It’s not often that we get to review a cell phone from a new company (at least, new to us). That’s why we requested to examine the Huawei M328 from MetroPCS. Though it’s hardly the flashiest phone around–it doesn’t even have a camera–we wanted to see what the Chinese company was all about. In fact, the M328 is perfectly suited for MetroPCS’s no-frills, no-hassle service. Though we had a few design complaints, it offers decent call quality and an easy-to-use interface. You can get it for just $79; that’s a fair price, given that MetroPCS does not make you sign a contract.

Design

The Huawei M328 doesn’t put on any design airs. The silver flip phone shows none of the design trends popular today: it’s not particularly thin, it doesn’t come in multiple colors, and it’s not a slider. It’s not unattractive, but it won’t stand out in a crowd either. At 4.54 inches by 1.77 inches by 0.7 inch and 3.2 ounces, it’s portable and lightweight, but we were divided on its long-term durability. The hinge is sturdy, but the plastic skin feels the tiniest bit cheap.

The M328s external display is a bit small (1.1-inch) and we weren’t crazy about the vertical orientation. Yet even so, it manages to be useful by showing the time, battery life, and signal strength. The display supports 65,000 colors, but you’re never able to put it to good use since the M328 doesn’t support photo caller ID. Just note that the display disappears when the backlighting is off. The backlighting time isn’t adjustable, but you can reactivate the screen by pressing the volume rocker. It’s also worth noting that the M328’s glossy front face attracts fingerprints and smudges.

On the left spine you’ll find the aforementioned volume rocker, and a proprietary charger port and a 2.5mm headset jack are located on the right spine. A small, round speaker sits in the lower-left corner of the front face.

The internal display measures 1.8 inches and supports 65,000 colors. Though it could be larger and the graphics could be sharper, it’s perfectly suited for this caliber of phone. You can change the backlighting time only. The icon-based menu interface is straightforward and intuitive; we had no issues finding the features we needed.

The navigation array is quite spacious with a tactile four-way toggle and central OK button. The other controls–which consist of two soft keys, a clear control, and the Talk and End/power buttons–are flush but we didn’t have any issues with misdials. We would prefer a dedicated speakerphone key, however.

The keypad buttons are a mixed bag. They’re flush with the surface of the phone, and we couldn’t help but notice they felt a tad flimsy. We could dial and text quickly, but we’re concerned about their long-term durability. The central row of keys is recessed, but the backlighting is dim and the numbers are too faint.

Features

The M328 has a 500-contact phone book with room in each entry for four phone numbers, an e-mail address, and notes. You can save callers to groups and pair them with one of 11 polyphonic ringtones. As mentioned previously, the phone does not support photo caller ID, but that’s a minor point on a phone without a camera.

Other features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, Web-based e-mail, a voice recorder, an alarm clock, a scheduler, a calculator, and a stopwatch. The M328 offers a respectable 4.8MB of internal shared memory.

You can personalize the M328 with a variety of banners and wallpaper. More options, and additional ringtones, are available from MetroPCS via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. You also can record your own ringtones and save them to callers. The M328 doesn’t offer any games, but MetroPCS offers an assortment of applications for download.

Performance

We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900; 1xRTT) Huawei M328 in San Francisco using MetroPCS service. Call quality was quite decent on the whole. We enjoyed a strong signal in urban areas with little static or interference. Voices sounded natural, though the volume was a tad low. We had to strain a bit to hear in noisy environments. On the other hand, while the speakerphone was quite loud, the audio was distorted at the highest levels. On their end, callers said we sounded fine. A few reported that the phone picks up background noise, but that was the extent of complaints.

The M328 has a rated battery life of 3.5 hours talk time and 8 days standby time. Our tests showed a longer talk time of 6 hours and 35 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the M328 has a digital SAR of 1.38 watts per kilogram.

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Despite the growing trend of smartphones in the country, AT&T has maintained its commitment to the messaging handset market, claiming that there’s a huge market for so-called “smartphone lite” devices. As part of this, AT&T has launched a number of what it calls “quick messaging phones,” one of which is the Pantech Pursuit. It’s Pantech’s first-ever touch-screen phone with a sliding keyboard, and we have to say, we’re impressed. Despite its toylike appearance, the Pursuit is quite sleek, with unique features like shake and gesture controls in addition to a solid set of multimedia offerings. The Pursuit is available for a very affordable $49.99 with a two-year service agreement, and we think it would make a great phone for a teenager or young adult.

Design

At first glance, the Pantech Pursuit looks a little bit like a Fisher-Price toy, or perhaps a grown-up version of the LG MiGo. Indeed, measuring 3.6 inches long by 2.5 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick, the Pursuit has an adorably chubby and compact design. Yet, the textured casing on the front bezel and the back cover makes the Pursuit feel a tad more grown up than that. It also feels nice and sturdy in the hand. The front surface is very reflective and shiny, so much so that you can use it as a mirror when the phone is on standby.

The front of the Pursuit is dominated by a 2.8-inch touch-screen display. The size of the screen is certainly smaller than most other touch-screen handsets, but we found it surprisingly usable. We absolutely love how colorful and crisp the screen looks, thanks to the 262,000-color support and the 320×240-pixel resolution. We like the clean and well-rendered text, and the choice of graphic icons and fonts is commendable. You can adjust the backlight time, the brightness, the menu theme, and the font style.

Like a lot of other touch-screen phones, you get three different home screens that you can flip through by swiping your finger to the left or right. Two of the Pursuit’s home screens are customizable–one for your favorite application shortcuts, and one for your favorite contacts. Along the bottom row of each of the Pursuit’s home screens are shortcuts to the phone dialer, the contacts list, the message in-box, and the main menu. The menu interface is quite extensive, with three pages of applications and functions by default.

The Pursuit has a resistive display, so you do need to apply a bit more pressure in order for your touch to register. Still, we found it surprisingly responsive–it takes less than a second for the screen to react. You can also go through a touch calibration wizard to improve your accuracy, and the Pursuit offers haptic vibration feedback as well.

The phone dialer is as you might expect–it offers a large virtual keypad with big digits that are easy enough to press. As for text-messaging, you can opt for either a virtual keyboard or Graffiti handwriting recognition, but we would rather use the physical keyboard for faster typing. The Pursuit also has a Drawing Commander application that will let you launch certain applications or functions based on certain Graffiti-like finger gestures. For example, you can map “a” for the Address book and “m” for the music player. We didn’t find this that helpful, but your mileage may vary.

