Now playing: Watch this: Samsung Freeform III (MetroPCS) 2:23 I’ve long been a fan of the well-arranged portrait keyboard. MetroPCS’ Samsung Freeform III possesses one of these QWERTYs on its candy bar feature phone. It also has a 1.3-megapixel camera and a microSD card slot that takes up to 32GB external memory. Features-wise, the Freeform …

Now playing: Watch this: Dialed In #184: We’re moving! 46:24 It’s true–after almost four years of our Wednesday podcast presence, Dialed In is moving to Thursdays at 2pm PT, starting next week. Don’t worry, we’ll still bring you cell phone and smartphone news and reviews of the highest caliber, just a day later than we do now. In the meantime, …

Josh Miller Add up the size of the average fingertip, the typical number of icons present on a home screen, and the amount of multimedia applications on a smartphone, and we CNET editors usually arrive at the conclusion that 3.5 inches is the optimal starting size for a touch screen. We’d tend to find a 3-inch screen reasonable if it …

Now playing: Watch this: Huawei M835 (MetroPCS) 2:00 We experienced a bit of deja vu when we first saw the Huawei M835 for MetroPCS. It’s the spitting image of the T-Mobile Comet, but thankfully without the same issue of peeling-off components. It’s also one of MetroPCS’ most budget-conscious Android phones, starting at $80 after an instant $50 rebate (without a …

T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide’s camera tests (photos) +14 more See all photos HTC has been pushing the 8-megapixel camera on the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide hard, mostly for its low-light capabilities and its “zero shutter lag.” I won’t dispute that it delivers excellent photo quality overall, and that it’s a great camera to use, but calling it the “most advanced …

Now playing: Watch this: T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide 3:14 HTC is mighty proud of the 8-megapixel camera and accompanying camera software it put on the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide, enough so that it beat its chest that this phone has the most advanced camera on any smartphone around. We haven’t had the phone in our clutches long enough to perform …

The image may be blurred, but the phone’s body, distinctly bumpy back cover, and slightly upturned base are telltale signs of the Galaxy S II model. This is My Next got their hands on a pair of images that show Sprint’s markings. The photo above also clearly shows an 8-megapixel camera, the lens strength of the Galaxy S II. Related …

A new subscription service will let certain T-Mobile customers glean more information about unknown callers. The carrier announced today a new caller ID service for select phones that will display the name, city, and state of callers, including unknown dialers–not just those in your contact list. Name ID, as the service is called, will also let users save these contact …

Beginning today, the Huawei Ascend II is now available for Cricket customers. We first saw the successor to the original Huawei Ascend at CTIA last March, and immediately noticed some differences. Huawei’s second Android smartphone with Cricket is sleeker, without the physical buttons and trackball. It’s also slimmer, lighter, and more up-to-date, running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Like the original Ascend, …

Product marketing starts at home. Josh Long/CNET It’s said you have to spend money to make money. If this latest rumor is true, Nokia will be betting on a $127 million dollar marketing budget to help sell Nokia-made Windows Phones, according to Marketing Magazine. The Finnish device manufacturer’s six-month campaign set to launch in October would rebrand the company as …