HTC Evo 4G

HTC Evo 4G is Sprint's premier smartphone and you'll get a great device regardless of our quibbles. We just hope Sprint starts to light up those 4G markets faster, so everyone can take advantage of the 4G capabilities and get their money's worth. HTC Evo 4G will be available June 4 for $199.99 with a two year contract and the aforementioned data plans. Though Sprint requires a $100 mail-in rebate, Best Buy and Radio Shack do not, so you get the $200 price tag instantly. Cut from the same cloth as the HTC HD2, HTC Evo 4G isn't what you'd call a dainty phone.

It measures 4.8 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick and weighs 6 ounces, so you're dealing with a good chunk of hardware. It's right on the cusp of being too big, but HTC was able to keep HTC Evo 4G relatively thin, making it more manageable. Plus, you might be willing to overlook the large size once you get a glimpse of the smartphone's massive display. Like the HD2, HTC Evo 4G rocks a 4.3 inch capacitive touch screen that's downright mesmerizing. The extra screen real estate makes a huge difference when viewing Web pages and reading text, and HTC Evo 4G supports the pinch to zoom gesture in a number of apps.

The display shows vibrant colors and the sharp WVGA 800x480 pixel resolution makes everything look crisp. There is a built-in light sensor that will automatically adjust the backlight based on the ambient light we were able to read the screen in most environments, but it did wash out a bit in bright sunlight. Another benefit of the large display is a spacious keyboard that rivals the iPhone's in ease of use. Even in portrait mode, we were able to quickly punch out a message with both thumbs (none of that pecking at the keys with one finger) with minimal mistakes.

As you can imagine, the landscape keyboard is even roomier, but most times we found we could get away with just typing in portrait mode. Below the screen, you get four touch sensitive navigation controls : home, menu, back, and search. A long press of the home key will bring up a list of your most recently used apps. There's a volume rocker on the right side, and the top of the device features a power button and 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the bottom, you'll find a Micro-USB port and an HDMI port. Be aware that the latter is a Type D connector, so you'll have to get a compatible cable to hook the phone up to your TV.

Of course, you can watch video and view photos right from the phone, and there's a handy kickstand on back so you can prop the phone up on a desk. Though there will be purists who prefer the standard Android skin, in most cases, we'd choose a device running HTC Sense. Out of all our custom skins for Android (Motoblur, TouchWiz, etc.), Sense is our absolute favorite, as it gives Android a more user friendly interface. In many cases, it improves on the core functions by better integrating the features, which is why we're glad to see that Sprint had the sense (sorry) to go with Sense on HTC Evo 4G.

Just like the Droid Incredible and the HTC Legend, HTC Evo 4G runs the newer version of HTC Sense, which was announced at Mobile World Congress 2010. This includes a revamped mail widget that can take you to a list view of all your e-mail instead of just one message at a time. (This view, however, is only one of several choices.) Once in the mail app, there's a handy tabbed interface at the bottom that lets you view unread messages, attachments, meeting invites, and more with a simple touch.

The Agenda widget also now displays your whole agenda on the screen, and, like the latest HTC devices, you get an animated weather widget right on the home screen that automatically displays the current conditions based on your location. You also get a new Group Contacts widget, which lets you organize your contacts by groups. For example, you can set up one for work colleagues, another for friends, and another for just family whatever you please. The UI looks good, and it's simple to add contacts to a group, though removing them requires a few extra steps.

Sense also makes it easy to access as much information as possible within the contact management system. If any of your contacts have Facebook updates, it will display them right next to their pictures in the contact database. You can also see all your exchanges (text messages, call logs, etc.) with a single person from his or her contact card, and all your contacts are accessible within the phone app.

However, we still had multiple instances of duplicate contacts and had to go back and manually link them together. Another feature, called Friend Stream, provides a single place for all your social networking needs, piping in updates from Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. Unlike Motoblur, it's not server based the phone connects to the sites and pulls information directly from there.

Nokia E73

Nokia E73 Mode's design is quite similar to the E72, not that we have any complaints, since we loved the E72's form factor. Nokia E73 is incredibly sleek at 4.5 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick, making it easy to slip into a pants pocket and comfortable to hold as a phone and messaging device. It's relatively light at 4.5 ounces but it has a very solid construction and feels like a device worth more than $70. The smartphone's display measures 2.4 inches diagonally and supports 16 million colors with a 320x240 resolution.

The size is on par with the one on BlackBerry Bold 9700, but it's not quite as sharp (the Bold's screen is 480x360) so images and text don't look quite as smooth on Nokia E73 as the Bold. Still, it's clear and vibrant, but tends to wash out slightly in bright sunlight. Like a number of Nokia's latest smartphones, Nokia E73 Mode lets you switch your home screen between two modes: personal and work. You can customize each mode with which apps you want accessible from the home screen, with the idea that you'll have work apps front and center in work mode, and more fun apps, such as the music player and photo gallery, in personal mode, so you can better balance your life.

