According to Engadget, based on an article that ran in the Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti, the Nokia № 8 will be available by Sept. 30. A machine translation of the Kauppalehti article shows that Tapani Kaskinen, a senior communications manager at Nokia, told the Finnish paper that № 8 «advance orders begin shipping 30 September.”

The phone enthusiast blog E’s Phone Blog reported, «Those of you who have ordered the Nokia № 8 directly from Nokia should receive it on Tuesday, September 28th, 2010. The Nokia № 8 is the first phone to run on Symbian 3. Personally I have to say that I’m pretty impressed about this device, and I think that it will sell quite good. For instance here in Finland, you’ll have to pay 499€ to get this thing and this is cheaper than what you’d have to pay for a competing device with roughly the same specs.»

Physical Features
The Epic 4G is a surprisingly thin slider phone at 4,9 by 3,5 by .56 inches (HWD) and 5,46 ounces. Yes, it’s a lot thicker than the HTC EVO 4G, but the screen slides to the side to reveal a rather large QWERTY keyboard, so give the Epic a break. Otherwise, the phone is about the same size as the EVO, although its 4-inch screen is smaller than the EVO’s 4,3-inch panel (but the same 800-by-480 resolution.) The Epic’s screen uses Samsung’s new Super AMOLED technology, which offers the same gorgeous, hypersaturated colors and low power consumption as earlier AMOLED screens but with much better visibility in sunlight.

The Epic 4G will live or die on the strength of its keyboard; I’m happy to say it will live. This is an excellent keyboard. It has five rows, including a dedicated number row, and physical keys for Android’s home, back, menu, and search functions. The keys are slightly raised, slightly domed, and nicely separated. You can’t use it one-handed like you can a BlackBerry or Palm Pre ($299,99—549.99,), but that’s true with all phones in this form factor.

Almost passive-aggressively, Samsung seems to have sabotaged the four important touch buttons below the screen. When they’re not lit up, they disappear and become impossible to press; you have to tap on the screen to light them up while you’re in the middle of doing something else. Adding insult to injury, sometimes the buttons don’t respond even when they’re lit up, which is very frustrating. I tapped a lot.

If you don’t want to use the excellent physical keyboard, the Epic comes with six possible virtual keyboards. There’s the Swype text-entry method, which lets you drag your finger across the screen without lifting it, as well as Samsung’s and Google’s portrait and landscape mode keyboards.

Phone, 3G, and 4G Performance
The Epic 4G is a perfectly good phone, and probably slightly better than the EVO. It connected one more call than the EVO out of ten in our weak-signal test. The phone’s earpiece and speakerphone are both loud enough for any use, and while sound in the earpiece is a touch muffled, that’s only comparing it to super-duper-sharp phones like the Motorola Droid X ($199,99—569.99,). Transmissions have a problem with wind noise, and transmissions from the speakerphone sound a bit tinny, but really, this one is fine. The Epic 4G has Bluetooth 3,0 (which offers no real consumer advantages over version 2,1) and connected to our Aliph Jawbone Icon ($99,) Bluetooth headset without trouble. But while the Epic 4G has voice commands, they don’t work over Bluetooth. I have to re-test battery life, but the phone got enough talk time that battery shouldn’t sway your purchase either way.

The Epic 4G is famously Sprint’s second «4G» phone, which means it can connect to the Internet using Clearwire’s WiMAX network in a few dozen cities. It doesn’t work anywhere within 100 miles of New York City, for instance, so I had to shack up in Philadelphia to test it. That’s better than last year, though, when I had to go all the way to Baltimore.

WiMAX seems to have trouble penetrating buildings; when I went indoors, the signal dropped much more quickly than Sprint’s quite robust 3G signal. That said, when WiMAX worked, it worked: I got speeds up to 6,6 megabits down on the Epic 4G, which is about six times the average speed of Sprint’s 3G network. (Uploads are capped at 1 megabit/second.) This drains the battery, so it’s best to use 4G as a «turbo boost» when you need the extra speed. If you don’t have 4G around, the Epic will connect to 802,11b/g/n Wi-Fi networks as well. The phone both tethers to PCs via USB as a modem and works as a Wi-FI hotspot for up to five devices. 4G is also unlimited. There’s no data cap on WiMAX use, at least for now.

You’ll pay $10 extra a month for the 4G service whether or not you can use it -you can’t buy the Epic without the 4G supplement. But none of these gripes change the fact that 4G is the future, and if you’re going to be stuck with a phone for the next 18 months, you might as well future-proof it. Clearwire positively insists that they’ll cover 120 million Americans by the end of the year.

Android Software
We’ve been down this road before: The Epic 4G is a Galaxy S phone like the Samsung Captivate ($199,99—499.99,) for AT&T and the Samsung Vibrant ($199,99—499.99,) for T-Mobile. To wit, it’s an Android 2,1 device with a set of mostly-useful Samsung extensions, such as built-in Twitter and Facebook integration through Social Hub; Buddies Now, a sort of visual Rolodex of your favorite people and their status updates; Daily Briefing, a combined news/weather app; and a much-improved contact book which lets you swipe right and left to check your friends’ status updates or contact them by various means. It will handle any e-mail account you have coming, including Exchange, and it integrates Exchange, Google, and Facebook events onto one calendar. Samsung’s widgets and social networking integration are similar to, and slightly inferior to, HTC’s-but don’t let that sway your decision if you’re drawn to the Epic for its keyboard.

The software is running on a 1-GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor, which generally scored faster on our benchmarks than the Qualcomm Snapdragon in HTC’s phones and roughly on par with the TI OMAP in Motorola’s latest Verizon devices. Hummingbird really sets itself apart on graphics performance, though-on the industry-standard Neocore graphics benchmark, Samsung’s Galaxy S phones scored far and away better than all other Android devices. That means this is a better gaming machine than the EVO.

