Phone Guide

Students and their cell phones go hand-in-hand, or rather, phone-in-hand. That being said, it's important for students to choose the right cell phone to suit their needs and their price range. The following four phones are currently the best available on the market in their respective categories.

Texter - Motorola DROID 2: $99.99 from Verizon

If you're someone who heavily uses text messaging, you're probably going to want a full QWERTY keyboard and spacious keys. This phone is roughly 4.6 inches wide and 2.3 inches tall. And when the phone slides out, just about all of that is keyboard space.

Another positive about this phone is its long battery life. It's got a Li - Ion 1400mAH battery, and if that means nothing to you, it's alright. More or less, you're going to get a lot of talk and text time, almost 10 hours worth.

The phone has a nice resolution and a large screen size as well, but one of the drawbacks is the phone's weight. As is the case with most sliders that have a large touch screen as well as a full keyboard, the extra convenience translates into extra weight. However, the phone is still only about six ounces, and it won't weigh down your pockets by any means.

Work - HTC HD2: $99.99 from T-Mobile

For business savvy students who need to work from their phone, this is a wonderful choice. One might think traditional multi-tasking phones are Blackberries or Palms, but HTC is quickly taking over this market.

The phone runs on a Windows operating system and has one of the fastest processors available, JAVA support and best of all, you've got Microsoft Office at your fingertips.

With built-in Wi-Fi support and Bluetooth, synchronization with your computer is easy.

For business professionals who are used to typing away notes on a keyboard, this phone's touch screen may take some getting used to, but the auto-correct feature is sensitive and accurate. It also doesn't hurt that the screen has a roomy feel, so students with bigger fingers can successfully navigate this phone.

The cons of the phone begin and end with a poor battery life. It only has about six hours of talk time and 49 hours of stand-by time. This means frequent usage throughout the day will require a spare battery or constantly plugging the phone in to charge.

Cheap - Palm Pixi: $0 from Sprint

Having money to spend on a phone is great, but what's even greater is that there are fantastic free phones in case you're tight on cash. As a student it's sometimes hard to justify spending a couple hundred bucks on a phone. If this is you, don't fret. With a full QWERTY keyboard and Internet access the Palm Pixi will still do everything you need.

The battery life is extremely short at only five hours of talk time, and the camera has a pathetic two mega-pixel resolution, but if you've already got a camera, what do you care? It's a Palm with 3G capabilities in a stylish package. And best of all, it's free with a two year activation.

Overall Best - HTC EVO 4G: $199.99 from Sprint

If you've got the money to blow, and you want a nice phone that will last you two years until your contract expires, this is definitely the one to get. It's good at everything and looks beautiful.

It has a screen that's even larger than the HTC HD2. With an eight mega-pixel resolution and built-in flash and auto-focus the camera is as good as stand alone cameras on the market. It can even shoot movies in true 720p high definition. The resolution of the actual phone is impressive as well.

Best of all, it runs on Android. This means the phones comes with hundreds of possible applications you can download for free off the Android marketplace, which is perfect since the phone's Internet runs lightning fast both on the 3G network and via Wi-Fi.

The touch screen is responsive, the phone feels huge in your hands but tiny in your pocket and it runs smoothly courtesy of its top of the line processor.

No matter what your budget or needs are for your phone, there is one out there to suit all of your needs, and one of these four is probably your best bet.