I spent the majority of the week in NYC meeting with a variety of good people. (That’s Kevin Tofel, Mari, Brad Linder, Dan Dorato, and I above.) On my journey, I came across several new and upcoming phones. Here’s my 60 second review:

HTC Touch
Nice form factor, though I’m still not sold on the idea of a phone without physical buttons. The fingertip touch-sensitive shell HTC has overlayed on Windows Mobile is attractive and efficient for basic tasks like calling contacts, but once you drill down to things like composing email you’re back to using the stylus.

LG PRADA
Also forgoing physical keypad, the touchscreen phone looks sharp both inside and out. Instead of a virtual QWERTY keyboard, the PRADA displays traditional phone keys and uses predictive text entry. Smart decision given portrait screen orientation and finger size. The PRADA name comes at a cost.

Blackberry Curve
Nice size and clearly delineated keys, unlike the 8800. This particular model didn’t show the sluggishness I experienced with another model a few weeks ago. I didn’t use the camera, though I like the idea of having one around for spontaneous moments. Too bad they couldn’t also squeeze in the 8800’s GPS.

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