Two new Windows Mobile smartphones from HTC, available from Verizon Wireless, offer similar functionality with separate features that will appeal to different users. The XV6800 is the bigger of the two, weighing in at 5.8 ounces and measureing 4.1 x 2.3 inches wide x .7 inches. It strikes us as a PDA that also happens to be a phone. Contrast that with the smaller SMT5800, a candybar slider, weighing in at just 4.2 ounces and measuring 4.1 x 2 x .7 inches , which has the look and feel of a phone with all the added functionality of a PDA.

Both sport a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, meaning you really can do just about everything on both of them. But the XV6800's larger display-2.8 inches versus 2.4 inches-does make document and picture viewing easier.

As they're available from Verizon Wireless, that makes them CMDA (dual band) with EV-DO 3G smartphones.

The SMT5800 retails for $249.99 at VerizonWireless.com and the XV6800 goes for $399.99. (Rebates and other promotions may knock off $50-100.)


           SMT5800 Closed

We found setting up email on the Verizon Wireless system to be somewhat more time consuming that on, say, a BlackBerry, but step-by-step instructions are included on a card that comes in the box, so ultimately it's an easy process. We tested the phones with both POP3 and Google's IMAP e-mail and both worked well. You choose how often your phone downloads messages, but you can always force a SEND/RECEIVE whenever you need one.

Inside cement-walled buildings, reception was spotty with both smartphones. But other than that, the voice and internet connections were good. We tested the XV6800 in western Massachusetts and the SMT5800 there as well as in Orlando and Tampa, Florida. In the Tampa Bay area, some towns had spotty reception, but overall the service seemed reliable.


           XV6800 Closed

The XV6800's more robust hardware includes eight buttons on the front, plus a navigation tool. But, there is no keypad on the front so to dial the phone without sliding out the keyboard, you have to use the stylus or touch-screen and tap numbers on the display.

This unit also has two buttons and a jog wheel on the left and three buttons on the right. For the committed user, nearly infinite customization options exit to greatly enhance efficiency of use.

The 2.0 megapixel camera on both smartphones shot pictures rather slowly, especially when using the zoom feature and it was a little difficult to get clear in-focus images. Several modes exist, such as panorama, and you can shoot video or MMS video, too. The SMT5800 shoots from the center of the device while on the XV6800 the lens is in the upper-left corner of the back.

The crowning glory of the XV6800 is the comfortable QWERTY keyboard. It's big enough for even chubby fingers to readily hit one key at a time and the presences of cursor keys and menu buttons means you can use the keyboard exclusively even when you're done typing and need to do something else.


  SMT5800's Keyboard Exposed Closed

One flaw of the unit is the lack of a stand-by mode. You can limit how often your email downloads, which will conserve on battery use, but if you want to receive incoming phone calls, you've got to have the unit on.

Fortunately, the option to lock the keys is right on the Today screen, and that's important since with all those buttons and a touch screen there are myriad ways to accidentally tell it to do something.

The SMT5800 doesn't have a touch screen but in addition to the 12 basic phone keys on the front, you've got a very small navigation tool (that's hard to use), two menu buttons, a home button, a back button and phone on and off buttons. Besides that, there's just the on/off button and a brightness/volume slider on one side and one button on the other side.


     XV6800's Keyboard Exposed

Its slide-out keyboard does enhance usefulness, though it is rather small. The keyboard features two menu buttons and just a few other keys beyond the alphabet (and corresponding numbers and symbols available using the Function key).