Sprint adds their Nascar and NFL apps, as well as Sprint Navigation and Sprint TV. Sprint TV is an unsung gem; it has clips and full episodes from a wide range of TV networks, and many of them come free with your service plan. If you’re connected to 4G, videos become sharp and clear, although they occasionally lose (and then re-gain) lip sync.

One painful omission is YouTube HQ, which Sprint made such a big deal about when they introduced the EVO. On the Epic, the YouTube app is unwatchable; it’s a hideous mush of blocky compression. I don’t understand why Sprint didn’t give the Epic the same sharp YouTube video quality that the EVO has.

I hope it isn’t because of the upcoming Samsung Media Hub, a movies-and-TV store which I got to see a brief demo of, and which will be coming to the Epic in a few weeks. Media Hub is a typical expensive, movie-studio-approved video store, with $3/day rentals and $12 to 20 movie purchases. It doesn’t fulfill that «I want to watch free video» desire that YouTube so neatly satiates.

Sprint says the Epic will get an Android 2,2 upgrade «soon.» That will bring voice dialing over Bluetooth and supposedly better browser performance, though I didn’t find noticeably different page load times when I upgraded the Evo from 2,1 to 2.2.

I’m also happy to say the Epic 4G has no problems with GPS or AGPS fixes. My location appeared quickly in Google Maps Navigation and Sprint Navigation.

Multimedia
The Epic 4G is an excellent media phone-better than the EVO. Why, you say, when the EVO has a bigger screen? It’s all about codecs. The Epic 4G plays an unusually wide array of video files, including XVID, DIVX, and H.264 with AAC audio, including many files in 720p HD format. That means fewer videos will require re-encoding compared to other phones. Video looks sharp and plays clearly on the screen, including over Bluetooth stereo headphones. While there’s no HDMI out to play video on a TV, Samsung said they’ll sell an analog TV-out cable (but didn’t give me any further details.)

Music also performs well here, with the Epic supporting a wide range of formats including MP3, WMA, OGG, and AAC. The phone has about 450MB of free internal memory and comes with a 16GB microSD card that fits in a slot under the back cover. Fortunately, you don’t have to remove the battery to get at the memory slot.

To get your media onto the phone, you’ll probably drag and drop. The Epic 4G, unlike the Vibrant and Captivate, doesn’t work with Windows Media Player or with Samsung’s Kies syncing software. Fortunately, the third-party program doubleTwist (Free,) will work to sync media to the Epic 4G-and with the phone’s excellent codec support, you’re much less likely to encounter unwatchable files than on other phones.

The Epic 4G’s 5-megapixel camera, with a weak LED flash, is a middling example of the breed. It has extremely little shutter delay, which is good. But anything below full daylight tends to make photos become a bit soft. In video mode, the Epic 4G records smooth but overexposed 720p HD videos. That said, the Epic’s 5-megapixel camera provides a better experience than the EVO’s 8-megapixel model did, as the EVO had even worse problems with low-light blur and jerky HD videos.

The phone also has a front-facing, VGA resolution camera that’s in theory for video calling, but like all non-iPhone front-facing cameras we consider it useless. Qik and Fring, the two video calling programs for Android, are both unreservedly awful. On the other hand, now you have that video-calling camera in case the software companies get their acts together.

Conclusions
At $349 minus a $100 mail-in rebate (or $249 at Radio Shack and Best Buy), the Epic 4G costs $50 more than the HTC EVO 4G for Sprint. But since the two-year service contract for either phone costs at least $1,920, a $50 difference in price actually doesn’t matter much. Avid mobile gamers and people with a lot of their own video files will want to go with the Epic for its powerful Hummingbird GPU and great codec support; YouTube aficionados will go with the EVO. The real difference is the keyboard. If you want to type your messages, surf the Web, and play your games with little buttons that go «click,” the Epic is your phone.

The carrier recently sent out representatives with Epic 4G in hand to preview this smartphone for Brighthand before the August 31 launch date. Read on for my initial impressions.

BUILD & DESIGN

The first thing that jumps out about the Epic 4G is the four-inch Super AMOLED display. It looks amazing. The black levels are incredibly deep and the colors vibrant.

The comparison between the Epic 4G’s Super AMOLED and the EVO 4G’s LCD is reminiscent of SDTV to HDTV — Super AMOLED is that good.

Also impressive is the speaker. Cranked up all the way, you could hear the YouTube video from outside the conference room where Sprint’s Mark Elliott demoed the device. It’s no wonder Sprint and Samsung are marketing the Epic and other Super AMOLED-sporting Galaxy S devices as portable entertainment centers.

Elliott even furthered the pitch by claiming in conversation the Galaxy S is geared toward video and entertainment, while the EVO 4G is great for «everything else.”

Keyboard
Another key difference between the EVO 4G and the Epic 4G is that the Epic has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard in addition to a virtual keyboard and Swype technology. The EVO 4G only has an on-screen keyboard.

The Epic’s slide-out QWERTY is a chiclet-style keyboard, commonly found on Lenovo, ASUS and Sony netbooks. Chiclet keys resemble the chewing gum of the same name, and are flat with straight edges, resulting in small spaces between the keys. Personally, I prefer the chiclet style as it reduces errant key entries caused by my chubby digits.

The Swype text-entry system is an interesting technology found on handful of Android phones, including some of Verizon’s Droid models. As the name implies, users can input text by swiping their finger across the screen, moving from key to key. It doesn’t work in real time, so the inputted text only appears once the swiping is complete.