Aside from the touch screen, the Pursuit also has an accelerometer and a unique “shake” control that you can configure for a number of different functions. You trigger it by pressing a multitasking button on the side and then shaking the phone once, twice, or three times–the number of shakes corresponds to a user-defined function. For example, you can map one shake to launch the music player, and two shakes to launch the browser. We admit it’s a little gimmicky, but we do think it has genuine practical use. We especially like it for snoozing the alarm clock, for example.

Underneath the display are touch-sensitive keys for the Send, Clear, and End keys. We generally prefer physical keys when it comes to these oft-used buttons, especially since there’s a danger of accidentally making or ending a call. On the left spine are the microSD card slot and the volume rocker while the headset/charger jack, the aforementioned multitasking key, power/screen lock key, and dedicated camera key are on the right. If you hold down the multitasking key, you’ll be presented with a pop-up box of open applications plus a task manager. The camera lens is on the back.

The display slides to the right to reveal a full four-row QWERTY keyboard. The sliding mechanism feels smooth and locks securely into place. The keyboard seems deceptively diminutive at first glance, but it’s actually quite spacious thanks to the large keys. The keys are distinctly delineated from each other, and the raised bubblelike feel of the keys make it easy to quickly type out a message. Indeed, the keyboard on the Pursuit is possibly one of our favorites of the year.

Features

The Pantech Pursuit has a 600-entry phone book with room in each entry for six numbers, three e-mail addresses, a company name, a messenger user name, a Web address, three street addresses, a birthdate, an anniversary date, and a note. You can also add a photo for caller ID, assign a contact to a caller group, configure a speed-dial number, and pair him or her with a custom ringtone–you have eight default ringtones and eight alert tones to choose from.

Basic features include vibrate mode, a speakerphone, an alarm clock, a calendar, a world clock, a calculator, a tip calculator, a unit converter, a stopwatch, and a timer. You also get voice command, a voice memo recorder, a sketchpad, Bluetooth, and GPS with AT&T Navigator support. As we hinted above, the Pursuit also has the ability to multitask among open apps. However, you can have only up to three open apps at any one time.

As with the Pantech Link, the Pursuit is blessed with the att.net HTML browser, which is based on Opera. You can indeed view full HTML pages with the browser, but the small screen size does mean you won’t get a true Web experience. You can read more about this browser in our review of the Pantech Reveal.

The Pursuit also offers support for AT&T’s new cloud services like AT&T Address Book, which lets you store messages and contacts in the cloud, and AT&T Online Locker, where you can store photos and videos in the cloud as well. You can also transfer them to popular online photo sharing sites like Photobucket via AT&T’s MobileShare. Note that you only get 250MB of online storage, and the file transfer isn’t free–it’s around 35 cents per transfer, or $10 for 50 transfers. There’s a 10MB file size cap as well.

AT&T is clearly thinking of the Pursuit as a youth-friendly device, as they also introduced several social networking features in the phone. There’s AT&T SocialNet, which acts as a hub for all the popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter. If you’re a Facebook or MySpace fan, however, you might want to opt for the dedicated apps for those two services also available on the Pursuit.

The Pursuit is billed as a messaging phone, so you’ll get the whole range of messaging features like text and multimedia messaging, instant messaging, and mobile e-mail. To get mobile e-mail, you need to launch a Web-connected app, and after that you can configure it to get email from several web mail providers like Yahoo and Windows Live, in addition to your own POP or IMAP servers.

Since the Pursuit has 3G, this gives it access to AT&T’s array of broadband services. They include Mobile Video and Mobile Music. The latter acts as a music one-stop-shop with features like XM Radio Mobile, a song ID app called Shazam, a ringtone creator, music videos, and access to music fan sites. You can also purchase and download music over the air from Napster or eMusic for around $1 per song. The music player on the Pursuit is decent–you get the typical playlist creation tool as well as repeat and shuffle mode. You can store music via a microSD card–the Pursuit supports up to 16GB cards.

The 2.0-megapixel camera on the Pursuit can take pictures in three resolutions, and three quality settings. Other camera settings include a self-timer, color effects, white balance, geotagging, plus timer and shutter sounds. The camera also has six special-effect modes–normal, smile detection, self-portrait mode (it’ll beep once it detects your face), blink detection, face detection, and panorama stitching. Photo quality is actually surprisingly good for a 2.0-megapixel camera. The images look crisp overall and though the colors are a little blue for our liking, it’s still quite good. The Pursuit has a built-in camcorder as well, which can shoot in either 176×144- or 320×240-pixel resolution, and you can also stream live one-way video via AT&T’s Video Share.

Thanks to the AT&T AppCenter, you can easily customize the Pursuit with a variety of graphics, ringtones, games, and apps. The phone comes with a few by default–YPMobile (Yellow Pages), Where, AT&T FamilyMap locator, MobiTV, AllSport GPS, My-Cast Weather, Mobile Banking, FunScreenz, PicDial, Hip Hop Official, Movies Powered by IMDB, Tetris, Diner Dash Flo, Bubble Bash 2, TextTwist 2, and Rolling with Katamari Damacy.

Performance

We tested the Pantech Pursuit in San Francisco using the AT&T Wireless. Call quality was above average, but nothing spectacular. On our end, we heard our callers very clearly, but the experience was slightly marred by the occasional static blip and hiss.

On their end, callers said they could hear us loud and clear–unfortunately they could hear a lot of background noise as well. They reported quite a lot of echo, even in a relatively quiet office environment. Voice quality sounded harsh as well. Fortunately, speakerphone quality wasn’t too bad–they said it was similar to when we were not on the speakerphone.

Music playback quality over the phone’s tinny speakers isn’t the best, but it’s loud enough for occasional use. We tested it with the MotoRokr S9 HD stereo Bluetooth headphones, which sounded a lot better.

We experienced pretty good 3G speeds with the Pursuit. We downloaded a 1.6 MB song in 40 seconds and loaded CNET’s mobile page in around 24 seconds. Streaming video didn’t take too much buffering either.

The Pursuit has a tested talk time of 5 hours and 35 minutes. We don’t yet know the SAR for the Pursuit, but we’ll update this review with that information shortly.

