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Verizon Droid Rated 4 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

The new reviews of the Verizon Motorola Droid just came out and reviewers were all impressed with the fast processor speed, web browser and brilliant display on the Verizon Droid smartphone.

The Verizon Motorola Droid is scheduled to land on earth on November 6 and some reviewers think it is "out of this world.'   Droid has everything an alien or earthling could want, Wi-Fi, multi-window web browsing, super-high res 3.7", mutlittasking of apps, voice search, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and DVD playback, turn-by-turn Google navigation(Beta) while reviewers found just a few things to criticize.

For those who do a lot of texting or emailing the slide-out QWERTY keyboard should be a welcome addition but reviewers were disappointed by its flatness and that it could slide back-in accidentally.

Some reviewers loved the media playing functions and one especially liked the YouTube videos. Unfortunately the Verizon Droid doesn't currently sync media with a PC. However, the Droid email functionality which includes unified email from mutiple source including pushed MS Exchange/Gmail and often checked Pop3 email, worked well. The universal search feature was mentioned and appreciated. The Verizon Droid is geared more towards a business user therefore it doesn't have as good as social networking integration as the Motorola CLIQ.

Reviewers called the Verizon Droid the fasted and most lust-worthy Android smartphone but still don't believe the iPhone should be or will be killed. None of the reviewers had time to test out the turn-by-turn directions but did note that turn-by-turn Google Maps Nav Beta is a game changer because it's free.

Droid by Motorola will be available in the United States exclusively at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement after a $100 mail-in rebate. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. If you use the Wireless and Mobile News' online purchase coupon-link for Instant Phone Rebate Only Available with Online Purchase then you don't have to wait for the rebate.

The Droid has taken the thunder out of the BlackBery Storm2 which is now included in Verizon's Buy One BlackBerry or Netbook Free deal.

BlackBerry Storm2 Rated 4 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

The first reviews are showing up for the BlackBerry Storm2 and they are better than first BlackBerry Storm. Reviews range from rave (telling people to get in line) to suggesting that competitors are more full-featured.

The top-notch touchscreen is much more precise and better. The operating system is more responsive and faster than on the first gen BlackBerry Storm.  Most reviewers liked the addition of Wi-Fi and the excellent call quality. The camera was rated from good to dark. The operating system was called snappy. Voice quality was superb.

Most reviewers found the browser faster but some thought it was not as good as iPhone or Webkit browsers.  Note: The BOLT browser is super-fast and loved by BlackBerry Storm users.

Where the BlackBerry Storm excels in in the email department because of BlackBerry's enterprise email heritage.  Multimedia also functions well and you can sync with iTunes. The speakers are solid.

The price has not been set yet for the BlackBerry Storm2 which could make a difference in your buying decision. Here's where you may want to take it for a test drive. It has also been rumored that it will part of the Verizon Buy One Get One Free BlackBerry which may or may not end as scheduled October 21.    

Samsung Rogue Rated 4 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

The Samsung Rogue from Verizon is a feature phone full of high-end features. The AMOLED touchscreen is gorgeous, and all reviewers thought the web browsing was good to excellent. The call quality and camera are very good.

The large QWERTY keyboard on the Samsung Rogue
was well-liked and comfy for excellent texting, IM and email. Reviewers liked the 3.5 standard headphone jack.

The Samsung Rogue  is one of the new Verizon phones that requires a data plan and also has an extra fee for email.  A possible drawback is that it doesn't sync contacts like most business smartphones do. One reviewer liked the fact that you can use a combination of the touchscreen or the keyboard.  Social-networkers don't have their own Twitter or Facebook apps, just links to mobile web pages.

The Samsung Rogue has only been reviewed by a few reviewers so far. When more reviews come in, we will update this review. We suspect that many will recommend the Samsung Rogue for texters and web browsers who don't need full business sync or enterprise services. The kind of users who like a good self-portrait mirror, fast texting, great web browsing and beautiful colorful display.

The Samsung Rogue sells for $99 with contract from Verizon  and rebate. Youan avoid waiting for  rebate by using the Wireless and Mobile News' Verizon online coupon-link an you will get the rebate instantly with an online purchase. The Samsung Rogue comes with pre-loaded games including "NEED FOR SPEED Undercover," "Resident Evil: Degeneration," and "Tetris and Dice".

