The Good: The Samsung SGH-T629 has a slim profile and a large screen. Features of the quadband phone include a Micro SD card slot, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a music player, and Bluetooth support.
The Bad: The Samsung SGH-T629 has very slippery keys, and the keypad is difficult to dial by feel. We also experienced spotty call quality.
The Bottom Line: The Samsung SGH-T629 is a great-looking, slim phone with a solid feature set, despite a few design flaws.
The Federal Communications Commission approved Apple Inc.’s iPhone, clearing the way for the combined phone and music player to hit the shelves. Apple expects to begin selling the phones in late June. Some of the FCC documents confirm a few features of the phone, including it will have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and will operate in the 1900MHz and 850MHz frequency bands. The phone uses GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology and the low-speed GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) wireless data standard.
Motorola showed Tuesday that it has no intention of abandoning its iconic RAZR brand, even though the popular wireless phone has become a weight on the company’s bottom line.
At a gathering in New York, the wireless-device maker lifted the wraps on a new, thinner RAZR that will hit the markets this summer — where it may compete against Apple’s much-anticipated iPhone.
“The RAZR is not just a product — it’s a brand,” Chief Executive Ed Zander said at the gathering, which was broadcast over the Web. “This is a brand we’ll continue to market for years to come.”
That stance shows the company’s loyalty to a product that has become one of the most popular wireless handsets on the market. By the end of this quarter, more than 100 million units will have shipped to date, Zander said.
But the RAZR has also featured prominently in the company’s recent troubles. Motorola slashed prices on the device last year to keep up its market share. As a result, consumers ignored the company’s higher-priced models such as the KRZR, which hurt its bottom line. And as the RAZR has become more ubiquitous, it has lost some of its appeal to more fashion-conscious consumers. Continue Reading »
The Good: The Samsung SGH-T519 Trace has a trendy design and offers Bluetooth, a speakerphone, a memory card slot, and world phone support. The screen is also impressively clear and crisp.
The Bad: The call volume on the Samsung SGH-T519 Trace is low, and photo quality is about average. The navigation toggle is hard to use and lacks voice dialing.
The Bottom Line: Though its performance could be improved a tad, the Samsung SGH-T519 Trace is an attractive thin phone with a nice assortment of features.
