Latest Mobiles

Today, touchscreen mobile phones are popping up everywhere and are offered by almost all mobile phone manufacturers. It you are looking to own your very first touchscreen mobile phone but not sure which one to choose from, read on. In this feature, we compare three of the latest touchscreen mobile phones, namely Apple iPhone 3G, HTC Touch Pro and Samsung Omnia SGH-i900. We checkout how good they are in terms of looks, user interface, features, and more.

Design and build quality

Apple iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G has a larger surface area compared to the HTC Touch Pro and Samsung Omnia, but is the slimmest among them. Despite its size, the iPhone 3G is heavier than it looks. The rear feels plasticky though the overall build is fairly sturdy. According to the manufacturer, there is a scratch-resistant glass on top of the display that can handle aggressive usage, even with a stylus.

HTC Touch Pro

The HTC Touch Pro is the chunkier version of its Touch Diamond sibling and the reason, HTC included a QWERTY keyboard that slides from the left. This makes for the easy text entry. Needless to say, the Touch Pro is the heaviest of the lot at 165g, but the build quality is very solid. Flip it over and the rear reveals a familiar diamond-like exterior but in a non-reflective rubber material.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

In terms of size and weight, the Samsung Omnia SGH-i900 is inbetween the HTC and Apple with a two-tone black and silver finish. It feels a little like a plastic toy with average build quality. But the brushed metallic rear and the glossy front makes the overall appearance look very stylish.

Winner: HTC Touch Pro

While the HTC Touch Pro may look like an oversize candy bar, it should have no problem against accidental drops and bumps compared to the other two.



A view on the thickness of the touchscreen mobile phones. From thinnest to thickest: Apple iPhone 3G, Samsung Omnia and HTC Touch Pro.

User Interface

Apple iPhone

The Apple iPhone 3G incorporates iPhone OS and offers an easy-to-use interface to access the various applications and settings. The applications and settings are organized using icons, with 16 on each page (and four standard ones at the bottom - Phone, Mail, Safari and iPod). Because the touchscreen allows for easy and intuitive use you can easily navigate the menus through touching and dragging with your finger. Up, down, left, right, diagonally and even multi-touch.

HTC Touch Pro

Preinstalled with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the Touch Pro uses HTC's proprietary TouchFLO 3D user interface (like the HTC Diamond) that not only looks neat, but is also easy to use. The Windows Mobile Start button is located at the top left hand corner of the screen, while at the bottom of the is the main menu - Phone, People, Messages, Mail, Internet, Photos and Videos, Music, Weather, Settings and Programs. You can scroll the menu by touching and dragging your finger left and right.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

Like the HTC Touch Pro, the Samsung Omnia is also powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and features Samsung's full touch based UI with Haptical touch feedback. The main screen comes with a widget bar on the left that allows you to access the time, date, music player, photo gallery, notepad and even games, simply by dragging the icon from the bar to the empty space on the right. Of course, if you prefer a more structured menu, just click the main menu at the bottom right of the display.

Winner: Apple iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G has a neater looking user interface and offers a faster and easier way to access the applications and settings.

Features

Apple iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G not only supports GSM/EDGE and HSDPA network, but it also offers 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, assisted GPS and integrated 2.0-megapixel camera for photo taking. However, the camera has no zoom capability nor can it take video. It also does not have an expansion memory card slot for additional memory, though it comes in 8GB and 16GB capacities which should suffice.


The iPhone 3G has an organized user interface that is extremely easy to use, especially with various multi-touch gestures.

HTC Touch Pro

Besides 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, the Touch Pro comes with a QWERTY keyboard that slides out on the left for convenient data entry. It has a built-in GPS antenna, 3.0-megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom and a microSD slot for expansion.



The HTC Touch Pro features a QWERTY keyboard that can slide out from the left for ease of typing your emails and messages.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900
The Omnia is on par with the Apple in terms of wireless connectivity and assisted GPS. However, it leads the pack with a whopping 5-megapixel camera and a front camera for video calls. The Samsung also comes with built-in 8 or 16GB memory and a microSD card slot that supports up to 8GB.

Winner: Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

In terms of features, the three phones are very much on par. However, the Samsung Omnia SGH-i900 has the highest megapixel camera and expansion storage capacity with the included microSD slot.