HTC Touch Pro2 (Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint) Rated 4 out 5 by Wirleess and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

Reviewers of the HTC Touch Pro2 called it the  the King of Windows Mobile smartphones and the best high-end smartphone. Reviewers found the HTC Touch Pro2 to be keyboard-tastic with a gorgeous stand-out touchscreen. All the reviewers found the tilting screen beautiful and useful.  They loved the keyboard and functionality but then didn't like the large size and bulkiness.

The HTC Touch Pro2 has slight differences in features in different carrier versions.  The good news for Sprint HTC Pro2 users is that the Sprint version has additional entertainment software. The Sprint and Verizon version have a standard headphone jack. The resistive touchscreen sometimes requires a stylus, but for the most part the TouchFLO interface is successful. The web browsing is better with the Opera browser than Internet Explorer.

Because the HTC Touch Pro2 is a Windows Mobile device it packs a lot of Windows/Microsoft capability power. GPS functionality on the Sprint network was not good.

The HTC Touch Pro 2 touches on the need for an excellent keyboard for touch typists and those who deal with tons of text and email on a smartphone.

BlackBerry Tour 9630  Rated 4 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

The BlackBerry Tour goes on sale today, while the band U2 is on tour, sponsored by BlackBerry. As we write this "Review of Reviews of the BlackBerry Tour"  we can tell people are reading reviews because many of the review pages of the BlackBerry Tour articles are slow. 

Two reviewers called the BlackBerry Tour "the best Verizon smartphone," while one just wrote that the BlackBerry Tour is the "no-brainer" choice for CDMA networks, where you can't get the BlackBerry Bold.

All the reviewers liked the QWERTY keyboard, sharp/crisp screen, standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, push email and the fact that the BlackBerry Tour is a world smartphone with a SIM that will work in 220 countries on GSM networks with a Verizon SIM that is pre-installed or an added SIM. Many reviewers also liked the integration of contacts/calendar with social networking services such as Facebook and MySpace.

The major fault of the BlackBerry Tour found by all reviewers was the lack of Wi-Fi, which should be coming in later models.  Although cal quality was rated good to excellent, the camera was not highly rated for shutter delay and quality of the auto focus. Video capture had a few glitches.  Most reviewers called the battery life good to excellent. One reviewer was super superlative and used terms like awesome, stunning, great and impressive for the BlackBerry Tour.

All the reviewers commented on the web browsing experience as being not as good as competitors. For better web browsing, we suggest to that you check out the fast BOLT mobile browser instead, which works superbly on the BlackBerry Storm. The operating system of the BlackBerry Tour is very similar to BlackBerry Storm therefore most of the BlackBerry Storm apps should port nicely to the the BlackBerry Tour.

BlackBerry Tour reviews reveal the  BlackBerry Tour to be an excellent choice for customers on the Verizon network, for email, music/sound, and social-networkers, who don't mind installing another browser. Of course, smartphone choice is subjective therefore you should choose the smartphone that is best for your needs.

Palm Pre Rated 4 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

The  Palm Pre has gotten many good reviews that especially praised the WebOS operating system that uses a deck of cards and synchronization (synergy) of contacts from many sources including social networking sites. The Palm Pre  was called, fun, the sexiest phone since the iPhone, stunning, beautiful and gorgeous.

The Palm Pre works via gestures on the touchscreen and a small slide out keyboard with sticky little keys. The reviewers were mixed on the keyboard, one reviewer called it 'pretty good"  and others thought it would take getting used to. Here's where you would probably need to give the keyboard a try to see if it suits your needs.

Media capabilities were rated excellent for ease of use and it will even sync with iTunes. The web browser does a great job of rendering web pages and is fast. The 3MP camera is fast because it processes the images in the background. The  Palm Pre has a back-up features that could save a lot of problems.

Reviewers referred to the battery life as too short to about the same as the iPhone. The  Palm Pre has complicated advanced features meant to simplify life and does require a bit of learning time which would save more time in the future.

