Best Low Cost Cell Phones For Web Surfing

Now that surfing the Web via cell phone is so easy, everyone wants to find a cell phone that makes the web accessible for reasonable cost. Finding a cell phone that can handle web surfing is not as hard as it looks. In fact, finding a reasonably priced cell phone that will do your web surfing and check your Email is the easy part. The hard part is choosing a plan to go with it that doesn’t charge you an arm and a leg for access to the Internet.

The most popular model right now is the RAZR, made by Motorola. This light, stylish phone is thinner than a stack of credit cards. Its lightweight, technically appealing design has made it hugely appealing. It fits in a suit pocket without being obvious, or slides into the slim coin pocket of a purse.

The RAZR is one of the preferred models because of its large screen (well, large by mobile standards). Surfing the Internet using a cell phone has some challenges. Not many Web designers have started to design Web pages that work on both a regular sized screen and a mobile phone screen. That means that no matter how amazing your phone is, your web pages will still look funny on it.

This screen size issue is one of the many reasons that Apple’s iPhone is such an anticipated device. It has a wide screen viewing area that will be the first of its kind. This should make designing Web pages for viewing on mobile phones much easier. Unfortunately, this list is about reasonably priced mobile phone technology, and Apple’s phone will probably be priced over what most people consider affordable for a first phone.

If you’re a QWERTY enthusiast, then a Sidekick might work for you. When the device is closed, it looks and works like a standard mobile phone. When the device is flipped open, it looks like a regular, if miniature, hand-held computer – complete with keyboard. The screen is smaller then the one on the RAZR, but its wide screen orientation makes it easier to see your Email, instant messages and web sites.

If you are surfing the web for online music, then another Motorola product might be the right one for you. This is the Motorola ROKR. The ROKR is the test phone developed by Cingular (now merged with AT&T), Motorola and Apple to see if you could integrate iTunes, web surfing and mobile phone seamlessly.

Not as attractive or feature-rich as the soon to be released iPhone, the ROKR works well as an entry-level music cell phone. It holds a 100 songs using iTunes web downloads as well as plenty of games, mp3 ring tones and other features. It’s one drawback is the built-in speaker. The speaker make your music sound fantastic, but it makes this phone slightly thicker that other Motorola phones.

Another mobile phone on the list that surfs the web well is the Chocolat. While the ROKR and the RAZR are both used mainly by Cingular/AT&T, Chocolat is used by Verizon. This phone is incredibly small and has a unique slide out feature, which appeals to gadget geeks everywhere. The screen leaves something to be desired in size, but the phone’s newer technology works efficiently online.

How did all of these phones make this list? That’s easy. The two best carriers for both surfing the Internet using your mobile phone and for accessing the Internet with your laptop using the phone as a modem are Cingular (now part of AT&T) and Verizon. Each of these carriers offer these mobile phones as part of the package for signing up with their service for little or no cost.

These “ freebies” make these high-end phones surprisingly affordable. With other carriers you might have to save up to afford these phones, but with the right plan and a little pre-shopping you can get them for free and be surfing the web on your mobile phone in style in no time. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of getting a screaming deal on the newest technology by shopping for your new phone at the same time your shopping for the new carrier?

I have included some links to the mobile phone carriers themselves, as well as some links were you can find these phones for low cost as a stand-alone item, in case you were happy with your current mobile phone carrier. Enjoy!