Sleigh bells aren't the only things ringing this holiday season. There's been a blizzard of cool new cell phones and smartphones to arrive on the scene, and they all make wonderful presents. After all, aren't the holidays about connecting with family and friends? So whether you're shopping for the technophobe who needs just the basics or the gadget hound who demands the latest and the greatest, here are our picks for gift-worthy cell phones and smartphones.
Editors' top pick
The bottom line: The North American Edition of the Nokia N95 brings some notable additions, including 3G support and better performance, to make this powerful smart phone even better. However, it'll still leave a deep gouge in your wallet.
Price:
$382.62 - $499.97
The bottom line: Though we had some minor complaints here and there, the Voyager's sleek design, generous feature set and excellent performance make it the best LG messaging and multimedia phone by far.
Price:
$549.99
The bottom line: The AT&T Tilt promises to be the carrier's most powerful smartphone for business users with its full range of wireless options, Windows Mobile 6, and innovative tilt screen.
Price:
$199.99
The bottom line: The Helio Ocean is a great beginner smart phone, with a fantastic array of multimedia features and Internet capabilities that are sure to please both consumers and mobile professionals.
The bottom line: The LG VX8350 is an excellent multimedia phone that's compact as well as powerful.
Price:
$79.99
The bottom line: The RIM BlackBerry Curve (aka BlackBerry 8320) for T-Mobile is the best BlackBerry we've seen to date as it offers Wi-Fi, best-of-breed design, and excellent performance.
The bottom line: The LG VX8550 Chocolate is definitely a big improvement over the original Chocolate, with a beautiful yet functional design plus a host of impressive features to boot.
The bottom line: In a Razr-weary world, the Motorola Razr2 V9m surpassed our expectations by offering a fresh and dynamic new approach to the Razr line. Video performance was below par but the phone succeeded on other fronts.
The bottom line: The Motorola W385 is a dependable cell phone without confusing bells and whistles.
The bottom line: Though the LG Rumor is not as fast as we'd like, it's still a great messaging multimedia device for those who don't need a lot of speed.
Price:
$49.99
The bottom line: The Nokia 6085 works very well as a voice phone, but its multimedia performance is somewhat lacking.
Price:
$0.11 - $99.99
The bottom line: The sexy Samsung Blast SGH-T729 is a great messaging phone with good call quality, but we were hoping for a speedier data network as well.
Price:
$0.00 - $0.01
The bottom line: Though it could make better calls and its connection speed was somewhat slow, the Samsung SGH-A737 is a well-designed and full-featured multimedia cell phone.
Price:
$19.99 - $279.99
The bottom line: The Sony Ericsson W580i is a stylish multimedia cell phone with good performance on all fronts.
Price:
$0.11 - $279.99
The bottom line: The HTC Advantage X7501 is a powerful mobile computer for on-the-go professionals, delivering a full feature set and speedy performance. However, it will probably only appeal to early adopters and gadget hounds.
The bottom line: The Palm Centro isn't the innovative product we were looking for from the company, but with its slimmer size, ease of use, and affordable price tag, the Centro is a good option for those looking for their first smartphone.
Price:
$49.99
The bottom line: The Samsung SCH-i760 goes big (literally), delivering a solid set of features and good performance to Verizon customers looking for a business-centric smartphone.
The bottom line: The T-Mobile Sidekick LX will continue to attract a legion of young fans with its fresh design and excellent messaging capabilities. We like the improved display, and the software update brings some much-needed additions to the features department.
Price:
$199.99
The bottom line: The Motorola Q9m brings some nice design and operating system upgrades as well as a more consumer-focused experience with enhanced multimedia capabilities. However, behind all the sexy packaging, the smart phone still feels underpowered. Business users should look elsewhere for a smart phone.
