A Cool Way To Find And Compare Cell Phones And Plans

I stumbled on this site while researching phones - www.myrateplan.com.

The site has a cool gadget to find and compare phones and plans according to the criteria that you care about (e.g. must have Bluetooth, play mp3's, have a camera, be lightweight, look stylish, etc).

From the criteria I punched in (slim, popular, bluetooth, camera, speakerphone), I was really surprised at the phones I could get for free (with a plan) or even get money back! I could get the Motorola KRZR K1 at AT&T and get $70 back!

Not Sick Of iPhone Yet? A Ton Of iPhone Links

Mashable has once again produced one of their huge resource links, this time for the iPhone.

This one has 75+ resources for the iPhone.

I'm again bored of the iPhone stuff but am starting to wonder if I'm getting tired of these long lists of resource links too. Do they just get written to be dugg? I wonder if it's working.

Anyways, we've made some additions to ProductCritic to make it easier for people to view all their product reviews. Look for posts about the recent changes we just made over the weekend.

ProductCritic Has Most Extensive List Of iPhone Reviews

ProductCritic's Cell Phone Reviews now lists 18 reviews for the Apple iPhone. I think we have the most extensive list of reviews you will find anywhere.

Currently, the iPhone has a ProductCritic score of 87 which puts it tied for best rated phone on the site along with the Sony Ericsson K800i and the Sony Ericsson W810i.

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ProductCritic's Apple iPhone Review Roundup

We've just posted all the current Apple iPhone reviews up on our main consumer electronics review site. At this time, not surprisingly (given the hype surrounding the iPhone), it is the highest rated phone on ProductCritic (just barely edging out the Sony Ericsson K800i).

Most of the reviews are from the main stream press (like USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and CNET). Over the next few weeks, I'd expect the real in-depth reviews from the more tech-centric sites.

A History Of Cell Phones - In Pictures

MSN has a nice slideshow of 15 pictures showing a history of the cell phone from the initial Motorola's (still an amazing achievement) all the way to the soon-to-be released iPhone.

Makes me feel both a sense of nostalgia and awe at the amazing achievements of all the engineers that have created something many of us now just for granted and couldn't live without.

Have You Lost Your Cell Phone In The Toilet?

I found a cell phone in the bathroom at a FAO Schwartz the other day so I looked up how many people have lost their phones in this way.

I'm not sure how much I believe this "research" done by SimplySwitch.com but the Telegraph in the UK reports that in the study, 885,000 people flush their cell phones down the toilet every year. Does that sound right to you? I find it hard to believe that nearly a million people don't notice their cell phone fell in the toilet before they flush it. Still, with the increasing use of automatic flushers when you stand up, maybe people just don't get a chance to realize that their phone fell before the flush happens.

In addition to the loss down the toilet, 810,00 lost their phone in a pub, 315,00 lost theirs in the back of a taxi, and 225,000 lost theirs on the bus.

Finally, 58,000 phones were chewed up by pets and 116,000 went through the laundry. I definitely can believe both of these numbers!

As phones get smaller and lighter, they become easier to lose. Have you lost yours at some point? Where do you think you lost it?

The Secrets Of Taking Camera Phone Pictures

ABC's Good Morning America did a segment on tips for taking camera phone pictures. To summarize:

1. Get to know the camera phone settings for different lighting conditions
   
2. Learn to store your pics properly
   
3. Shoot lots of pics
   
4. Try black and white if you can
   
5. Understand the limitations
   
6. Try to get enough light
   
7. Get close when scene is backlit
   
8. Anticipate shutter lag
   
9. Set to highest resolution you can
   
10. Get a case for your phone to avoid lens scratches
    

Given that the segment was on Good Morning America, I'll give them a slight break on the "absolute beginner" nature of the tips.

With the cameras on phones being better and better, I'm even amazed by the quality of some pics you can get from phones now. Unfortunately, I still haven't bought a new cell phone yet and am stuck with a Motorola that has a pretty poor camera in it. Worst yet, the lens in it is very recessed so dust covers the lens over time and the placement of the lens makes it tough to clean.

