RIM BlackBerry 8830 World Edition Smartphone Our rating:

The Blackberry 8830, although it looks to be a basic and even to some a boring and bulky PDA/Smartphone compared to others of its kind (and even its Blackberry siblings such as the popular and snazzy Pearl, Storm and Curve), the 8830 is set apart from the others by being both a CDMA and GSM phone. This phone is marketed especially for International businessmen and world-travelers who would benefit most from the network interchangeability. For those Sprint/Nextel and Verizon users who grit their teeth when they want to keep their phone when they change networks, or just switch out their sim card when they travel somewhere overseas with only GSM networks, the 8830 comes to the rescue. With both a CDMA function and a GSM sim-card slot, you get the best of both worlds. For the world-traveler who uses a CDMA network Smartphone, this Blackberry is a lifesaver and relieves a lot of hassle they may have had in the past when it comes to mobile networks and phones. It’s easy to use the World Edition 8830 overseas. Simply activate Sprint/Verizon World Service (by calling Sprint or Verizon, it’s free) and it will work in both CDMA and GSM countries (although the roaming fees are pretty hefty). For those who want to use a local sim-card, just switch out the Sprint or Verizon card for a local network’s card.

The Sprint version of the 8830 lacks a camera, which is a downside and a disappointment since Blackberry tends to stay on the cutting edge, but I suppose most world-traveling businessmen (who this phone is marketed for) don’t need a camera-phone to snap pictures while on a meeting in Beijing. And even though it might not have a camera, you can still fit a lot of media on the 8830 with the memory card option and SDHC capability. The audio isn’t the loudest, but still fairly good for a phone, and the video quality is exceptional. And, since the screen is 2.5 inches, you won’t be squinting your eyes nearly as much as with other, smaller phones. Of course, the 8830 also comes with the mobile internet option and blackberry email, which is outstanding and quite simple to use if you have a data package.

Although the transition to blackberry from another phone, Smartphone or PDA can take a bit of getting used to, since its menu can tend to be a bit complex and difficult to navigate, the convenient “help” functions and online guides make it clear to even the least tech-savvy folks. For those already familiar with blackberries, the 8830 features the trademark trackball as well as blackberry maps, GPS, browser, email, MMS, SMS, wireless e-mail, organizer, and corporate data access. The price is quite fair when you buy it with a new plan or decide to upgrade. Otherwise it retails around $400-600, still a fair price given the features of this one-of-a-kind PDA phone.

Samsung r400 Slider Phone Our Rating:

After some very bad luck with the Kyocera Strobe, our lead reviewer Chris decided to move on to a Samsung, thinking He would be much more impressed.  Unfortunately, that was far from being the case.  He concluded that while Samsung does have some very nice phones currently on the market, this is definitely one to steer clear of.  Here’s what he had to say:

First of all, one of my biggest annoyances of cell phones was true of this phone as well – the “silent” mode is not 100% silent.  When the battery gets low on this phone, even if you’ve got the volume turned off, it’s going to beep at you.  Certainly not the way I want to find out when I’m in the middle of a meeting.

Actually, a lot of the software on this phone was very unimpressive.  There’s no way to change how the slider works, so it will always hang up on your call when you close it, even if you don’t want it to.  The ringer doesn’t turn on automatically when you plug the phone in to charge, and the volume controls in general are very confusing.

The phone seems to be cheaply made as well.  The slider seems weak and flimsy when compared to other phones on the market.  The battery does not hold a very long charge either.  Also, on the original as well as a warranty replacement of this phone, the signal seems to run into lot of dead zones, even though it is not generally weak.  Perhaps there is some sort of problem with the antenna getting interference.

At any rate, if you’re in the market for a slider phone, you’re probably going to want to keep looking.  This is yet another phone that is definitely not getting raves from us.