Prices range from $300 to $50, but does the performance correspond accordingly? Sindre Lia investigates.
Scoring a whopping 90%, RIM's BlackBerry Curve and T-Mobile's Wing are the clear winners of our QWERTY battle. Interestingly, the Curve costs $100 less, so if you're not planning on installing a range of Windows Mobile applications, the choice should be simple. Both phones are EDGE-only though, so the Helio Ocean at third place is an obvious and great choice for those who want 3G connectivity.
Perhaps the best thing about the Helio Ocean, however, is that the phone performs well in pretty much any test paradigm we create. As such, it could very well end up as our "Phone of the year" in December.
More disappointingly is the fact that most of the very recent introductions, such as Motorola's Q9m and Samsung's Blast, aren't capable of climbing higher on the list. It's also worth noting that last year's über-messaging phone, the Sidekick 3, is still hanging in there despite all the new phones that has been released since its introduction. With a serious price drop, the Sidekick 3 would have been a great choice even today, but at $200 it should simply be ignored.
Along with the Curve, the BlackBerry Pearl confirms RIM's success formula of combining great performance with moderate pricing. The Pearl now sells for only $80 with a AT&T contract, and performs way better than the huge crowd of sub-$200 competitors. For current Sprint customers, it's worth noting that the carrier still doesn't have a proper offer in the "QWERTY phones for consumers" market, so switching would be required to get any of the phones below.
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SCOREBOARD
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| Name |
Messaging |
Keypad |
Calling |
Battery |
Score |
Price |
| Curve |
Very good |
Very good |
Excellent |
Excellent |
90% |
$200 |
| Wing |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Excellent |
Good |
90% |
$300 |
| Ocean |
Very good |
Very good |
Very good |
Very good |
80% |
$295 |
| Pearl |
Very good |
Good |
Very good |
Very good |
75% |
$80/$150 |
| Q9m |
Good |
Very good |
Excellent |
Mediocre |
70% |
$200 |
| Sidekick 3 |
Very good |
Good |
Good |
Good |
65% |
$200 |
| SCH-u740 |
Good |
Good |
Very good |
Good |
65% |
$130 |
| Blast |
Good |
Good |
Good |
Very good |
65% |
$100 |
| Sidekick iD |
Very good |
Good |
Good |
Good |
65% |
$50 |
| VX9900 |
Good |
Good |
Good |
Good |
60% |
$200 |
Full reviews of the phones including multimedia aspects:
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T-Mobile Sidekick 3
| Similar models » |
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Score: 56% When: July 2006 Worth: $200 - $350 Carrier: T-Mobile
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This long-awaited update to the ubiquitous Sidekick II boasts a sleeker design, a build-in MP3 player and Bluetooth. Will it become the latest "it" phone?
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