First Call: Sony-Ericsson z750 for AT&T
Added on 2008-05-30 09:41:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 The Sony-Ericsson z750 for AT&T is next up on our review plate. This entry-level flip phone is one of the few Sony-Ericsson devices available from a U.S. carrier. The phone sports a mirrored exterior with an OLED display, which gives you a cool effect, but also has a little issue in that the light from the display gets reflected by the mirrored finish. It's your call whether the 3D effect that ensues is cool or annoying.
Under the hood the z750 runs the same Sony-Ericsson interface we've seen on other devices like the w580i (review) with a few small tweaks. The default theme is more polished than what we saw on the w580i, with smoother transitions and effects. The phone is not branded as a Walkman device, Sony-Ericsson's line of music oriented phones, but the music software seemed similar, and perhaps even slightly improved over what we saw on the w580i.
The phone isn't a super slim flip phone like the Razr. It's not exactly sexy, but it doesn't lack some style, especially with the mirrored exterior. The specs are solid for an entry level handset, there's a two megapixel camera, support for AT&T's 3G network and international 3G networks and expandable memory via Sony's proprietary Memory Stick Micro cards. One interesting item on the spec sheet is the 9 hours of claimed talk time. For a 3G device, which generally tend to be very power hungry, this would be remarkable. We'll see if it holds up when we test it.
Lots of pretty pictures after the break. Check back for our full review late next week.
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First Call: LG enV2
Added on 2008-04-30 14:52:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 The LG enV2 showed up at our offices today. The successor to the popular enV from Verizon the enV2 is slightly smaller than its predecessor with a few design changes, mostly on the exterior. In particular the already small external display has become even smaller and the keypad has received what we can only imagine they hope is a "cool" look. We'll leave you to decide how much you like it. The big feature of the enV2 is that it opens up to reveal a large QWERTY keyboard and 2.4 inch internal display, which makes it perfect for heavy texters.
This is a similar form factor to the LG Voyager (review), although the enV2 is smaller and lacks the external touch screen of the Voyager. Our first impressions of the phone are that it fits comfortably in your hand when closed, but like the Voyager we're not sure we like the layout of the keyboard. We also have to say that it's a little brick-like. We showed it to some co-workers in the office and asked "hot or not". We got four nots and three hots, interestingly the ladies all seemed to like it while the guys did not. What are our thoughts? Check out our review next week to find out.
The enV2 is available now for $129.99 with a two-year contract or $179.99 without. Oh, and if you want more pretty pictures you'll find them after the jump.
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First Call: Samsung Ace
Added on 2008-04-10 14:50:00
by Alfredo Padilla
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 The Samsung Ace from Sprint is basically the CDMA version of the Blackjack, which has been available from AT&T for awhile now. The Ace lacks the updates we saw on the Blackjack II (review)like the two megapixel camera, but it's not identical to the original Blackjack either. In particular the phone seems to have addressed one of the biggest issues of the original BlackJack: the D-Pad. On the Blackjack the D-Pad was flush with the surrounding buttons, which led to constant mistaken presses. On the Ace the D-Pad has been raised above the surrounding buttons, although it still seems a little on the small side.
The QWERTY keyboard on the Ace is also different, with each key sloping above and below a center peak. The keys are spaced more closely together than the original Blackjack. In our initial use of the keyboard we found that they were too close together, leading to mistaken presses. We also found the feel of the keyboard to be a little strange. We'll see how we do in our actual words per minute test after we've spent some more time with the handset, but one of the things we liked about the original Blackjack was that the keys were comfortably spaced. Check out our gallery of photos after the jump and expect the full review in a week or so.
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First Call: Samsung M520
Added on 2008-03-25 10:18:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 The Samsung M520 is a slim, professional looking slider available exclusively from Sprint. Our first impressions of the device are that it's a simple, easy to use cell phone, but does have its drawbacks. Principal amongst these are the rather small screen. When you first look at the Samsung M520 you'll think that it has a much larger screen because of the large reflective area that takes up most of the front. Unfortunately only a small part of this area is actually used for the display.
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First Call: HTC SMT5800
Added on 2008-02-26 10:43:00
by Mark Brezinski
 The SMT5800 is the latest Windows Mobile smart phone from HTC to be rebranded by Verizon. The SMT5800 is a sliding QWERTY that has a small keypad and d-pad array on the front. The face of the phone is 4.1" by 2.0", an average size, so its almost 2.4" screen looks huge. The phone is a bit husky compared to Razr-type phones, at 0.7" thick. Relative to other smart phones, however, the SMT5800 is average sized and slightly more attractive as well.
