Live from the show floor at CTIA 2006 in Las Vegas, Ben Patterson offers up hands-on impressions of the hottest phones to be had, among them the Nokia 6282, Samsung SGH-T719 and Sony Ericsson K790i.
Samsung SGH-T719 hands-on impression
Samsung jumps on the push e-mail bandwagon with the BlackBerry-Connect enabled SGH-T719, which made its first appearance at CTIA this week; we take a first look.
Design
Our first impression when we picked up the T719 clamshell was how light it was; at just 3.5 ounces, the handset felt light for its size (about 3.7 by 2 by 0.7 inches), and for once, this is a BlackBerry-type device that’s actually small and thin enough to fit in a jeans pocket. We were also impressed by the big, flat function and navigation keys, as well as by the smooth, easy-to-press keypad, which borrows the two-letters-to-a-key conceit of the pseudo-QWERTY BlackBerry 7100 series. Sure, there’s still a learning curve when typing your messages, but at least the keys themselves make for comfortable pecking. The eye-catching, 262,000-color TFT display looked bright and crisp to our eyes, a welcome change from the dull displays we’ve seen on other BlackBerry devices, although the monochrome external display didn’t exactly wow us.
Features
We weren’t able to give the T719’s BlackBerry-Connect capabilities a once-over (the floor model we tried wasn’t properly configured), but we snapped a few photos with the handset’s 1.3-megapixel camera, which looked impressively colorful and detailed on the 176 x 220-pixel display. The EDGE-enabled phone also packs in Bluetooth, a speakerphone, Sync ML, and a media player.
Pricing and availability
The Samsung T719 is set to hit U.S. shores in the third quarter of 2006; pricing details have yet to be released.
Nokia 6126 hands-on impressions
Nokia’s sleek, mid-range clamshell makes for some serious eye-candy, thanks to its 16 million-color QVGA display.
Design
One thing we’ll say for the 6126; it has a gorgeous screen. With QVGA resolution and capable of display 16 million colors – yikes – this LCD has to be one of the prettiest displays we’ve laid eyes on. Even the 128 x 160, 262,000-color external display gets in on the action. The shiny interior of the clamshell phone will surely draw some envious stares, while the large, flat keys were easy to press. At 4 ounces, the 6126 felt a bit heavy for its size, although at 3.6 by 1.9 by 0.8 inches, it’s certainly easy enough to slip the handset in a jeans pocket.
Features
Besides its great internal and external displays and sleek looks, the 6126 has a solid if unremarkable set of features, including Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, an MP3/AAC music player, and a microSD expansion slot that handles flash-memory cards up to 1GB in size (a nice touch). The handset’s quad-mode GSM abilities are tailor-made for jetsetters, but the phone’s EDGE abilities are bound to disappoint data speed demons looking for 3G.
Pricing and availability
The Nokia 6126 should make its U.S. debut in the second quarter of 2006; pricing details are still to be determined.
Nokia 6282 hands-on impressions
Nokia gets in the fast lane with the stylish, UMTS-enabled 6282 slider phone. We take a quick gander of the eye-catching but hefty handset.
Design
When it comes to handsets, Nokia tends to make them big and bulky, and the 6282 is no exception; at 4 by 1.8 by .8 inches and tipping the scales at 4.1 ounces, this black-and-silver slider felt heavy in our hands. That said, the 6282 is blessed with an impressively smooth and responsive sliding action, and its flat, mid-sized keys are easy to press. The 262,000-color QVGA display looked superb, and we got a kick out of navigating the phone’s snazzy animated icons (courtesy of Nokia’s Series 40 third edition UI).
Features
The UMTS-enabled 6282 comes equipped with a 1-megapixel camera (not bad, but a 3.2-megapixel camera would have been better), a somewhat more impressive VGA-quality, 15fps video recorder, a built-in FM radio, an MP3/AAC music player, Bluetooth, and a miniSD flash-memory expansion slot.
Pricing and availability
The Nokia 6282 is slated to appear in Cingular’s U.S. lineup sometime in the second quarter of 2006; pricing has yet to be announced.
Sony Ericsson K790 hands-on impressions
Bloggers’ delight? With its ability to create and post images to personal blogs, snap razor-sharp pictures with its 3.2-megapixel camera and zero in on your best shots, the K790 makes for an impressive blogging companion – oh, and it plays music, too.
Design
Like many other handsets in Sony Ericsson’s lineup, the enabled K790 looks a bit boxy, although it scores points with its slick-looking keypad and detailing. The 262,000-color, 240 x 320 pixel display is predictably gorgeous, with plenty of detail, and we’re still smitten with Sony Ericsson’s smooth, animated menus. The back of the phone is styled to look like your garden-variety Instamatic, complete with the Sony Ericsson logo and a lens cover. Unfortunately, our thumbs had a tough time with the smallish, shim-shaped keys and the tiny joystick. Still, at 4.1 by 1.8 by 0.9 inches, the phone fit snugly in the palm of our hand, and felt solid but not unreasonably heavy at 4.1 ounces.
Features
Like its bigger (and faster) 3G brother, the K800, the EDGE-enabled K790 lets you create and post images to blogs created on Blogger.com; while we couldn’t test the actual blog functionality on the show floor, we saw the familiar “Blog this” option in the camera drop-down menu. Also impressive was the 3.2-megapixel camera’s BestPic feature, which takes a total of nine pictures in quick succession; when reviewing your images, you nudge the joystick to switch from one image to another, the click the one you want to keep. The camera is also armed with a Xenon flash, an image stabilizer and autofocus, all the better for taking on-the-go snapshots. Finished snapping photos? The K790 also includes an on-board MP3/AAC player, Bluetooth, a Memory Stick Micro expansion slot, and PictBridge functionality.
Price and availability
The Sony Ericsson K790 is slated to arrive in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2006, with a retail price of $499 (which will likely drop to about $250 once it’s offered by a stateside carrier.
Sony Ericsson W300 hands-on impressions
The ever-popular Walkman phone morphs into a clamshell handset; does it measure up to its candy-bar brethren? We take a first look on the CTIA show floor.
Design
Sony Ericsson’s first clamshell Walkman certainly looks the part, what with its smooth, molded silver case, mirrored buttons and black-and-gold color scheme (a white model will also be available). The 262,000-color TFT display looked sharp and vibrant to our eyes, although the monochrome external LCD was a disappointment. The phone’s keypad is especially impressive; the smooth, perfectly round and overlapping keys are so striking, they almost made us forgive their slippery feel – so slippery, in fact, that you can barely feel whether you’re pressing the right key. At 3.5 by 1.8 by 1 inches and 3.3 ounces, the W300 felt light and comfortable in our hands, and it easily fits in a jeans pocket.
Features
Walkmans are all about the music, and the W300 doesn’t disappoint. Our sample tunes sounded great, and we were especially pleased that the music player has an on-board equalizer with five presets. That said, the W300 lacks controls on the front of the phone, which means you can’t pause or skip tracks while the phone is closed. The EDGE-enabled phone also comes with an FM radio, a 256MB Memory Stick Micro card, Bluetooth, and an IrDA port.
Pricing and availability
Expect the Sony Ericsson W300 to arrive in the U.S. in summer 2006, with a retail price of about $250 (or about $100 with rebates once a carrier picks it up).
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