Motorola and Sprint have teamed up to create an entry-level low cost affordable phone, called the Motorola C290. If you are tired of the pricey high-end feature phones, and want something more affordable, then this is it!

Weighing 100 grams and measuring 87 x 49 x 24 mm, the C290 has a nice flip clamshell design in its name and comes with a moderate number of features. They are:

- Handsfree conversation with a full duplex speakerphone

- J2ME MIDP 2.0 functionality that enables rapid downloads of tons of multimedia content example ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers and more.

- Internet browsing enabled by WAP 2.0 coupled with cdma2000 1xRTT for high-speed data transfers.

- Voice memo allows recording of memos, reminders and other notes for future playback.

- iTAP Predictive Text Input. This makes typing out messages much faster and easier. This is done by it predicting the words that you are typing, and if it is correct, you can just press Enter and the word will be typed up for you.

- SMS, EMS and MMS Messaging capabilities.

- SMS (short messaging service), EMS (enhanced messaging service) and MMS (multimedia messaging service). With the MMS feature, you can share multimedia content with your friends and family by emailing them content such as ringtones, screensavers, wallpapers, 3gp videos and more. Here's a comparison between EMS and MMS:

- EMS allows you to format your text messages to make them look more professional and organized. Things such as font size, alignment, styles, single/double spaced and paragraphs make up EMS.

- MMS on the other hand allows you to attach videos, sounds and photos (.gif and .jpg formats) to a text message. So if you have to send a greeting with sound and video to a loved one, MMS will help you do it!

Battery & Retail Price

The Motorola C290 has a battery talk time of 3.40 and standby time of 168 hours. The phone is available from Sprint and costs US $29.99 after rebates (with service contract).