Multimedia Cell Phone Review
Why Buy a Multimedia Cell Phone?
With multimedia phones, you can leave your other electronic devices at home because your phone does pretty much everything. You can make calls, send instant messages and text messages, browse the internet, take pictures, listen to music, watch a movie on a high-resolution screen or film video with a high-megapixel lens. You can also keep track of your busy life with the calendar, jump right to the voicemail messages you want to hear with voice notes, send and receive emails, sync documents on your computer and jot down notes.
The best multimedia cell phones offer:
- Video: What would a multimedia cell phone be without video? Watch movies and TV on your phone. Film your own video with a built-in camcorder that captures frames in 720p. The memory most phones come with will give you enough space to carry around several movies and other entertainment options.
- Audio: These days, it's pretty much impossible to find a phone that doesn't play music. It's also becoming more commonplace for phones to have music-streaming abilities as well. You can use iTunes, Windows Media Player Mobile, Sprint Music and V Cast to load MP3 and other common audio files onto your phone, or you can stream music from the internet.
- Camera: These cellular phones come equipped with at least a 1.3MP (megapixel) camera. The best include at least a 2.0 or higher megapixel camera, as well as zoom, pan, flash and photo-sharing abilities. Some can even send print commands and connect to online photo-printing and sharing sites.
- Email: The top multimedia cell phones work with most POP3 and IMAP email providers, which means you can access web-based email like Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and Gmail. Many phones also sync with Outlook and offer push email, which delivers your email to you as soon as it arrives in your inbox. The best phones can even display full HTML email and attachments.
- Internet: Nearly every multimedia cell phone includes some kind of internet capability. Many of them offer full webpage access, and the top-rated phones include the ability to connect to Wi-Fi networks. With a capable internet cell phone, you can stop lugging around that six-pound laptop and enjoy the World Wide Web with a less-than-five-ounce device.
- Messaging: If you like to IM or text message, an entertainment cell phone may be your best friend. Many cellular phones offer full QWERTY keyboards and advanced text-messaging features (like MMS), and are compliant with major IM providers such as Yahoo, Google Talk, MSN and AOL.
On this site, you'll find articles related to multimedia phones, comprehensive reviews and a side-by-side comparison to help you make an informed decision about which multimedia cell phone is right for you. Be sure to look at our top-ranked multimedia cell phones: the Apple iPhone 4, HTC Evo 3D and the Samsung Infuse 4G.
Multimedia Cell Phone: What to Look For
In the U.S., your cell phone options are often limited by what your provider supports. We looked at multimedia cell phones supported by popular U.S. cell phone services and some unlocked phones that may work with a variety of providers.
If you are happy with your provider, look for the best multimedia phone that your provider supports. If you are not pleased with your provider, look for a cell phone service that offers the terms and coverage you desire, and then choose the best multimedia cell phone that provider supports.
Below are the criteria we used to evaluate multimedia cell phones:
Design
A smartphone should shine in this area. Many of these phones include touchscreen capabilities with virtual keyboards. The best include high-resolution screens so that you can watch movies and videos, and capture and view images that are vibrant and clear. A compatible size and a phone that is thin and lightweight is also an added bonus.
Call Features/Quality
Multimedia cell phones should provide basic cell phone functions such as three-way calling, speakerphone, voice dialing and text messaging. The best cell phones are flexible and are compatible with a variety of networks, such as quad-band world phones and those that work with 3G and 4G networks.
Battery Life/Memory
A good multimedia phone is streamlined yet functional and includes a long-lasting battery and plenty of memory. The best cell phones support additional memory cards, standard headphones and wireless Bluetooth headsets.
Additional Features
A strong multimedia cell phone includes a good cell phone camera, a high-resolution display and is capable of recording and playing back a variety of audio and video file types. It is also nice if the cell phone includes extras like games and radio. We looked for phones that provide the ability to access the internet. The best include the ability to connect through a variety of methods such as the 4G and 3G networks or Wi-Fi. Although these phones are not necessarily work phones, they are more practical if they can also double as your work phone. The most productive phones offer organizing tools and support third-party applications such as Windows Mobile Office, calendars, task lists and memos.
If you're looking for a multimedia phone, you're going to want one that can give you quick internet speeds, a good camera, high screen resolution and enough memory to allow you to carry around all the movies, music and photos you want. The competition to be the best multimedia cell phone continues to increase with advances in technology.
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