Best of CTIA Wireless 2008

Proving that you don’t need a smart phone to have a smart interface, Sprint’s new One Click menu system makes it dead simple to access everything from your text messages and e-mail to Sprint’s navigation and music services. We love the carousel-style UI, and that you don’t have to dig through sub-menus to get to what you want, including YouTube.

Being able to conduct a Google search right from the main screen (a feature once available only on Palm Treos) is convenient. Plus, you can customize One Click to show your favorite Web sites. One Click will be available on the Samsung Highnote, Rant, and LG Lotus when those phones become available in October, and the Sanyo Katana will follow. This UI not only saves time, it will encourage Sprint customers to take full advantage of all the carrier’s services–making the Simply Everything plan that much sweeter.

RIM didn’t just slap a lid on its most compact smart phone. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip was intelligently designed, featuring a clever dropped hinge that makes the device comfortable for typing and stable while taking pictures with the 2 megapixel camera. The 320 x 240 display is sharp, and the new OS 4.6 runs (wich included Dataviz to Go) runs smoothly on this clamshell.

The Flip’s SureType keyboard is bigger than on the original Pearl, and it’s smart enough to recommend words after you’ve tapped just a couple of letters. Built-in Wi-Fi for fast surfing and making calls at hot spots; a welcome 3.5mm headphone jack; and a beefed up browser and media player solidify the Pearl Flip as one of the hottest smart phones of the year.

DataViz’s Documents To Go for BlackBerry OS 4.6 wins our best Software/Service award hands down because it’s the very foundation that allows new BlackBerry 4.6 and 4.5 owners to access Office documents on their BlackBerrys. More importantly, the software comes packaged free.

For a richer Documents To Go experience, you can pay for the premium version on your BlackBerry, which will enable a host of other abilities, like creating new documents, or viewing graphs inside Excel files, and you can try all of these features for 30 days before upgrading, but we were perfectly pleased with all of the features that come in the free version. We look forward to seeing it on the next generation BlackBerrys including the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Pearl Flip.

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Who needs an iPod? Seriously, once you load the Slacker application for BlackBerry on your smart phone, you won’t need to carry a separate music player. When this app launches in October, you’ll be able to take thousands of songs with you from stations you either choose or customize–for free. And you can further personalize your stations on the go using the integrated Favorite and Ban buttons via Slacker’s slick user interface.

Unlike Pandora, you can also learn more about new artists as they pop up and–if you’re a Premium Radio subscriber ($7.50 per month)–you can save the songs you like right to your device to hear anytime. The best part about the Slacker application for BlackBerry is that you don’t need a good 3G signal to rock out; smart caching technology allows you to sync your stations over USB (Wi-Fi is coming later) and listen to your stations on a cross-country flight.

We couldn’t stop talking about Samsung Rant’s super affordable price and full feature set. $49.99 and a Sprint contract will get you a phone that provides everything from Sprint Navigation to Sprint TV, a large QWERTY keypad for easy texting, and a 2MP camera for shots on the go. It uses Sprint’s brand new One Click interface for quick access to YouTube, Google, and the Web.

The Rant looks most attractive for teens or adults craving a full featured device, but without the complexity and pricing of a smartphone.

With AT&T’s recent announcement that it would provide customers with assisted GPS capabilities on its handsets, we had to check out AAA Mobile Navigator, the solution AT&T had decided on. Powered by Networks In Motion, AAA Navigator providers AT&T subscribers with voice guided turn-by-turn directions, local traffic alerts, gas prices, and even entertainment information like local movie theater times and starred restaurant reviews.

But the most important aspect is its support for AAA service. Drivers can send their location using AAA Mobile Navigator directly to AAA for roadside assistance. For $9.99 per month or $2.99 per day, dark and desolate roads will never be frightening again.

Samsung and Sprint are moving touch in an exciting new direction with the Samsung Instinct, a device that offers vibrating tactile feedback, fast EV-DO Rev. A data, and GPS capability in a slick design. What makes the Instinct truly innovative is its customizable Favorites menu, which enables users to access everything, from specific contacts and Web sites to Sprint TV stations, with a single tap.

The Instinct, arriving in June, also impresses with the way it uses voice recognition. Not only can you launch applications and send text messages by pressing the Voice to Action button, you can also look up nearby businesses via Live Search from Sprint. From there you can get turn-by-turn driving directions from the TeleNav-powered Sprint Navigation service.

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GPS on your cell just got much better. Networks In Motion’s AtlasBook Navigator, which will be the platform for the next version of Verizon Wireless’ VZ Navigator service, provides audible, turn-by-turn directions and now access to real-time traffic data.

Compatible with a wide variety of handsets, the service delivers traffic updates and finds local detours around congestion and accidents, all with the touch of a button. Even on a small screen AtlasBook Navigator offers a clean interface and easy-to-read maps. Add in a new 3D perspective view, movie and events finder, weather reports, and gas prices at nearby stations, and you have one of the best mobile tools you can fit in your pocket.

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All too often we hear stories of consumers losing all the information on their cell phones because they switched carriers or lost their handsets. Dashwire is the ultimate backup plan.

This convenient site allows Windows Mobile phone owners to upload all sorts of critical data, including contacts, text messages, e-mails, and photos. You can then view and interact with all of this information right from your PC. And because your phone is constantly connected to Dashwire, what you do on your mobile is always mirrored on the site (and vice versa).

Everything is safely stored in the cloud, and when you get a new text message, it’s automatically updated online; you can even respond to messages from the same Web page. If you ever buy a new phone or lose your current one, everything can be downloaded right back to your device.

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Windows Mobile gets a welcome makeover with the arrival of version 6.1 of the smart phone operating system. A revamped, sliding-panel Today screen minimizes menu-digging and allows you to do everything from checking incoming e-mails and creating new appointments to playing your favorite tunes. Contextual soft-touch keys also helps to save users time.

Other convenient additions include streamlined text messaging, the ability to copy and paste from an e-mail or Internet Explorer Mobile window, and even multiple-message selection for sorting, deleting, or marking as “Read.” Last but not least is a Getting Started wizard that helps first-time smart phone owners set up their device and minimize the learning curve.

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