There is a slight learning curve to the technology, especially for those used to pecking away on a virtual keyboard. But I found it to be both novel and useful, quick and accurate too. It won’t replace the physical QWERTY as my preferred text input method, but it’s a solid option.

Look and Feel
The Epic 4G has a bit more width than its Galaxy S cousins, the Samsung Captivate and Samsung Vibrant — as well as the HTC EVO 4G — owing to the slide-out keyboard, but I wouldn’t call it thick. It also felt a tad heavier than the EVO, but it is probably only an ounce or two difference, and it’s definitely not heavy. It won’t cause muscle strain or your pants to sag if carried in a pocket.

I think HTC’s offering has better look than the Epic. The EVO is more industrial with a brushed metal back and rectangular form. The Epic is tucked inside a hard plastic shell with rounded edges. The Epic doesn’t feel cheap, but the EVO’s cool metal feels much better in hand. Also, the EVO has a novel kickstand to secure the device on a flat surface for watching videos. I would think the kickstand feature is better suited for the Epic, which is supposed to knock my «entertainment socks off.»

It seems Sprint has a lot of confidence in the new Samsung Epic 4G. As part of Samsung’s Galaxy S series of smartphones, this model is going to be the second handset with WiMAX available from this carrier, with the HTC EVO 4G being the other.

The carrier recently sent out representatives with Epic 4G in hand to preview this smartphone for Brighthand before the August 31 launch date. Read on for my initial impressions.

BUILD & DESIGN

The first thing that jumps out about the Epic 4G is the four-inch Super AMOLED display. It looks amazing. The black levels are incredibly deep and the colors vibrant.

The comparison between the Epic 4G’s Super AMOLED and the EVO 4G’s LCD is reminiscent of SDTV to HDTV — Super AMOLED is that good.

Also impressive is the speaker. Cranked up all the way, you could hear the YouTube video from outside the conference room where Sprint’s Mark Elliott demoed the device. It’s no wonder Sprint and Samsung are marketing the Epic and other Super AMOLED-sporting Galaxy S devices as portable entertainment centers.

Elliott even furthered the pitch by claiming in conversation the Galaxy S is geared toward video and entertainment, while the EVO 4G is great for «everything else.”

Keyboard
Another key difference between the EVO 4G and the Epic 4G is that the Epic has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard in addition to a virtual keyboard and Swype technology. The EVO 4G only has an on-screen keyboard.

The Epic’s slide-out QWERTY is a chiclet-style keyboard, commonly found on Lenovo, ASUS and Sony netbooks. Chiclet keys resemble the chewing gum of the same name, and are flat with straight edges, resulting in small spaces between the keys. Personally, I prefer the chiclet style as it reduces errant key entries caused by my chubby digits.

The Swype text-entry system is an interesting technology found on handful of Android phones, including some of Verizon’s Droid models. As the name implies, users can input text by swiping their finger across the screen, moving from key to key. It doesn’t work in real time, so the inputted text only appears once the swiping is complete.

There is a slight learning curve to the technology, especially for those used to pecking away on a virtual keyboard. But I found it to be both novel and useful, quick and accurate too. It won’t replace the physical QWERTY as my preferred text input method, but it’s a solid option.

Look and Feel
The Epic 4G has a bit more width than its Galaxy S cousins, the Samsung Captivate and Samsung Vibrant — as well as the HTC EVO 4G — owing to the slide-out keyboard, but I wouldn’t call it thick. It also felt a tad heavier than the EVO, but it is probably only an ounce or two difference, and it’s definitely not heavy. It won’t cause muscle strain or your pants to sag if carried in a pocket.

I think HTC’s offering has better look than the Epic. The EVO is more industrial with a brushed metal back and rectangular form. The Epic is tucked inside a hard plastic shell with rounded edges. The Epic doesn’t feel cheap, but the EVO’s cool metal feels much better in hand. Also, the EVO has a novel kickstand to secure the device on a flat surface for watching videos. I would think the kickstand feature is better suited for the Epic, which is supposed to knock my «entertainment socks off.”

PERFORMANCE

The Samsung Epic 4G runs Google Android OS 2,1 on a 1 GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, and Sprint’s Elliott mentioned at Android 2,2 is coming to the Epic soon.

In a word, it’s fast. At least the unit I used was fast. Reviews of similar Samsung devices, the Vibrant and Captivate, described the performance as acceptable, but not stellar, and mentioned that those particular handsets heated up with heavy use.

That said, I was able to breeze through home screens, launch applications, browse the web, and stream YouTube HQ videos with little to no lag, and zero heat emission. Of course, I didn’t have the time to push the Epic to its limits. Still, I was impressed with both the device and web speed; and this in an office where Sprint reception is spotty at best, and 4G coverage is nonexistent.

Samsung Epic 4G from SprintMore to Come
The Epic 4G is loaded with features, and I barely scratched the surface with what it can do. I did not get a chance to try out the 5 Megapixel on-board camera or 720p video. Nor did I video conference, play Android games or test out data sharing with five devices via Wi-Fi. And I certainly did not get a chance to drain the battery or play with the light sensor that automatically adjusts screen brightness according to the lighting conditions.

Rest assured that all these features will be explored by the Brighthand expert assigned to review the Epic.

Epic 4G to Sprint’s Rescue?
Sprint won’t be the only 4G carrier for much longer — Rival Verizon is poised to roll out its 4G LTE network in 25 to 30 markets by the end of 2010, and AT&T (also LTE) will soon have a soft-rollout of their own 4G service.

With that in mind, it’s a problem for Sprint that it’s only current WiMAX model, the HTC EVO 4G is marked as «sold out,” on its website, and has been since late June. Customers want 4G, and if Sprint can’t provide it, they may move to other carriers with their own latest and greatest devices.