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Pantech is no stranger to the sliding QWERTY phone, from the dual-slider Helio Ocean to the recent single-slider Pantech Reveal. But with its latest messaging handset, Pantech went for a flip shape similar to that of the LG enV3. It has an external keypad, dual displays, and a full QWERTY keyboard. Unlike the enV3, though, the Impact has a very impressive OLED touch-sensitive exterior. Aside from its unique style, the Impact has a good feature set that includes 3G, GPS, and an HTML mobile browser based on Opera. The Pantech Impact is available for $99.99, after a mail-in rebate and a two-year agreement, from AT&T Wireless.

Design

Though the Pantech Impact has a flip shape much like the LG enV3, it has a style all its own. Measuring 4.19 inches long by 2.04 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick, the Impact is much thicker and rounder. It weighs 4.49 ounces, so it’s quite a bit heavier, as well. The Impact’s patterned border and a silver chrome edge gives the phone a jewel-like look, especially when the OLED display is brought to life. When left idle, the front of the phone goes dark, leaving only a shiny black surface that’s prone to fingerprint smudges.

When awakened however, it looks quite stunning. The tiny 1.5-inch external display lights up, showing the signal strength, battery life, and date and time information. Even though it is monochrome, the white and gray text stands out and is positively luminous against the black background. The same goes for the touch-sensitive keypad, which glows pink or blue depending on the color of the phone.

You only have limited access to the menu from the external display. You can get to your address book, the messaging menu, the recent calls list, and the music player, and, of course, you can make and receive calls, but that’s about it. There’s no camera viewfinder or photo caller ID, because of the monochrome display.

Even though the keys are completely flat, they do have haptic feedback when pressed. You can adjust the sensitivity level and vibration strength of the keys. The navigation controls consist of two soft keys, an up-and-down toggle, the Talk and End keys, and the alphanumeric keypad. In standby mode, the up arrow is a shortcut to a new text message, while the down arrow is a shortcut to the address book. We found the keys to be quite responsive, but we did find the keypad a bit too cramped for our taste. You can type out text messages with the keypad if you wish, but we much prefer using the QWERTY keyboard for that.

The phone flips open from the right to reveal the aforementioned keyboard and a 2.6-inch internal display. It supports 262,000 colors and 240×400 pixels, which results in sharp and colorful graphics. You can adjust the menu style, the color theme, the style and size of the font, the brightness, the backlight timer, and the fade transition effect between the home screen and the menu. On either side of the display are stereo speakers hidden beneath a mirrored surface.

Underneath the display are a camera button, two soft keys, the Talk button, a middle Select key, and the End/Power button. The Select key also doubles as a Web browser shortcut on standby. On the far right of the keyboard is a circular toggle with a middle OK key. In standby mode, the toggle acts as shortcuts to a new text message, instant messaging, the address book, and mobile e-mail.
The QWERTY keyboard is raised above the surface and the keys are well-spaced, but it does feel a little crowded when typing. It also feels off-balance because the circular toggle on the right aligns the keyboard to the left. We did like the dedicated instant-messaging key, the .com key, and the big middle space bar.

On top of the phone is the headset/charger jack; the microSD card slot is on the bottom; and on the right spine are the keypad hold key and the volume rocker. On the back is the camera lens. We found it a little difficult to take photos due to the position of the lens; our fingers kept covering it up while trying to take a picture. Also, you can only take pictures with the phone open.

Features

The Pantech Impact has a 1,000-entry phone book with room in each entry for five numbers, two e-mail addresses, a street address, a Web URL, and a memo. You can categorize your contacts into caller groups, pair a photo for caller ID (though bear in mind the external display won’t show it), one of eight polyphonic ringtones, or one of eight alert tones. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, an alarm clock, a calendar, a notepad, a voice memo recorder, a world clock, a calculator, a tip calculator, a unit converter, a stop watch, and a timer. There’s also a speakerphone, which automatically turns on when you flip open the phone while on a call.

If you’re a bit more tech savvy, you’ll appreciate the GPS with AT&T Navigator’s turn-by-turn directions, stereo Bluetooth, and an array of messaging options. You get text and multimedia messaging, plus instant messaging (AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, and Windows Live), and mobile e-mail with support for a variety of Web e-mail services like Gmail and Yahoo, plus any provider with POP and IMAP access.

A particularly noteworthy feature is the HTML Web browser, which is based on Opera. You get three welcome screens (there’s a main one as well as two just for Local and Popular links), the capability to view the mobile or full desktop version of a Web page, a full-screen view, and the capability to zoom in and out of Web pages easily with the volume rocker. You can even log on to your AT&T account and send bookmarks to your phone via the “Send to Mobile” feature. However, you do need to keep going back to a dedicated screen just to enter a URL, and you only get two zoom settings. You can read our review of the Pantech Reveal to get a more detailed description of the browser.

Since the Impact has 3G support, it also has access to AT&T’s array of broadband services like AT&T Cellular Video, AT&T Video Share, and AT&T Mobile Music. Included with the Mobile Music application is a song ID service, XM Radio Mobile, and a music fan forum. There’s also a store from which you can purchase and download songs from Napster and eMusic directly to the phone. Each song is $1.99, and that price includes a download to the PC.

The music player on the Impact is nothing we haven’t seen before. The Interface is very simple and the songs are arranged by artists, albums, and genres. Settings include repeat and shuffle, and you can create and edit your own playlists. The player interface has the album art in the middle and the player controls along the bottom. The Impact supports MP3, AAC, eAAC+, AMR, and MIDI files. There’s an internal memory of 80MB, but the Impact is capable of storing up to 32GB of additional storage in the form of a microSD card.

The 2.0-megapixel camera can take pictures in five resolutions (1600×1200, 1,280×1024, 1024×768, 640×480, 320×240), and three quality settings. Other settings include a self-timer, four white balance presets, four color effects, and options for a shutter sound and a timer sound. Photo quality was mediocre. Even though pictures looked quite sharp, the colors looked dull and overcast. You get a video camera, which can record in three resolutions (176×144 (MMS), 176×144, and 320×240). There’s also the aforementioned Video Share mode, which you can use to send one-way live video to anyone with a compatible phone.