Battery Life

For battery life tests, we charge the touchscreen phones fully and leave their backlight on with no dimming. The display brightness for the phones are set at 40% and we measured the time each lasted before they automatically shut down.

Apple iPhone 3G

On a full charge, the iPhone lasted 9hr 51min in our battery drain test. But note that, with auto dimming and casual usage, it can last more than 17 hours before the need to recharge.

HTC Touch Pro

The HTC Touch Pro did quite well in the battery life tests. It lasted 10hr 39min before it has to shut down.

Samsung Omnia SGH-i900
In the end, it was the Omnia SGH-i900 that outlasted the HTC and Apple with an impressive timing of 11hr 02min.

Winner: Samsung Omnia SGH-i900

The test results are clear. The Omnia SGH-i900 is the winner in the battery life tests.


Conclusion

Let's face it. No touchscreen mobile phone is perfect as each one has their strengths and weaknesses and it is up to mobile manufacturers to come up with improved future models. In this touchscreen mobile phone comparison, the Samsung Omnia SGH-i900 edged ahead as the winner with its outstanding battery life and slightly more attractive features. You can get this phone from authorized retailers for S$1098 (without phone contract)

We enjoyed the Apple iPhone 3G user interface and usability. However, the bad news is, you can only purchase this phone from SingTel as a new subscriber or an existing subscriber renewing your contract. It is currently retailing at S$728 with a new SingTel Classic plan.

If you are a mobile phone user who can't live without a physical QWERTY keyboard and don't mind bulkiness, the HTC Touch Pro is your choice.

The world of camera phones has just gotten to a billet more interesting with a Chinese company called Altek who have designed their first ever 12 megapixel camera phone. While that my not seem impressive because the 12.2MP resolution is slowing becoming the new 8MP, this particular handset takes things up a notch by also incorporating 3X optical zoom making it a World’s first.



The Huajing Altek Company’s original focus has been in the manufacturing of digital imaging technology. They have now decided to also focus on R & D and manufacturing of the same idea but by incorporating the same into other applications and products like the mobile handset, which only makes sense. Their offering in the Altek T8680 is what the industry could call a "professional video phone”. It’s been designed to work just like a digicam and process images even in low light conditions as good as any stand alone digital camera. The company has designed a specific image processing chip to help provide users with a better mobile camera experience without cutting into the speed of the device itself.

The T8680 is equipped with -

* a 3.0-inch touchscreen with a 400 x 240 pixel resolution and 260k colors
* handwriting recognition
* FM radio
* EDGE/GPRS
* Bluetooth with A2DP
* microSD card support
* TV Out

Thanks to the camera’s 3x optical zoom lens, with an adjustable aperture size setting so users can make the background blurred and focus on any specific object for a better depth of field image. The Altek T8680 also uses a CCD sensor to allow for higher sensitivity and lower noise in dark environments to help capture more light. Other camera features include –

* Scene modes
* Face Detection, Smile Shutter, auto stitch Panorama, burst mode for consecutive images (up to 16)
* Image editing with an application for leaving Voice Notes
* ISO settings
* White Balance
* Timer, Exposure
* Video recording in AVI

Micromax tried incorporating a 3X optical zoom lens onto their 8 megapixel camera phone the X800 so this concept has been tried before. What instantly comes to mind though is the kind of weight this handset would have as the X800 was an extremely bulky device. The T8680, weighs in at about 135g and has dimension of 113.5 x 52.0 x 16.55mm which doesn’t seem too bad.

The handset is expected to be released sometime at the end of this month or in September. The approximate pricing is said to be around Rs. 22,000. There’s no word on it’s launch in India so we’ll have to wait and see. The real question is weather the T8680 could give Sony Ericsson and Samsung's offerings a run for their money? Stay tuned.