As Elliott explained, the Epic 4G should satiate some of that demand when it’s released later this month. Judging from the warm reviews the other Samsung Galaxy smarphones received and my initial impressions, the Epic 4G could well be an excellent alternative to the popular EVO 4G. Check back soon for the full review.

The Nokia E73 Mode is one of the latest devices to come from the Finnish mobile maker, and this T-Mobile-specific iteration packs a good deal of power and substance for all types of users.

DESIGN & BUILD

One of the thinnest mobile devices today (0,4 in or 10 mm), the Nokia E73 packs a QVGA (320×240) screen and a useful keyboard into a well designed package.

Nokia E73 Mode from T-MobileIt’s been a while since getting my hands on a smartphone with this form factor, and the E73 Mode reminded me instantly what I liked about what Nokia’s done here.

The hard plastic and metal casing feels very solid and high quality.

Screen
Given its enterprise-friendly leanings, the 320×240px screen isn’t going to win many beauty contests. But, it is more than sufficient for most tasks. This screen is transreflective — meaning that it fares quite well with indoor and outdoor lighting environments.

One of the pleasures during my time with this device was pulling it out to change the music track while bike riding and a sun beaming pretty heavily overhead. Not only was the screen readable, but all tasks were done easily with one hand.

Keyboard
If not careful, the E73 Mode can be mistaken for a BlackBerry. The front face being dominated by the QWERTY keyboard just tends to do that to people. But putting your fingers on the keys shows there’s a different personality to the device.

The E73 Mode uses a similar layout to the E72 (mechanically, these are very similar mobiles) and e63 models. Compared to the previous generation (the E71), the E73 Mode offers slightly more domed keys — these are easier to press — and a few additional buttons. The spacebar is made smaller to accommodate these buttons, and aside from going from one device to another, the learning curve for this keyboard is relatively painless.

PERFORMANCE

Given the pace smartphones are developing these days, the Nokia E73 Mode’s software platform is the only negative in an otherwise well-equipped device. The Symbian S60 3,2 (Feature Pack 2) platform is indeed old, but Nokia and T-Mobile seem to have pulled out more more than usual from it. Depending on where you are coming from, it can seem antiquated or about right for the times we live in.

Nokia E73 Mode from T-MobileWireless
I wanted to see just how well the T-Mobile network has been updated, and so the E73 Mode spent a lot of time streaming music via the third-party application Mobbler. Whether using the single device speaker, or the included headphones, things were fine until hitting the edge of the Charlotte metro area (that 3G to EDGE drop is a doozie). Yet, it’s only Web access that seemed to suffer on that changeover, voice calls seemed quite unaffected.

The E73 Mode also spent time in my pocket and hand during the time I was at the Uplinq conference, and performed very well.

PIM and Messaging
Symbian has a pretty robust PIM (personal information management) suite, and the E73 Mode does very well here. There’s a calendar with integrated tasks and memos; an address book with support for numerous detail fields, contact groups, and tones; and an enhanced notes app called Active Notes.

On the messaging side, there’s been little need for updated software, as the standard apps are still enough for most users. The Messaging application supports SMS, MMS, and up to 10 email accounts (POP or IMAP). Mail for Exchange is available for connecting to Exchange accounts, with support for meeting messages, searching the global address book, and mobile device administration.

Again, its all there, just not as clean as many people might be used to with some other devices. That being said, if an IT department supports multiple devices, what comes out of the box with the E73 is about as close to the BlackBerry experience as it gets.

Web and Multimedia
Where Nokia’s E-Series devices have consistently gotten better over the years has been in the web and multimedia areas. Not that they used to be unable to perform, just that these areas were not focused on. This changed a good bit with the Nokia E72, and is refined a good bit more with the E73 Mode.

Nokia E73 Mode from T-Mobile USAOn the web side, there the versatile Webkit-based Nokia Browser. Running at version 7,2, it features significant improvements to the rendering engine when compared to a recently updated Nokia № 97 and X6, and an update to the Flash Lite plugin (version 4).

I must say that I was impressed every time I opened up the browser — no Symbian device had ever responded that well, especially on pages with several JavaScript pop-ups or non-mobile-optimized AJAX. Nokia even tweaked the default font-size to make it readable without adjustments.

Using the various number shortcuts for things such as typing in a link, making a bookmark, or zooming out for a page overview to navigate longer/wider pages made for a pleasing browsing experience. I was genuinely surprised. And T-Mobile’s 3G network didn’t give me any reason to frown.

Besides the browser, there’s the Google Mobile Apps and YouTube apps, and link stubs for Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. As with other E-Series devices, the multi-protocol IM application is also included (Windows Live, AIM, GTalk, MySpace IM, and Yahoo compatibility).

Other Apps and Impressions
Other apps on the E73 Mode include a currency/measures converter and support for encrypting both the phone memory and memory cards.

In terms of location-based apps, there’s Ovi Maps, Where (a location-based search engine), and TeleNav. I preferred Ovi Maps for most searches, though I could see the appeal of Where for some inquiries such as «what’s going on this holiday weekend.”

When I was at the Uplinq conference, I enjoyed demonstrating the included Multiscanner application, which is able to read business cards (mostly) well. The E73 Mode’s 5 megapixel camera was a big help here, though cards which are a more artistic than informational fare are hard for this application to use.

The E73 Mode isn’t free of the odd or welcomed carrier addition. Visual Voicemail makes a welcomed appearance here. The Ovi Store application supports carrier billing — so one should be mindful of the .99 cents here and there apps, themes, and media which can be downloaded.