You can personalize the Impact with wallpaper, graphics, and alert tones. You can use your own pictures or sounds, or you can download more from AT&T’s MediaMall store. The Impact also comes with a few games and applications, like MobiTV, My-Cast Weather, WikiMobile, Mobile Banking, AT&T Social Net, Loopt, Tetris, Uno, Ms. Pac-Man, and Diner Dash 2. You can get more of those from AT&T’s AppStore.

Performance

We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE, UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900Mhz) Pantech Impact in San Francisco using AT&T Wireless. Call quality was quite good on the whole. On our end, we heard our callers very clearly without any distortion. There was a bit of background noise, but it wasn’t distracting. Voice quality was good and natural.

On their end, callers reported similarly good call quality. They did report some background noise especially when we were outside, but it was minimal. They said our voice sounded natural and volume was loud enough. Speakerphone calls were good, as well, though callers said our voice did have a bit more echo in that mode.

The stereo speakers on the Impact sounded better than the mono speakers found on most phones, but the sound was still rather tinny. We definitely would use a headset for better audio quality.

We were pleased with the 3G speeds on the Impact. We managed to load a full HTML Web page like CNET’s home page in around 20 seconds, and we downloaded a 1.5MB song in just 40 seconds. We streamed video from AT&T’s Cellular Video with little buffering time. Video quality did seem a bit pixelated.

The Pantech Impact has a rated battery life of 5 hours talk time and 14 days standby time. We had a rather disappointing talk time of 3 hours and 40 minutes. According to the FCC, it has a digital SAR of 0.72 watt per kilogram.

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Though Chinese manufacturer ZTE has grown by leaps and bounds over the last couple of years, it still has a small presence in the United States. Its phones are available only at regional carrier MetroPCS, and even then you’re limited to relatively low-end models. In the last year, we’ve reviewed the ZTE C79 and the C88 and we now turn our attention to C78. Sporting a candy-bar design in a unique purple hue (purple phones are in, by the way), the C78 offers mid-range features with decent call quality. At $119, it’s on the pricey side, but keep in mind that MetroPCS doesn’t require service contracts.

Design

The C78 has a standard, candy-bar design. Apart from a ribbed surface on the rear face and the aforementioned purple color, there’s not much you can say about its appearance. At 4.3 inches tall by 1.9 inches wide by 0.55 inch thick and weighing 3.5 ounces, it’s compact and lightweight, but it has a solid feeling in the hand.

The 2-inch display supports 262,000 colors and 220×176 pixels. Colors were bright, but graphics looked a tad fuzzy. Only the backlight time, the font size, and the clock style are adjustable. The menus are simple and easy to use; you can choose from icon or list styles.
The navigation array is spacious and tactile. There is a four-way toggle and a central OK button, two soft keys, a dedicated speakerphone control (nice!), a back button, and the Talk and End/power keys. The backlit keypad has a similar design. The individual buttons are relatively large and are raised above the surface of the phone. We had no problems dialing or texting quickly. Users with visual impairments may find that the letters on the keys are a bit small, so we suggest giving the C78 a test drive before buying.

The C78’s volume rocker sits on the left spine below the 2.5mm headset jack. Over on the right spine you’ll find the Mini-USB charger port and a dedicated camera button. The camera lens sits on the top end of the phone’s rear side. Take care not to cover it with your finger when snapping pictures.

Features

The C78’s phone book holds 500 contacts with room in each entry for four phone numbers, an e-mail address, and notes. You can save contacts to groups and you can pair them with one of 21 polyphonic ringtones. Unfortunately, the C78 does not support photo caller ID.

Basic features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a speakerphone, a calculator, an alarm clock, a calendar, a tip calculator, and a world clock. The C78 also packs in a few higher-end features. Stereo Bluetooth is a big plus, and you’ll also find Web-based POP3 e-mail, instant messaging, and a very basic MP3 player.

The VGA camera takes pictures in four resolutions, from 640×480 pixels down to 160×120 pixels. You also get adjustable brightness and contrast levels, a digital zoom, two color effects, three image-quality settings, a self-timer, five white-balance settings, and two shutter sounds, plus a silent option. Photo quality is about what you’d expect from a VGA camera. Colors were muted and images had a lot of noise. On the upside, the C78 offers a respectable 60MB of user-accessible memory.

You can personalize the C78 with a banner and your choice of wallpaper and ringtones. More options, and additional ringtones, are available from MetroPCS’s MetroWEB service. The C78 comes with one Sudoku game, but you can always buy more titles.

Performance

We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) ZTE C78 in San Francisco using MetroPCS service. Call quality was decent overall, with a clear signal and little static and interference. Voices sounded a tad robotic, but it wasn’t too bothersome. On the other hand, the volume was too low; we had trouble hearing in noisy situations.

On their end, callers said we sounded fine for the most part. They could tell we were using a cell phone, but they didn’t notice the robotic effect that we heard. Yet, they also reported a low volume and a couple of our friends said that the C78 picked up a lot of background noise. Speakerphone calls were fine: audio quality was a bit muffled, but the volume level was loud.

The C78 has a rated battery life of 3.7 hours talk time and 7.5 days standby time. It has a decent tested talk time of 5 hours and 56 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests the C78 has a digital SAR of 0.994 watt per kilogram.

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Design

The ZTE C88’s design is nothing new. With its wide and slim flip-phone look, the C88 looks a lot like all the other skinny Razr clones we’ve seen in the past few years. Measuring 3.9 inches long by 1.9 inches wide by 0.66 inch thick, the C88 is flat all the way around and is thin enough to fit comfortably in a back or shirt pocket. And at less than 3.5 ounces, it won’t weigh you down, either. The hinge mechanism felt solid as we were opening and closing the phone, and the phone itself fits comfortably in the hand.

Like with most flip phones, we’re glad to see a 1-inch diagonal external display on the C88. It is a color display, but unfortunately it can neither be used as a camera viewfinder nor as photo caller ID, which we think is a shame. It does display the usual date, time, status, and battery information, though, as well as regular caller ID. Above the display is the camera lens, but there’s no flash or self-portrait mirror, which is a double shame since you can’t use the external display as a viewfinder. A dedicated camera key plus the volume rocker sits on the left spine and the charger jack is on the right.

