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Apple used to offer the only touchscreen in Celltown, and the iPhone is still tops — see Steven Levy's take from this issue. But now it seems everyone's getting tap-happy. All these touch tones provide Web browsing, email, 3G speeds, and GPS.
| 1… A complete failure in every way. 6… A solid product with some issues.
| 2… Just barely functional — don't buy it. 7… Very good, but not quite great.
| 3… Serious flaws, proceed with caution. 8… Excellent, with room to kibitz.
| 4… Downsides outweigh upsides. 9… Nearly flawless — buy it now.
| 5… Recommended with reservations. 10… Metaphysical product perfection.
HTC Touch Diamond $150, htc.com The Touch Diamond is a stunner, with a gorgeous display and a faceted backside resembling cut black crystal. But the best stuff is inside: A custom touchscreen interface routes you around the clunky Windows Mobile OS, providing an easy-to-navigate, stable environment that's also business-friendly. Web, email, camera, and media playback are all aces. The Diamond won't kill the iPhone, but it's just a software upgrade or two away from seriously wounding it. Wired: 3.2-megapixel camera shoots above-average stills and video. Great Wi-Fi reception. Speedy Opera browser renders flawless Web pages. Two included styluses for the fat-fingered. Tired: Shiny screen and housing collect more fingerprints than the FBI. A mere 4 GB of storage and no expandable memory will give media junkies the shakes. All four Barbie-scale virtual keyboards are useless for typing anything lengthy. 
Samsung Instinct $500, instinctthephone.com This phone's basic instinct is to deliver media, not communicate. The built-in music store rivals iTunes for ease of use, and the live TV feature pipes in CNN, Fox Sports, VH1, and more — all zipped along over the air with only occasional stalls. But the interface needs serious rethinking, the Web browser has trouble resizing even text-only sites, and email is a chore. And while the streaming radio is groovy, it's not on par with the iPhone's free Pandora or Last.fm apps. Our advice? Wait for the sequel. Wired: Loaded with easy-to-use multimedia features. iPhoney voicemail lets you browse messages rather than listen sequentially. 2.0- megapixel camera records nice, smooth video. Tired: Lousy Web browser and email app took us back to 1994. So-so reception in many areas — including San Francisco — turned rich baritones into froggy croaks. No Wi-Fi means you're at the mercy of Sprint's network. 
LG Dare $250, verizonwireless.com The Dare looks good on paper, but so did the latest Indiana Jones. Sure, the 3.2-megapixel camera shoots great-looking stills, the GPS navigator delivers voice-synthesized directions, the 3-inch touchscreen provides haptic feedback, and Web pages render quickly and properly. But that's all spoiled by a sluggish operating system that's a navigational atrocity. Scrolling is jerky, simple functions take too many taps, and we gave up on typing anything longer than emoticons. Smart phone? We've seen pay phones with higher IQs. Wired: Excellent camera with high-end features like face recognition. Expandable memory. Customizable interface lets you move apps almost anywhere you want (sadly, not to a different phone). Tired: Touchscreen acted like we were groping it with oven mitts. No Wi-Fi. Email application costs extra. No autocorrect = sifignant tyypos. 
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