Gadgetory

hands-on Abell and we're shopping for a phone now regardless of which carrier you've chosen or what type of pan you're gonna have they're really only a few types of phones to choose from the first thing they think about is design which breaks down into three general types you have your basic phones phones with keyboards and touchscreen phones basic phones are a dying breed but they're still a good choice for someone who wants an uncomplicated phone typically these are flip phones with a screen and a physical numeric keyboard they're usually pretty cheap and some people still like this classic design but they're short on features so if you want a phone that you can use to send email or browse the web or comfortably send text messages that's what these phones come into play phones with a physical keyboard are great for people who are just getting used to the idea typing on their phone but they're also great for people who type all the time the trade-off is that these slide out style phones are usually thicker and heavier than touchscreen phones I'm a touchscreen phone all of the controls and the keyboard are right there on the screen this is the dominant format right now the trade-off here is that any damage to the screen is going to affect everything you do on the phone I see people walking around all the time with a cracked smartphone caused by a drop on the sidewalk so if you go this route a case is a good idea now another term you're gonna hear a lot of when describing phones is feature phones versus smart phones a smart phone is any kind of phone that runs a main brand os this is where you'll find the iPhone Blackberry Android and Windows user essentially computers that fit in your pocket and can also make calls feature phones give you the messaging email and web browsing capability of a smart phone but they run customized software typically they're less expensive and geared towards teenagers but they don't have the extensive capabilities and app selection of smart phones so there you go that's an overview of the types of designs you're gonna find when you're out there shopping for a cell phone more cell phone buying advice check out the other videos in this buying guide for cnet.com i'm tom bell