Hands-on with the Haier "Elegance"

Last time we saw Haier's glossy, submicronic capsule, we'd been tossing around the name "Black Pearl" and lamenting the lack of GSM 850. Well, times change, and so does this phone. Turns out it's officially called the "Elegance" -- which makes more sense, considering the threat of a RIM lawsuit constantly looming over Haier's head otherwise -- but better yet, there's a new variant of the handset that trades tri-band GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 for dual-band 850 / 1900. Granted, you give up a band in the process, but the tweaked model should offer better performance Stateside in return. We were pleasantly surprised both with the Elegance's performance and appearance; sound quality was great for both voice calls and FM radio / MP3 playback, and the OLED display looked fabulous when it appeared from beneath its mirrored confines. Follow the break for more eye candy!