What Do You Hate Most About Cell Phone Service?

Information Week has listed Six Things Customers Hate About Cell Phone Service.

1. Disabled Features
2. Phones locked to one network
3. Restricted Internet Access
4. Unreliable Service
5. Incompatible products and services
6. Can't use phones as laptop modems

Personally, I'm really frustrated by #1,3, and 6. The restricted Internet Access bugs me quite a bit. First of all, my phone is pretty slow in accessing the Internet, and when it does, there are many sites I can't access. I have no idea why I can't get Google maps on my phone even though the phone is definitely supported by the mobile version of Google maps.

Also, I switched from my last provider because they were on CDMA instead of GSM. When I called to ask my old provider when they'd be switching to GSM, the service rep said "probably never". I said, "OK, then please cancel my service" and instead of trying something to keep me as a customer, the rep just said "OK!". Sheesh, that's pretty poor training....also the guy who cancelled my account was very quick and responsive...he's obviously trained well.

I'm waiting for the time to come when cell phone users in North America can get past the stone age of cell phones and be on par with the phones and service that users in Europe and Asia already enjoy. At some point, the cell phone providers must have to give up some of their control, right?

What bothers you about cell phone service?

Unbelievable - People Love Cell Phones As Much As Internet

Jacobs Media has released the results of their 2007 Tech Survey on Cell Phones. Despite some people thinking that the cell phone is the worst invention ever, the Jacobs Media survey tells us that for ages 18-34, they rate cell phones as high as the Internet for tech they can't live without! That really is surprising to me since I could easily do without a cell phone but would have no idea what to do with myself if there wasn't the Internet.


Also, while the cell phone manufacturers keep including more and more features on their cell phone offerings, the top 3 features are text messaging, calculator (!), and taking pictures. I'm very surprised that "listening to mp3's" is near the bottom. My impression is that the cell phone companies are really focusing on the mp3 feature (now that every phone can take pictures) and there's some fantastic mp3 phones out now like the Sony Ericsson W880i.


Finally, what is interesting is the percentage of people who only have a cell phone and no longer have a land line. I've certainly been contemplating that switch. No wonder phone company stocks are climbing higher...where they used to make money off one line per house, they now make money off one cell phone per person!

Cell Phone Market Growth Slowing In 2007

Cell phone sales growth increased by 10% in the first quarter of 2007 over the same quarter in 2006. Still, this healthy 10% growth could not keep up with the previous quarter.

IDC has published a new press release showing that so far, 2007 probably won't keep up with the record cell phone sales of 2006 which saw an amazing 20% year-on-year growth in each quarter of that year. The release states, "this reflects IDC's expectations that as more subscribers are added to the network, fewer new subscribers are left to be added".

The release also provides the Top 5 Cell Phone vendors in this order:

1. Nokia
2. Motorola
3. Samsung
4. Sony Ericsson
5. LG Electronics

Samsung and Sony Ericsson benefitted from Motorola's missteps by posting a year-on-year growth with Sony Ericsson showing the largest growth. It's interesting to compare this to ProductCritic's cell phone reviews. While Samsung phones have only had quite average reviews, the latest crop of Sony Ericsson phones are mostly getting quite good marks from the professional reviewers. With Nokia still holding a 30%+ market share, we'll be shoring up the number of Nokia reviews we have on ProductCritic.

The Latest Top 10 Cell Phone Rankings From PC World

PC World has recently updated their Top 10 Cell Phones. Here they are listed below along with the score given by PC World and the ProductCritic Score:

1. RIM Blackberry Pearl - 85 (ProductCritic Score = 83)
2. Sony Ericsson W810 - 84 (ProductCritic Score = 87)
3. Motorola RIZR Z3 - 83 (ProductCritic Score = 75)
4. Mororola RAZR V3i - 81 (ProductCritic Score = 81)
5. Samsung SCH-u740 - 81
6. Nokia 5300 - 80 (ProductCritic Score = 82)
7. Sony Ericsson W300i - 80 (ProductCritic Score = 79)
8. LG EnV - 79 (ProductCritic Score = 81)
9. T-Mobile SDA - 79
10. Samsung UpStage - 79

Except for the Motorola RIZR, the ratings given by PC World sync up pretty well with the aggregate scores from ProductCritic.

