Samsung Solstice

The Samsung Solstice, like the Samsung Highlight on T-mobile, skips out on some advanced smartphone features like Wi-Fi and a high-megapixel camera and tries to keep things simple. In some ways, this works nicely. The phone did a great job making calls, with some cool address book and in-call interface designs. It’s also the first AT&T phone we’ve tried that can use the new AT&T Social Net app, which let us keep tabs on our Facebook, MySpace and Twitter updates all at once, albeit rather slowly. For the most part we liked the hardware. The screen was colorful and bright, and streaming videos from AT&T’s Cellular Video service looked surprisingly good. We were disappointed that so many features were just plain mediocre, like the Web browser, the 2-megapixel camera and the rest of the messaging apps. Regardless, buyers looking for a simpler, smaller device will find a healthy, though not very exciting, feature phone in the Solstice. Release: July 2009. Price: $100.

Pros: Top-notch call management. Great-looking screen, even with streaming vids. Slim and light design.

Cons: TouchWiz is a clunky interface. Besides Social Net, messaging features are way behind the competition. Lacks good multimedia hardware ports and accessories.

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