This pocket wonder triples as a Skype phone, MP3/video player, and email/IM communicator, and has Wi-Fi to boot. As a media player, it supports MPEG4 playback, the standard for portable video. Any video you can save or download in this format can be played back on the Mylo. The Skype and communications features work over Wi-Fi, and you can connect to both encrypted home or office networks and public hotspots that require logins. Based on the Linux operating system, Mylo has the Opera Web browser for Web mail, 940MB of free memory, and a slide-out keyboard. It also takes Memory Sticks for added storage. Mylo's 320-by-240 display is great for viewing video. Sony supports the Skype, GoogleTalk and Yahoo! Messenger IM systems, but notably not AIM/iChat or MSN. To make it easy to find hotspots on the road, it also includes the JiWire hotspot directory.

The Verizon LG Chocolate phone has gotten a lot of press thanks to its name and brown coloring. It's also one of the few handsets to support VCast video (many more support VCast Music). While Chocolate doesn't have Wi-Fi, it does have a slide-out keypad, Bluetooth, WMA and MP3 music playback, and a very good 1.3-megapixel camera. Add an optional 2GB MicroSD card for expanded music storage. VCast is strongest in the music area, where you can download songs for $1.99 each to store and play back on your phone, and sync with your PC. They are in Windows DRM format, so cannot be played back on a Mac. Video clips come in entertainment, sports, news, and weather categories.

Among Sprint's many TV-capable phones, the Palm Treo 700p is our absolute favorite. Sprint TV is the only video service from the big three cell carriers to offer live channels that show the same thing as you'd see on regular TV. Live offerings include Discovery, Discovery Kids, The Weather Channel, TLC, C-SPAN, and Fox News. There are also literally dozens of other channels, all packaged up into a bewildering variety of Power Vision bundles at various prices. Just make sure you get something with the live channels in it. They are the most interesting. (Treo lovers can also get VCast on the 700p and 700w models from Verizon.)

Cingular's selection of 3G video-capable phones is limited. The LG CU500 flip phone is the only one currently widely available. That said, it has a lot going for it. It's Cingular's first HSDPA phone, and has quad-band support for worldwide roaming, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and a MicroSD card slot for expanded storage. Almost as skinny as a RAZR, it's also quite good-looking, and has a front color LCD as well as the larger inside display. The camera lens rotates for picture-taking flexibility, and there are external controls for music playback. The Cingular Video service itself has a very good selection of content, a lot more than VCast, although it lacks live channels like Sprint TV.