The front of my cell phone is all cracked up so I'm looking to get a new one. I'm really impressed by the latest Sony Ericsson phones and am thinking about the Sony W810i. But, I've had a Motorola phone of one type or another for quite awhile now though so I'm kind of invested in their OS and menu system etc. The RIZR is a really good looking phone but the professional reviews of it are only average.

The Incredible Story Of Cell Phones

Do you remember when no one had cell phones? How did you tell your friends you'd be late? How'd you tell others where to come find you? How'd you figure out where everyone else was?

Looking around nowadays, it's easy to forget that it wasn't very long ago when almost no one had a cell phone. Going through the cell phone reviews on ProductCritic, it amazes me how far the technology has come in such a relatively short time....especially when you see phones like the Blackberry Pearl or the Nokia 7390 with their huge list of features and functions. The Nokia 7390 has a pretty good 3 megapixel camera included. My first digital camera, the Canon G1 was 3.1 megapixel and it was one of the top-end "prosumer" cameras at that time!

AmericanHeritage.com has a great article detailing the story of the creation of the first "hand-held portable phone" by Motorola. It's a pretty fascinating tale and, as with most good stories, it's about overcoming some incredibly massive challenges (due to a FCC meeting deadline, they had to create the phone in six weeks!) and coming out winners in the end.

I've included a picture of some of their prototypes (image taken from the AmericanHeritage site). It's actually amazing that you can recognize current cell phone form factors in those early prototypes.

The engineers working on this first cell phone for Motorola were definitely pioneers of the first order. I love this exchange that's documented in the article when they first unveiled the prototype and the project to a group of engineers:

“Eyes opened and jaws dropped, because it was really small,” Krolopp remembers. Cooper issued a challenge: “Anybody who doesn’t believe that this can’t be done in time, get up and leave the room.” “With the kind of egos we had in the room,” Krolopp says, “no one got up.”

To the inner-geek in me, that's just awesome. So, stop taking for granted that little phone, camera, mp3 player, clock, browser, pda, and notebook that's in your pocket/purse and read the article to get more appreciation for something that many people can no longer live without.

Are You A Linux Geek? You'll Love These Phones

The Ministry of Tech blog has a post listing The 5 Hottest Phones for Linux Fanatics. All these "phones" are built on the Linux platform and in theory, should enable communities to be created around them to customize their functionality.

Listed below are the phones (and their ProductCritic Score if available):

1. FIC Neo1973
2. Sony mylo (ProductCritic Score = 67)
3. ROAD S101K HandyPC
4. Motorola A1200 (ProductCritic Score = 83)
5. Grundig B700

The Motorola A1200 (also known as the "Ming") has pretty good reviews but the Sony mylo has quite mixed ones. This is probably because the mylo really isn't a phone in the traditional sense in that you can only make calls if you're connected via Wi-fi and use Skype...it doesn't have the traditional cell phone capabilities (and therefore the monthly fees or contracts).

How To Save A Wet Cell Phone

Just a quick post today...hopefully a useful one. I think there's two camps of cell phone users, those that take real good care of their phone and those like me who drop their cell phone a lot. As I type, my phone currently has a huge crack across its front and its been there for quite awhile now. I should replace it but nothing else is wrong with the phone! The LCD works just fine (both exterior and interior) so I just keep using it.

OK, maybe I'm also lazy and cheap.

Anyways, in my regular dropping of my cell phones, occasionally it happens in the middle of the street on a rainy day. Lucky for me, so far, it hasn't fallen directly into a puddle. If it does, the warranty is void and the phone company knows what you did.

But, if you're not so lucky and it happens to you (or your kid throws it into the toilet), have a look at this article on wikiHow that provides as much help and instruction as possible on how to save it (if it can be saved).

Second Worst Invention Ever? Cell Phones

IT Week has a summary of a survey done in the UK asking what is the worst invention ever. Believe it or not, Cell Phones came in second just after Weapons!