For the Sprint network subscribers the  Palm Pre is an obvious yes for people who need full functionality and a computer-away-from home or office. If you love your carrier there will be more WebOS smartphones from Palm next year. To read summaries of all the reviews, reviewed, continue reading.  More information is available online and we have done many articles about the  Palm Pre which we hope you find amusing including a hilarious Jerry Seinfeld routine at the VIP launch party.

Nokia E71x Rated 4 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

The Nokia E71x is a world smartphone, full of bells and whistles for a great price.  Reviewers all wrote that the push email and business functions are great for the Nokia E71x. It has 3G access, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 3.2 megapixel camera that shoots video.

The Nokia E71x is very thin with a QWERTY keyboard and Quickoffice allows users to create and view MS Office documents. You can even make a quick PowerPoint presentation on the fly. Although one reviewer had trouble getting the GPS to work, others liked it, and one suggested supplementing AT&T Navigator with Google Maps for walking directions. The camera takes good photos outdoors, the colors were, however, not good.

All reviewers, we reviewed, found the call quality to be good on the Nokia E71x. They liked the music player and video functions but did not like that the headset jack was the non-standard 2.5 mm. The Nokia E71x worked fined as a tethered modem.

The screen is smaller than the iPhone but was still called beautiful. One reviewer called the performance of the Nokia E71x superb.

We did some research on the AT&T website and asked an online sales rep to discover that the Nokia E71x does not like the iPhone or some other messaging phone deal packages required a data plan. Therefore if you have access to Wi-Fi often you can save over other plans. There is however, a charge of  $0.02 per KB which will add up quickly.

Deals, Discounts, Coupons & Steals
The best part about the Nokia E71x is that is priced well below its competitors, AT&T is offering the Nokia E71x with a contract mail-in rebate for $99, but wait it gets better, use Wireless and Mobile News' $50 off online only coupon-link with a 2 year contract which makes the virtual cost $50. You do not have to purchase a data plan for this deal.

If you are a completely new AT&T customer, Let's Talk offers the Nokia E71x  for absolutely free with a new contract and 2-year agreement and includes free shipping.

MiFi 2200 (Verizon) Rated 4.5 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

There seldom comes a device that when we see the description the whole staff says, "I want one!"  The MiFi 2200 from Verizon is one of those devices that is highly coveted by tech fans because you can get Wi-Fi internet access wherever the Verizon 3G cloud exists and you can share the internet connection with up to five devices.

The MiFi 2200 has a rechargeable battery that is rated to last four hours. It is about the size of a credit card case and will fit in a pocket or purse. Speeds have been reported to be as good as or better than other wireless broadband modems.

We started using a MiFi 2200 wireless broadband modem with a router that creates a Wi-Fi cloud, this morning and so far it looks excellent. We noticed more neat features of the MiFi 2200  than found by other reviews. It can used as a USB modem on computers that don't have a Wi-Fi connection. So when our broadband connection went out today, we were able to use the MiFi 2200 as a wireless USB broadband modem. Previously, we had to use dial-up as backup. Our full review will appear after testing.

All in all, reviewers were enthusiastic about the MiFi 2200, calling it "broadband done right"  "remarkable" and "drop-dead awesome."

Reviewers were "wowed" by the MiFi 2200 and praised its speed, ease of use, range, and sleek styling.  The MiFi 2200 offers download speeds on a notebook computer up to 2.6 Mbps and excellent iPhone connections. VoIP and Skype call quality was excellent.  Video and audio files streamed quickly and easily. The only downside to the device is the battery life is not long enough for power users who want always on access to last forever.

The MiFi 2200 will be available online and in stores May 17, for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. If you use the Wireless and Mobile News' Verizon online coupon-link you will get the rebate instantly with an online purchase. Service plans are $39.99 monthly access for 250 MB monthly allowance and 10 cents per megabyte overage or$59.99 monthly access for 5 GB monthly allowance and 5 cents per megabyte overage.

Customers can get DayPass for $15 for 24-hour access when the MiFi 2200 is purchased at full retail price without a monthly service plan.

We're still arguing over who gets to use the MiFI 2200, which lead our editor to pun, "Me-oh-my, I want my MiFi and I want it now!"

