The Phones of CES Unveiled

Though CES Unveiled was a modest 3 hour event, both Samsung and Motorola were promoting their latest wares. And, interestingly, the two phones I found most compelling have landed on T-Mobile. The Motorola ZINE ZN5 ($99) is a straight forward candybar non-smartphone. What makes it special is a Kodak-branded 5 megapixel camera… and the poster-sized sample prints Moto displayed looked beautiful. I’m hoping to get my hands on a loaner, especially given the handset’s video recording features. On the smartphone side, Samsung continues to encroach on Apple’s touchscreen dominance with the Behold ($149) – this TouchWiz device is more compact than the iPhone and Samsung Sprint Instinct, but packs a 5 megapixel shooter.

While visiting Sling’s table, I spent some time with their still-under-development Blackberry client. The Slingbox software’s currently in private beta, but is looking good – especially on the gorgeous Bold screen. Hopefully the wait won’t be much longer. And speaking of the Blackberry Bold, I saw a few of these newly available (in the US) handsets in the crowd. Along with one G1 and an army of iPhones.

In terms of my next phone, I’ve been holding out for the Blackberry Curve replacement (8900/Javelin) which just cleared the FCC. Although an initial review pans the 3.2 megapixel camera that I was banking on, the aforementioned SlingPlayer and forthcoming Slacker application still make it a compelling mobile multimedia device.