Here's the full list:

1. Weapons (35%)
2. Mobile Phones (17%)
3. Nuclear Power (9%)
4. Sinclair C5 (9%)
5. Television (9%)
6. The Car (6%)
7. Cigarettes (6%)
8. Fast Food (3%)
9. Speed Cameras (3%)
10. Religion (2%)

I have no idea what the Sinclair C5 is but obviously it's some British thing that's really bad! I also don't know the audience they were asking for this survey but I'm obviously different than that target group as I love my TV and my car.

I actually don't think Cell Phones are bad at all (which is why they are one of the products reviewed on ProductCritic)....what is actually bad are some Cell Phone users!

Use Your Cell Phone Without Getting Irradiated

Since my previous post on Highest and Lowest Radiation Cell Phones, CNET has updated their Lowest Radiation Cell Phones list. I've listed them below along with any relevant ProductCritic scores:

1. LG KG800 Chocolate (ProductCritic Score = 66)
2. Motorola Razr V3x (ProductCritic Score = 81)
3. Samsung SGH-t809 (ProductCritic Score = 73)
4. Bang & Olufsen Serene (Samsung SGH-E910)
5. Sanyo RL-4930
6. Helio Drift
7. Nokia 3250
8. Samsung Sync (SGH-A707)
9. Samsung Jitterbug Dial (SPH-A120)
10. Samsung Jitterbug OneTouch (SPH-A110)

Samsung is obviously doing something right with 4 out of 10 spots on this list. Although the LG KG800 Chocolate generates the least amount of radiation, maybe you get what you pay for as it currently sits near the very bottom of all the Cell Phones on ProductCritic.

CNET's Overhyped Cell Phones

CNET's Overhyped Cell Phones lists four cell phones that don't quite live up to their hype billing. In no particular order, they are:

• Motorola Q (ProductCritic Score = 77)
  
• LG VX8500 Chocolate (ProductCritic Score = 75)
  
• Bang & Olufsen Serene
  
• Motorola RAZR V3i (ProductCritic Score = 81)

Note that ProductCritic doesn't have a score for the Bang & Olufsen. Although our aim is to have as comprehensive a database as possible, we are trying to target the brands and models that people are actually considering (since that's the whole point of making ProductCritic as useful as possible for people). I've never even heard of the Bang & Olufsen and at a $1000 price point (which CNET calls out), I doubt it's a phone that many people are actually considering.

I actually don't think the Motorola's or the LG are too hyped given their ProductCritic scores but I guess if the hype really points people to a high expectation, then the ProductCritic scores are definitely disappointments. I don't quite understand CNET though, as they are one of the participants in generating the hype in the first place!

How To Buy A Cell Phone

If it's been awhile since you had a new cell phone and you're looking for a new one but are a little uncomfortable PC World has an introduction article about How To Buy A Cell Phone.

The "Big Picture" section of the article is the most helpful as it gives a good explanation of all this talk about 3G, GSM, CDMA and a host of other non-helpful acronyms.

By the way, remember that the iPhone, even though it's supposed to be the hottest thing is not 3G capable which means that the information transfer speeds to it (when you're browsing or if you want to watch streaming video) are slower than what the latest technology allows.

Great, I just blew it. I had stated I wouldn't talk about the iPhone again and only ten days later, I mention it. I guess it's hard to steer clear of the hottest talk amongst the geek (and even non-geek) crowd.

Ten Most Popular Cell Phones of 2006

Wirefly is the #1 seller of cell phones and plans in the US. They recently announced their Ten Most Popular Cell Phones of 2006. I've provided the list below and, as usual, the ProductCritic scores associated with each phone.

1. Cingular RAZR by Motorola (ProductCritic Score = 81)
2. T-Mobile RAZR (ProductCritic Score = 81)
3. Verizon Wireless RAZR (ProductCritic Score = 81)
4. Cingular Sony Ericsson z520a/z525a video phones (ProductCritic Score = 80)
5. T-Mobile Motorola v360 (ProductCritic Score = 80)
6. Verizon Wireless Motorola v276 (ProductCritic Score = 77)
7. Sprint Nextel Motorola i850 (ProductCritic Score = 70)
8. Sprint Nextel Motorola i710
9. Cingular Motorola v220 (ProductCritic Score = 65)
10. T-Mobile Samsung T309 (ProductCritic Score = 62)

It's amazing how Motorola just dominates the list and the RAZR rules the top three spots. It was a sexy phone when it was first released and it should be no surprise that it's so popular now that you can probably get it for $50 with a plan.