Flip open the phone and you’ll find a 2-inch-wide 262,000-color display. Though images were saturated with color, we would’ve preferred a sharper look. We also weren’t fans of the blue-washed default menu screen. You can adjust the backlighting time, the menu style, the clock format, the dialing font size, as well as the wallpaper.

Underneath the display is the C88’s navigation array, which consists of two soft keys, a square toggle with middle OK button, a speakerphone key, a Back key, plus the Talk and End/Power buttons. The toggle also doubles as shortcuts to the contacts list, MetroPCS’s @metro download portal, the messaging menu, as well as the Web browser. The whole keypad, including the navigation array, felt quite flush to the surface of the phone, with only the tiniest of grid lines for tactile difference. The two soft keys and side controls of the navigation array felt especially crowded. We definitely wouldn’t recommend dialing by feel because of that.

Features

The ZTE C88 is middle-of-the-road as far as features go. It doesn’t have EV-DO, so you won’t find any high-end video or music services, but you do get a few multimedia features as well as the basics. The C88 comes with a 500-entry contacts list, with room in each entry for four numbers, an e-mail address, and notes. You can organize contacts into caller groups and pair them with one of 20 (72-chord) polyphonic ringtones. Other basic features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calculator, an alarm clock, a calendar, a tip calculator, a world clock, and a voice memo recorder. On the higher end, there’s also stereo Bluetooth and a voice-command function. However, do note that you can only use the voice dialing if you already have contacts listed in the phone–we were not able to voice dial a number that wasn’t in the phone book, for example.

The music player on the C88 is pretty bare-bones–all you can do is play/pause, mute/unmute, and play it on loop/normal. The C88’s camera isn’t too advanced either, with a VGA camera instead of a higher quality megapixel. You can take pictures in four resolutions (640×480, 320×240, 176×144, and 160×120), three quality settings, five white-balance presets, and three color effects. Other camera options include a self-timer, three shutter sounds (including a silent option), brightness and contrast settings, plus up to 5x zoom. As far as VGA cameras go, the picture quality wasn’t too bad. Images were saturated with color, and colors seemed true to life. That said, the VGA camera resulted in horribly blurry and pixelated photos, and suffered badly under low light conditions. The C88 comes with a healthy 59MB of internal storage, which is good enough for the C88’s low multimedia needs.

You can personalize the C88 with a selection of wallpaper and ringtones, many of which are available from MetroPCS’s @metro data services portal. The C88 comes with Sudoku, but you can always download more games from @metro, as well.

Performance

We tested the dual-mode (CDMA 850/1900) ZTE C88 in San Francisco using the MetroPCS service. Call quality was excellent–callers thought we were calling from a landline, and we too heard them loud and clear. Voices sounded natural with plenty of volume. Speakerphone calls didn’t fare so well, though–sound quality was tinny and callers often had to ask us to speak up. We successfully paired the C88 with the Jabra BT8040 Bluetooth headset, and made and answered calls just fine.

As was our experience with the speakerphone, sound quality from the phone’s speakers was predictably tinny and hollow, with little to no bass. The sound quality streamed over to the headset was much better, however. The C88 has a rated battery life of 3.3 hours talk time and 5 days standby time. We managed to get a tested talk time of 3 hours and 2 minutes. According to the FCC radiation tests, it has an SAR rating of 1.17 watts per kilogram.

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Unless you’re a MetroPCS customer, it’s likely you haven’t yet heard of ZTE in the United States. Until the Chinese manufacturer launched the ZTE Salute with Verizon Wireless, it had never cracked the U.S. market with a top-tier carrier. The basic tools and lackluster display won’t make the entry-level Salute a memorable debut effort, but the slider phone’s interesting design details and budget price make it a redeeming value. If you’re entering a new two-year agreement, you can pick it up for $19.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate either online or at Verizon Wireless stores.

Design

The Salute stands to attention at 3.94 inches tall, 2 inches wide, and 0.54 inch thick. It’s a little fat in the hand and pocket, but comfortable on the ear. The Salute easily fits into a purse or bag, and at 3.53 ounces it has a heft in line with that of a smartphone.

An attractive handset, the Salute sports a glossy black face with matte silver accents, black and silver sides, and a silver backing. The 2.4-inch QVGA (320 x 240-pixel) screen supports 65,000 colors. Navigation is straightforward, but unfortunately, the Menu screen looks dull and fuzzy around the edges.

Below the screen are two triangular soft keys, a circular navigation array with central select button, and the Talk and End keys. At the very bottom is a Clear key. Slide up the phone to reveal an alphanumeric keypad. The keys are slightly raised above the surface, but on the whole feel fairly flat.

The dedicated camera button and 2.5 millimeter headset jack are on the right spine, while the volume rocker, speakerphone button, and Micro-USB charger port are on the left. A 1.3 megapixel camera and accompanying vanity mirror are on the back. We appreciate ZTE’s attention to detail, which shows up in the Salute’s rounded corners and visually interesting angles and textures on the spines, dialpad, and phone face.

Features

The Salute has a small 500-person phone book with room for five phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, a street address, and a note. There’s also space for an instant-messaging screen name, a picture pairing, and calling groups. You can also choose to pair a contact to one of the Salute’s 25 polyphonic ringtones. The phone also has a silent mode.

A full complement of basic tools resides on the Salute, including a calculator, a tip calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock, a stop watch, a world clock, and a notepad. Slightly more sophisticated are the Verizon voice commands (powered by Nuance), Bluetooth 2.0, and assisted GPS. Verizon’s VZ Navigator is a convenient feature for those who sign up for the $9.99-per-month subscription.

The Salute’s WAP browser is accessible through the Media Center or Settings menu. Internet isn’t very speedy over 2.5G; it took about 35 seconds to load CNET’s mobile-optimized site. You can also download AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo instant-messaging apps.

The Salute’s 1.3 megapixel camera isn’t going to replace your digital camera, at least not if you enjoy crisp images. The Salute produced a high percentage of overexposed and blurry photos. You’ll need to be stock-still to get sharp edges, and you may want to dive into the camera settings to improve image quality. The Salute has four resolutions (1,280×960; 640×480; 320×240; 160×120), six white balance options, four color effects, four self-timer modes, and four shutter sounds. You can send a photo via text or Bluetooth and save it as your wallpaper or assign it to a contact. There’s 62MB of internal memory for storing photos and other media.