Nokia E73 Mode from T-Mobile USALastly, the Switch mode came in handy, but only when I remembered that it was there. It would make so much more sense if Switch — an application which changes the homescreen, theme, and sounds — could act on a more contextual or automated fashion. I fear that its usefulness will be appreciated, but lost when someone forgets that its there.

Camera
An important part of the Nokia E73 Mode’s multimedia abilities is a 5 megapixel camera. Besides some noise in pictures with heavier greens and reds, I saw nothing but quality shots throughout.

The Share Online application is included, making for a quick upload to Flickr, Ovi Share, or Vox photoblogs, while a third party application Shozu is able to export to even more services.

With the E73 Mode’s relatively low resolution screen, it’s advisable to make sure to check your pictures on a larger screen before posting them, as some shots look much better on the smaller screen than in near-actual size.

Battery
With normal use, I was charging the E73 Mode’s 1500 mAh battery every other night. Nokia has done very well to wring out all kinds of efficiency from the hardware, without increasing the weight, while increasing the software performance.

It runs Google’s Android OS 2,1, and costs just $100 with a new two-year contract with Verizon Wireless, or just $50 if purchased on the carrier’s website.

BUILD & DESIGN:

The basic design aesthetic for the Ally is modern and functional. It’s black, and it is very solidly built. It’s about the same size as the HTC Droid Incredible and other premium phones, but somewhat thicker due to the QWERTY keyboard under the display. There is absolutely no «wiggle» whatsoever when you slide out the keyboard, and it locks firmly open when you slide up the display.

LG Ally from Verizon WirelessOverall the Ally would be a good choice for an older teen or a fumble-fingered adult, because it seems much sturdier than some of the other current smartphone options.

Even though it’s a bit thick compared to other phones, it still feels good in the hand and is definitely pocketable. However, if you’re a lady who dresses professionally for work, you may prefer to keep the Ally in your purse or briefcase to avoid the bulge in your dress slacks; folks in more casual attire won’t mind keeping the device in their pocket.

Display
The display looks nice, though perhaps not quite as sharp and blow-you-away gorgeous of other recent devices like the Incredible. Photos look good, though YouTube video was slightly disappointing and grainy.

The screen isn’t terribly bright either, which means that it will work fine indoors, or in low light conditions, but is almost completely unusable outside in normal to bright sunlight.

LG Ally from Verizon with Google Android OSKeyboard
The Ally has one of the best physical keyboards of any of the phones I’ve reviewed. It usually takes some practice for me to become proficient, because every mobile keyboard is different, and they all have their quirks. But the keys on the LG Ally are large, well-spaced, and have good feedback so you’re not constantly checking the screen to see if you’re hitting the right key. They’re illuminated for use in low light conditions as well.

I like the fact that this is a four-row keyboard, with a separate number row. My only small complaint about the keyboard is that the text for the alternative keys like punctuation isn’t quite as easy to read as it is on other keyboards I’ve tried. I’m sure that some more time with the device will give me the opportunity to learn where everything is so that I won’t have to look anymore. though I have to be honest — I’m not too worried about punctuation when I’m texting or emailing.

Other Buttons & Controls
There are four physical buttons underneath the display: call, home, menu, and disconnect, plus pressure-sensitive back and search buttons.

There’s a four-way navigation panel on the lower right side of the keyboard that I really like — it makes navigation a breeze.

The headphone jack is on the top, the volume buttons and charging port are on the left, and the (fully accessible) microSD slot and camera button are on the right side.

PERFORMANCE:

The LG Ally is quite responsive, which is nice — there’s nothing worse than having to wait for my calendar or email to load. I didn’t have any trouble with the touchscreen either — where I tapped was where I intended to tap, with no problems launching the wrong app, etc.

LG Ally from Verizon WirelessThe Ally is currently running Android OS 2,1, which is both powerful and easy to use.

Wireless/Call Quality
Although my initial call quality testing produced good results, more extensive testing has changed my opinion. Some of my test calls to landline phones sounded good, while others suffered from very poor sound quality with a great deal of background noise. At times there was some annoying clicking in the background.

I experienced the same mixed results when calling other mobile phones, and I was unable to piece together a pattern that explained the results. I typically get very good coverage and call quality from Verizon; my personal phone, the LG Dare, always gets good reception and the voice quality is good.

Wi-Fi works well, and I didn’t have any connectivity issue with any of the networks I tried.

LG Ally from Verizon with Google Android OSProductivity
Calendar and contacts apps are included with the LG Ally, but no task management or note taking applications.

A calculator and clock are also included, but the real star here is ThinkFree Office. The app allows you to view PDFs and Microsoft Office documents, whether they are located on your phone or in your Google Docs account. I was able to edit a spreadsheet from Google Docs, but was not able to edit a couple of my word processing documents, and I’m not sure why.

The Google Maps function works flawlessly, as expected. The app was able to pinpoint my location with a good degree of accuracy and speed, and the turn-by-turn spoken directions were accurate.

Other productivity apps are available for purchase in the Android Market.

Entertainment
The Android OS web browser performs well with quick page loads and smooth scrolling. Even very complicated web sites with lots of ads and sidebars look good; if you need to zoom in on a particular area you can double tap the display and the text is automatically resized to fit the screen.

The LG Ally’s voice search feature worked surprisingly well, with accurate voice recognition. Even though this model has a very nice keyboard, voice search can help save a lot of time.

The music players works great, and the sound quality and volume from the external speaker are good.

The Socialite feature aims to improve the social networking experience by integrating your Twitter and Facebook feeds into one unified stream of information. It works well, though it could stand to be faster loading updates.

A standalone MySpace app is also included, as is the Amazon MP3 app and the Android Market, where you can download free and paid games and apps to personalize your phone. Whether you want to add music or applications to your phone, the buying process is simple and downloads are fast.

