The smallest phone in our roundup, the Siemens SL56 ($249.99 with a two-year contract; price varies by state) offers e-mail functions both built into the phone and through Cingular Wireless's Web services (Wireless Internet Express: 1MB, $6.99 per month). You can set the phone to retrieve your mail directly or set a filter for it to download only e-mails smaller than a selected size. The phone supports both POP3 and IMAP, and it lets you set a general e-mail address to blind-copy automatically whenever you send out mail.

Alternatively, you can use the phone to surf to the online mail account Cingular offers through "My Wireless Window." Here you can send and receive messages and have the service collect your external POP3 or IMAP mail.

Cingular offers an Outlook add-in called SyncNow, which lets you access your desktop's contacts and calendar. Unfortunately, unlike Sprint PCS, Cingular doesn't let you collect your corporate mail, though Xpress Mail, a service planned for later this year, will offer that feature.