Like to text and send email but find t9 text entry on a number pad about as much fun as getting a filling?
These affordable QWERTY messenger phones help you to stay in touch with the written word but won't cost you an arm and a leg. Most don't even require a smartphone data plan. Of course, for high end email and web needs, the Best Smarptones are hard to beat, but we take a look at the alternatives here.
These affordable QWERTY messenger phones help you to stay in touch with the written word but won't cost you an arm and a leg. Most don't even require a smartphone data plan. Of course, for high end email and web needs, the Best Smarptones are hard to beat, but we take a look at the alternatives here.
| BlackBerry Bold 9930 / BlackBerry Bold 9900 It's been quite some time since RIM introduced a new BlackBerry smartphone. Now we've got three new touchscreen 'Berries launching together. In this review we look at Verizon Wireless' version of the Bold 9900, that goes under the 9930 heading to indicate it's the CDMA version of the latest Bold. This is definitely RIM's best BlackBerry yet, with a perfect keyboard, capacitive touch screen, 1.2GHz CPU and plenty of RAM. The Bold 9930 has a 5 megapixel camera that can shoot 720p video, a much improved web browser and a more social BBM. | Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile | Aug. 2011 |  | $249-$299 |
| Samsung Epic 4G Sprint's second 4G superphone is here. The Epic 4G dares to be different with its large QWERTY keyboard that strays from the more common slate design. And it's a great keyboard with a dedicated number row, Android buttons and arrow keys. If you're a Sprint customer who lusted for the HTC EVO 4G but cringed at its on-screen keyboard, Samsung has your number. The Epic 4G is a Galaxy S family phone and it has that series' 4" Super AMOLED 800 x 480 display, 1GHz Hummingbird CPU with GPU acceleration, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. Improvements include a 5 megapixel camera with flash and a front-facing VGA camera and a notification LED. The Epic runs Android OS 2.1 with Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 UI. | Sprint | Aug. 2010 |  | $249 |
| T-Mobile G2 The T-Mobile G2 is one of the best Android QWERTY phones on the market. It runs vanilla Android OS 2.2 Froyo, still a rarity on Android phones, and it's fast. Not just in terms of CPU speed, though the 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with GPU really impresses us, but because it has 4G in the form of HSPA+. The G2 is made by HTC and it has a 3.7" multi-touch LCD, one of the best hardware keyboards in the business, WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth, a GPS, a microSD card slot with an 8 gig card pre-loaded and a 5 megapixel camera that can shoot 720p video. The T-Mobile G2 comes with the full suite of Google Android applications, and we mean everything Google makes. | T-Mobile | Oct. 2010 |  | $199 |
| Motorola Droid 3 Are you a member of the Droid a year club? Here's the latest entry from Verizon Wireless and Motorola, the Droid 3. It's an evolutionary step from past Droids, but that doesn't mean we don't really like this high quality QWERTY slider Android smartphone. Beyond the usual excellent materials and soft touch finish, we love the new 5 row keyboard, and the combo of Android OS 2.3 and a dual core 1GHz CPU keep this phone moving fast. The larger display runs at qHD resolution, and as per usual, Motorola squeezes particularly good speeds out of the Droid 3's 3G radio. Like the Droid 2 Global, the Droid 3 is capable of GSM roaming overseas. | Verizon | July 2011 |  | $199 |
| Palm Pixi (also Palm Pixi Plus on Verizon and Palm Pixi Plus on AT&T) Palm's second webOS smartphone is available now on Sprint. The Pixi at first glance looks like a reborn Palm Centro with it's QWERTY bar design and tiny rubbery keys. But it runs the thoroughly modern webOS and features a capacitive multi-touch display just like its big brother the Palm Pre. The Pixi costs less than the Pre but it has some good specs including a 600MHz CPU, a GPS, EV-DO Rev. A and 8 gigs of flash storage. The Sprint version comes with Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation and the rest of Sprint's services and it offers the same great cloud syncing to Exchange, Facebook and Google as the Pre. The Verizon version has VZ Navigator but no V Cast Video or V Cast Music. Is it worth saving $50 to get the Pixi instead of the Pre? Read our review to find out. | Sprint, AT&T and Verizon | Dec. 2009, June 2010 on AT&T |  | Free to $49, price varies by carrier |