Key Factors
Camera - 3.2 Megapixels
Bluetooth - v2.0
Music Player - AAC, eAAC+, WMA ProPlus, mp3, AAC+, WMA
FM Radio - No
GPRS - Yes
EDGE - Yes
Talk Time - 6hours
Video - Yes
Form Factor - Candy Bar
Memory - Expandable memory � support for microSD� card 1GB onboard memory 128 MB Flash (flash memory)

Phone Features
Size - Height: 112.5 mm, Depth: 13.95 mm, Width: 62.2 mm
Weight - 155 grams
Display Size - 3.25 inches
Ringtones - Polyphonic/MIDI ringtones MP3 ringtones
Network - UMTS/HSPA: 2100 MHz North America: 850 MHz GSM�/GPRS networks North America: 1900MHz GSM/GPRS networks Europe/Asia Pacific
Standby time - 15 days
Battery - 1400 mAhr removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium cell
SMS - Yes
MMS - Yes
E-mail - Yes
USB cable connection - Yes
Speaker Phone - Yes

Key Factors
Camera - 2 Megapixels
Bluetooth - v2.0
Music Player - Yes
FM Radio - No
GPRS - Yes
EDGE - Yes
Talk Time - 3.5hrs
Form Factor - Candy Bar
Wi-Fi - Yes
Phone Book capacity - Yes
Memory - Expandable memory � support for microSD� card 64 MB Flash (flash memory)

Phone Features
Size - 4.2"x1.97"x0.57"
Weight - 3.1 oz
Display Size - 240 x 260 pixels
Display Colours - 65K colors
Call Records - Yes
Ringtones - MP3 ringtones, Polyphonic
Network - GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Standby time - 15 days
Battery - Li-ion 900 mAh, Standard battery
Games - Yes
Java Tech - Yes
SMS - Yes
MMS - Yes
E-mail Yes
USB cable connection - Yes
Operating System - Blackberry OS
Head-set - Yes
Speaker Phone - Yes

Key Factors
Camera - 3.2 Megapixels
Bluetooth Bluetooth v2.0
Music Player - AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, mp3, WMA9/10 Standard/Pro
EDGE - Yes
Talk Time - 5.5 hours
Video - Yes
Form Factor Bar
Wi-Fi - 802.11b/g enabled

Phone Features
Size - 4.29x2.36x0.53 inches
Display Size - 480x360 pixel color display
Display Colours - 65K colors
Standby time - 356 hours
Battery - 1400 mAHr removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium cell
SMS - Yes
MMS - Yes
E-mail - Wireless Email
USB cable connection - Yes
Operating System - Yes
Speaker Phone - Built-in GPS

Key Factors
Camera - 2 Megapixels
Music Player - Yes
FM Radio - No
GPRS - Yes
EDGE - Yes
Talk Time - 4.3 hrs
Form Factor - Candy Bar
Wi-Fi - Yes
Phone Book capacity - Yes
Memory - Expandable memory � support for microSD� card 1GB On-board + 128 MB Flash

Phone Features
Size - 4.48"x2.6"x0.50"
Weight - 136g
Display Size - 480x320 pixels
Display Colours - 65K colors
Call Records - Yes
Ringtones - MIDI ringtones, Polyphonic
Network - GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Standby time - 9 days
Battery - Li-Ion 1500 mAh, Standard battery
Games - Yes
Java Tech - Yes
SMS - Yes
MMS - Yes
E-mail - Yes
USB cable connection - Yes
Operating System - Blackberry OS
Head-set - Yes
Speaker Phone - Yes

Key Factors
Camera - 2 Megapixels
Bluetooth - Yes
FM Radio - No
GPRS - Yes
EDGE - Yes
Talk Time - 4 hrs
Form Factor - Candy Bar
Wi-Fi - Yes
Phone Book capacity - Yes
Memory Expandable memory - support for microSD, card 64 MB Flash (flash memory)

Phone Features
Size - 4.2"x2.4"x0.6"
Weight - 111g
Display Size - 320 x 240 pixels
Display Colours - 65K colors
Call Records - Yes
Ringtones - MP3 ringtones, Polyphonic
Network - GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Standby time - 17 days
Battery - Li-Ion 1100 mAh, Standard battery
Games - Yes
Java Tech - Yes
SMS - Yes
MMS - Yes
E-mail - Yes
USB cable connection - Yes
Operating System - Blackberry OS
Head-set - Yes
Speaker Phone - Yes

Key Factors
Camera - 2 Megapixels
Bluetooth - v2.0
Music Player - AAC, eAAC+, WMA ProPlus, mp3, AAC+, WMA
FM Radio - No
GPRS - Yes
EDGE - Yes
Talk Time - 4hrs
Video - Yes
Form Factor - Clam shell
Wi-Fi - Yes

