As some here may know I recently purchased, along with about every third American, a Motorola v600. The phone was $299 from Cingular with no contract. The specs looked to make this the killer phone this year; Bluetooth, Edge/GPRS, great color screen, better OS, slick design with real aluminum covers and a digital camera [which I personally could not care less about in a phone].

Well, the reality is/was that the OS was slooooooow. I would often find myself three numbers or two or three key taps ahead of the OS, a real pain. Also, the Bluetooth was a more difficult implementation that was necessary. I figured it out pretty quickly but nimble it was not. Also, perhaps the biggest pain IMHO was the Contacts software. This stupid POS generated a separate new entry and a separate header for each individual’s name. For example you had to scroll through up to six name entries for John Smith; one for home phone, one for work phone, one for cell, etc, etc. And...and no address capability.

Well ScottC suggested that I get the Nokia 6230. Great phone I said but not available in the U.S. Well he gave me a few places to buy it unbranded and unlocked. Two problems there, first the phone was $469. Not a lot on money in and of itself but I just dropped three bills on the Motorola, $769 for one decent cell phone? Not this camper. The second problem was the 6230 these places offered were the European/Asian models that ran 900/1800/1900 GSM. Problem there is that most U.S. networks, mine included, run most of their traffic on 800-850 with some flow to 1900. Oh well I said, I will learn to live with the Motorola. Sigh...

Cut to this week. Cingular has started to offer the 6230B [800-850/1800/1900] for $300 with no contract. So I run down to my local Cingular corporate store, sign in, and wait. For anyone who has not done this before the experience is a bit like waiting in line in the emergency room of a county hospital...not a pleasant experience.

Anyway, I cajole the rep into giving me the 6230B at the 2-year contract price [$149] but with no extension of the one-year contract I signed three months ago. As of today I am in for about $450. If I can unload the v600 on eBay for $125 or so I will end up at a very reasonable $325...though uncompensated for all of the hassle. Such is life.

The phone. The 6230 is simply the best phone, perhaps the best consumer electronic gadget that I have ever owned. The design is small, but not too small, sleek, customizable with different covers, and quite functional. It is completely pocketable and comfortable to use.

The OS is, dare I say it, lightening fast. I have not been able to get ahead of it yet. The contacts software is much better; one main entry for each person with subs for multiple numbers plus...full address capability, Say bye-bye PDA.

The Bluetooth is much easier to use as is the Edge/G3/GPRS high-speed data-Internet features. The built-in MP3 player is I would say about 85-90% of the quality of the iPod. The FM radio tuner is also quite good. The screen is quite good though a bit smaller than the Motorola. In this one feature, the screen, the Motorola v600 probably has the best screen of any phone out there.

Oh, the ability to us a SM card is incredible. It comes with a 32MB card but I have had no problem using Sandisk 512MB and 1GB cards. These cards hold hundreds of MP3s, hundreds of photos and movie clips, and dozens of Java apps like the full version of Tetris etc.

Oh yeah, this thing has a digital still and video camera. I really haven’t played much with these features yet but they seem about as good as anything I have yet seen.

All in all, with the original Nokia OEM graphite covers that I put on, this is one great, sleek, well designed and reliable phone...so far. What more can one ask for?

Edited to add: If you buy this phone from Cingular you get the headphones included free and their phones comes unlocked!