To which I quipped, "Let's all share it with Wi-Fi."

To read summaries of the reviews we reviewed continue reading.

Note: I wrote half of this "Review of Reviews" using the MiFi on a notebook computer via Wi-Fi and on a desktop computer using the MiFi as a USB modem without a glitch, except for a few spelling errors.

The details for the LG Viewty Smart LG GC900 super camera smartphone are now available. It has an 8 megapixel camera with a Schneider-Kreuznach lens.

The LG Viewty Smart can take pictures at up to 1600 ISO and record videos in "DVD-quality" with DivX and XviD playback. Other camera features include:

• Inteliigent Shot -automatic scene recognition.
  
• Multi-Face Detection.
• Optimized Settings for all Conditions.
  
• BackLight Condition.
  
• Low-Light Night Features.
• Touch Shot and Smile Shot from the touchscreen display.
  

The LG Viewty Smart has a 3″ touchscreen display with WVGA resolution, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, a-GPS with geo-tagging ahd Wi-Fi  The microSD can hold up to 32GB.

It has a 3D S-Class user interface and is 12.4mm thin. The LG Viewty Smart will be available this May in Europe first. No pricing has been set or when and if it will be available in the U.S.

Wireless and Mobile News' "Review of Reviews of the the BlackBerry Niagara 9630."

The BlackBerry Tour (Niagara) 9630 has many features that reviewers love such as the speaker phone, excellent talk time, keyboard, and the over all feel of the smartphone.

The BlackBerry Tour (Niagara) is cross between the BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Bold with an operating system similar to the BlackBerry Storm.  Because it has the new operating system when the BlackBerry app store opens, software should be compatible with this smartphone.

The BlackBerry Tour (Niagara) has not been released yet, but a few reviewers got a hold of it and are saying good things about the smartphone.

In a sneak peak hands-on review, Boy Genius was wowed by the BlackBerry Tour (Niagara) and gave it kudos and called the BlackBerry Tour (Niagara)'s keyboard the best BlackBerry keyboard, ever. It also has the BEST BlackBerry, speakers, screen and size/feel ever.

The BlackBerry Tour (Niagara) has also gotten a hands-on pre-release review from CrackBerry, where it felt awsome. The keyboard worked well. CrackBerry did not test the software yet therefore it is just a review of the hardware.

Most reviewers don't like that the BlackBerrry Tour (Niagara) 9630 does not come with Wi-Fi. It will most likely be launched on the Verizon Network in May.  It may also appear on Sprint.  It is a CDMA phone and will not work with T-Mobile or AT&T.

To see summaries of the current reviews continue reading.  When more reviews appear we will update this "Review of Reviews" from Wireless and Mobile News.

Mad Mad Week of Deals and March Madness NCAA
The week of March 9-15 started off with more March Madness specials, not only are they giving phones away, one online seller, Let's Talk is giving back $250 with a new T-Mobile plan and Samsung Renew. The price of the T-Mobile G1 was reduced to $47.77 with a trade-in. 

Another March Madness craziness is the chance to win a million bucks from Yahoo! for college basket ball NCAA with the best racket. ChaCha will now answer txt quesitons about March mdness even when spelled rong. At&T is still offering free TV for the NCAA games and a great deal on the LG Vu.

Research and Reports
Even though the price of phones is decreasing, the price of calls is increasing, a study released by UCAN reported that the average price of a wireless phone call is up to $3.02. The state of Oklahoma leads in wireless-only houses while Vermont has the fewest wireless-only households. Although Bango reported the U.S. surpassed other countries in mobile web browsing, IDC predicted a -14.8% decline in all mobile device sales.

More Unlimited Competition and Data
Cricket unlimited was busy launching in Philadelphia and showing the world's largest cell phone in Chicago. MetroPCS began offering its first smartphone the BlackBerry Curve and a data plan. Prepaid Consumer Cellular also added data services.

New Phones Revealed
Nokia revealed the 5730 Xpress Music, 5330 Xpress Music and 5030 Xpress Radio. The X-tc is coming from Virgin Mobile.  Some features and plans were revealed for the Palm Pre.  A full line of rugged digital assistants were launched by Motorola.