On the customization front are the multiple portals to the Verizon store, which sells games, ringtones, and wallpaper art.

Performance

We tested the CDMA (800/1900) ZTE Salute in San Francisco on the Verizon Wireless network. We experienced so-so voice quality. We noticed a fuzzy quality to voices, with indistinct edges and a slight echo, but we didn’t experience breaking up or background noise. On their end, callers sometimes found us difficult to understand and noted that our words tended to run together. There was no static, however, and volume was strong; most of the time we didn’t have any problem carrying on a conversation.

Speakerphone quality is rarely impressive, and indeed, the Salute’s speakerphone sounded typically distant and often produced echoes. Callers seconded the impression of distance.

The ZTE Salute has a rated battery life of 4 hours talk time and 9.16 days of standby. FCC tests measure a digital SAR of 1.52 watts per kilogram.

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Pros: Truly the most beautiful cellphone ever. Makes the Vertu and Arte look dowdy. Easy to use, comfortable to hold, brilliant design.

Cons: Odds are you can walk into any T-Mo, Sprint, ATT or Verizon store and pick a phone with better features…and it would be free with a two year commitment.

Motorola thumbed its nose at the shaky economy Tuesday when it introduced a high-end luxury cell phone called the Aura. Sporting a swivel design reminiscent of the Motorola V70 (now there’s a blast from the past), the Aura features a range of unique and posh design touches.

The display supports 16 million colors and a 300dpi resolution; the skin is stainless steel and shows a textured pattern (it takes two weeks to make sculpt, etch, and polish says Moto!); the lens is made from 1.62-carat sapphire crystal; the gears are tungsten carbide coated; the finish has a mirror polish that’s used on luxury watches; the keypad is aluminum; and the swivel mechanism is custom engineered with 130 precision ball bearings made by the Swiss. Now that’s a lot of bling.

The Aura’s features aren’t nearly as impressive. Inside, you’ll find a 2-megapixel camera, 2GB of user-accessible memory, a music player, stereo Bluetooth, quad-band GSM support, Moto’s CrystalTalk feature, messaging, e-mail, a speakerphone, and an open-source browser. The Aura will be available in an unlocked version starting December 4. So if you’re looking for a stocking stuffer, you can pre-order now for just $1,999. Now there’s a bargain.

Summary: Let’s face it, you buy this phone for two reasons: to make a statement and because you can. But if you can justify the cost and want a perfectly built cellphone, this is the one to get.

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One of the more popular smartphones of 2007 was the Samsung BlackJack, and it’s not hard to see why. It offered solid messaging capabilities, 3G support, and good call quality, all wrapped up into one attractive and sleek package. However, the love affair was ruined for some after numerous battery drain issues, which subsequently led to Samsung shipping the BlackJack with an extended battery. Well, now the BlackJack’s successor is out, and it takes care of that issue and then some.

The Samsung BlackJack II not only features a revamped design that includes a slightly larger screen and a better keyboard, but there’s been work done under the hood to solve some of the performance issues of the past: more memory, a faster processor, and a larger battery. And let’s not forget to mention the added GPS, Windows Mobile 6 upgrade, and 2-megapixel camera.

It’s not perfect, though; the new front jog wheel may be a sticking point for some, and we ran into some sync problems. In all, we don’t think there’s anything too compelling for current BlackJack owners to make the switch. However, if you’re eligible for an upgrade or are looking to purchase a sleek messaging smartphone, the Samsung BlackJack II is definitely a worthy choice, especially at its wallet-friendly price of $149.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates. It’s available through AT&T now and comes in black or burgundy (the burgundy version will be available in mid-December).

Design

Whether you’re new to the BlackJack or a previous/current owner, the Samsung BlackJack II is sure to draw some oohs and ahhs, as we’ve already witnessed during our review period. The two available models are striking for different reasons: the black version has a lacquered finish that makes it eye-catching, while the burgundy color is just plain sexy and unlike any other. There’s another difference between the two devices, besides just the color. The burgundy BlackJack has a textured finish on the back that makes the phone easy to grip, while the black version does not, so it’s somewhat slick and prone to smudges, but that’s not a deal breaker.

The BlackJack II is slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor, but not so much that we found it to be bulky. Plus, the bigger size is for a good reason, as the extra depth allows for a larger-capacity battery. It measures 4.4 inches high by 2.3 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep, and it weighs 4 ounces (compared with 4.4 inches by 2.3 inches by 0.4 inch; 3.5 ounces). It is still one of the sleekest full-QWERTY smartphones on the market today–certainly more compact than AT&T’s other messaging-centric device, the Motorola Q9h. It’s comfortable to use as a phone and a messaging device, and while having a more PDA-like design, it’s still possible to slip it into a pants pocket.

On front, there’s a marginally larger 2.4-inch diagonal (versus 2.25 inches) TFT non-touch screen with a 65,536-color output and a 320×240-pixel resolution. Text and images looked sharp and vibrant, and as with other Windows Mobile devices, you can change the Home screen’s theme, background image, and menu style.

Below the display, you’ll find a revamped navigation array and full QWERTY keyboard. You still get two soft keys, Talk and End buttons, a Home screen shortcut, and a back button. Besides these functions, each button can perform other tasks when you hold it down for a longer period. For example, with a long press of the Talk key, you can activate the speakerphone, or you can lock your device with the End button.

There’s also the typical navigation toggle with a center select key, but there’s a twist this time. In addition to being able to press it up, down, left, and right, it also doubles as jog wheel so you can spin it clockwise or counterclockwise to scroll through the various menu items. This has replaced the jog dial that was found on the right side of its predecessor, and it drew mixed feelings.

We surveyed a handful of current BlackJack owners, and the initial reaction was always similar–usually an, “oh, cool”–but after spending a few minutes with it, about half said they still preferred the side-mounted wheel, and I felt the same way. I thought the BlackJack II’s jog wheel was too loose and wasn’t responsive enough (requiring a lot of extra spinning), so I rarely used the wheel mechanism and chose to use the toggle in the more traditional method. Like the BlackBerry Pearl’s SureType keyboard, I suspect this is one of those features you’re either going to like or hate.

The full QWERTY keyboard features some nice improvements. First, the number keys are now clustered together instead of being separated by a column of letters. Also, the bottom row of buttons now has a number of new quick-launch keys, including shortcuts to the Web, AT&T Video, the camera, and your messages. The one-touch access is extremely convenient, since you don’t have to dig through the menus to perform a single task.

