Top 10 Smartphones for Holiday Gifts

Samsung Instinct: ($130 after mail-in rebate, Sprint(S Quote)). This smartphone won all sorts of awards at the CTIA 2008 show and is a crowd favorite. If you're a Sprint customer, the Instinct is a great choice for a smartphone. Your email choices are limited at POP and IMAP, but for many users that's not a problem. Sprint offers a $100 "everything" monthly plan that could be a good choice, too. Sprint is currently offering free shipping and activation when you order new service. Sprint's 3G service has vastly improved in the past few years. Just think what happens if Sprint releases a 4G/WiMAX Instinct!

Palm Centro: ($50-$100, various carriers). The "baby" Palm is an absolute winner. It is small, cheap and does nearly everything that all the "big guys" can do. The QWERTY keyboard is small but amazingly easy to use. This is a great product that came at the right time for Palm and for needy smartphone users everywhere. Don't be fooled by the small price -- this handset is a little powerhouse.

Palm Treo Pro: ($549, unlocked). This beauty has no U.S. carrier, so you have to buy it unlocked from on the Palm Web site and pay the full, unsubsidized price. That's too bad because this is one heck of a smartphone. It is a Treo-to-the-MAX). It is a GSM world phone, which works and feels like a precision instrument. I wish I could let all my readers touch and try one -- I'm pretty sure you'd like it. Like the Centro, it can handle corporate Microsoft Exchange Mail.