Messaging phones retain their popularity, thanks to the legions of text-happy people everywhere. These handsets are phones with full or partial QWERTY keyboards, but are not classified as smartphones. That doesn't mean they're dumb, though--many of them have high-end multimedia features, too. Here's a look at the top-ten best messaging phones that have come our way recently.
Nicole Lee
Nicole Lee is a senior associate editor for CNET, covering cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, and all things mobile. She's also a fan of comic books, video games, and of course, shiny gadgets.
The LG enV Touch flips open to reveal a 3-inch display plus a full QWERTY keyboard. It has impressive features, such as a 3.2-megapixel camera, EV-DO Rev. A, and a full HTML Web browser.
2 of 10 Corinne Schulze/CNET
Samsung Rogue
The Samsung Rogue is a great multimedia touch-screen messaging phone for Verizon Wireless customers.
3 of 10 Josh Miller/CNET
Verizon Wireless Razzle
The Verizon Wireless Razzle has a smart and functional swivel design with both QWERTY keyboard and music player controls. We like the ergonomics of the tilted keyboard and the multimedia features.
4 of 10 Corinne Schulze/CNET
Samsung Impression
The Samsung Impression isn't perfect, but it ranks high on our list as a messaging and multimedia phone.
5 of 10 Josh P. Miller/CNET
LG Lotus Elite
The LG Lotus Elite's stylish design, healthy feature set, and excellent performance makes it a great messaging phone choice for Sprint customers.
6 of 10 Josh Miller/CNET
Sanyo SCP-6760 Incognito
The Sanyo SCP-6760 Incognito has a great messaging keyboard, a useful feature set, and satisfying call and photo quality, but we didn't love the touchpad interface.
7 of 10 Josh Miller/CNET
Pantech Impact
The Pantech Impact has a unique OLED touch-sensitive keypad, dual displays, and a full QWERTY keyboard. Features include 3G, GPS, a HTML browser, a 2.0-megapixel camera, and a music player.
8 of 10 Corinne Schulze/CNET
Samsung Propel
The Samsung Propel has an impressive high-end feature set, but we were disappointed by its design.
9 of 10 Josh Miller/CNET
Samsung Freeform
The Samsung Freeform looks like a simple messaging phone for Alltel. It does have pretty good features, like GPS, a music player, a camera, e-mail, and more.
10 of 10 Josh Miller/CNET
Samsung Flight
The Samsung Flight offers a unique, likable design and a fair number of features, but some performance gaps keep it from playing in the big leagues.
