Review: Kyocera Zio
The Zio comes with the typical Android fare, consisting of a messaging application, the native Gmail application, a third-party email application, and Google Talk for IM.
The messaging application is bare bones for a smartphone. It offers threaded conversations, and will place picture/video content in-line with text, but it isn't very pretty. It would have been nice for Sanyo or Cricket to dress this application up even a little bit.
The native Gmail application is as solid as ever, though the Android 1.6 OS prevents the Zio from downloading the new version of Gmail that Google made available this week. That's a disappointment. Still, Gmail on Android continues to be the best mobile experience with Gmail, as it supports most of the desktop features. If you really want to add some power to Gmail, use the browser-based version, which is actually richer than the on-board Gmail app.
The third-party email client allows you to access other POP3/IMAP4 accounts, but it doesn't support Microsoft Exchange.
Google Talk is the only IM client loaded onto the Zio. If you use AIM, Yahoo or Windows Live, you're going to have to look to the Android Market for third-party support.