The Demo Site

A recent trip to the AT&T store gave me a little bit of a brief hands on time with a few of the phones Ive read. well one in particular that I was interested in. As Ive said before, I have an iPhone (which I'm considering replacing as soon as a Qwerty phone that Im interested in is released) so I wasn't really looking for myself. basically looking for a phone to five as a Christmas gift. But here's what I checked out.

AT&T Quickfire

This phone was the reason I made the visit. The AT&T Quickfire is a good "gift" phone as its only $99 bucks with a new 2 year contract. Pretty reasonable for what it does. A Qwerty keyboard and touch screen device. More of a Messaging phone than a smart phone. From reading the info about the phone I would say this phone is probably geared towards a teenager-20something that like to use SMS/MMS capabilities. There are other data features, actually there is a full feature set that makes this phone well worth the bargain price.

This phone in person really reminds me of a Sidekick. It has a sliding screen that hides the  keyboard and has the same feel in my hand as any of the sidekick models. Not really a "pocket" phone as it will cause a bit of a bulge but I wouldn't call it bulky…well maybe just a little.  All in all, I liked this phone as a gift and if it isn't sold out by the time I decide to make the purchase, this may be "someones"  Christmas gift from me this year

Samsung Propel

I have to admit, I never liked the vertical sliding phones. If its a slider, I want a landscape slider. The Samsung Propel was one of the phones that had an expressed interest by one of my potential Christmas Giftee's. As far as features, this is another messaging phone with typical messaging phone features, the best thing about this phone is that it was only $79.99 with 2 year contract. And on top of that, there was a special running where you get 2 for the price of one (with a family plan of 2 people of coarse). The phone itself is an "ok" phone, I cant complain about the features as they are sufficient for what it is. the screen is a little smaller than I like. and of coarse its the vertical slider which I don't care for. It does have a full qwerty keyboard under that slider.

For the price the Propel is an interesting phone. Wouldn't be my first choice as a gift but I don't think you can go wrong with getting this phone, especially if someone request's it.

Pantech Matrix

This phone is another one that I never really paid any attention until I saw it in the AT&T store. The Pantech Matrix is one of those dual sliders. A vertical slide reveals a number pad, and a landscape slide reveals a qwerty keyboard.  This one edges out the other 2 just a little with its 3g support and video share features. Other than that, its pretty close to the Propel when you compare the rest of the features. The price of this phone is the same as the Propel ($79.00 with 2yr contract)

Conclusion

Out of the 3, I would rank the Quickfire as a first choice. the other 2 would be a toss up but if you have to have 3g or video sharing, the Matrix would be your better bet. As a gift, all 3 looks like good buys. You probably would just do better trying to find out which one the Giftee likes the best and go with that.