Apps of the Week
The apps featured this week allow you to hail a taxi, read books on your phone, help the blind and vision-impaired to operate their phones, search for images easier and offer social networking for private meaningful relationships.

Starting to Sell Today
Three different phones go on sale today, the Palm Treo Pro (Sprint) Moto Q 9c and LG Rumor2.

Punk of the Week
Not many reporters were checking facts when this viral video of a race car driver using a BlackBerry Storm to steer a race car appeared on YouTube and was viewed nearly a million times.

T-Mobile Samsumg Memoir Rated 4 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews (Best Camera Phone)

The Samsung Memoir ( T-Mobile) packs a full digital  camera in a feature phone. The  8 megapixel camera has advanced camera features including video recording. Reviewers praised the camera naming the Samsung Memoir it the best, highest- performing, camera phone in the United States, as well as Editor's Choice (PC Mag)

Reviewers stated that the Samsung Memoir's touchscreen is responsive. There are separate buttons for camera functions. It has textured covering for an easy grip and looks more like a camera. The Samsung Memoir allows users to upload photos to photo sharing websites easily, but not as quickly as Wi-Fi.

The Samsung Memoir is not a smartphone, but has many addtional features including GPS, e-mail, music/video player and web browsing. Itis lighter and has tons more of camera features than the iPhone.

Reviewers were not thrilled with the web browser, although it surprised on reviewer, he suggested using Opera mini, instead.

The onscreen keyboard was liked and found responsive by reviewers. The Samsung Memoir doesn't have a standard earphone jack and reviewers did not like that it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity. All the reviewers agreed the Samsung Memoir is the Best Camera Phone in the United States. The Samsung Memoir is available directly from T-Mobile and as of this writing costs $250 with a contract after rebates.

Wirefly is selling the Samsung Memoir to new customers with a two-year contract for the $49.99 month plan and rebate for $149.99. If you sign up with LetsTalk.com you can get 25% off accessories  with a phone (use Coupon Code 698adb7e) the Samsung Memoir  price of $149.99 with a contract extension and rebate, or $99 with a new contract/rebate and $99 @ month unlimited plan.

Verizon's Samsung Omnia Rated 3.5 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

The Verizon Samsung Omnia  is a full haptic touchscreen Windows Mobile Professional smartphone with lots of features including 3G access, push email, GPS, Microsoft document editing, multimedia player, 5 megapixel camera, video recorder and Wi-Fi.

Reviews were mixed over the addition of the Samsung TouchWiz widget on top of the Windows Mobile interface on the Samsung Omnia. Because it is a touchscreen smartphone, the user has to adapt to the interface. You can use a stylus for functions, but there is no holder to keep the stylus in the Samsung Omnia.

Two reviewers noted the outstanding quality of the camera and concluded that the Samsung Omnia was a tad faster and better choice than the BlackBerry Storm smartphone. While the Samsung Omnia screen is not as brilliant than the BlackBerry Storm screen.

All reviewers thought the call quality was excellent with one commenting it was close to landline-quality.  The Samsung Omnia comes with 8 gigabytes of storage and you can add a 16 gigabyte microSD card. 

This smartphone has been very popular and Samsung announced at Mobile World Congress that they will be making a Samsung Omnia HD which may be why Verizon dropped the price of the Samsung Omnia to $99 when you use the Wireless Mobile News' direct coupon-link Instant Phone Rebate Only Available with Online Purchase. That's a lot of phone for a little money. Wirefly has also lowered its price for the Samsung Omnia which costs $99 for new customers with a contract and free FedEx shipping. Don't forget, Wirefly also offers on all cell phone purchases or upgrades a free Bluetooth headset phone purchase or upgrade. Use coupon WIREFLYBT23 at checkout, offer expires March 31.

The Samsung Propel Rated 4 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

The Samsung Propel is not the flashiest or fullest featured phone, but as we see in the AT&T commercials, it works fine for a mumbling Ozzy Osborne and Pepe Le Pew.  It's a phone designed for texting with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and built-in email/ Instant Messaging options.

