Cell phones

LG Wine II impressions

The LG Wine II was released a few months ago, but we did not have a chance to get a closer look at the phone until CTIA 2010. This overall design is not quite as shiny as its predecessor, the LG Wine, but it still has that basic flip phone form factor. It has a nice and colorful external screen, and the internal display is not too shabby, either. Like its predecessor, the keypad is very spacious with really big keys that are nicely domed for easy dialing and texting. The four shortcut keys have been moved from under the … Read more

Handling the Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness

Two months ago at CES we captured a few photos of the conversation-piece Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness. And now that we're back in Vegas, we're giving it the video treatment as well.

The Pureness lacks the high-end features of its Xperia X10 and X1 siblings. On the bottom, its candy-bar design is basic as well--you'll see just a flat keypad and cramped navigation controls--but look above and you'll notice the translucent display.

It's a bit weird, frankly, so we expect that you'll either love or hate this phone. You can see past the text … Read more

Cricket to offer BlackBerry Curve 8530

LAS VEGAS--In addition to the Kyocera Zio, Cricket Wireless is set to bring a new BlackBerry to its lineup. The carrier confirmed at CTIA 2010 that it will offer the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530, but pricing or a specific availability date was not released at this time.

The AWS (Advanced Wireless Service)-compatible device is largely similar to the CDMA versions of the Curve 8530 available from Verizon Wireless and Sprint. For more information about the device, check out our review of the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530.

Moto Devour on sale at Verizon stores

Verizon Wireless announced today that the Motorola Devour is now on sale in the carrier's stores for $149.99 with a two-year service contract and a $100 mail-in rebate. Verizon originally introduced the Devour in February, but only made it available in select Best Buy stores.

As we say in our review, there's much to admire about the Devour. We love its sturdy casing, the feature set is functional, and the performance is agreeable. We also dig the quirky thumbpad next to the bright, though somewhat small, display. On the downside, we're wondering why we only got … Read more

Verizon to launch app store

LAS VEGAS--To many people's disappointment, we didn't see any handset news from Verizon Wireless at CTIA 2010, but the carrier did announce that it will launch its own app store on March 29, among an already crowded field of app stores.

The V Cast Apps store will be available first on the RIM BlackBerry Storm 2, but will be rolled out to additional devices in the next few weeks. The store will complement other stores, such as BlackBerry App World and Android Market, but hopes to leverage itself by allowing customers to bill app purchases directly to their … Read more

Just5 is good for grandma

While we were perusing through CTIA's list of Emerging Tech award nominees, we noticed an interesting company called Just5. A company based in Europe, Just5 makes and sells basic phones for the elderly, in the style of both the Jitterbug and the Doro PhoneEasy handsets.

Just5 is currently only selling one model of their phones for the U.S. market, and that is the Just5 09 model. As you can see from the images here, the phone is really small and compact, with only one line of display text. The buttons are simply huge, which is great for those … Read more

Sneak peek at Pantech Link, Pantech Pursuit

LAS VEGAS--Even though AT&T announced the Pantech Link and the Pantech Pursuit prior to the start of CTIA, we managed to get a quick hands-on with both phones at the show. As we mentioned in the announcement of the two phones, they are both messaging handsets with the addition of AT&T's new cloud-based services like AT&T Address Book, AT&T Mobile Share, and the Online Locker that'll let you easily update your Facebook, Twitter, and more. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to snap pics of the Pantech Link, but we'll … Read more

CTIA day two wrap-up

LAS VEGAS--Day two of CTIA 2010 is in the books, and it was another action-packed 24 hours filled with talk of wireless trends and product announcements. If you missed any of the news, don't worry. We've rounded up the highlights of the day's events, which include our hands-on analysis and photo galleries, right here for your reading pleasure.

LG Cosmos up close Samsung announces Modus convertible headset, plus HM1000 MetroPCS promises first LTE network and handset Samung Galaxy S hands-on New Yahoo iPhone app lets you doodle your search AT&T presses play on new music service … Read more

Hands-on with the Dell Aero; well, sort of

LAS VEGAS--It's been a long time since we've seen a handheld device from Dell (moment of silence for the Dell Axim PDAs please), so you could say we were pretty anxious to check out the Dell Aero in person.

The Aero is Dell's first U.S. smartphone and AT&T's second Android device (after the Motorola Backflip) that will be available in the coming months. Dell was on hand at the Mobile Focus event at CTIA 2010 on Tuesday night with the Aero. Unfortunately, the company was apparently under strict orders by AT&T … Read more

Checking out the Samsung Sunburst and Strive

LAS VEGAS--Samsung released the Strive and Sunburst phones a week before CTIA, but the show provided us our first opportunity to examine them closely. The two AT&T handsets are focused on messaging and offer fairly standard designs. They also support AT&T's new cloud-based services like AT&T Address Book and AT&T Mobile Share.

The Strive is a slider phone with a full alphabet keybaord. It comes in black and purple versions. The display is not a touch screen, so you'll need to reply on the standard navigation controls. The handset feels … Read more