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| HTC S740 |
Gallery » |
 We're not big fans of the dual-keypad style of business phone, which is why the Samsung SCH-i760 wasn't our favorite Windows Mobile phone. But that phone was thick and chunky, and required us to break out the stylus even though there were two keyboards. The HTC S740 might have solved some of these issues. The phone is definitely a relative of the HTC Touch Diamond family of phones, with its slick black look and sharp facets. But instead of HTC's TouchFLO interface, the phone gets the non-touch Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard edition, which isn't a bad thing. It's a nice look version of that OS, and it works great with a QWERTY keypad. This phone design is also popular among consumers, with phones like the LG Rumor, and WinMo 6.1 Standard is the most consumer friendly version of the smartphone OS. Release: November 2008. Price: $530.
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| HTC Touch Pro |
Specs » Gallery » |
 The HTC Touch Pro is basically the HTC Touch Diamond with a slide out keyboard, and that might be enough to make this the most anticipated Windows Mobile handset to hit the market in a long time. The Touch Pro has a fantastic display, a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen, and the company has made great strides in making the TouchFLO 3D interface as responsive as the iPhone's UI. Where the interface is pure HTC, they've succeeded, though underneath lurks Windows Mobile 6.1. Still, in our hands on tests, when we slid our finger around the horizontal toolbar, the icons followed our fingers perfectly, and the phone seemed snappy in various functions opening and closing apps or reorienting the screen from portrait to landscape.
Even better, with the large, 5-row, full-QWERTY keyboard hiding underneath, this phone is one of the first on the market to combine a truly responsive, compelling all-touch interface with the hardware keyboard option. It even gets a high-end, 3.2-megapixel camera with auto focus, and did we mention that VGA screen? Definitely what we like to see on a portable device. We're looking forward to getting our hands on one for a longer test drive. Release: September 2008. Price: $900.
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| Virgin Mobile Shuttle |
Specs » Gallery » |
 Unfortunately, the Virgin Mobile Shuttle we saw was a pre-release unit, so we didn't get a chance to test the Helio apps that have made their way to Virgin Mobile's pre-paid lineup, but we have to say that seeing the Shuttle in person, it kind of made us sad about how this whole Helio deal has gone down. We use Helio phones personally, outside of work, and we'd come to like the high-end feel of the interface and the tight build of the recent Samsung sliders Helio had been selling. The Virgin Mobile Shuttle is a nice phone for Virgin Mobile's lineup, and even though it lacks the polish of a Helio device, the features that it borrows will make more sense for the pre-paid crowd, especially the social networking fans out there who will like the MySpace and Facebook apps and the Buddy Beacon location-based service.
In our hands-on tests, the feature that made the strongest impression was the haptic feedback. There are a slew of touch-sensitive buttons on the front, and if you come close to pressing these you'll get a strong buzz from the Shuttle. Even when we were pressing the few hardware buttons on the front, we got the buzz. The slide didn't feel as tight as the mechanism on Samsung's sliders for Helio, so we're curious to do more hands-on testing to see just where this phone fits in the high-low ends of the market. Release: September 2008. Price: $80.
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| RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i |
Specs » Gallery » |
 The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i is a BlackBerry Curve for Sprint Nextel's iDen network. That's really all you need to know to get a proper impression of this business walkie-talkie device. It's got the Curve shape, in a much thicker body, thanks to the added radios on board for Nextel's down-but-not-out walkie-talkie service. Frankly, we would rather see BlackBerry using Nextel's newer QChat service, which leverages Sprint's much-faster EV-DO Rev. A technology for walkie-talkie support. Also, in our hands-on time with the phone, we found ourselves wishing that the larger, more rugged feel of the device actually equated to more ruggedness, perhaps some military specification standard for shock and vibration, or even some splash and rain-proofing. Then, we'd have a much more compelling walkie-talkie BlackBerry. But Nextel fans have been waiting a long time since their last BlackBerry upgrade, the BlackBerry 7100i. Release: December 2008. Price: $80.
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| Motorola i576 |
Specs » Gallery » |
 The Motorola i576 is as much about Sprint's continuing commitment to their aging Nextel iDen network as it is about being a rugged, walkie-talkie clamshell phone. It doesn't get the water-proofing of Verizon's G'zOne Boulder, which is too bad, because it's really built like a brick all around. Actually, it's a fairly small phone, so maybe brick is too large for the metaphor, perhaps its more like a small, dense rock. It's about as attractive as a rock, too, with a very large base and a thinner upper half. In person, it's clear this phone could survive a drop from a moving pickup truck, as long as it doesn't fall into a pond on the way down. Release: November 2008. Price: $130.
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