Camera, Green Cred, and Conclusions

The 2-megapixel camera has no auto-focus or flash capability. For such a low-resolution sensor, test photos looked okay, with reasonable sharpness and color balance both indoors and out. Tree leaves and other distant details were smudges, but anything close by looked good. Recorded videos looked jerky and maxed out at just 352-by-288-pixels and 15 frames per second. That was sufficient a year or two ago, but 640-by-480 or better camcorder features are now commonplace on smartphones.

As a green phone, the Replenish easily qualifies for our GreenTech Approved award. It's made from 82 percent recyclable materials, and comes in fully recyclable packaging. It reminds you to unplug the charger when the battery is full. Samsung sells an optional solar panel charger for this phone (which we didn't get to test), and you can install the aforementioned green-themed apps from Sprint ID. Sprint also includes a free, postpaid envelope in the box to recycle your old phone.

The Replenish's form factor is a nice idea, and we always applaud electronics with green cred. But the low-end screen, choppy performance, and poor battery life all do this phone in. Buyers looking for a low-end Android phone should check out the LG Optimus S; while it drops the hardware keyboard, it steps up to a 3.2-inch, 320-by-480-pixel touch screen that's much more usable, and it also has longer battery life. If you have a bit more cash, check out the HTC EVO Shift 4G ($149, 4 stars), which features a much higher resolution screen, a faster CPU, 4G WiMAX capability, and a roomier, slide-out QWERTY keyboard.