Cool cell phones?

[Matrix Agent]

By "cool" I mean that this phone must be reasonably priced (<150), and must be compatible with US systems. I like nokia phones in particular, especially because of their ease-of-use and thorough design.

If anyone has an experience to share about very small phones with the above qualties, I would be very grateful.

[hazmat]

It doesn't have Bluetooth, but I have a Motorola V60c and love it. The price may have come down to the $150 area, not sure. Mine, about 5 months ago, was $200 including a $50 rebate.

[Greystroke]

I'm using the Nokia 3360 and couldn't be happier. It's small but the buttons are a good size and so is the screen. The 8290 was just too small.

[voice-]

I needed a phone for SMS, I got a Nokia 3510 after a lot of back and forth and switching of phones.

I know Panasonic GD67 is packed with features like a color display, but I've had problems with them in the past (GD75 OS was a nightmare)

Whatever you get, make sure you get at least a 10 day trial period first...a good phone should be good enough. You should like it, not only live with it...

[chemistry_geek]

I'm using a Motorola TalkAbout T2260 from ALLTEL which was recently discontinued. Motorola still makes similar CDMA cell phones. The features I like about the phone is that it actually has three batteries I can change out myself, has a headphone connector, is small, comes with a belt connector, has an address book that stores 99 names, with each name having 4 numbers associated with it, has messaging, voicemail, web browsing, caller ID, shows how many minutes I've used for the month, the last 10 numbers I dialed, the last 10 numbers that called me, and has call waiting. I paid NOTHING for this phone, it was included with my 500 anytime minutes and 5000 minutes nights and weekends for $39.95/month. ALLTEL is the way to go, believe me (I'm cheap), they offer the most bang for the buck. And don't fall for that Sprint PCS digital network crap, or "Can you hear me now?" from Vorizon, Sprint, Vorizon, and ALLTEL all use CDMA netowrking. Whether it's 800MHz with ALLTEL or 1900MHz with Sprint, they all will breakup from interference. Sprint will tell you that all calls are local, IF, and this is a BIG IF, you are within a Sprint calling area which is NOT nation wide (look at the calling area map). If you're not within a Sprint calling area, your call costs 40 cents/minute. OUCH! ALLTEL charges 20 cents a minute.

[Matrix Agent]

Thanks for the comments guys, it sounds like I really can;t go wrong. Now just to find the money to pay for a new phone....

[Matrix Agent]

Ooooh!

I forgot to mention, how do you guys feel about an apple branded or apple/sonyericsson cellular phone? Good? Bad? Impossible?

I think it would be great, and would thrown down my cash on a moment's notice.

[Greystroke]

ahh but does it have a calculator? one of by far my most used functions on my phone as well as text messaging.