LG Ally from Verizon with Google Android OSCamera
The 3,2 megapixel camera on the Ally takes acceptable photos in good conditions, but there are some issues with the picture quality.

The camera flash is quite strong and helps to fill in slightly shady areas to help even out exposure, but results were somewhat mixed. Some of the worst exposure problems came up during regular daylight photography while I was outside.

Certain areas of a photo would come out nicely, but if there was strong contrast between the subject and the background, the final results were often overexposed.

The zoom is a nice feature, but the results were less than satisfactory. Zoomed photos are very grainy and of relatively poor quality. Even worse, my LG Dare is a couple of years old now and also has a 3,2 megapixel camera, but takes much better photos.

For those reasons I wouldn’t suggest that you rely upon the Ally as a general purpose camera; it will work well enough for photos you might otherwise have missed, but you won’t be taking any prize-winning shots with this device.

Battery Life
Battery life is quite good; I am able to go for at least two days between charges, and sometimes a bit longer, if I don’t use the camera too much.

Even after relatively heavy usage with several phone calls and web browsing sessions, plus some photgraphy, I had no problem getting through the day and no real anxiety that I wouldn’t be able to finish the day before getting home to plug it in and recharge.

CONCLUSION

LG Ally from Verizon WirelessI really want to like the LG Ally more than I do, but it’s hard. I like the overall design of the phone, it’s very solidly built, and the battery life is better than I expected. Unfortunately the display is fine indoors, but unusable outdoors, and the voice quality and camera are somewhat disappointing.

The price is quite reasonable, however, so if you’re a bargain-conscious consumer you should still consider the Ally. It’s a solid contender for less than $100, though if you have the opportunity you should try it out in a Verizon store before taking the plunge.

Pros

* Really nice keyboard
* Solid construction
* Excellent battery life

Cons

* Inadequate screen brightness
* Disappointing camera
* Call quality issues

Google Android OSIt runs Android OS 2,2 a 1 GHz OMAP 3600 series processor, and has 8 GB of storage, a microSD card slot that supports capacities up to 32 GB, and a 3,7-inch touchscreen display.

The Droid 2 is now available from Verizon Wireless for $200 with a new two-year service contract.

I’ve had this smartphone for only a couple of days, but that’s long enough to form some preliminary impressions. I’ll write a full review when I’ve had more time with this device.

BUILD & DESIGN

This Motorola model is the latest addition to the line of relatively large smartphones, roughly the same size as Verizon’s HTC Droid Incredible and the HTC EVO 4G from Sprint. It feels very solid in the hand, and weighty but not too heavy.

Motorola Droid 2 from Verizon WirelessThe overall appearance of the device is both modern and blocky. The corners are curved for comfort and there are some nice dull silver accents, but I wouldn’t call the Droid 2 a particularly stylish or edgy phone, at least as far as looks are concerned.

You’ll need a large pocket to put it in, but this device isn’t so thick that it will be too unsightly. However, you may have a hard time determining which end is up when you take the device out of your pocket — there’s not a good way to tell by feel alone, unless you happen to find the ridge underneath the display.

Display
The 3,7-inch Touchscreen display has a WVGA (480 x 854) resolution. It looks OK, but I’m not blown away by it at this point. Pictures and video are sharp, and there weren’t any problems with ghosting, but colors aren’t as rich as I would like, and white seems to have a slightly yellowish cast that is definitely unappealing.

The display is missing that undefinable «something» that I’ve seen on all of the other recent smartphones I’ve reviewed. I’ll try to put my finger on that aspect and define it more clearly for the full review.

Keyboard
The physical QWERTY keyboard is located under the display; you access it by holding the bottom of the phone and sliding the display to the right. The sliding action is very tight — it’s possible to do it with one hand, but difficult. That may change as the phone «loosens up» with more use.

The keyboard is nicely laid out, with clearly marked keys, and large alt, shift, space, and enter keys — something that I really appreciate. Unfortunately the keys are very flat and indistinct, so even though they’re fairly large overall, it will take some time to get used to the keyboard.

Motorola Droid 2 from Verizon WirelessI find that after just a day I can type pretty quickly and with few errors, but I have to constantly look down at my hands in order to be sure I’m hitting the right keys. Hopefully I’ll get better with more practice.

Other Buttons & Controls
The Power button on the top of the phone is very small and extremely unobtrusive. I’ve only had the phone for a day or so, but I’m already frustrated by how hard it is to hit that little button, because my finger can’t seem to find it and I usually have to stop and turn the phone up so that I can see the button and then punch it.

The volume buttons are on the top right edge of the phone and the camera is on the bottom right side. Just like the power button, they are rather small and hard to hit without looking.

I’m not terribly thrilled by the virtual buttons along the bottom of the display. They’re right above a ridge, where the phone gets slightly thinner, so my fingers tend to hit that edge instead of the button I’m aiming for.

I’m sure that some more time with this device will make it a little easier for me, but my first impression regarding the buttons is that they’re not quite big enough and distinct enough, and the virtual buttons are somewhat poorly placed.

PERFORMANCE

The Motorola Droid 2 is the very first smartphone to launch running Android OS 2,2, a new version of Google’s operating system. It’s based on a 1 GHz processor, a faster one than the original Motorola Droid uses.

My initial impressions regarding performance are mixed, due mainly to whether or not the task I’m trying to accomplish requires heavy Internet access. Using apps like the calendar and contacts, games I’ve downloaded from the Android Market, and similar apps offer responsive performance. It isn’t blow-your-socks-off fast, but it’s good.

