Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
EDITORS’<br />
PICK<br />
Samsung SCH-u740<br />
$180 with two-year contract •<br />
samsung.com<br />
The SCH-u740 has a long leg up on its<br />
svelte competition: A dual-flip hinge lets<br />
you use the phone in either portrait or<br />
landscape mode, in which you have access<br />
to a full QWERTY keyboard. It’s a surprisingly<br />
elegant solution, and the raised keys<br />
make texting and emailing easy. Though<br />
the (overly) touch-sensitive music controls<br />
didn’t work as well as we’d hoped, it’s a<br />
terrific phone for those who prefer to<br />
express themselves with their thumbs.<br />
WIRED Keyboard is great for knocking<br />
out SMS and email. V Cast music and video<br />
support. Vivid, colorful 2.2-inch display.<br />
TIRED Unimpressive 1.3-megapixel cam. No<br />
external camera button; no included memory<br />
card. Though highly pocketable, 0.6-inch bod<br />
not quite as thin as the competition.<br />
0 3 4 WIRED TEST<br />
Mobile Phones<br />
Fashion Phones<br />
With skinny trousers still in—damn you,<br />
Franz Ferdinand—slim cells are a must for<br />
style mavens. —E.S. AND CHRISTOPHER NULL<br />
LG VX8700<br />
$200 with two-year<br />
contract • lgusa.com<br />
LG’s RAZR clone is a wellsculpted<br />
piece of stainless<br />
steel hardware. The quality<br />
of our calls was equally good,<br />
and the 2-megapixel camera<br />
snapped more-than-credible<br />
photos. We have a few<br />
grievances—namely, that<br />
typing is tricky on the flat<br />
keypad, and the microSD<br />
card slot is harder to get into<br />
than MIT. Still, built-in GPS<br />
and intuitive menus make<br />
the VX8700 one of the more<br />
attractive ultraslim phones<br />
on the market.<br />
WIRED Supermodel slender<br />
(0.5 inch). Crisp screen. V Cast<br />
music and video support.<br />
Construction feels solid in the<br />
hand—no plastic here.<br />
TIRED Lacks external music<br />
controls. Slot for microSD<br />
card stuck behind battery.<br />
No memory card or USB<br />
cable included.<br />
Motorola<br />
RAZR2 V9<br />
$300 with two-year<br />
contract • motorola.com<br />
How do you follow up an<br />
iconic phone like the RAZR? If<br />
you’re Motorola, you inundate<br />
the market with your own<br />
knockoffs. The RAZR2 is<br />
nearly identical in form to the<br />
original, though the camera<br />
gets a boost to 2 megapixels,<br />
and 3G is now standard (good<br />
for watching clips via AT&T’s<br />
video service). The phone<br />
is still shiv-like (0.5 inch),<br />
but at 4.4 ounces, it’s also a<br />
whopping 31 percent heavier<br />
than the original.<br />
WIRED Nice paint job. Large,<br />
touch-sensitive external<br />
screen with haptics feedback.<br />
Improved talk time (more than<br />
six hours). Noise-reducing<br />
technology works fairly well.<br />
TIRED MP3 player stuttered<br />
on playback for us, and phone<br />
choked on USB file copies.<br />
Overly heavy and expensive.<br />
Nokia N76<br />
$500 • nseries.com<br />
Nokia has finally entered<br />
the anorexiphone market.<br />
The half-inch-thin N76 comes<br />
with an MP3 player, FM radio,<br />
dedicated music buttons,<br />
and a standard headphone<br />
jack. Unfortunately, said<br />
jack is located on top of the<br />
phone—meaning it gets in<br />
the way every time you flip<br />
the thing open—and the<br />
flat buttons aren’t easily<br />
pushed by normal fingers.<br />
Red version goes well<br />
with Lamborghini phase<br />
of midlife crisis—or with<br />
Google options vesting.<br />
WIRED Bright 2.4-inch<br />
screen. Excellent speaker.<br />
Nice interface for music<br />
and video player. Aboveaverage<br />
camera.<br />
TIRED Opening phone<br />
requires two hands or long<br />
nails. Screen <strong>sm</strong>udges easily.<br />
Pricey, given lack of 3G<br />
support and no memory card.<br />
GENE LEE, STYLED BY ROB OXENHAM/ARTIST UNTIED
Change language