The 411: Waiting for the Pre

Welcome to the 411, my new Q&A column answering all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. I receive plenty of questions about these subjects via e-mail, so I figured many of you might have the same questions, too. At times, I might solicit answers from readers if I'm stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at nicole.lee@cnet.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know in the e-mail.

I am currently have an old Samsung phone and am with Sprint. I also have a Palm Zire and a 4gig iPod. I'd like to combine them if possible and stay with Sprint. The phone part is most important. Next comes an organizer/calendar and then a web browser. The MP3 player is really secondary. I'm leaning toward a keyboard as opposed to a touch screen. I've been looking at the Pre and some of the BlackBerrys and I keep hearing a rumor that Sprint is going to come out with the BlackBerry 9630 (Niagara). Do you have any suggestions? -- David, via e-mail.

Since you're familiar with Palm, you might want to consider giving the Palm Pre a shot. It's a different operating system from the older Palms--WebOS instead of Palm OS--but it seems to fit your requirements, and since you're already with Sprint, there's no need to worry about service transfer. Of course we can't tell if the Pre is any good or not yet, but if you can wait around until the second week of June, I definitely suggest doing so. BlackBerrys are also a good option, and I've also heard the same rumor about the BlackBerry 9630, but since I've heard positive things about the Pre's Web browser and media player, I would suggest waiting to see how the Pre shakes out before making a decision.

Is there any way to delete the contact in the sent-to message? After you text someone, their number stays stored in the text-sent message; I would really like to know how to delete them. If you know how it will be great. -- Anonymous, via e-mail

Unfortunately, you can't delete the number or contact from the stored message (Not that I know of, anyway), but you can of course delete the entire message itself.

Hi. I was looking for the handset LG VX9400 and I came across your site. I'd like to know if this product would be available in the Philippine market anytime soon; would you know? If not, if I purchase it, say in U.S, will it be operational here in the Philippines under our local networks? I'd appreciate it so much if you'd be kind enough to answer my inquiry. thank you so much.. -- Brizel, via e-mail

Unfortunately, the LG VX9400 will not be available overseas, as it's a U.S. CDMA phone made to work with Verizon Wireless. So no, you will not be able to use it in the Philippines.

I want to buy a new phone for my wife from Verizon. Based on specs that she likes, I've narrowed it down to either the Versa or the enV Touch (which hasn't been released yet). The Versa with my wife's upgrade is $199, and the Touch, from what I was told, would be $149. Any thoughts? Thanks! -- Michael, via e-mail

Both the LG Versa and the LG enV Touch look to be almost similar in terms of features. Since I have not yet used the LG enV Touch, I can only give you my advice based on specs. The value of the LG Versa is that you can easily swap out the QWERTY keyboard when it's not in use, and just use it like a regular touch-screen phone. The option for external modules also means you can add things like a gamepad controller or external speakers instead of the QWERTY keyboard. The LG enV Touch, on the other hand, has the QWERTY keyboard permanently attached to the phone. So it depends on whether your wife would want to use the QWERTY keyboard all of the time, or only some of the time. If it's the former, then I would say the enV Touch would be a better choice, since it's $50 cheaper and you get the same more or less the same features. Still, I would suggest waiting until the enV Touch is out to see what the early reviews are like before making a decision.

Samsung Magnet versus Pantech Slate. If you had to choose between these two phones for messaging, which would you prefer? If you have a column on this, feel free to lead me to it! Thanks. -- Blair, via e-mail.

If price is a factor, you might prefer the Samsung Magnet because it's only $20 with a two-year contract. If price isn't a factor, though, I would probably choose the Pantech Slate over the Samsung Magnet since it has a slightly better camera and a slightly better design--the Slate has a 1.3-megapixel camera, while the Magnet only has a VGA camera, and I prefer the feel of the Slate's QWERTY keyboard over the Magnet's.