Phone Features
Size Height - 101 mm, Depth: 17.5 mm, Width: 50 mm
Weight - 105 grams
Display Colours - High-resolution 128 x 160 color transmissive TFT LCD
Ringtones - Polyphonic/MIDI ringtones MP3 ringtones
Standby time - 14 days
Battery - 900 mAhr removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium cell
SMS - Yes
MMS - Yes
E-mail - Yes
USB cable connection - Yes
Head-set - Yes
Speaker Phone - Yes

With the entire buzz and the hype around for the latest smart phone addition, Palm Pre has been into limelight for being considered as one of the best smart phones available at present. The unique design, the awesome features and connectivity makes this set a must have for all mobile lovers. Palm Pre has already been creating a lot of gossips and has been receiving great reviews ever since its launch. Let us look into the details of this mobile and check for the uniqueness of this smart phone.

Peaking of the design, the mobile comes in a vertical slider based mobile offering a full QWERTY keyboard. The mobile is well known for its portability. It weighs around 135 grams. The size of this mobile is small and does not look bulky at all, like other smart phones do seem to be so. The size can be compared to an iPhone touch and in fact, it is of lesser size than iPhone when closed! Being small in size, it still offers a great display and the 3.1 wide inch touch screen displays the colors brilliantly. It gives a resolution of 320×480 pixels which is quite great. The high glossiness of the screen may cause some issues while using it in sunlight but still it does not reflect too much.

Among the features, this mobile comes in with an accelerometer which works great with web browsing and image viewing. Besides the regular features like Bluetooth 2.0, EDGE, Wi-Fi and others, it is best known for the unique new platform Palm web OS which makes it connected to the Web continuously non-stop. The browsing is high speed and so are the others features of this mobile. The talk time and the battery life of this mobile is also modest, if not great. The memory can be expanded to about 8GB as well. Besides, the OS also has a unique search program which will start searching the words you type in.

Speaking of its camera, if offers great picture and movie quality. Thanks to the 3 mega pixel camera embedded in it. It also has an LED flash in it and range of other options for its camera. The music quality is great and offers good audio and video with proper resolution as well. Some of the features which are missing include absence of MMS messaging and the unavailability to copy and paste option. Having said this, to sum up this mobile is into a lot of buzz and surely, it has lived up to its expectations. It is priced well and is competitive in the market of smart phones as well. The mobile is made unique and can be claimed as one of the best smart phones around. With an excellent new concept OS and regular connectivity to the Web makes this mobile competitive. So competitive, that some group of users are finding this mobile better than Apple’s iPhone as well.

Technology has grown over and over for years to come, and the future of this world would be much faster than ever it was before. It will be quite awesome when we imagine the world that relies on fast and innovative inventions like TV, IPod, mobile phones, laptops, and soon, every property you handle will be high-tech. And that’s what Apple, one of the largest computer companies ever, which introduced the first ever iPhone, which more and more customers have already owned this device, because of its amazing features compared to regular mobile phones, iPhone can be used for SMS, camera, music, entertainment, games and most especially, the internet. Now, another model of iPhone has finally arrived, which once again, customers might attract to this one, no matter how expensive it was, for sure they will buy it, as Apple introduced the new and revolutionized iPhone 3G S.

iPhone 3G S is much more faster than the original iPhone. You know why? We could take a closer look on how this amazing iPhone launch applications quickly than any other models, and 3G graphics were totally original and awesome, as well as its performance. If we browse web pages like Google, Yahoo, Friendster and other popular websites, it is twice faster than the original iPhone. It’s revolutionized 3G feature may experience for the gamers to play enhanced quality games which it would be incredible for them. iPhone 3G S has also a feature of a 3MP camera, which will guarantee them great quality photos to capture, which of course, has a built-in focus and a new feature that lets the display be tapped to focus anything what we want by hand. iPhone 3G S lets you shoot and record videos more convenient than ever, with high definition feature. You can shoot, edit and share it to other iPhone users as well. They have a high quality VGA feature that lets you shoot either on portrait or landscape.

