Phones we loathe

Kent German, Senior Editor October 19, 2009

At CNET we talk a lot about the cell phones we love, but we're equally passionate about the handsets we don't like. The following models did not meet with our approval, and that's putting it mildly. So if you're shopping for a new phone, we recommend avoiding these.

The Garmin Nuvifone G60 for AT&T is shaping up to be one of the biggest tech disappointments of the year. We waited almost two years to get it in our hands, but it still feels like a half-finished product. As a GPS device it will get you from point A to point B, but it's not worth its weight in plastic as a phone. T-Mobile's Nokia 1661, on the other hand, didn't promise much beyond basic communication. Yet, with its poor design and dismal quality, it doesn't deliver much either. It was a similar story with Verizon's Nokia Mirage 2605. It was so flimsy that we broke it soon after we took the handset out of the box. What's more, the speakerphone was unusable. The unlocked Duet D8 from Beyond E-Tech fails the usability test, thanks to its frustrating touch screen. If you need a dual-SIM card phone, we suggest the Duet D888 instead.