| Motorola Droid Pro We know you're out there: veteran BlackBerry users that have been dying to try Android but you just can't live without that front-facing QWERTY keyboard and MS Exchange support. Perhaps your IT person wants VPN and remote wipe capabilities; not everyday stuff for Android. Moto's here to change that with the Droid Pro, a Verizon global phone that packs a fast 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU, plenty of RAM and capable graphics into a business suit. There's WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR and an autofocus 5 megapixel shooter too. But the small HVGA display and pint-sized keyboard are the price you pay for a phone that's got one foot in RIM's territory and the other in Android's. | Verizon | Dec. 2010 |  | $179 |
| Palm Pre Plus The third time around, the Palm Pre is really hitting its stride. The Pre Plus on AT&T, like the Verizon Palm Pre Plus, features 16 gigs of storage and double the RAM of the Pre on Sprint. With a 3.1" capacitive multi-touch display, a fresh yet maturing webOS, full multi-tasking and a growing app catalog, this Palm breathes life into AT&T's ailing smartphone touch screen line. Other features include an improved slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a GPS that works with Google Maps and AT&T Navigator, 3G HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth and a solid camera that can shoot VGA video. Well worth a look if the iPhone doesn't float your boat. Heck, it's worth a look even if it does. | AT&T and Verizon | May 2010 |  | $149 |
| BlackBerry Bold 9700 The baby Bold is here for those of you who found the original BlackBerry Bold 9000 too large and heavy. The Bold 9700 is narrower and lighter, while sporting the same impressive build quality as the 9000 (OK, it's a tiny bit less luxurious). It features an even higher resolution display than the first Bold, WiFi with WiFi calling on the T-Mobile version, a GPS, 3.2 megapixel camera and Bluetooth. This is the first 3G BlackBerry on T-Mobile. The 9700 is available on both T-Mobile and AT&T in the US. | T-Mobile and AT&T | Nov. 2009 |  | $149 |
| Motorola Charm Got square? Motorola's Charm sure does, and we like the distinctive look. The Charm is a very affordable Android smartphone with an excellent QWERTY keyboard that requires no sliding, flipping or twirling. Like a BlackBerry, the keyboard is ever-ready and calls to you messaging and social networking types. Motorola's MOTOBLUR software is on board with its usual social focus, and it all runs on top of Android OS 2.1. The Motorola Charm has 3G, a not so wonderful QVGA display, a 3 megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth. The phone has a few unexpected goodies for the budget segment like Motorola's Backtrack rear trackpad, an accelerometer than handles both screen rotation and turning the phone over to ignore a call. | T-Mobile | Sept. 2010 |  | $49 |
| Samsung Restore Not into the touch screen craze? Just want a solid 3G messaging phone? The eco-friendly Samsung Restore is a full-featured messaging phone with EV-DO, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, the Netfront web browser and a solid music player that handles MP3 and AAC iTunes format music. The Restore has a roomy slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but when closed it looks like a normal candy bar phone with a standard number pad. It has a GPS, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth with stereo support and an SDHC microSD card slot. A nice mid-tier offering from Sprint and Samsung. | Sprint | July 2010 |  | $49 |
| LG Lotus Elite The LG Lotus Elite is a significant upgrade to the very popular LG Lotus. This wide body QWERTY flips dares to look difference, just like the original model. But the Elite is more rounded, more solidly built and it adds two cool new features: an external QVGA touchscreen and the latest version of Sprint's OneClick UI. It supports Sprint's many services including EV-DO data, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV and Sprint Music. It has a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, an SDHC microSD card slot and a GPS. It's available in red and black is coming. This review includes a video review. | Sprint | Jan. 2010 |  | $99 |
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