Kent German,
Senior Editor
July 24, 2008
If your travel plans involve frequent stamps to your passport, you'll need a world phone for keeping in touch around the globe. With a much bigger footprint than CDMA, GSM (think AT&T and T-Mobile) technology will be your best bet. Also, keep in mind that your handset should support at least the 850, 1800, and 1900 GSM bands to work outside of North America. Quad-band phones, which add support for the GSM 900 band, are the most ideal since they'll get you service in the most countries possible. As a final thought, remember to check with your carrier about about overseas roaming rates. All carriers offer discounted fees for travelers, but you'll need to secure them before leaving home to avoid a nasty surprise on your bill. Alternatively, with an unlocked phone you can buy local SIM cards.
Whether you're off to Stockholm, Sydney, or Sao Paulo, pick a world phone for maximum coverage. To help pass the time on long plane flights, a handset with an MP3 player can be a great diversion. The Motorola Rokr E8 is a great option for T-Mobile. The controls take acclimation, but we were pleased with its performance. And speaking of music, you know we couldn't leave out the new Apple iPhone 3G for AT&T. Besides making calls and playing music and videos, it also has a full Web browser. The Samsung Soul is an unlocked phone that offers unique controls and full feature set including an MP3 player, an FM radio and a high-quality camera. And speaking of great cameras, the unlocked Sony Ericsson K850i has a 5-megapixel shooter. For a less complicated handset T-Mobile has the Samsung Katalyst, which offers Bluetooth and it lets you make calls via Wi-Fi. Finally, while Verizon Wireless is a CDMA carrier, it offers a world phone option with its dual-mode Motorola Z6c. There are many more world phones available, we can only list a few here, and Bonnie Cha has a list of her picks for global smartphones.
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| Price | $49.99 | Check Prices | Check Prices | $268.99 to $289.97 | $29.99 | Check Prices |
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| Review date | June 26, 2008 | July 11, 2008 | June 24, 2008 | April 28, 2008 | December 20, 2007 | December 13, 2007 |
| The Bottom Line | The Motorola Rokr E8 is a top choice for a T-Mobile music phone, if you can master the phone's novel, though slightly quirky, controls. | The iPhone 3G delivers on its promises by adding critical features and sharper call quality. The iTunes App Store is pretty amazing, and the 3G support is more than welcome. Critical features still are missing, and the battery depletes quickly under heavy use, but the iPhone 3G is a big improvement over the original model. | You won't mistake it for a smartphone, but the Samsung Soul is nonetheless an attractive and well-designed multimedia phone. | Though its navigation controls and keypad aren't up to par, the Sony Ericsson K850i is one of the finest camera phones we've seen. | Despite a few design quibbles, the Samsung Katalyst is a great HotSpot @Home phone with above-par call quality. | Armed with a slider design and good quality, the CDM and GSM Motorola Z6c is an ideal choice for the global Verizon Wireless customer. |
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| Features | ||||||
| Cellular technology | GSM | WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM | GSM | WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM | GSM | CDMA2000 1X / GSM |
| Weight | 3.5 oz | 4.7 oz | 3.4 oz | 4.2 oz | 4.1 oz | 3.7 oz |
| Talk time | Up to 450 min | Up to 600 min | Up to 210 min | Up to 540 min | Up to 300 min | Up to 414 min |
| Service Provider | T-Mobile | Info unavailable | Unlocked | Unlocked | T-Mobile | Verizon Wireless |
| Band / mode | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) | WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900 | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) | WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900 | GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) | CDMA 800/1900 / GSM 900/1800 |
| Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications | Full specifications |
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