I recently got a cell phone that for less than the cost of a normal voice plan will not only make phone calls but do "smartphone" type things. I used to avoid any extra service that nickel and dimed me to death (I'm looking at you T-Mobile). Now I can actually snap a photo and upload it with no hidden charges. This is cool. What's even better is that there are a solid handful of good photo sharing sites out there to choose from. My plan is to upload photos to these and do a comparison of features and usability in the coming weeks.

from The Frugal Yankee

• Flickr: The venerable workhorse now owned by Yahoo!
• Photobucket: Awful name but has been around for a long time. It's a solid contender now.
• Picasa: Where would we be without you Google?
• Windows Live: aka the old Hotmail. Now rejuvenated with a plethora of features and serious competition to Google's suite of apps.
• 23HQ: A relative newbie, offers solid features and a nice interface. Of all of these listed it has the most generous "free" plan.

I'm using the $25/month unlimited plan from Virgin Mobile and snapping photos with a very untrendy LG Rumor Touch phone. I don't have a contract, but I certainly have a plan on how to carry out these photo sharing tests.

Stay tuned for more to come as I explore cheap photo sharing and the free services of these 5 providers.