Cell phones

Sprint has made it official that it plans to release a red version of its LG Lotus messaging phone. It will have the same textured design as the purple version, and will have the same features as well.

Features include a 2-megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, GPS, EV-DO, a music player, and more. Of course, you also get the same QWERTY keyboard and nice 2.4-inch display. We don't yet know when it'll be released, but it'll likely be about the same price of the current LG Lotus, which is about $100 after a two-year service agreement.

Just a few weeks after it introduced its first smartphone, the RIM BlackBerry Curve, MetroPCS went even more high-end (relatively speaking) by adding its first touch-screen device, the Samsung Finesse, aka the SCH-r810 resembles Alltel's Samsung Delve. It offers a large, 262,000-color display with a virtual QWERTY keyboard and numeric dialpad. Just one physical control below the display completes the Finesse's front face.

Features include a 2-megapixel camera, speakerphone, personal organizer, messaging and e-mail, microSD card slot, Bluetooth, GPS, music player, full HTML browser, speakerphone, and support for 3G data networks. The Finesse is $350; MetroPCS does … Read more

If there is a theme at CTIA 2009, it is the messaging phones. Samsung and LG have released handsets with full alphabetic keyboards for faster texting, and now Sanyo is getting in on the thumb wars as well.

On Tuesday, Sanyo and Sprint unveiled the new SCP-2700. The rectangular candy bar design reminds us of a gallery of phones before it, but Sanyo puts its own stamp on the design by offering two unique colors: deep blue and impulsive pink. The 2.2-inch display supports 65,000 colors and the keyboard offers a fair number of shortcut keys.

Features include … Read more

Alltel announced a new Motorola phone for customers not migrating to Verizon Wireless with the merger. The Motorola VE465 isn't much to look at--it has a very common Moto flip-phone design--and its feature set is mostly functional. Yet, it has at least one unique touch: two light modes turn the phone and music keys blue or white so you can easily switch between making a call and listening to tunes.

Features include a 1.3-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, a digital-music player, a color display, support for the carrier's My Circle feature, a microSD card slot, stereo … Read more

Motorola joined Nokia, Samsung, and LG on Monday in getting a head start on CTIA. Although the mobile festivities don't begin until April 1 in Las Vegas, Moto spilled details on its new Evoke QA4. to see it from all angles, check out our Motorola Evoke hands-on photo gallery.

Stocked with a midrange multimedia-feature set and sporting an eye-catching design, the Evoke should turn a few heads on the show floor. The 2.8-inch display takes up most of the phone's real estate. In addition to an icon-based menu, it also shows a virtual QWERTY keyboard for messaging … Read more

Samsung is never one to be a wallflower at CTIA, but this year it arrived in Las Vegas with all cylinders firing. On Monday, two full days before the show began, Samsung announced not only the Propel Pro, but also its new Impression SGH-A877 and Magnet SGH-A257. Both offer full keyboards for messaging and e-mail. Check out our Samsung CTIA photo gallery for the beauty shots.

The Impression offers a candy-bar design with a large 3.2-inch touch-screen display. Samsung says that the Impression is the first phone in the United States with an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED), which … Read more

AT&T let the cat out of the bag a little ahead of the CTIA conference, introducing to its upcoming offerings two LG handhelds with slide-out QWERTY keyboards, the LG Xenon and the LG Neon.

Both handsets have touch-screen displays, and yes, both have QWERTY keyboards for easy messaging.

The LG Xenon measures 4.16 inches long by 2.11 inches wide by 0.62 of an inch thick. Weighing about 3.81 ounces, it has a large 2.8-inch display with vibration feedback, a home screen menu similar to the interface on other LG touch-screen phones, and a … Read more

As spring goes into full swing and April Fool's Day nears, the last event of the busy trade season is upon us. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association show (CTIA) is the nation's largest event dedicated to new cell phones, accessories, and services. This year it runs from April 1 through April 3 in Las Vegas.

Of course, a large CNET crew will be on-hand to bring you all the news from the show floor. On the Reviews side, I'll be in Vegas with Bonnie Cha and Nicole Lee. We'll bring you details on all the new … Read more

While the Nokia 6500 Classic represents everything we've come to expect from a Nokia phone, the Nokia 7205 Intrigue for Verizon Wireless is everything that surprises us. The flip phone's design is so thin and shiny that the uninitiated might confuse it with a Samsung device. It's certainly eye-catching, but the trendy design entails a few usability compromises. Inside, the story is more straightforward: you'll find a midrange feature set that includes a 2-megapixel camera, EV-DO support, and GPS navigation. Yet, at the end of the day, the average audio quality left us less than intrigued. … Read more