Motorola Droid 2 from Verizon WirelessLaunch the web browser or email though, and you’re in for a wait. Web pages render very slowly, and the experience is rather painful when compared to the Droid 2’s slightly older cousin, the Droid Incredible. I usually have good Verizon network coverage at my office, so I’m not yet sure what the problem might be.

Wireless/Call quality
I’ve tried the wireless hotspot functionality, and I’m having some problems with it at the moment. The Droid 2 shows that my laptop is connected, and my laptop shows that it’s connected to the Droid 2, but for some reason I can’t do anything that requires network access, like checking my email or using Google Talk. I’m not sure at this point whether this is a random network issue or a serious problem with the device.

Initial reports on sound quality are somewhat mixed. When I called a fellow phone reviewer, he gave the Droid 2 a solid «B» and said that I sounded distant, and that he could definitely tell that I was on a mobile phone. I didn’t have any trouble hearing him, and everything came through loud and clear on my end.

When I called one of my friends, he asked if I was «outside on a busy street in a wind tunnel.» I didn’t have any trouble at all hearing him, but he had a hard time hearing me — and I was inside my extremely quiet office.

As always, it’s hard to judge whether there are actually call quality problems, or whether it’s a network issue. I’ll test the Droid 2 more thoroughly for the full review, but right now I’m not too impressed with overall sound quality.

Productivity
Like most Android OS phones these days, the Droid 2 comes with Calendar and Contacts applications, plus a calculator. The Quickoffice file viewer for Microsoft Office is also included. There is also the News RSS reader, as well as a News and Weather app that includes top headlines from several of the major outlets.

Motorola Droid 2 from Verizon WirelessThe included web browser works well, albeit quite slowly, as I mentioned earlier. The email experience on the Droid 2 is much like any other Android device, though it is noticeably slower than I expected. Both Google Maps and Verizon’s navigation are also included, and I’ll be testing both of them along with the other productivity apps on the Droid 2.

Entertainment
All of the usual suspects are here, from the Social Networking app and YouTube to the Music Player and a demo of Need for Speed Shift. The game played well, using Tilt controls, but the sound from the external speaker was disappointingly tinny and not very loud, even at full volume.

There are also some preloaded extras, such as the Amazon Kindle app, which was a nice surprise. Amazon MP3 was included, if you like to get your music downloads from Amazon.

Camera
I’ve taken only a few shots with the 5 megapixel camera, but I’m not very impressed at this point. Photos look somewhat grainy, and the quality on zoomed-in photos is even worse. The camera doesn’t focus until you press the shutter button, so it takes a while to capture a photo — I imagine it would be easy to miss a quick action shot.

I haven’t really given the camera a fair test yet, and I hope that my initial impressions are wrong.

Battery Life
I haven’t had the phone long enough to make a determination on battery life, so I’ll reserve judgment in this area until after a more lengthy test period.

CONCLUSION

I was excited to receive the Motorola Droid 2, but unfortunately that excitement hasn’t lasted. It is certainly not a bad phone, but it’s not a «wow» phone, at least at first glance.

I will test it more extensively over the next several days, so be sure to stay tuned to Brighthand for the full review.

It is currently available from AT&T for $130 with a new two-year contract and a minimum data plan of $15 per month or higher.

BUILD & DESIGN

The first thing you’ll notice when you pick up the HTC Aria is that it is tiny in comparison to most of the recent smartphones. It is significantly shorter and narrower than the HTC EVO 4G, and though it’s roughly the same size as my old LG Dare, it is much thinner. It is also very light, weighing in at just 4 ounces.

The back of the case is covered in a soft touch material that is comfortable to hold and helps to improve grip. The back does tend to get rather warm, especially when used for long periods such as catching up on the news with MobiTV. Once you stop using the phone for a while, it quickly cools down. The warmth is not uncomfortable or concerning, but it is noticeable.

HTC Aria from AT&TDisplay
The display on the HTC Aria is bright and vibrant, and even looks good outside. MobiTV looks great, with sharp images. I didn’t see any ghosting or pixelization issues during my testing, and I’m very pleased with the display overall.

It is significantly smaller than some of the other recent smartphones out there, so there is a some more scrolling involved in reading long emails or viewing web pages, but I didn’t find it to be annoying or frustrating. I did find myself using the device in landscape mode much of the time, but that could just be a personal preference — I prefer a widescreen view most of the time.

Keyboard
The Aria doesn’t have a physical keyboard. The virtual keyboard is well laid out, but it can be somewhat difficult to use since the screen on this device is relatively small.

I’ve found during my testing that the virtual keyboard works far better in landscape mode, which has the added bonus of allowing me to keep a better grip on the phone. I can use the keyboard in portrait mode, of course, and if I do I find that it is easier to use one thumb than to try and use two in «power texting» mode as I might on a larger device.

Other Buttons & Controls
The Power and Sleep/Wake button is on the top of this device, as is the standard headphone jack. The Volume Up/Down control is on the left side.

The Home, Menu, Back, and Search «buttons» are actually touch-sensitive areas on the front, just under the display. Below that you’ll find the optical joystick, which works pretty well, but seems a bit too responsive and «twitchy» for my taste. That’s ironic, considering that I have the cursor speed on my laptop cranked up as fast as it will go. I suspect that there might be a small issue here that may be fixed in a future firmware update.

I was concerned at first that the back cover of the phone could be difficult to remove, because each corner has a screw with a triangular head. Fortunately the fancy screws are more for show than for function, because the back cover of the phone is easily removed — just poke your fingernail in the depression on the top of the case and pull off the back.