Another great thing for iPhone 3G S is that, they have an amazing cut, copy and paste feature, in which any application with content can be copy-pasted in your PC or in your iPhone application. It also has an amazing landscape keyboarding, which lets the user to type his or her message to another user in a landscape type, if not comfortable using portrait. iPhone 3G S also have a voice control feature, which allows the user to recognize the names of its contacts by knowing their music in iPod. All we have to do is ask, if we want to place a call or play a song for them. iPhone 3G S also has a built-in digital compass, which allows the user to match the direction he faces with the auto-reorient map feature, that will lead them the way they want easily, and there’s so much more like faster SMS, accessibility, internet tethering, search menu, stocks, voice memos, Youtube and Nike + iPod. If you think that you deserve this amazing iPhone 3G S, better own it and show the world what you have.

The Samsung galaxy space traveler is traversing the realm of android universe recently. Samsung galaxy i7500 is the first Samsung mobile phone powered by the Google android operating system. It is the impressive smartest phone ever released by Samsung over the years. Interested in accessing the whole universe of internet on your mobile phone? With a Samsung galaxy mobile, you can do it. With the beautiful outlook and a clever in look the Samsung galaxy has an excellent interface for surfing easily and stay connected at all times.

It offers instant access to all online Google services like the Gmail, Google search and Google maps etc... The search bar enables quick and efficient search of news, images, videos, phone numbers, and addresses in a single click. The geo position system determines the position of the mobile and also there is a digital compass that has the capability of changing angles according to the position of the mobile. The user can stay connected through the G mail even during travel. Samsung galaxy enables the users to chat with friends with some of the facilities that the computer provides. You can use Google talk to switch between discussions and also to have multiple chats. Also you can stay up to date with the Google calendar. The Galaxy mobile also provides access to a catalogue of you tube videos. You can even shoot your own video and upload it to you tube through the galaxy mobile. Downloading commercial applications from the android platform is also possible with Samsung galaxy phone. The android markets enable downloads of number of android applications and games. The GPS receiver makes it easy to integrate with the features of the Google maps. The galaxy phone has a home screen through which you can navigate, personalize and visualize the widgets according to your own choice. There is an icon at the bottom of the screen that offers instant access to the library of applications. The technical specifications of the Samsung galaxy include:

 Android OS
 AMOLED HVGA touch screen display
 Internal memory : 8GB
 5MP auto focus camera with power LED
 3.5mm headset jack
 external memory : micro SD
 Bluetooth 2.0 , USB 2.0, WiFi, connectivity
 Built in GPS.
 HSDPA 7.2mbps/HSUPA 5.76mbps, EDGE/GPRS connectivity
 Battery 1500 mAh
 Size 115 * 56*11.9mm
 Features like the web browser Google search, maps, Gmail, You tube, Android market, goggle talk etc.


The outer appearance of the Samsung galaxy is similar to the HTC magic with its particular shapes and overall look. The AMOLED touch screen features a light sensor to help the users to regulate the brightness. The quality of the image is also great with beautiful colors. The design of the phone is so unique and it is the slender looking android mobile invented ever. The HTC android phones have trackball where as the galaxy has a D-pad with ok button. Are you looking for a phone that is equivalent or have the potential to be better than a i phone? Then this Samsung galaxy is your right choice. The Samsung galaxy mobile uses the AMOLED HVGA touch screen feature to give the effect of the galaxy and this feature makes it a pure touch screen device. The display provides high video rate performance than the other phones and the consumption of power is also less and controlled when compared to the other phones available in the market now. The display is perfect for highlighting the multi media content and gives a full touch mobile experience. Despite these extra ordinary features the Samsung galaxy remains slim and beautiful and has an overall compact design.

Samsung have added yet another touchscreen phone to their lineup which is the Samsung Eternity. At the time of writing this, they already have several touchscreens of this style that they produce. At first glance, some of the Samsung Eternity features seem just like their other phones, and it is in the same price range as most of their phones ($149 with a contract, $369 without). Look at the Samsung Behold, the Samsung Omnia, and the Samsung Instinct. Just like Samsung Eternity, they are all full-face touchscreens with the same style of navigation buttons on the bottom, and they all come, by default, in the same shade of black. If you were to lay the 4 phones in order on a table, the novice user would not be able to tell much of a difference between them - much less tell you which phone is which!

So with Samsung already having so many phones of this style, this is going to have to be some special phone for it to stand out above the competition and warrant the sacrifice of your hard-earned money to bring it home with you. The question, then: Does the Samsung Eternity pull though enough to make it a better option than the other smart phones in its class? Well, at the end of the day, the answer usually depends upon your personal needs in a phone - but let’s take a look at some of the specific features that the Samsung Eternity offers to the end user, and see how those options stack up against the other devices on the market.