Reviewers liked the multimedia features but found the screen poor for video and web viewing. The Samsung Propel can be less expensive to use than a smartphone by only paying for the AT&T Media Net texting plan. The user interface is easy to use. The music player is good, however, the Samsung Propel requires a proprietary jack to listen to music.

The Samsung Propel has excellent call quality and a very good camera. It offers fast 3G web browsing and lots of AT&T music and GPS features. It is small in size but does not have dedicated call buttons, you have use the QWERTY keyboard.

AT&T is offering a special promotion for Valentines' Day for the Samsung Propel making it $49.99 with a contract after rebates, when you add the Wireless and News News'  $50 off on AT&T phones or accessories with a plan coupon-link that makes the Samsung Propel almost free which is an excellent deal for all the functions you get. The Samsung Propel comes in White, Red, Green, and  Blue, like any phone, you have to evaluate what you need the phone for and how you will use it to determine if it is the right phone for you.

There has been a lot of buzz from CES about the Palm Pre, that will be offered in the U.S. from Sprint. So you don't have to scroll through all the reviews so far, we've summarized them for you here.

Reviewers' first impressions of the Palm Pre are very positive, calling it amazing and the most important smartphone to be announced in the last two years.

The user-interface of the Palm Pre was loved by all who viewed it for its ease of use and beauty.  The keyboard similar to other Palm smartphones was admired just for being there.  The touchscreen is brilliant and reviewers gushed over how gorgeous it is and how well it worked. The Palm Pre web browser is super fast, outstanding and responsive.

In other words, the early evaluations of the Palm Pre are very very very suplerlative with an excitment that has not been seen since the iPhone.  The Palm Pre does have more features than the iPhone including: multitasking, copy and paste, an LED flash, web integration, and a wireless charger. To read summaries of each of the super megaliscious fantabulous reviews continue reading.

LG Incite (AT&T) Rated 3.5 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

The LG Incite is a touchscreen smartphone that has many more features than the popular LG Vu but is as shiny as the LG Shine. The best capabilities of the LG Incite, according to reviewers, are fast 3G access, Wi-Fi, external microSD slot, standard headphone jack and good call quality. Reviewers noted that the web browsing on WAP sites was fine, the auto-rotate for portrait/landscape was sluggish, and the mirror-like finish was so shiny it showed smudges.

The LG Incite packs the power of a business smartphone using the Windows Mobile operating system. You can sync your calendar and contacts from your PC in Microsoft Outlook and copy/paste, view or edit Microsoft Word files (these functions are not possible in the LG Vu.) It has email capabilities and handwriting recognition via a finger or stylus. Other neat features include voice dialing, voice commands and built-in FM radio.

Reviewers wrote that the onscreen keyboard works, but takes up most of the touchscreen. The multimedia functions of the LG Incite were not rated highly, with dim photos/video and  music playing not as good as an MP3 player.

The LG Incite has been temporarily out of stock for the past few weeks online at the AT&T Store. We think it has to do with the excellent value because AT&T is selling the LG Incite for $99 after a rebate with a contract. When you add the Wireless and Mobile News'  $50 Off on AT&T phones or accessories with a plan "online coupon-link"  that would bring the price of the LG Incite down to $50 much cheaper than most other full-featured smartphones. If you require a lot of data input or typing the LG Incite may not the best choice. If you don't need the super-slickness of the iPhone, the LG Incite may give you the insight you need from a smartphone.

To see summaries of the reviews we reviewed continue reading.

Wireless and Mobile News is dedicated to helping our readers sort out all the information about smartphones out there. At year end, many publications name their top, best, coolest, hottest or perfect smartphones of the year.  Just like in our Review of Reviews for cell phones and smartphones, we reviewed top sources and summarized the findings here. We took all the data from eight publications to research what the consensus is for the best smartphones in 2008.

First place is no surprise with many editors and writers pointing out the popularity of the  Blackberry Storm, iPhone 3G and T-Mobile G1. Keyboarded smartphones came in second and a dual entry phone in third.

It is interesting to note that although the Sony Xperia had been recalled, many pundits still put it on their best reviewed lists.