The right side has a microSD expansion slot, and the left spine is home to the volume rocker and the connector/headset port. However, instead of a mini USB port or a 2.5mm or 3.5mm headset jack, the BlackJack II uses Samsung’s proprietary connector, which is annoying and restrictive. It would have been nice if at least a 3.5mm headset adapter was thrown in as part of the sales package, but for now, you have to purchase this as an optional accessory. Finally, there’s a Power button on top of the unit, and the camera lens and self-portrait mirror are on the backside.

AT&T packages the Samsung BlackJack II with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a Getting Started CD, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.

Features

There’s nothing revolutionary about the Samsung BlackJack II, but there are some welcome additions. To start, the smartphone now runs the latest Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition, so you now get the full Microsoft Office Mobile Suite. If you’ll recall, Windows Mobile 5 devices typically came installed with the Picsel Viewer Suite for opening and viewing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, but with Version 6, you can now edit these files, as well. Just be aware that the editing capabilities are pretty light, and you can’t create documents like you can on the Motorola Q9h, which comes with DataViz’s Documents to Go. For more information on the features of the operating system, please read our full review of Windows Mobile 6.

Other productivity tools include a PDF viewer, an RSS reader, a voice recorder, a notepad, a calculator, and a measurement converter. There’s also a Task Manager so you can optimize memory usage and the smartphone’s performance. For the record, the BlackJack II includes more onboard memory than its predecessor, with 128MB RAM and 256MB ROM (compared with 64MB RAM/128MB ROM). The microSD expansion slot also supports up to 4GB cards.

For messaging, the BlackJack II ships with Microsoft’s Direct Push technology, so you get real-time e-mail delivery and automatic synchronization with your Outlook calendar, tasks, and contacts via Exchange Server. There’s support for other e-mail solutions, such as Good Mobile Messaging and AT&T Xpress Mail, and there is continued compatibility for POP3 and IMAP accounts. As part of the Windows Mobile 6 upgrade, you can also view HTML-formatted e-mails and more easily search your Outlook in-box. And good news for instant-messaging fans, as the device comes preloaded with AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger clients.

We set up a review unit to access our Gmail account, and after a simple process of entering our username and password, the BlackJack II downloaded all our messages and retrieved new e-mail every 15 minutes. We also used the included USB cable to synchronize the BlackJack with our PC but ran into some connection problems with ActiveSync. We talked to Samsung, which identified it as an Outlook connection error, so we had to remove our installed copy of ActiveSync v4.5, perform a Detect and Repair process in Outlook, and then reinstall ActiveSync, which solved the problem.

Voice features are pretty standard. The quad-band BlackJack II offers world-roaming capabilities, a speakerphone, speed dialing, three-way calling, conference calling, and text and multimedia messaging. It’s also the carrier’s first smartphone to support AT&T’s Video Share service, which allows you to make video calls. (Plans for Video Share start at $4.99 per month for 25 minutes.)

Unfortunately, there are no voice dialing capabilities. The address book is limited only by available memory (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts), and each entry can accommodate up to 12 numbers, several e-mail addresses, IM handles, job titles, and additional details. For caller ID, you can assign a contact a photo, a group ID, or one of 27 polyphonic ringtones.

Like the first BlackJack, the BlackJack II continues to work on AT&T’s HSDPA network for a broadband-like connection on your mobile device. HSDPA has the potential to transmit data at up to 14.4mbps, but you’ll most likely average speeds of around 400kbps to 700kbps. Still, we’re talking about some pretty darn fast Web surfing and downloads.

In addition, you can use the 3.5G speeds to enjoy streaming music and video via AT&T Music and AT&T Video. These add-on services enable you to access content, such as streaming XM satellite radio, music videos, MusicID for identifying song titles and artist, and video programming from CNN, ESPN, and NBC, among other channels. The BlackJack II does not, however, support over-the-air song downloads.

Other wireless options include Bluetooth 2.0 and the addition of GPS. There is no Wi-Fi connectivity on this device. You can use the Bluetooth technology to connect to mono and stereo headsets, hands-free kits, Bluetooth peripherals, wireless file transfers, and others. The built-in GPS radio lets you use your smartphone as a handheld navigator. This, coupled with a mapping application or location-based service like Google Maps for Mobile or TeleNav GPS Navigator, can provide real-time tracking, text- and voice-guided directions, business searches, and traffic information.

The BlackJack II gets an upgrade in the camera department with a 2-megapixel lens. It continues to offer video-recording capabilities, and it features a 4x zoom and a self-timer. For still images, you have your choice of five sizes, four quality settings, and three shooting modes. Sadly, there’s no flash, but you can adjust the white balance. Once you’ve captured your image, you can add various effects and frames. As per usual, options are a bit limited in video mode with just two sizes and two recording modes. Picture quality was subpar, not because images were blurry but rather because the colors were washed out in our photos.

Finally, for other multimedia content, you can enjoy more streaming-video content with MobiTV, and there’s the standard Windows Media Player 10 Mobile to check out your library of MP3, AAC, WAV, WMA, MPEG-4, and WMV files.

Performance

We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE; UMTS/HSDPA) Samsung BlackJack II in San Francisco, using AT&T service, and call quality was quite good. We enjoyed clear audio with minimal background noise and ample volume, and we had no problems interacting with our bank’s voice-automated voice response system.

Our friends also reported similar results and had no complaints. The speakerphone, however, didn’t fare as well. On our end, we could hear a slight but noticeable background hiss, and voices sounded a bit garbled. Meanwhile, callers said they could tell that we were on the speakerphone and heard a bit of an echo.

The bright side is that none of this prevented us from continuing conversations, and there was plenty of volume. We were able to pair the BlackJack II with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones.

Powered by a faster 260MHz processor (the original BlackJack had a 220MHz processor) and with the increased memory, we found the Samsung BlackJack II to be a responsive and better-performing device than its predecessor. There was very little lag, even when we had numerous applications open, and we didn’t experience any system crashes during our review period.

