In what can only be described as buyer's remorse...

Yes, it was just a couple of weeks ago I was all excited and ranting about my cool Tony Stark LG VX9800 TV cell phone and now its gone. Yes, 80% of the reason I bought it was because it was Tony Stark's phone (Ironman movie, duh) and 20% was for the cool flip landscape screen for TV and video. But...we're not getting the Verizon TV network in my area until late '08 or early '09 and I still had to use a numeric keypad for texting/e-mailing (so 2003). So I had to march back to Verizon and get a new phone. And its so cool I can hardly stand it!

I present to you the Samsung SCH-u940 or "Glyde" as its known here in the US. This is a touchscreen phone from Samsung that's supposed to be competition with the iPhone. Or at least it gives Verizon subscribers an iPhone-like phone. Similar to the LG env2 and Voyager phones with a landscape screen and touchscreen capability but is smaller in size.

The Glyde is simple yet very good looking and stylish and you never get used to the "wow" factor of sliding the screen up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. There are only a few buttons on the side of the phone's case (volume, camera and power) and the on-board 2 mega-pixel camera (not great but good enough) is located on the back. The buttons on the keyboard are small but I have small hands so it works for me (but fat fingered people beware!). And if you thought the screen on the LG VX9400 was cool, you'll fall in love with the huge 2.75" WVGA (240x440 pixel) bright and crisp display on the Glyde. The phone also gives you the option of having a haptic response when using the touchscreen function (feels like your pressing buttons for those that can't deal with the "dead feel" of a touch screen). You can still use the phone in portrait mode (with the screen closed) to dial numbers and text but the joy comes in sliding that screen out and letting your fingers do the walking. So you get all the standard phone functions as well, the ability to play video and music (made easier by the micro SD card slot), access to all the Verizon mobile content and the web of course. Web pages load in their full size so looking around a page can seem awkward but hey you're using a cell phone for surfing!

Overall the phone is slick, stylish and does what it promises. All that and you get battery life even with the bluetooth on. The phone even comes with a PC cable and software to put content on your phone. Thank god for once I don't have to buy an accessory to get the most out of my phone (other phone makers take note). With a new plan or upgrade the phone'll set you back around $199 but if you're a Verizon customer its worth every penny.

What's next, MP3 players in Happy Meals?

They're not yet but at this price it probably won't be long. I know that over the time the price of technology comes down but this is getting ridicilous. Its finally happened, a sub $10 MP3 player ($9.99 to be exact). Granted this isn't the player for the tech savvy 18-34 year olds but it'd be a great starter or kid's first player. Heck, at that price its practically disposable.

This is the My Player Kids MP3 Player (yeah I know, not an original name in the least) from Radio Shack.
The My Player comes with nine on-board video games (including; Drum it, Snack attack, Bobble goods, Slider, Maze, Snake stretch) a built in voice recorder, the ability to change faceplates, and runs off of 2 AAA batteries. So no worries about this thing losing a charge. The only drawback is that the player has only 32 MB of storage. Granted its no iPod Nano but 32MB will get you about 20 minutes of tunes. Not too shabby for a kid or throw in a bag to listen to while on the treadmill at the gym. At its small size, you could even keep it in your suit pocket to take voice memos.

If nothing else. it'll make one of the coolest stocking stuffers this Christmas.