Nokia 6301

The Nokia 6301 is a T-Mobile candy-bar cell phone weighing just 1.4 ounces, and reviews generally say the major selling point is the ability to make phone calls using Wi-Fi, and thus not use up your cellular minutes. (You have to sign up for T Mobile's HotSpot @Home service.) Otherwise, it "feels like a low-end phone with a few high-end features stuck on," says InfoSyncWorld.com's Philip Berne. The 2-megapixel camera/camcorder is panned in reviews. And PCMag.com's Sascha Segan points out that as with other T-Mobile phones, third-party applications such as the Opera Mini web browser are blocked from accessing the Internet. A few owner reviews say they learned only after buying the Nokia 6301 that the Wi-Fi was useful only for making telephone calls, and not for surfing the web. Owner reviews frequently complain about battery life, but CNET got 101 minutes more than the promised 3.5 hours of talk time. And PCMag got about three hours more than advertised, but it notes that it's disappointing for a non-3G phone.

Reviews say that regular call quality is good and that Wi-Fi calls are incredibly clear -- "as if we were using a landline phone," says CNET's Kent German. Though not marketed primarily as a music phone, the Nokia 6301 can serve as one: It has a music player, Bluetooth, an FM radio (a headset wire must be used as an antenna) and a microSD memory card slot that can handle up to 8 GB. No professional review describes the music player as more than basic, and some say the layers of menu are a pain to navigate. Most reviews like the 2.2-inch screen -- resolution is pretty good at 320 pixels by 240 pixels. PCMag's Segan says he was unable to get the video playback to work. Ultimately, he suggests a BlackBerry Pearl 8120. It's worth noting that in his review of the Samsung SGH-T339, CNET's German says the Nokia 6301 is the better choice.

We found the best reviews at the usual top sources for cell phone analysis -- CNET, PCMag.com, InfoSyncWorld.com and ConsumerReports.org. As is sometimes the case with cell phones, there are more owner reviews at CNET than at Amazon.com.