Cellphones, Mobile Handsets Visualized: the HTC keyboard slider family

Clockwise from the top left, that's the the Sprint Arrive, the likely-for-Verizon Merge, the Sprint Evo Shift 4G, and the T-Mobile G2. If we had to rate them, we'd say the Arrive has the best key feel, followed by the Merge, the Evo Shift, and finally the cramped G2 -- although the super cheap-feeling hinge on the Evo Shift knocks off several points. We'd also say the physical keys on the G2 feel better than the mushy keys on the Merge, but the G2's cramped layout doesn't do it any favors. In any event, picking one of these is a pretty great problem to have, don't you think?

Sprint HTC Arrive with Windows Phone 7 copy and paste first hands-on! (video)

HTC also brought along a Sprint-branded Arrive to our San Francisco reader meetup, and while we're already familiar with this Windows Phone 7 slider from our time with the HTC 7 Pro it's still nice to see a CDMA WP7 device in the flesh. Oh, and the keyboard is pretty fantastic -- not only does it feel great, but the dedicated number row alone is reason for keyboard fans to give this thing a look. The best part? The demo unit was loaded up with the Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update, which is the first time we've seen it in the wild. The system worked well, but we noticed that you once you paste out of the clipboard your text is gone, so you can't multiple paste. It's a little odd -- we'll have a video up shortly.

Cellphones, Mobile Handsets HTC Freestyle for AT&T hands-on

Last time we checked in with the Freestyle back at CES, we couldn't turn it on -- but things are a little different here at our luxe meetup in San Francisco this evening. Honestly, the phone looks and feels great, doing a great job hiding its Brew MP-based, not-quite-smartphone underpinnings; pricing is still a concern, but the month-to-month dumbphone data is a bonus, and you've still got a full HTML browser plus a capacitive display at your disposal. Check shots below -- video after the break!