Cool Yule rating: 4 stars
Price: $299 ($99 after rebates and two-year agreement)
Description: If you’re looking for a cell phone for somebody in the Hannah Montana crowd, this could be it. The Muziq is slick, colorful, well-designed and focused on music. (Hence the name.) The coolest feature of the phone is that when the clamshell is closed, the cover features an illuminated iPod-like keypad that lets you control your music as if you had an iPod in your hand.
The Muziq is also designed so that you can do other things, like texting or taking a photo, without interrupting the music player. The phone is offered by Sprint, which means you get to access the Sprint Music Store for over-the-air song downloads and you have access to Sprint’s EV-DO network for fast access to the Internet. The phone can also play music over your FM radio. When it comes to other features, the Muziq is clearly not trying to be all things to all customers. The camera is only 1.3 megapixels, for example. And don’t expect enterprise-grade calendaring. But if you want to give the young music-lover in your family their first phone, the Muziq would be perfect.
