AT&T QuickFire reviewed: cheap & cheerful

After our brief play with the AT&T QuickFire, we came away tentatively impressed.  Despite not having the heritage of a Sidekick, the QWERTY-blessed QuickFire still managed to demonstrate some decent messaging prowess; it also brings a few new features to the party, such as the 2.8-inch touchscreen.  Now Phonescoop have run the QuickFire across their review bench.Video demo of the AT&T QuickFire after the cut

As we found, the capacitive touchscreen isn't as responsive as that on other handsets using the same technology, but is still perfectly usable; screen rotation is efficient and the menus, albeit a little under-designed, are straightforward to navigate.  Phonescoop also praise the camera, for its "decent pictures", and call quality is also good.

One significant drawback for messaging-addicts (which you surely must be if considering the QuickFire) is the absence of threaded SMS conversations.  Hopefully AT&T can add that with an OTA firmware update.  In all, though, they say the handset "almost makes good on all that it sets out to do", which is perhaps all you can ask of it given the price.