Whether one can really "turn off" work mode is probably up to the individual, but nice a sentiment by Nokia. As for the general user interface, the Symbian based Nokia E73 runs on the S60 platform so the experience is much like the E72. The UI isn't particularly pretty, looking rather old actually, and requires some extra steps when navigating within an app, but it's fairly intuitive. Below the screen, you get a number of navigation controls, including Talk and End keys, two soft buttons, four shortcuts (home, contacts, calendar, and messages), and a combination optical trackpad or D-pad that Nokia calls the Optical Navi key.

To close an app, you much choose Options and then Exit. Nokia E73 Mode's QWERTY keyboard is, in a word, excellent. The rectangular buttons are a good size and have a nice domed shape, making them easy to press. The numbers share space with the letter keys in the middle of the keyboard. Though Nokia chose to highlight them in black against a dark gray background, they're actually not that hard to see. It's really one of the best physical keyboards we've used in recent memory, as we were able to type messages quickly and with little error. On the left spine, there's a Micro-USB port and a microSD expansion slot, both protected by an attached cover.

Meanwhile, you will find a volume rocker and a voice command button on the right side, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack and power button on top. The camera and flash are, as usual, found on back. Nokia E73 also has a front facing camera, but don't think this is in response to the HTC Evo 4G and iPhone 4. Most Nokia smartphones have had front facing cameras and video conferencing capabilities long before these two phones put it on people's radars. Though the interest hasn't necessarily been there in the past, you can, in fact, make video calls with Nokia E73 with an app, such as Fring, which is available through the Nokia Ovi Store.

Nokia bills the E73 Mode as a mobile to balance work and life, and the smartphone has a pretty well rounded feature set, though we'd say it skews a little more to mobile professionals than consumers, particularly with the messaging capabilities. The smartphone offers Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support (e-mail, contacts, calendar, and tasks) as well as IBM Lotus Notes and comes with a mobile VPN client if you need to tap into your company's intranet. The Nokia Messaging app can also handle as many as 10 personal accounts, including POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP, and comes with push deliver, an attachment viewer, search, filters, and HTML support. In addition to e-mail, T-Mobile bundles the E73 with a handful of instant messaging clients and social networking apps, such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.

Samsung Restore SPH-m570

While it may claim similar eco-friendly properties as Samsung Reclaim does, Samsung Restore SPH-m570 looks a bit more like the Rant. It has a number keypad on the front, but it slides sideways to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. Despite its recycled ingredients, Samsung Restore SPH-m570 feels sturdy, and we like its overall oval shape and curved edges. Measuring 4.6 inches long by 2.1 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick, Samsung Restore SPH-m570 is definitely bigger than both the Rant and the Reclaim, but it's still lightweight at 4.32 ounces and easily fits in a pocket or purse.

On the front of the phone is a lovely 2.4 inch QVGA display that supports 262.000 colors and has a 320x240 pixel resolution. We are pleased with the colorful images and the crisp text, and the size of the screen allows for more messages, especially in threaded conversations. You can adjust the brightness and the backlight timer. The menu interface can be arranged in either grid or list view, while the home screen has Sprint's One Click interface along the bottom row (You can read more about One Click in our review of the Samsung Highlight).

As part of the phone's eco-friendly theme, the Restore includes quick links to the Planet Green site in the One Click interface. The navigation array that follows is a bit of departure for Samsung messaging phones. You get the typical two soft keys, the speakerphone key, the back key, and the Send and End and Power keys of course, but instead of a regular toggle, you get a square optical touch sensitive touch pad similar to the one on the Samsung Moment. This makes navigating the menu a lot quicker and smoother, but it takes a bit of practice to not scroll too far from where you want.

Two soft keys are on the left side of the display, for use when the keyboard is open. The number keypad underneath the navigation array is quite roomy, and we like that the keys are separate from each other and are raised above the surface for quick dialing. The volume rocker is on the left spine while the 3.5 mm headset jack and camera key are on the right. The charger jack is on top and the camera lens is on the back. Sitting underneath the camera lens is the self portrait mirror.

Samsung Restore SPH-m570 has a 1,000 entry phone book with room in each entry for six numbers, an e-mail address, an instant messaging handle, a URL, a birthday, a street address, a job title and company name, and notes. You can assign callers to groups, pair them with a photo for caller ID, plus one of 20 polyphonic ring tones and melodies. As an option, you can use Sprint's wireless backup service to store your contacts on Sprint's servers.

It has essential features such as a vibrate mode and a speakerphone, plus the usual PIM tools like an alarm clock, a calendar, a calculator, a tip calculator, a world clock, a memo pad, and a voice memo recorder. You will also find stereo Bluetooth, voice command features, USB mass storage, instant messaging, and text and multimedia messaging. The latter supports threaded messaging so you'll be able to see your back and forth texts as a conversation. Along with Samsung Restore SPH-m570's pro-environment message, it also comes with an eco calculator that will measure your carbon usage, similar to the one on the LG Remarq.

As with most Sprint messaging phones, Samsung Restore SPH-m570 comes with social networking applications like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Since it has GPS, it also offers Sprint Navigation and Family Locator services. Other applications included in the phone include Google services like maps, search, YouTube, and a ScanLife bar-code scanner. Along with the eco-calculator, the Restore also has "green" apps like Green Glossary and Green Guide that offer tips on how to live a more eco-friendly life. You can also do simple multitasking and send certain apps to the background.