To protect my beloved LG Dare, I purchased a silicon case, very similar to the one shown above. The only major difference between my case, and the one shown, is my particular case has a silicon layer covering the front hard buttons. 

I purchased this case from my local VZW store, for a hefty price of $22. Although expensive, the case does a fine job of keeping my Dare safe from bumps and drops. It was very easy to slip my Dare into, and it adds some extra grip to prevent a potentialy "deadly" drop. 

I have a few quirks with this case. At $22, it was not cheap. For a case of this quality, I expected a cheaper price tag. Another peeve I have with this product is the silicon has a tendency to "grab" onto your pants, making it difficult to pull out of a pocket.

All in all, this Verizon silicon case gets the job done, however it does cost a pretty penny.

www.Motorola-Krave.com

Released earlier this fall, Motorola's Krave ZN4 from Verizon Wireless joins a strong crowd of competitors in the touch screen cell phone market. The Krave is not a smartphone, but it offers features and a design that is unique in its own right.

The Krave touts not one, but two awesome touch screens, a one-of-a-kind design and great multimedia services including live television from Verizon's VCAST Mobile TV, Rhapsody music service and the VZ Navigator GPS application.

Despite being a flip phone, the Krave's transparent cover only enhances the phone's vibrant 2.8-inch  LCD screen underneath. Additional highlights include a 2.0-megapixel camera, MP3 music player software, 3.5mm headset jack, full QWERTY keyboard and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. The Krave is sure to be a hit for Verizon Wireless.

The Dev Team recently launched its long awaited iPhone 3G unlock dubbed "Yellowsn0w". This release has been confirmed to work with iPhone 2.2 firmware. Proceed with caution however, as some users have claimed a faulty unlocking. 

To learn how to download Yellowsn0w, go here: www.blog.iphone-dev.org/post/67797811/dont-eat-yellowsn0w

Photos of a sleek Samsung slider phone with touchscreen have turned up. If the cool form factor doesn't sway you, the camera will. The Samsung S8300 boasts an 8MP camera with face detection and image stabilization. Here are some pics of this cool new phone. Sources say to expect a release date around March.

www.LG-Incite.com

The Incite is a mixture of good and bad. It has some good features such as the camera and web browsing speeds, but it also has a lot of negatives. It seems like LG is using this phone as a testing ground for what is to come in the future. The Incite needs some work in order to make the menus with Windows Mobile flow better and make them more usable. The touch integration could also be improved. The lack of a stylus makes Windows Mobile a little more difficult to use. 

Where the Incite excels at connectivity and messaging, it gets a 5/10 for music playback, video capture, and call quality. 

I say the Incite is a good start for LG and touch screen smartphones, but they still have some work to do.

Nokia has released a major firmware update available for all North American N96 cell phones. The update includes some bug fixes (bluetooth, stability, and camera performance), it also makes the N96 compatible with Nokia's Mail on Ovi service.

Have you ever been trying to find information on a phone, but couldn't find a good source? Well look no further! I have compiled a list of many good cell phone forums for a TON of different cell phones!

                Samsung

• www.instinct-samsung.com
• www.samsung-omnia.org
• www.samsung-glyde.com
• www.pixon-samsung.com
• www.tocco-samsung.com
• www.samsung-saga.com
• www.samsung-behold.com
• www.samsung-eternity.com
• www.samsung-delve.com

                    HTC

• www.alltouchdiamond.com
• www.alltouchpro.com
• www.htcfuze.org
• www.alltouchHD.com

             T-Mobile

• www.g1-forum.com

                Palm

• www.treo-pro.net

                 Apple

• www.3g-iphones.org
• www.ipod-forum.com
• www.iphone-rivals.com

              LG

• www.lg-incite.com
• www.lg-cookie.com
• www.lg-rumor.com
• www.env2-lg.com
• www.lg-vu.com
• www.viewty-lg.com
• www.renoir-lg.com
• www.lg-shine.net
• www.lg-dare.com
• www.voyager-lg.com

           RIM Blackberry

• www.storm-blackberry.com
• www.blackberryboldforum.com
• www.allblackberrycurve.com

               Motorola

• www.motorola-krave.com
• www.napolean-q9.com
• www.motorola-q11.com
• www.blaze-motorola.com

                Sony

• www.xperia-x1.org

               Nokia

• www.nokia5800forum.com

             Garmin

• www.garmin-nuvifone.org

www.LG-Dare.com

The LG Dare is a touch screen device from LG, only for the Verizon Wireless network. I was able to upgrade to the Dare exactly 50 days ago. Here, I will go into detail the things I like, and dislike about the LG Dare.

First Impressions: This thing is cool. That is what ran through my mind when I first picked up my LG Dare. I had been an active member of http://Lg-Dare.com, a very good Dare forum, and the hype of the phone was killing me! I was so excited to finally get the Dare. The most obvious feature of the Dare that draws attention is the touch screen. This is a resistive touch screen, meaning it senses pressure, unlike the iPhone's capacitive screen. The next feature that caught my attention is the 3.2 MP camera. This thing is loaded with photo editing options, fun frames, etc. I will go into more detail with the camera later in the review. 

Touch Screen: I will be brutally honest. I personally do not like the touch screen on the Dare. No matter how precicesly I calibrate it, the phone still causes me to make many errors when typing a text. Now granted, I am coming from the LG EnV phone with full QWERTY keyboard, but I expected the Dare to perform better with texting. The QWERTY on the Dare is very touchy. I dislike the landscape texting so much, that I have resorted to texting only in the T9 mode, which is a let down for me. One positive aspect of the touch screen however, is the haptic feeback...the phone makes a slight vibration when a touch is registered. This allows for slightly better accuracy. 

Theme and Menu: There are two theme options for the Dare...White and Black. The white theme is just that...white. Many of the menu screens have a white background, and the keyboard is a light grey color. The white theme also has a draggable main menu. You have the ability to drag and move the icons around in any way you please. The only negative to this is all the icons are turned in odd directions. The Black theme is opposite of the White theme. The menu backgrounds are mostly black, as well as the keyboard. Instead of a draggable main menu, the icons are set in a row and column format. I personally prefer the Black theme. 

Camera: The camera on the Dare is outstanding. 3.2 MP with autofocus, flash, face detection, etc. Simply put, this is by far the best cell phone camera I have used. Something neat about the Dare's video camera is it has the ability to record slow motion videos. This can be a great feature for athletes, or just for having fun with. 

Durability: With the Dare's face being almost entirely a touch screen, I recommend investing in a screen protector. I personally have the VZW $10 screen protectors, and they work great. If you are looking for something of higher quality, check out Invisible Shield or Phantomskinz...both are great products. I also invested in the VZW silicon case to protect from drops. So far, I have not dropped it, but in case I do (pun intended), this case should protect my Dare.

Call Quality: The call quality is great on this phone. I have never had a dropped call, and voices come in loud and clear. I have never had anyone tell me they could not hear me, or I sounded muffled. This is good, because in the end, the Dare is a PHONE.

Web Browsing: Web browsing on the Dare is decent. Not great, but not horrible. Although, I only have 2 other phones to compare it to; The Blackberry Curve, and the iPhone. I think the Dare is better than the Curve, but falls short of the iPhone. If you have good signal strength, the Dare will load a page quickly, however navigating a page can be difficult, especially if the links are tiny. 

Overall: Overall, the Dare is the best phone I have ever owned. It has many great features, great call quality, good web browser, and AWESOME camera. I can easily overlook its faults due to the things that it does well.