Let’s start with the bad. The downsides to this phone are similar to the weaknesses that the other Samsung touchscreen models have. First, there is no wifi connectivity. This might be tolerable if the built in 3G support was more reliable, but so far, it has proven to be pretty shaky, making it hard to sustain a reliable connection in many areas. Also, the Samsung Eternity lacks full email support, limiting you to partial messages or using a web-based solution through its web browser. For anyone interested in business-intensive use, this phone is not completely ruled out, but the lack of wifi is an immediate deal breaker for many. These business oriented users will most likely end up rushing straight to the latest model of Blackberry for its integrated enterprise solutions and built-in wireless internet that is easy to use.

The 3 megapixel camera is crisp, clear, and offers pictures that compare to the quality from many expensive standalone digital cameras. In tests, the Samsung Eternity’s built in camera has blown most other phones entirely out of the water. When looking at the picture by itself, the Eternity is one of the few cameras that can produce a picture so clear that it legitimately does not appear to be from a phone. While many cameras offer high resolution photos, most of the time they still produce a noisy, grainy or washed-out image that looks to be either a still from a camcorder or, more obviously, from a camera phone. Not here. The eternity won’t disappoint in this department.

The device, called Blue Earth, was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress technology event in Barcelona, and Samsung said it underlined the Korean company’s commitment to environmental stability.

The phone is designed to resemble the shape of a shiny pebble, and uses a small solar panel to provide power.

“This phone demonstrates our small but meaningful commitments for the future and our environment,” said JK Shin, an executive vice president at Samsung.

Blue Earth is made from recycled plastic and features a special “Eco Mode” that users can access with a single click to wring the maximum energy use from the device.

A full solar charge of around 10 to 14 hours will provide enough power for around four hours of talk time. The handset can still be charged normally using a conventional plug, with the solar panels used to top up the battery during use.

It also has a built-in pedometer to help users to measure how much smaller their carbon footprint is when walking rather than driving.

Blue Earth goes on sale in the UK later this year and Samsung did not give any details about price or network partners. However, sources hinted that the handset was likely to be priced at the upper end of the market.

We first saw the LG Watch Phone last year at CES 2008, but it was behind glass and no one was allowed to really see how it all worked. This year, however, LG plans to break it out of the display case. At the LG press conference a few minutes ago, they demonstrated a real working prototype of the watch phone and it looks to be a real must-have for the spy wannabe in your life. It has a touch-screen user interface (!), three side-mounted buttons, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and even a full-blown music player. It's water resistant, and it'll feature 3G HSDPA, which leads us to think it may come to AT&T some time this year.

UPDATE: We've just got more details about the watch phone. It has tempered glass, a high-quality metal casing, and is around 13.9mm thick. The touch screen itself is 1.43 inches diagonally, and features LG's Flash interface. Features include voice recognition, Text to Speech so it can read out text messages, and stereo Bluetooth. However, the huge disappointment is that the watch phone will be Europe-only (insert sad face here). We think it may still be compatible with local GSM networks, but only time will tell (apologies for the bad pun).

UPDATE 2: More updates on the Watch Phone. LG has just told us that the Watch Phone will have quad-band GSM, and that the 3G/HSDPA will be compatible with AT&T's frequency. So even if it is Europe-only, you could potentially get one unlocked and use it here. We'll see if we can get more news about pricing and availability.

Verizon Wireless has launched the HTC Ozone, a QWERTY candybar smartphone that runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and is based upon the HTC Snap. The Ozone features dual-connectivity to Verizon's CDMA network and to GSM networks around the world. The device features 3G and WiFi data connectivity, a high-capacity 1500mAh battery, Bluetooth with A2DP, and more for a handsome price.

Users can access Microsoft Office Mobile which provides the ability to view and edit Excel and Word documents which should look sharp on the device's 2.4-inch QVGA display. An onboard 2 megapixel autofocus camera and camcorder will snap photos and shoot video. Pictures, video and music can be saved to microSD cards.

Users also have access to a variety of Verizon services including VZ Navigator, Visual Voice Mail and more. Users can chat with friends on AOL, Windows, Yahoo! Messenger services and grab their email with ease.

