Reviewed By Shannon Kobashigawa “shan544″ (Burbank, CA)

I waited about 3 weeks for this phone but it was well worth it. I was overdue for an equipment upgrade via AT&T but I really couldn’t find a phone with style and function until I came upon the Shine. It’s not a very popular phone and I decided to take a chance.I know it’s hard to tell the size by just looking at pictures but to give you a comparison, I had the first gen black razor. The shine basically has the same width, and height dimensions only it’s a wee bit thicker but not by much at all. I was so used to the compact size of the razor that I didn’t want a bulky smartphone.

This phone has some weight to it, which by my standards gives me the feeling of a quality phone and not made of cheap plastic. Hopefully this will last me at least until my next upgrade.

Navigation with the joystick takes some time to get used to, but the good thing about it is, you do really need to give it a firm push downwards to select. I haven’t come across an issue where I wanted to go left, right, up or down and the joystick input it as a mistake “push/select.”

I wish you could come up with your own quick options with the joystick instead of what is pre-programmed already. i.e. toggle up and you get a new message for texting. That really doesn’t make sense because you have to slide open the phone? Go right and you get your AIM/Yahoo Mess. log on options. I will probably never use this feture. Down is your phone book and left is “my stuff.” You do have control to customize 12 quick access options with the soft key on the right which somewhat makes up for not being able to customize the joystick.

One issue I read was the mirror finish of the screen during the daytime. Yes, it is harder to see and to read your screen in direct sunlight but cupping your hand to shade the screen shouldn’t deter one from such a flaw. I had the same visibility issues with my razor as well.

When your phone rings you don’t need to slide it open, you can just press the soft key on the left that says “accept.” The problem I have is after I finish with the call, I feel somewhat lost in a sense that I’m used to either 1. closing the phone to end the call or 2. pressing an ‘end’ button. The shine’s display turns off after a few seconds and it’s a mirror finish so when I’m done talking I look at the phone and think, “How do I end this call??” Basically, I have learned you just let the other person end the call and you do not have to do anything.

AT&T’s media is okay but the screen’s resolution isn’t that great at all. I think it’s a good option to have if you are bored in a waiting room or to kill some time, but the picture quality isn’t anywhere near that of an iphone. It’s very choppy. Browsing the web on G is pretty fast for checking sports scores. I found that it came in handy.

I would highly suggest a clearshield or some sort of cover/protector to prevent scratches on the screen and the back metal plate. I have heard that if you get scratches on the front screen it shows up A LOT with the mirror finish.

Ringtones absolutely SUCK. I find that ringtone volume is loud enough. The vibe feature is very strong. Cool feature — you can opt to have a lady SPEAK the numbers dialed instead of beeps. Something a little different. The keypad is cramped and I do hit several buttons while texting.

Even though I pointed out a lot of small flaws with this phone, I still like it A LOT MORE than my razr. Would be awesome if it had a qwerty keyboard as well. Overall, a solid phone. Can’t beat it for the price either.

Reviewed By S. Cowen (Tucson, AZ)

The Shine is just plain sexy. Stainless steel, small, mirror screen, feels good. For me though function does sometimes trump great form. All the features of the phone are slick except the battery life. That is unfortunately a huge factor for me as I hate having to recharge all of the time. I get about 2-3 days between charges. My crappy old nokia 6100 got about a week between charges. I may switch to the Sony Ericsson 580i given its long rated battery life. If you don’t care about battery life though, I do recommend the Shine.

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