HTC and BlackBerry Top Manufacturers

As far as manufacturers go, BlackBerry had two winners under its name while HTC has two smartphones under its name and also makes the Xperia, and G1 making the top maker of the winners.

Wireless smartphone shoppers please note some of the winning smartphones are now appearing discounted during after-holiday sales including the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Storm.

HTC Fuze (AT&T) Rated 3.5 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews

The HTC Fuze from AT&T is full-featured Windows Mobile smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard that lacks the number row. Although most reviews thought it was bulky, they praised the email and messaging capabilities along with its full features. The neatest untested feature of the Fuze is the ability control the music player by shaking the phone.

Other good features of the HTC Fuze are Wi-Fi, multimedia, Bluetooth and GPS. The HTC Fuze also has an OCR business card reader application.

The browser is snappy and worked well in most cases. The TouchFLO interface on the touchscreen can be used with fingers but once it switches to Windows Mobile mode, you can only use a stylus. The camera with LED flash took good photos. All the reviewers commented that the HTC Fuze does not have a standard headphone jack and requires an adapter or special headphones.

Reviewers found the video to be sluggish, speakerphone weak and call quality decent. One reviewer noted that the HTC Fuze was snappier than the Sony Xperia X1 which is recalled until January.

Reviewers also commented that AT&T price of $299 at its release date to be too expensive for its features. New AT&T customers can get the HTC Fuze cheaper at Wirefly with a two-year contract for new customers at $174.99 with a rebate at the time of this writing. To read summaries of the reviews, reviewed continue reading.

Update: April 24, 2009:  The HTC Fuze is now available for free in a Refurb data package from AT&T.

Our original RoR of the BlackBerry Storm was based on the early first-looks. Now that the full new reviews are in, we decided to update the survey.

It's always hard to find the truth when there is so much hype.  Reviewers tend to put down devices if they get too much media and start niggling over problems. Since the touch screen is new, they find that it takes time to get used to it, while one notes that he loves it. One reviewer lost patience and said that although he was excited about the BlackBerry Storm, it has too many bugs and buyers should "wait out the storm."

They mention and like the brilliant beautiful screen, push email capabilities, and call quality. The compatibility with Microsoft Office products and ability to copy and paste are seen as useful.  The speaker phone, multimedia capabilities, sideloading of music, and camera were all well-rated.

So even though the BlackBerry Storm has more features than the iPhone, it hasn't gotten a "wow" coolness reception, yet.  It's like a new flavor of ice cream, it will take getting used to.  The original reviewers we cited in the first Review of Reviews of the BlackBerry Storm has gone from hot to luke-warm.  Since there is a shortage of the BlackBerry Storm, there is no rush to buy it, unless you decide you must have it.

BlackBerry Bold (AT&T) Rated 4 out 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

The reviews of the BlackBerry Bold range from loving it entirely to calling the BlackBerry Bold an enterprise keyboard choice. Most reviewers commented that the BlackBerry Bold was worth waiting for and that it works very well with AT&T's 3G network. Almost all noted that the 2.75 inch 480x320 screen shows 65,000 colors and is great looking, gorgeous, sharp, brilliant and the best they have seen on a smartphone.

Reviewers also found the multimedia player and capabilities of the BlackBerry Bold great, wonderful and impressive. The luxurious leatherette exterior was praised.

The BlackBerry Bold has excellent push email for both enterprise and personal email.  Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents can be edited in DataViz Documents to Go. The camera with LED flash was seen as better than the iPhone camera.  Call quality was good and the speaker phone was very loud and clear. The keyboard was easy to use.

Although the web browser was referred to as the best BlackBerry browser so far, some reviewers said that it slowed down and didn't render everything well. Applications additions are not as easy as other iPhone or Android Apps

Wirefly has a deal to save $250 on the BlackBerry Bold with a new account and contract with the smartphone costing $149.99 for new customers and $199.99 for renewing customers.
Or you can use the Wireless and Mobile News' s'  $50 Off on AT&T phones or accessories with a plan coupon-link reducing the $299 AT&T price with rebate down to $249.

Recently AT&T started offering the BlackBerry Bold Refurbished package where the Bold is free to new customers with a contract.  Note: It's hard to find the deal so we published instructions.