Once you do that, you’ll find that the battery compartment is shocking yellow. The SIM card slot and microSD card slot are located just below the battery in the same compartment. The microSD card can be removed or swapped out without having to remove the battery.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz from AT&TThis model debuted in Europe earlier this year, but AT&T is going to be the first U.S. carrier to offer it. Exactly when this is going to happen is not yet known, but the Vivaz’s appearance on Sony Ericsson’s website is a clue that the release can’t be far off.

Overview of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz
This smartphone has a tablet shape with a 3,2 inch, HVGA touchscreen. It has a curved back that its maker says is going to be a feature of its future models.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz from AT&TIn its descriptions of this smartphone, Sony Ericsson emphasizes the camera — no surprise, as at 8,1 megapixels this has a higher resolution than virtually all other phones. In addition to hi-res images, it can record HD video.

This camera has additional features like face and smile detection, stabilization software, and a flash.

The Vivaz runs the Symbian operating system with the touch-enabled version of Nokia’s S60 as its user interface.

This comes with a suite of entertainment, communication, and navigation software, including a high-end web browser.

Wireless features of the AT&T version of the Vivaz are going to include support for this carrier’s 3G network, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a GPS receiver.

Also on the specifications list is a microSD memory card slot, FM radio, 3,5 mm audio jack,

Overall, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is 4,2 x 2,0 x 0,5 inches (107,0 x 52,0 x 12,5 mm) and 3,4 oz.

As a smartphone that attempted to focus on entertainment, the games, music and video playback, and high-quality camera certainly lived up to standards. Drawbacks include its uneven call quality and the fact that it is on the larger side when it comes to carrying the phone. Overall, the Droid X provides a very positive smartphone experience. Read the full Droid X review on BrightHand.com.

In a study that ended on June 28, 16,4% of respondents said they plan on buying a new smartphone over the next three months, the highest percentage on record since January of 2008, when ChangeWave first initiated its quarterly smartphone surveys. In contrast, only 10,8% said «yes» to that question on a ChangeWave study completed at the end of March.

Apple iPhone 4iPhone and Android Will Keep Dominating
Among consumers who are about to make a purchase, a total of 52% answered «Apple» when asked, «Who is the manufacturer of the smart phone you plan of buying?”

On that question, Apple made a huge leap from the March survey, when only 31% of those planning to buy a smartphone had decided on an iPhone, Apple, by the way, started delivering its next generation iPhone 4 smartphone at the end of June.

Meanwhile, Android OS phones also continue to bear a major impact on the market, according to the report. «HTC (8%, up 2 points) [with] its new Droid Incredible and EVO models [is] the biggest beneficiary,” said ChangeWave analysts Jean Crumrine and Paul Carton, in a publicly available free summary of the study.

Conversely, however, Motorola, maker of the Android OS-based Droid and new Droid X, dropped 7 points, from 16% in March to only 9% in June.

HTC Droid Incredible from VerizonBuying plans for RIM’s BlackBerry fell even further, from 14% in March to 6% in June.

For its part, Palm seems to have just about dropped off the map among prospective buyers, fading from a 3% score in March to 0% in June, also according to ChangeWave.

Samsung, LG, Sony-Ericsson Smartphones Not in the Chart
Yet not listed on the comparative chart for consumers’ smartphone buying plans are Samsung, LG, and Sony-Ericsson, all of which have introduced new Android OS phones in recent months. Although some of these phones — like the Samsung Captivate and Vibrant — were unveiled after the close of the June study, others — such as the LG Ally and Sony Xperia X8 — had already been announced.

Samsung’s Galaxy S is set to be sold in different flavors by at least six US carriers. The Galaxy S-based Epic 4G will compete on Sprint’s Wireless Network directly against HTC’s evo 4G.

Samsung Captivate from AT&TIt ChangeWave’s report does highlight the Droid X, first announced on June 28. «The recent unveiling of [Motorola’s] new Droid X device — featuring a 4,3-inch display, which the company believes is ideal for watching video (in contrast, the iPhone 4 only has a 3,5-inch display — suggests it’s determined to fight back to regain its Android leadership mantle,” wrote the two co-authors.

iPhone Owners the ‘Most Satisfied’
ChangeWave’s study also points to a correlation between customer satisfaction ratings and smartphone buying plans. In the study that closed at the end of June, Apple and HTC beat out Motorola, RIM, and all other cell phone makers in customer satisfaction, with 73% of current Apple iPhone users saying they were «very satisfied» with their phones and 39% of HTC phone users giving this response.

In comparison, the percentage of users «very satisfied» with their current phones amounted to 34% for Motorola, 34% for Palm, 31% for LG, and 30% for RIM.

Only 27% of current Samsung phone users said they were «very satisfied.» The same held true for merely 22% of Nokia phone uses and 20% of Sony-Ericsson phone users.

Do satisfaction Ratings Translate into Smartphone Sales?
«Customer satisfaction among existing customers helps explain much of the momentum shift in the smartphone market,” according to the report summary.

It’s probably also worthwhile to point out, however, that the customer satisfaction ratings were performed across all cell phones. Although Apple’s phone line-up that consists only of the iPhone smartphone, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and some of the other players ranked by respondents produce lower-end cell phones in addition to smartphones.

Consequently, it seems as though some owners of phones made by Apple competitors might have been voicing their satisfaction levels about feature phones, not smartphones, leading to an «Apple-to-oranges» comparison of customer satisfaction.

Also, if sales are indeed closely related to customer satisfaction, ChangeWave’s finding that zero percent of consumers plan to buy Palm phones over the next three months doesn’t seem to dovetail with the fact that Palm ranked higher than several other manufacturers on satisfaction.

Hewlett-Packard, however, unveiled plans to acquire Palm at the end of April, and HP hasn’t yet made any announcements about specific future smartphone products yet.