The Hottest Phones (and Services, Too) at CTIA

After spending the past week checking out the latest and greatest in phones at the biannual CTIA wireless show, held this time around in San Francisco, I'm finally back in the Big Apple. Here's a quick overview of the highlights.

Overall, it was a pretty quiet show this time around—at least as far as cool new phones are concerned. The fall CTIA is focused more on entertainment and services than the springtime version of the show, so the dearth of new handsets isn’t a total surprise. Still, a few new smartphones—along with some previously announced devices that I hadn’t seen in person yet—managed to catch my eye.

BlackJack II: The long-rumored follow-up to the original BlackJack took the spotlight at Tuesday morning's Microsoft keynote, adding such key features as built-in GPS, a new jog wheel for navigation, and AT&T's Video Share (for one-way video conferencing). Also, the II runs on Windows Mobile 6, good for document editing and tighter integration with Exchange servers. Performance seemed a little sluggish on the pre-production model I tested, but the kinks may well be ironed out once the phone ships later this year.

I-Mate Ultimate 9502: Here's a nice one—a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone with a 2.8-inch slide-up display, a la the upcoming Sidekick Slide. The 9502 also packs in support for U.S. HSDPA networks, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a roomy QWERTY keypad. Looks pretty hot, although I got a cold dose of reality when I heard the projected $600-$800 price tag.

Sprint Touch: Pegged as a potential iPhone killer, the HTC-made Touch boasts a nearly three-inch touch screen, along with "TouchFlo"—a virtual 3D cube that you can tap and pull to access the phone's various functions. It's a clever idea; unfortunately, once you tap your way past TouchFlo, you're stuck with the professional version of Windows Mobile 6, and you'll need a stylus to make headway with its tiny menu options.

Samsung F700: Yet another wanna-be iPhone killer, announced way back in February and only now ready for its debut. With its slide-out QWERTY keypad and jumbo-sized display, the F700 seemed dark and mysterious when it was initially announced; in the flesh, however, the phone's minimalist menus and fail to impress, especially compared to new touch-screen competitors like the LG Voyager and—oh yes, the Sprint Touch.

Samsung SCH-i760: For me, the i760 was the sleeper of the show—a Windows Mobile slider announced many moons ago that's finally available on Verizon Wireless. The relatively compact 3G phone boasts the pro version of Windows Mobile, and it's got Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a full, slide-out QWERTY keypad—and yes, it'll fit in your pocket.

Besides phones, several new wireless services made headlines; here are a few that I found noteworthy...

Facebook app for BlackBerry: Announced on Wednesday (just before the news hit that Microsoft had scored a $240 million stake in Facebook), the dedicated Facebook application for BlackBerrys allows users to browse their friends lists, poke buddies, write on walls, and upload photos—pretty nice, especially considering that the app lets you compose and reply to Facebook messages even when you're offline.

AT&T teams up with Napster for music downloads: AT&T finally joined the ranks of Sprint and Verizon Wireless with its new music download service, courtesy of Napster. Faces fell, though, when pricing was announced: $2 a song, or twice as much as the tunes on the Sprint Music Store.

PC-to-cell sync software: Fellow blogger Chris Null found a couple of cool services that'll help you sync files from your desktop to your phone. DMailer lets you transfer any file to your phone, including all your Outlook e-mail, events and contacts—nice. Meanwhile, Migo does much the same thing, except it specializes in multimedia such as music, video, and photos.

Of course, there were literally hundreds of new devices and services at CTIA that I failed to mention, and I've spared you the details of Steve Ballmer's keynote about Microsoft's wireless enterprise plans (this is a gadget blog, after all). For all that and more, check out FierceWireless' exhaustive coverage of the show.