth with A2DP stereo, a music player, capable video player, GPS and Mobile TV which is broadcast digital TV over the air.
We've been waiting for Nokia to kick start their touch screen phone offerings, and we mean something more serious than a touch UI plastered on top of Symbian S60 like the N97 and Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. That phone is finally here in the guise of the N900 running Nokia's Linux-based Maemo 5 OS. That OS is pretty impressive, mighty finger-friendly and fast. An ARM Cortex-A8 CPU with graphics acceleration helps keep it quick and there's plenty of RAM and 32 gigs of storage too. The N900 is an unlocked GSM world phone with 3G HSDPA on the 1700 and 2100MHz bands. That means 3G speeds on T-Mobile's US network and 3G in Europe. The N900 has a top notch 5MP camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS too.
Though it lacks the coolness and innovative design of the LG Chocolate BL-40, Verizon's new Chocolate does have a full 240 x 400 pixel touch screen and a distinctive design. Like all LG Chocolate phones on Verizon, the Chocolate Touch specializes in music, and to that end it features Dolby Mobile, a 3.5mm stereo jack, an FM radio, a gig of internal storage and Bluetooth A2DP stereo. Other amenities included EV-DO, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a GPS.
The Samsung Behold II despite the name, isn't a feature phone like the original Behold on T-Mobile. It's an Android smartphone with Samsung's lush AMOLED capacitive touch screen and 3G HSDPA on T-Mobile's US bands. Like the Behold, it does run a version of Samsung's TouchWiz UI which sometimes seems at odds with Android. It has a very good 5 megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS that works with TeleNav and Google Maps. If you're looking to upgrade from a Samsung TouchWiz feature phone, the Behold II makes the transition easier.
Want a touch screen phone with a full QWERTY keyboard but don't want a bulky side-slider? The Samsung Flight SGH-A797 is a rare bird: it's a feature phone with a vertical slide-down keyboard and a touch screen. More pocketable and affordable than the Samsung Impression on AT&T, the Flight offers a QVGA touchscreen, 3G HSDPA, a GPS, 2 megapixel camera and Bluetooth. The touch UI is easy to use, though this isn't a TouchWiz phone.
Google has gotten into the phone market with their first Google-branded Android smartphone. The hardware is actually made by HTC, but the software and user experience are pure Google. This is the first Android phone to run OS 2.1, and will likely be the first to get updates in the future. Google calls this the "super phone" since it has very high end specs like a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU that flies, a 3.7" capacitive AMOLED touch screen, 512 megs of RAM, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth. It's sold unlocked directly by Google and you can get it in the US for retail or heavily subsidized with a T-Mobile contact. Is it the best phone ever? Read our review to find out.
HTC's dream machine is here. Their follow up to the HD makes the HD look old and tired. Think of it as that flat panel and Blu-ray home theater upgrade you've dreamed about. The HD2 has a wonderful 4.3" capacitive multi-touch display, HTC's Sense UI (their update to TouchFLO 3D) and a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. Windows Mobile 6.5 Pro is under the hood, though HTC improves on most of it, and the smartphone has WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS. Despite the huge display, the HD2 is only 0.43" thick and it's not that much bigger than the iPhone 3GS. The drawbacks? It's expensive since it's sold as an unlocked GSM phone through importers and there's no US 3G.
The Samsung Mondi is one of the first 4G WiMAX handhelds on the market. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Classic and it's not technically a phone since it has no cell radio. It does handle VoIP calls via Skype and other services, but it's first and foremost a PDA on steroids that's designed for mobile office and mobile Internet work. It has a sharp 4.3", 800 x 480 display, an 800MHz CPU, 4 gigs of flash storage and WiFi for those times when WiMAX isn't available. WiMAX is available only in a small selection of US cities and coverage is a work in progress, so be thankful for that WiFi. The Mondi also has a GPS with Route 66 navigation and car accessories included.
Want a touch screen phone but you're counting every penny? The T-Mobile-branded Tap is calling to you. It's something of a Samsung Highlight clone with a similar widget-based home screen and easy icon-based UI. The features are pretty good too: 3G, GPS, music player, microSD card slot, stereo Bluetooth and a 2 megapixel camera. But something's gotta give to make this a budget phone and we'll tell you just what in our review.
Verizon and Motorola have made a big to do about their flagship Android smartphone and the Moto Droid might just be all that. It's fast, it's got a simply huge 480 x 854 pixel capacitive touch screen, it's skinny and it has a slider QWERTY keyboard. The Droid is the first Android 2.0 OS phone and it's full of the usual Google goodies like Gmail, YouTube and Maps plus built-in MS Exchange support and other amenities. The Droid has a GPS that works with Google Maps, WiFi, Bluetooth with A2DP stereo and a very good 5 megapixel camera.This review includes a video review.
The HTC Tilt 2 has a competitor among AT&T's Windows Mobile touch screen, high-end QWERTY sliders. While the eXpo doesn't do much to change the standard Windows Mobile 6.5 user interface, it goes for high end hardware with gusto. The eXpo is one of the very few US smartphones with Qualcomm's 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, and the LG is indeed fast. It has a very capable 5 megapixel camera with autofocus lens, a biometric fingerprint scanner, a GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi. Even more interesting is the optional pico projector that turns the LG eXpo into one of the world's smallest presentation computers. This review includes a video review.
Motorola's latest Bluetooth headset is absolutely tiny and weighs only 9 grams. It features their CrystalTalk technology for voice clarity and noise reduction and it has voice prompts to help with pairing and more. Though tiny, it has the popular Moto folding boom for call answer and end.
The Taipan Lift is a TSA-friendly notebook bag that opens 180 degrees to go flat through security scanners. That means you don't have to take your notebook out of the bag at the airport checkpoint. It's available in 2 sizes and as per usual with Booq, the bag is well made and attractive.
These days digital frames don't just show off your fine vacation photos: they connect to the Net, they handle your Twitter and Facebook updates and play video. The TouchConnect is a multi-purpose, networked 10" touch screen photo frame with WiFi 802.11n and Ethernet. Think of it as a tablet that hangs on your wall or sits on your desk, downloading photos from sharing services in the background.
The MoGo is a unique Bluetooth headset for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. It lives in a slip-on iPhone hard case, so you'll never lose it. Pop the headset out of the case to talk, then put it back in the iPhone case for storage and charging. We take a look at the iPhone version, and there's also a BlackBerry version available too.
The iLUV is one of our all time favorite clock radios for the iPhone and iPod. It's super easy to use, has very good sound, doubles as a speakerphone for the iPhone, has an FM radio and has a sleep timer that works with your iDevice to play soothing tunes as you fall asleep.
We've selected the best camera phones from among our in-depth reviews of models available in the US from carriers and unlocked in the US. The phones feature high megapixel ratings, good autofocus lenses and camera-centric features. And they take very good photos too!.
They come in many forms and run a variety of operating systems, but they all offer the best brains and features for the money. Be it touch screen or QWERTY-hardware heaven, you can count on these to get your email, work on Office docs and use the web in full HTML glory.
Like to text and send email but find t9 text entry on a number pad about as much fun as getting a filling? These affordable QWERTY messenger phones help you to stay in touch with the written word but won't cost you an arm and a leg. Most don't even require a smartphone data plan. Of course, for high end email needs, the BlackBerry is hard to beat, but we take a look at the alternatives here.
The iPhone really started the touch screen craze, but it's not the only game in town. You might want a higher resolution camera, or a cheaper data plan than the iPhone offers. Or maybe you don't want to use AT&T. We take a look at the top touch screen phones on all carriers at a variety of prices.
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