If this snippit has piqued your interest, then read on (and check out more pictures) after the jump.
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First Call: LG Voyager
Added on 2007-11-26 15:02:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 The LG Voyager is positioned to be Verizon's iPhone killer, combining the touch screen interface we've seen in phones like the LG Prada with the clamshell QWERTY design that has been popular in the LG EnV and other similar phones. The Voyager's touch screen interface isn't as smooth as the iPhone's, but it does a solid job and we like the haptic feedback that makes the phone vibrate when you touch the screen. We also like the large and comfortable QWERTY keyboard that you reveal when you open the clamshell. Read on for our complete First Call.
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First Call: LG Venus on Verizon
Added on 2007-11-26 14:12:00
by Mark Brezinski
 Hello and welcome to our First Call of the LG Venus! The phone itself is of medium build, 4 x 2 x 0.62, which is a bit smaller than the Razr2 in terms of length and width but slightly thicker. Its face consists of two screens: the main one is a 2" diagonal display, and the second is a 1.5" touch screen. The second screen is a d-pad and soft key replacement, and we liked it better than its physical equivalent as it could potentially display four short key options as opposed to the normal two. Also, we liked how recurring options tended to stick to a particular corner; back is usually located in the bottom right, even when it's the only option. Of course, the downfall of the d-pad is we occasionally found ourselves tapping the We often tried to press the main screen, but were disappointed that we couldn't. We'd also be fairly disappointed if you didn't click on and read the full First Call article.
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First Call: Pantech Duo
Added on 2007-11-01 07:50:00
by Alfredo Padilla
 The Pantech Duo is the latest Windows Mobile Standard handset to join AT&T's stable, and it has been eagerly awaited by fans of Windows Mobile because of its innovative form factor. Like it's cousin the Helio Ocean (also made by Pantech), the Duo has a dual sliding mechanism that reveals a full QWERTY keyboard when slid to the side and a standard phone keypad when slid up. Although a good idea in principle, the Duo's implementation leaves something to be desired. Read all of our first impressions after the jump.
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First Call: Samsung Juke
Added on 2007-10-25 14:55:00
by Mark Brezinski
  Verizon are advertising the Juke widely; leading up to the holidays, they seem to think that this small, funky looking handset will be the hot thing to have. But is it any good? We just got our review unit in, so here are our first impressions of the unusual cell phone.
The very first thing that struck us about the $99.99 Juke from Verizon was its size. It's hard to tell from pictures where there's no scale, but the phone is incredibly short and narrow, and very thick. The thickness isn't something we've seen in any advertisement, so it was definitely surprising to see. The screen is 1.3 inches tall and 0.75 inches thick, which means it has a diagonal measurement of just under 1.5 inches.
Click on Read More to read more of our first impressions of the Juke
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First Call: The Palm Centro
Added on 2007-10-12 13:48:00
by Richard Baguley
 Palm hopes that the Centro will revive their flagging fortunes. But will this new $99 cell phone kill or cure the PDA and cell phone innovator? Click on read more to see our first impressions and photos of the Palm Centro
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FIrst Call: The AT&T Tilt
Added on 2007-10-05 17:15:00
by Richard Baguley
 The nice FedEx man just dropped off a package containing a shiny new AT&T Tilt; read on for our first impressions and lots of photos of this interesting new phone.
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First Call: Sony Ericsson W580i on AT&T
Added on 2007-09-13 19:07:00
by Richard Baguley
 We just received the Sony Ericsson W580i for review: our full review will be coming as soon as our team of highly trained lab technicians have finished testing it out. In the meantime, here are our first impressions of this new $79.99 (with a 2-year contract) AT&T phone. Physically, the phone is pretty small: just 3.9 inches high, 1.8 inches wide and 0.5 inches deep. That makes the W580i (on the left i this photo) significantly smaller than the Samsung Blast (on the right).
[Read More]
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First call: Samsung Blast
Added on 2007-08-13 11:36:00
by Mark Brezinski
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 We recently received out review unit of the new Samsung Blast; it's currently being tested in our top secret laboratory. To tide you over until this full review is complete, here's a quick walk-through of this interesting new T-Mobile phone.Click on Read More for product shots, screenshots and an overview of the features it offers.
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