Additionally, it also shouldn't be surprising to see that as you go lower down the list, the ProductCritic Scores of each phone go down. With most of these phones being so inexpensive with a plan, there really shouldn't be a reason to go with any phone with a ProductCritic Score of less than 80.

The Evolution Of The Cell Phone

This is an interesting video (TechBloom: Cell Evolve) of the evolution of the cell phone. It makes me laugh because I remember a guy carrying one over his shoulder. He really thought is looked all cool and hip with that huge thing. It had a brown leather case and was about as big as a copy of "War & Peace". Of course, back then, maybe some people did think that was cool!

Highest And Lowest Radiation Cell Phones

CNET has a list of the U.S. 10 highest and 10 lowest radiation cell phones. It's a pretty interesting list showing that if you have a Motorola cell phone (like me) you might want to exchange it. Maybe that's why there's an ache near my hip (where I keep my phone).

Top 10 Highest Radiation Cell Phones:

1. Motorola V195
2. Motorola Slvr L6
3. Motorola V120c
4. Motorola V265
5. Motorola Slvr L2
6. Motorola V70
7. Motorola P8767
8. Motorola ST7868
9. Motorola ST7868W
10. Palm Treo 650 GSM

Top 10 Lowest Radiation Cell Phones:

1. Audiovox PPC66001
2. Motorola MPx200
3. Motorola Timeport L7089
4. Qualcomm pdQ-1900
5. T-Mobile Sidekick
6. Samsung SGH-S100
7. Samsung SGH-S105
8. Sony Ericsson Z600
9. Mitsubishi G360
10. Siemens S40

Last Thoughts About iPhone

OK, because everyone else had talked the iPhone to death and I'm getting sick of all the hype and speculation, this will be the last time I blog about the iPhone until it actually comes out and we aggregate the reviews on the main site. I'm only discussing this post because like I've stated in previous posts, it might be a good idea to doubt the hype you read from CES.

CNET's gadget blog, Crave, has an entry entitled "Thirteen reasons to doubt the iPhone hype". Here is a summary of the thirteen points:

1. No 3G compatibility
2. Does Wifi overcome lack of 3G?
3. What's under the hood?
4. Download from iTunes?
5. OSX and multitasking?
6. "iPhone" name?
7. Who's the phone for? Who can afford it?
8. Will the user have any freedom?
9. Extra costs?
10. Another iLock-in strategy?
11. Is the touch screen useful?
12. What's after early adopters?
13. Other factors involved in a cell phone purchase

I believe that there are definitely "hype" elements to all this iPhone talk. Specifically, I'll discuss a few of the points I find valid. My opinion is that the other points I don't discuss are a case of grasping at straws just to get "Thirteen doubts".

Numbers 1 and 2 are key doubts I have. Together with my main concern about the battery and battery life in my original iPhone post, I think this could be a deal-breaker for the iPhone and will prevent it from moving past early adopters. For a "next-gen" phone, it must have 3G if it's going to allow streaming of video! More importantly, 3G and Wifi both eat up the battery quickly. If this is really going to be a "next-gen" phone, you're going to need it to connect up via Wifi and have ability to get speeds to stream video...even if you don't want to stream video.

The other key issue for me is the cost of the phone (#'s 7 and 9). I fully expect regular cell phone manufacturers to continually lower their handset prices until they are essentially free (like the once sexy Motorola RAZR). Will Steve Jobs allow that of an Apple product? When launched, the handset will cost $600 in addition to the contract. I'm sure people will pay that but if it doesn't come down in price as quickly as other phones, I don't believe it will get the support of the next wave of buyers after the initial early adopters.

