INQ is a relatively new company dedicated to making inexpensive feature phones that have smartphone-like levels of integration with stuff you actually care about, like your social life.

A lot has happened since the first Google phone arrived 12 months ago. So it makes sense for HTC to finally make a legitimate stab at upgrading the Android operating system, now that Palm has its web-errific Pre, the iPhone graduated to video (not to ...

Camera flaunts touch-only zoom with tap-to-focus. Responsive touch-qwerty more or less comparable to iPhone. Battery lasts for DAYS (36+ hours!). 3.5mm headphone jack. Flash-enabled. Dead-simple USB mounting: Plug in, drag down top menu, and voila, ...

SD slot is only accessible by removing cover. This Hero has Flash, but how about a camera with a flash? Optional haptic feedback is about as subtle as a 6.5 earthquake. Lack of image stabilization produces videos reminiscent of Cloverfield. 340 x 280 ...

. Instead, consider the new Blackberry Tour from Verizon. Its e-mail and social-networking features are ideal for constant communicators, though its web browser and voice calling leave something to be desired.

Superb multimedia playback on music, video and pics. Extremely bright and colorful screen was still easy to see in direct sunlight. RIM makes it dead simple to hook up the phone to receive your e-mail, Twitter and Facebook updates

Call quality is sub-par. Some screen lag when we started using the phone, but it eventually stopped. Teeny tiny browser fonts gave us migraines

Hey, this Android thing may take off after all!

Top-to-bottom hardware redesign is a big win, with thoughtful new features. Outstanding battery life. Generally crystalline call quality. Solid selection of downloadable applications

Screen gets smudged easily and is harder to wipe clean than competitors. 4-GB base memory is still on the weak side. No standard headphone jack (mini-USB adapter required). T-Mobile 3-G network still comparatively small

Say you're in the R&D labs at Sony Ericsson and you want your latest handset to stick out amid an ocean of fierce Darwinian competition. You have three possible routes:

Offers a capable "everything but the kitchen sink" feature list. Photo and video tweaking toys a-plenty. PictBridge compatible. Automatically resizes huge hi-res photos before sending as MMS. Supports video calling (with compatible phones)

Dull appearance more boring than watching C-Span with the sound off. Virtually flat keypad makes blind texting a nightmare. 8-MP images + 160 MB of memory = non-negotiable memory-stick purchase. Large, side-staged charging port is awkward. 16x digital ...

The recipe for cooking up a sweet multimedia phone? Take one part phone, mix two parts MP3 player, throw in some cool backlit buttons to impress the kids. Blend until creamy.

Standard headphone jack FTW. Slick animated menus and overall presentation. Sports a mini-kickstand for propping the phone up to watch video. Brilliant and colorful 2.6-inch 320x240 display. Decent audio clarity during headphone use. Decent data ...

Low volume for music and calls. Music or voice, it doesn't matter -- the speakerphone just sucks. E-mail client is both chintzy and web-based. Mediocre call quality. Buttons sit in recessions so deep, they need a government bailout

Apple outsmarted the mobile world by releasing the touch-controlled iPhone in June 2007. In July the next year, it rocketed to faster network speeds with the iPhone 3G while creating a massive ecosystem of apps. Now, on June 19, Apple will reassert ...

Faster. More storage. Better camera, with video recording capability. Search encompasses more data, not just one app at a time. Voice navigation. Feature-rich iPhone 3.0 software is free to current iPhone users

Multitasking still limited. No tethering or MMS support yet for AT& ; T users. Recent iPhone 3G customers must pay a fortune to upgrade

Samsung's Alias 2 is aptly named; it leads a double life. On one hand, it's slick and cool, with a vibrant swivel screen and an E Ink keyboard that would make even a Kindle user slightly jealous.

E Ink keyboard morphs button layouts when switching from phone to messaging device. Voice quality is high. Battery life is nearly six hours. Reasonably priced

The Dear Diary feel of the interface is at odds with anyone over 13. My Room Menu theme is embarrassing. Lack of dedicated buttons leave you hunting and pecking for even the most common tasks

The newest device to flaunt Google's Android operating system is the Ion, a lightly customized version of the HTC Magic. Loaded with a newer version of the seminal OS, the phone is faster, sleeker and smarter than the previous Android model, the G1. ...

, a phone that came straight outta Finland unlocked, with a powerful array of business and multimedia features. It was balanced, it was beautiful and it worked perfectly. We loved it so much, the handset won our Best of Test award for mobile phones in ...

Fantastic industrial design. Hashing out e-mails (or tweets) on smartly appointed QWERTY is a typo-free affair. Gorgeous screen completely readable in direct sunshine. Battery life holds up to four days of calls, e-mails and web surfing. One hundred ...

Seriously, AT& ; T, did you have to drop the toggle button? Still no N-Gage gaming platform available. 3.2 MP pics skew a touch towards the noisy end of the spectrum