To test the GPS capabilities, we used Google Maps for Mobile, which, by the way, downloaded super quickly, thanks to HSDPA, and it took about 5 minutes for the BlackJack to get a fix on our location, but it did a decent job of tracking our position. Multimedia performance was mediocre. As with the speakerphone, there was plenty of volume, but the sound quality was a bit tinny and lacked richness. Videos were always synchronized with audio. When the picture is blown up to full-screen mode, it’s almost unwatchable, as images looked pixilated and blurry.

The Samsung BlackJack II’s 1,700mAh lithium ion battery is rated for 7 hours of talk time and up to 14 days of standby time. We are currently still conducting our battery drain tests but will update this section as soon as we have final results. According to FCC radiation tests, the BlackJack II has a digital SAR rating of 1.2 watts per kilogram.

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Those seeking a cheaper alternative to the LG Shine need not fear, as LG has recently introduced the just-as-shiny LG VX8700 specifically for the U.S. market. Somewhat of a successor to the LG VX8600, the LG VX8700 sports a flip phone design instead of the Shine’s slider design. While we appreciated its marvelous stainless-steel design, we were slightly disappointed with the lack of external music controls, the flat keypad, and the inconvenient location of the microSD card slot. That said, the VX8700 sports a healthy number of multimedia features wrapped up in an amazingly attractive package, which makes up for its design indiscretions. The LG VX8700 is available for $179.99 after a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless and a $50 discount. To find ringtones and accessories for this phone, plus advice and tips on how to use it, check out our cell phones ringtones, accessories, and help page.

Design

Much like the LG Shine, the LG VX8700 is a beautiful design-centric phone that rivals the LG Chocolate in sex appeal. It has a lovely, brushed-steel look that is undeniably seductive, and its metal casing gives it a very smooth and solid feel in the hand. At 3.82 inches by 1.95 inches by 0.54 inch, it is slightly smaller than the VX8600, and as a result, it fits easily into a pocket or purse. On the other hand, it’s somewhat heavier than the VX8600, at around 3.77 ounces, but that wasn’t a problem for us.

The VX8700 external display runs vertically down the center of its front face, which makes for a nice design change over a standard rectangular screen. Supporting 65,000 colors and measuring about 1.4-inch diagonally, it displays caller ID, signal and battery strength, and the current date and time. Because the vertical display is so thin, it doesn’t support photo caller ID, and you’ll still have to flip open the phone to see the image of the caller. You can also align the orientation of the external display to the left or to the right. When the backlight is off, it becomes a mirror and can be used for taking vanity shots with the camera lens right above.

Rounding out the exterior features are the volume rocker, voice command buttons, and a headset/charger jack on its left spine and a dedicated camera button on the right. We should note that because of the VX8700’s shiny metal casing, the phone’s exterior is prone to fingerprint smudges.

Flip open the phone and you’ll be presented with a luscious 262,000-color 2.25-inch internal display. The graphics are rich with detail and color, and we loved the animated wallpapers that really show off the screen’s potential. You can adjust the backlight timer of the front and main displays as well as the keypad, the size of the dialing fonts, and the clock format on the main display. There are two menu designs to choose from, and while they are both simple and user-friendly, we preferred the Metallic theme as it offered an easier to navigate menu style. Also, we like that you’re not saddled with Verizon’s default interface.

Located beneath the screen is the navigation array, which consists of two soft keys, a four-way navigation toggle that doubles as shortcuts to four user-defined functions, a middle OK key, a Clear key, a speakerphone key, and the Send and End/Power keys. Both the navigation array and the keypad are reminiscent of the Motorola Razr; controls that are flush with the surface of the phone, resembling a large touch pad. There are faint textured lines to help differentiate the keys from each other, but the buttons themselves were spaced well. That didn’t prevent our fingers from slipping a few times on the keypad, however, so we wouldn’t recommend dialing by feel.

Unlike the LG Shine or the LG VX8600, the VX8700 lacks external music controls. Though this doesn’t seem terrible at first, we ended up missing them since we couldn’t play music without opening the phone. Also, we were quite disappointed with the VX8700’s location of the microSD card slot, which can’t be accessed without removing the phone’s battery.

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Even though Nokia has released a few high-end Bluetooth headsets such as the Nokia BH-801, it has quite a few more affordable basic models in the market as well. One of the more recent ones is the Nokia BH-208 Bluetooth headset, which may not be as fancy as the Nokia BH-801, but it still delivers the same ease of use and has decent sound quality. It’s also cheaper at $69.95 and will be available for purchase by the end of this month. To find more accessories like this, plus tips on how to use them, please check out our cell phone accessories help page.

With a simple basic black plastic shell, the Nokia BH-208 has a minimalist design that won’t draw too much attention. It has a rectangular shape, rounded corners, and is relatively compact at 1.65 inches long, 0.9 inch wide, and 0.4 inch deep. It is a bit heavier than the Nokia BH-801 at 0.49 ounce, but it won’t weigh you down. On the front is the flat multifunction button that has a slight plastic lip jutting above the surface. This lip provides textured detail, which is good for finding the button by feel when you’re wearing the headset on the ear. A tiny LED light is on top of the device, while the volume rocker is on the left spine. While we found the multifunction button easy to press, we were displeased with both the volume rocker and the power button. The volume rocker’s toggle switch is set too deep into the headset, which made it a bit difficult to feel and maneuver. The power button is simply minuscule and is behind the headset, so large fingers might have some trouble with it.

On the back of the headset are a rubber-covered earpiece and an ear loop that can be adjusted to fit either the left or right ear. The earpiece is a tad larger than most, so it doesn’t fit in the ear too deeply. Therefore, you’ll want to wear the ear loop for added security. Luckily, the ear loop is made from a very flexible material that lets it fit around most ears. With the ear loop on, the BH-208 feels quite comfortable when worn.

We tested the Nokia BH-208 with the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 and the LG VX8700 and were able to pair the headset with both phones successfully. Call quality was decent–we heard our callers just fine, with clear voices and loud volume. Callers had a bit more trouble hearing us, saying they had some problems hearing us when we were in noisier environments, such as on city sidewalks. In quiet office or car environments, however, callers heard us just fine. The Nokia BH-208’s features are pretty basic. They include answering, ending, and rejecting calls, last-number redial, muting calls, and voice-dial support. The headset also has a spare earbud cover in case you lose your existing one. The Nokia BH-208 has a rated talk time of six hours and a rated standby time of six days.

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