Holiday Handset Guide Slideshow - Giving the gift of wireless

FierceWireless compiled this guide to U.S. holiday handsets that operators will be featuring during the upcoming buying season. In the first of this two-part series, we profile the low-end handsets.

Whether they line up at a retail store early in the morning or tear through some gold wrapping paper to find a smartphone waiting in its box, consumers are gearing up to give the gift of wireless for the holidays. Carriers have readied their holiday promotions and will specifically be pushing these devices in the coming weeks, hoping to attract subscribers as 2008 draws to a close.

Some research suggests that consumers will be buying smartphones. A survey conducted by ChageWave Research in early October found that 12 percent of those polled planned on buying a smartphone within the next 90 days, the highest such percentage in three years of polling.

FierceWireless contacted the major operators and compiled this list of phones, their respective carriers, prices and top features. We divided the list into "low-end" and "high-end" phones, based on price, features and market presence. After conferring with analysts, we decided that, in general, any phone retailing for less than $150 would be considered a low-end phone unless it came with a separate data plan. In Part One of this two-part series we look at the low-end phones.

Click here to see Holiday Handsets for under $150...

Click to see the phones for over $150...