10 Hot Smartphones, Cell Phones From CES 2009

All eyes were on Palm at this year's CES, as the rumor mill speculated about the announcement of its new operating system and the potential for a sneak peek at the first device to run the new OS. And Palm didn't disappoint, unveiling the Pre, a pretty, pint-sized smartphone and the first to run Palm's new webOS.

The 3G Palm Pre takes a stab at the Apple iPhone, with a large 3.1-inch touchscreen and full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The device uses Palm Synergy, which converges contacts into a single address book. The small smartphone can also run several applications at one time.

The Pre ties in Wi-Fi, GPS, 8 GB, a 3.1-megapixel camera with an LED flash and navigation.

The Pre will hit Sprint's network sometime in the first half of the year.

The U.S. version of the BlackBerry Curve 8900, also known as the Javelin, was on full display at CES 2009. While T-Mobile will launch the Curve 8900 in February, Research In Motion (RIM) Ltd. also showed off an AT&T-branded Curve 8900, meaning it, too, will offer the long-anticipated smartphone.

The Curve 8900 packs all the punch of most modern BlackBerrys, though it lacks 3G connectivity. The Curve 8900 is billed as the lightest and thinnest BlackBerry to feature a full QWERTY keyboard, clocking in at just over a half-inch thick. It also offers all of the features and functions BlackBerry users have grown accustomed to, including phone, e-mail, text messaging, browser, instant messaging, document viewing and editing and organizer applications. It also ties in a host of multimedia functions, such as a media player.

The Curve 8900 offers EDGE support with built-in Wi-Fi and GPS, a 512-MHz next-generation processor, a 2.4-inch 480-x-360 high-resolution display, a 3.2-megapixel camera and BlackBerry OS version 4.6.

Motorola hit CES hard, showcasing several recent additions to its device roster.

First among them is the MOTOSURF A3100, a Wi-Fi- and 3G-enabled touch tablet with a customizable home screen. The tablet, based on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1, enables applications to be accessed with the tap of a finger, stylus or multidirectional trackball. According to Motorola, home screen icons can be personalized to give live feeds on weather, news, personal and work e-mail, messaging and calendar events.

Motorola is calling the MOTOSURF A3100 a "true social smartphone" that lets users toggle back and forth between documents, music, video conferencing and other functions, including a GPS. The tablet will be available in some regions starting in early 2009.

Just when you thought water bottles were only reusable as, well, water bottles, Motorola at CES launched the Moto W233 Renew, a cell phone made from recycled plastic water bottles.

According to Motorola, the Renew delivers most of the functionality of a typical Motorola device while reducing a user's carbon footprint. The phone's plastic housing is made from plastics comprising recycled water bottles and is 100 percent recyclable, Motorola said, adding that the Renew also marks the world's first carbon-neutral phone.

Through an alliance with Carbonfund.org, Motorola offset the carbon dioxide required to make, distribute and operate the Renew through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation. The W233 Renew has earned Carbonfund.org's CarbonFree Product Certification.

The Renew is expected to be available early this year through T-Mobile.

What's $2,000 when it gets you the slickest phone on the block? At CES, Motorola showed off the Aura, and while the price tag may be enough to make you chuckle, Moto pulled no punches with this handheld, which the company dubs as "The Return of Artistry."

Inspired by luxury watches and handcrafted design, Motorola says the Aura "delivers a sensory experience that is second to none for those with refined tastes. From the moment Aura owners pick up their devices, they elevate their own experience in luxury and unmatched quality."

The Aura offers a 16-million-color display with 300-dpi resolution; a 62 carat sapphire crystal lens; stainless steel housing with chemically etched textures and patterns that take nearly two weeks to sculpt, etch and polish; a Swiss-made main bearing, which enables seamless precision; custom engineering; tungsten carbide coated gears and Crystal talk technology; a mirror polish finish; and an aluminum keypad.

Motorola got the hint. At CES 2009 in Las Vegas, the device-maker showed off the Hint QA30, a slider that lets users enjoy conversational-style, threaded messaging with the ability to store up to 300 text messages in the inbox. With a full QWERTY keyboard, the black and red "pocketable" Hint features a 2.5-inch widescreen display designed specifically for text messaging.



Announced in November, the Hint offers one-touch access to an HTML browser, messaging and e-mail, along with GPS and a camera. Additionally, the Hint wraps in an integrated MP3 player, up to 8 GB of optional microSD card storage, a 2.0-megapixel camera with digital zoom and a 3.5-mm headset jack. It offers a high-speed USB 2.0 connection to the PC for fast music transfers and stereo Bluetooth capabilities.

GPS-market leader Pharos pulled the curtain off the Traveler 137, a GPS smartphone with a 3.5-inch flush touch-screen WVGA display. The device offers 3.5G communications capabilities based on a tri-band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA and a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE cellular modem. The smartphone offers two on-board cameras, a 3-megapixel unit for recording pictures and video and a 0.3-megapixel camera for videoconferencing. The device offers 7.2 Mbps download speeds and 2 Mbps upload speeds for Web browsing, e-mail and other Internet services.

The Pharos Traveler 137 also comes with Pharos' Smart Navigator software and server-based travel information and navigation service. It is preloaded with Microsoft Live Search, offering free information on traffic, gas prices, movie times and weather. The Windows Mobile 6.1 powered device also offers Outlook Mobile, Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, Picture, Notes, ActiveSync, Calculator, Game, Voice Recording, MSN Messenger and Media Player 10.

The Traveler 137 offers up to four hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby.

Soon to be available stateside, device-maker HTC showed off the HTC Touch HD, a smartphone that packs in a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen with HTC's own TouchFLO 3D. The Touch HD runs on 3.5G and lets users surf and download in true broadband speeds, offering downlinks of up to 7.2 Mbps.

The Touch HD also offers Google Maps, which are enhanced by the wide-screen viewing platform; a 5-megapixel camera for stills and video; and a 3.5-mm audio jack to make it compatible with most audio equipment.

Though still not yet available stateside, Sony Ericsson used CES 2009 to further fuel the flames of hype surrounding the Xperia X1, its high-end smartphone that has had U.S. gadget heads salivating.



The Xperia X1 features a "panel user interface," which offers up to nine panels on the home screen for a customized experience. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and wraps in a 3-inch-wide 800-x-480 VGA touchscreen display and a full QWERTY keyboard. The 3G smartphone offers audio and video streaming, high-speed Web surfing, multimedia messaging and e-mail. It also supports Wi-Fi, aGPS, Bluetooth and features a 3.2-megapixel camera, video streaming, video playback, video recording and a music player, along with dozens of other advanced features and functions.

Announced in November, Samsung used CES to showcase the Eternity, a touchscreen with a 3.0-megapixel camera with video capture, mobile e-mail, instant messaging, Bluetooth, Video ShareSM calling and support for up to 8 GB of microSD memory card storage.

The Eternity also supports an accelerometer that detects the motion of the device to autorotate the display, play motion-sensing games and scroll through photos.

The Eternity's browser navigates with the touch of a finger and supports zoom-in and zoom-out. The device also includes dual-band 3G connectivity and quad-band GSM technology for high-speed data on the go.