Top 10 Cell Phones (1)
Need a break from your laptop? These productivity cell phones (mobile phones) offer a lot more than the ability to make calls. Here are the 10 best smart phones (cell phones) available today.
1. RIM Blackberry Pearl 8120
Sleek Pearl lets consumers use Wi-Fi to boost call quality where cell signals falter.
The voice-over-Wi-Fi feature improves reception in locations where cell signals are weak, and in the tests the technology (called Unlicensed Mobile Access, or UMA) worked very well; the only visible indication that the phone was not using T-Mobile's cellular network for calls was the Wi-Fi network's SSID on the screen. Clearly, if you're within hot spot range, Wi-Fi speeds up Web browsing and data-intensive tasks, too. However, using Wi-Fi for voice calls requires T-Mobile's $10-a-month HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile service, an add-on that is not available for the carrier's least-expensive plans.
I found the T-Mobile 8120 ($200 with a two-year contract) less handsome than the AT&T version, in part because of its mousy-grey case; the icons in the BlackBerry menu looked cartoonish, as well. The cluttered interface is mostly a result of all the software T-Mobile loads on the device (AT&T's applications folder on its Pearl makes things cleaner). Instead of this interface, MyFaves subscribers can go for tiny images of their MyFaves buddies (five people that you can spend unlimited time talking to).
Both voice quality and talk-time battery life were excellent: The T-Mobile 8120 lasted 10 hours in our lab tests, the maximum amount of time we test.