Twelve Days of Christmas, Holiday Gift Ideas: Cell Phones

The holidays are upon us. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are both over, and the December rush has begun. Whether you're shopping online, through retailers like Amazon.com, Overstock.com, or offline in retail outlets such as Wal*Mart or Target you can be a smart consumer. By using sites like PriceGrabber or Google Product Search or mobile applications like ShopSavvy (Android & iPhone) you can be sure you're getting a good deal.

Of course, the best place to start is to look at who you're buying for, and how much you're willing to spend on them. But to get you started, I've thrown together a list of some of the bigger consumer products of the year. Ranging from the cheaper stocking stuffers, to the more expensive presents this list has a little bit of everything, although it's definitely for the geekier folk.

Cell Phones

Apple iPhone 3GS (AT&T) $199

If you're on AT&T, you've probably already got an iPhone, whether it's the 3G or 3GS. But, maybe some of your friends or family are still using their Motorola Razr. While cell phones are inherently evil presents (what with the ridiculously priced contracts), if you're going to do it, do it right. On AT&T, iPhone is really the only good option, at least until some good Android devices make their way to their selection.

Motorola Droid (Verizon) $149.99

Now, if your recipient is on Verizon instead (which, let's face it has far superior coverage, albeit only nationally), you've got more options, although the clear champion is the new Motorola Droid. Running Android 2.0, it's the best Android phone ever. The physical keyboard is usable, although personally I still prefer an onscreen one, which by the way can be customized to be just like iPhone's. Open, and user-friendly, the Droid is by far the best phone to get on Verizon's network.

Palm Prē (Sprint) $79.99

If you're looking for someone on the Sprint network (best data around, if you can find a signal), or if they're still using a Palm phone, the sub-$100 Prē is the way to go. WebOS is great, although if you're looking for native apps you're more or less out of luck at the time being. The multitasking on the Prē is graceful, as well as useful. There's really not any other choice for a (smart) phone on Sprint at this point.

HTC Magic (T-Mobile myTouch 3G) $150

HTC makes good handsets, there's no doubt about it. And if you're looking to give the gift of a good phone for someone on T-Mobile you've got some options. The Magic is essentially the HTC Dream (T-Mobile/Google G1) without a physical keyboard. That said, the internals aren't great when compared to the likes of iPhone or Droid, and can feel sluggish at times. If you can manage to buy an HTC Hero (HTC claims T-Mobile carries them), you're better off - It's not any different in the internals, but the Sense UI just flows better than a vanilla Android install. That said, the myTouch 3G is a great phone, just like you'd expect from HTC.

This is the day two of our Twelve Days of Christmas, Holiday Shopping Ideas from Maverick Revolution.