The final interesting point that Crave's blog entry notes is that point #3 notes the similarity between what's inside the iPhone and the Samsung Blackjack (which received a ProductCritic Score of 74). Still, given the other features, look, and overall sexiness of the iPhone, I'm not sure who really cares about what's inside the iPhone.

iPhone Hype - I Think I'll Wait

At first, like everyone else, I was super hyped about the iPhone. I thought it was the holy grail of handheld devices....one device to rule them all (phone, camera, browser, pda, handheld computer, game machine, mp3 player, and video player).

I have incredibly high hopes for the iPhone but after reading some of the "hands-on" articles like the one from Gizmodo, I've brought my expectations back down to earth.

The phone has the great Apple design and looks great...especially the screen. It's got some amazing functionality and features but it's definitely lacking in some areas.

BabyGotMac has a post entitled "The 5 Weaknesses of the iPhone" which is a start in bringing me back to Earth but my own personal disappointments (without actually having seen or touched the phone) is:

1. No removable battery. What happens when the battery dies? Do you have to send the phone back to Apple like you do when the iPod battery dies?
2. No MS Exchange or MS Office compatibility. Yeah, I understand this is an Apple product but their fight with MS ended long ago. My guess is that a majority of business users are on Exchange and Office. I want to be able to do some work (however small) on my "ultimate" device.
3. It's not a smartphone. I don't want to have to wait for Apple to supply me with upgraded functionality. I want to download and install stuff from the millions of programmers eager to write cool applications for this thing.
   

I guess I'll be waiting a little longer for my holy grail of handheld devices. Apple got real close though. I wonder when these will be on sale in Vancouver so that one of my less cheap friends will buy one?

CES 2007: Should You Listen To CNET's Hype?

CES 2007, the largest consumer electronics tradeshow in the world, is taking place right now in Las Vegas. Each year, CNET does extensive coverage of the products they see at the show. This year is no different with their coverage of CES 2007.

Since most of the products covered are not yet available for purchase, I thought it'd be interesting to look back at CES 2006 and see what CNET chose as their "CES Best in Show" for last year and what the ProductCritic Scores are for some of those products.

In their Cameras and Camcorders category, they chose the Sanyo Xacti HD1 which gets a ProductCritic Score of 61.

In their Cell Phone category, they chose the Samsung ZX20 which fares better with a ProductCritic Score of 72.

What's the moral of this post? Don't get caught in the hype of all the reports coming out of CES. What looks like a "Best in Show" during the show may actually be a dud when the product actually gets released and people get a longer time to review!

CNET's Top 6 Cell Phones of 2006

CNET has listed their Top 6 Cell Phones of 2006. Listed below are the phones, CNET's score and the associated ProductCritic score:

1. Sony Ericsson K790a - 8.3 (ProductCritic Score = 86)
2. LG CU500 - 8.3 (ProductCritic Score = 76)
   
3. Nokia 5300 XPress - 8.3 (ProductCritic Score = 82)
4. Sony Ericsson W810i - 8.0 (ProductCritic Score = 87)
5. LG VX8300 - 8.0 (ProductCritic Score = 83)
6. Motorola i850 - 7.3 (ProductCritic Score = 77)

From all the reviews I've read, the best phone is actually the Sony Ericsson W810i (and it would definitely in the running to be my next phone). I think the only real discrepency between CNET and the rest of the reviewers on the net is with the LG CU500 which CNET really likes and which only has an OK ProductCritic Score.

It also must have been a pretty slow year for cell phones for CNET to list a phone with a rating of 7.3 one of their year's best.

Mobile Gazette's 2006 Good, Bad, & Ugly Cell Phones List

The folks over at MobileGazette.com have provided their Cell Phone Review of 2006: The Good, Bad, & the Ugly.

Their winning pick of 2006 is the Sony Ericsson K800i.

Their worst phone of 2006 is the BenQ-Siemens EF91.

When I go through their list, it really makes me realize that the cell phone manufacturers have no idea how to name their phones. That's why I think Motorola is doing a great job with their RAZR and KRZR naming schemes. "RAZR" rolls off your tongue just a little bit more smoothly than "K800i".