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| Samsung Eternity |
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 The Samsung Eternity is a phone that zigs nicely, but we really wanted it to zag. Features for which we didn't have high hopes, like the onscreen keyboard or the GPS navigation, actually performed much better than we expected, while some of the key features for this device, like the AT&T Mobile TV service or the Web browser, fell flat. The phone was nice and responsive, whether we were moving widgets around on the screen or switching the screen orientation as we rotated the phone, and though we think Samsung needs to take the TouchWIZ interface back to the drawing board, once we dug past the standby screen to reach the real features on this phone, it was easy to come away pleased, if not impressed. Release: November 2008. Price: $150.
Pros: Responsive touchscreen. Good music player. Menus and interface are all polished, ready for touch.
Cons: TouchWIZ interface is nearly useless thanks to lack of screen real estate, cramped widgets. Lacks some necessary calling and messaging features. Mobile TV a letdown on this device.
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Mediocre |
66%
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Excellent |
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| RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530 |
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 The BlackBerry Storm offers a surprising amount of innovation and usability for a touchscreen business phone, and it couldn't come at a better time for RIM or Verizon Wireless. The clickscreen navigation setup works very well, and deftly solves the problem of dealing with RIM's long menus on a touchscreen phone. The phone could use a bit of a power boost, as it was sluggish opening and closing apps, or moving between functions. But the screen was gorgeous and plenty responsive, and typing on the BlackBerry Storm's keyboard is better than typing on any other touchscreen. We still think there's room for improvement, especially polishing up the calendar and address book to make them look as crisp and modern as the main menus and media player apps. But even with these minor complaints, we have no trouble declaring the BlackBerry Storm the most compelling BlackBerry phone to date. Release: November 2008. Price: $200.
Pros: Great clickable screen helps add tactile feel to touch interface. Best software QWERTY keyboard we've seen. Solid set of messaging apps. Loads of features.
Cons: Interface is still sluggish, a bit buggy. Screen scrolls responsively, but everything else moves slowly, including response to hardware buttons. No Wi-Fi. Mediocre camera. Lousy Web browser.
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Mediocre |
Good |
80%
VERY GOOD |
Excellent |
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| Samsung Behold |
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 The Samsung Behold reminds us quite a bit of the Samsung Instinct. It's not quite smart enough to be an iPhone clone, but it's still a good phone in its own right. In fact, in terms of call quality and calling features, it's a great phone. But Samsung still hasn't nailed the touchscreen interface. In some areas, like the QWERTY keyboard, they've done a great job, and it works well. In others, like the home page widgets and the problems we had with scrolling and moving through lists, the problems make using the phone a real chore. The phone has a very nice music player, but lacks a standard headphone jack, which seriously hobbles its potential. It uses fast networking on T-Mobile's new 3G network, but the Web browser lacks the deeper options needed to unleash its full potential. It's a flawed device, but not fatally flawed, and hopefully Samsung will work out most of these TouchWiz UI kinks as more of these phones come to market. Release: November 2008. Price: $200.
Pros: Responsive screen. Great call quality and calling features. Fine music player.
Cons: Scrolling issues hurt using the interface. Widgets might not work at this size. Web browsing and video player both mediocre.
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Mediocre |
63%
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Excellent |
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| Motorola Zine ZN5 |
| Full review » Video » Scoreboard » Specs » Gallery » |
 The Motorola Zine is a phone that would be a good replacement for your low-end point-and-shoot camera, and that's the nicest compliment you can pay a cameraphone. It's a good phone, a pretty good camera, and a surprisingly capable multimedia and Web browsing device. The camera takes real, good-quality pictures, helped along by some agile post-processing, and we even enjoyed the full-size 8 by 10 inch prints we made directly from the device. Kodak et al. don't quite deliver on their promise of easy uploading, and we had trouble sending and managing our pics, probably caused by the phone's buggy OS, which was sluggish some times, and completely unresponsive at others. Still, if you can manage your own pics, and you're looking for a casual shooter that's also a fine phone, the Motorola Zine is a great choice. Release: November 2008. Price: $100.
Pros: Very good call quality with fantastic battery life. One of the best cameras we've seen on a phone.
Cons: Still can't match a good compact point-and-shoot. Image transfer software buggy and useless. Messaging options limited. No 3G networking.
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Mediocre |
67%
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Excellent |
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| Samsung Highnote |
| Full review » Video » Scoreboard » Specs » Gallery » |
 The Samsung Highnote would be a much better music phone if the musical features were truly something special. The music player needs a serious upgrade, and considering this is the only slide-out speakerphone on the U.S. market, the speaker should have been something truly impressive, a replacement for our mini speakers and travel alarm clocks. Instead, the phone gets the same music apps as every other Sprint Power Vision phone, and the speaker is comparable to, and not better than, many other music phones on the market. Kudos to Samsung for finally adopting a standard microUSB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and packing in a gigabyte of memory, but competitors, including arch-nemesis Nokia, has been doing this for years. We also think Samsung should have followed Nokia's lead with some real playback controls, since this is a music phone, after all. Still, besides these shortcomings, Sprint's One Touch menus make this phone competitive, with great shortcuts and a modern look to the interface. But if you're looking for a phone with some music power, strangely that's one area where it just doesn't stand out. Release: October 2008. Price: $100.
Pros: Unique dual-slide speaker design. Great One Touch menu interface from Sprint. Scroll wheel worked well in every app. Suprisingly robust messaging features.
Cons: Music features are nothing special; even the speaker didn't impress us like it should have. Other multimedia features are a wash. Slow, mediocre Web browser.
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Mediocre |
68%
GOOD |
Very good |
Excellent |
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