The HTC Ozone will be available June 29 online and in stores on July 13 for $49.99 after a two-year customer agreement and mail-in rebate.

Are you a tech lover dreaming of a magical phone? HTC hero has come your way to fulfill your dream. The HTC hero phone has a luxury design and a pretty user interface. It is the real phone running the actual software with most important features like the browser experience and media integration. You can make it your hero and create a phone just for you by personalization. The HTC hero offers many grasping features. The new user interface called the ‘sense’ makes the device intuitive.

The HTC hero is the unique model for all mobile lovers. It is third handset to be powered by the operating system android. How ever it is the first device to support flash out of the box. The design of the phone is quite a combination of HTC magic and HTC Dream. The design is sleek and sexy and the phone is available in seven different vibrant colors including black, white, yellow, pink, gold, red and turquoise. The HTC hero is purely a touch screen device with the custom built user interface. The common specifications of the HTC hero re the following;

 MSM7200A proc running android at 528 MHz
 3.2 inch TFT -LCD display
 3.5mm Audio jack
 5 mega pixel auto focus Camera
 Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR support
 Trackball
 Internal GPS
 802.11b/g WiFi
 512MB/288Mb ROM/RAM
 G sensor
 Micro SD expansion

The HTC hero mobile offers a complete web browsing experience. The mobile users can access a wide variety of contents on the web that are based on adobe flash technology. Also the HTC hero delivers powerful video playback performance using Flash technology. The users can enjoy and navigate through the web videos by spontaneous video controls. The HTC hero provides a seamless audio experience for the users. The price range of the HTC hero is from $999.


What is so fascinating about the HTC hero phone? Well, the basic principles upon which the new ‘sense’ interface is built makes it unique and lovable. Make it mine, stay close and discover the unexpected are the highlighting principles. With HTC hero, personalization has reached a greater level. Rather than burying the important contents under the menu you can directly place them on the home screen to have a quick glance. By scrolling the left and right of the home screen you can access different customizable profiles. You can even change the size and shape of the widgets with your favorite design. With scenes, an added profile feature you can switch between scenes. This additional feature can transform your phone’s focus from business to weekend mode. This feature enables you to relax with the choice of your favorite music, catch up with your lovable friends and even the phone becomes your personal guide when you take on a trip. The phone displays the local time and weather maps if you go to another place for vacation. Though there are a variety of communication channels and applications to stay in touch with people, this phone offers unique stay in touch experience. You can view people and also interact through email. The photos of your friends uploaded in the photo sharing sites can also be viewed. The HTC hero provides dedicated search buttons by which you can search the mails in your inbox, contacts in your list etc. The album not only contains the saved photos but also serve as a gateway to your online collections on Facebook, twitter. You tube, Flickr etc.


Do you want to have an intuitive experience that makes you do everything on your phone? Then HTC hero is your perfect choice. This hand set featuring the HTC sense for android is sure to captivate all types of mobile users.

Here's a collection of stories about Research In Motion (NSDQ: RIMM) and its Blackberries for a sunny summer afternoon. According to reports, the new BlackBerry Tour is a big hit and moved lots of units since its July 12 debut. Also, Verizon (NYSE: VZ)'s inventory system has added more clues about the Storm 2.

According to a screen grab posted by The Boy Genius, the BlackBerry Storm 2 -- aka 9550 -- is headed to a Verizon store near you. Well, at least the dummy version of it is. (Dummies are the non-working display units that customers can put their hands all over without Verizon fearing a lot of broken inventory.) The SKU has shown up in Verizon Wireless' inventory system. The presence of the SKU doesn't necessarily mean that a release is imminent, but it's the next shred of proof that the device exists at all, and is on the way -- perhaps as soon as the next few months.

Furthermore, some claim to have discovered more details about the Storm 2's spec list. The specs include:

CDMA 1xRTT/EVDO Rev. A
Quad-band GSM/EDGE
Single-band UMTS/HSDPA (2100MHz only)
Wi-Fi b,g
3.2 megapixel camera
360×480 resolution capacitive screen
OS 5.0
These are on-par with previous reports and aren't too different from the original Storm. The biggest change of course is that the Storm 2 will have Wi-Fi, where the original does not.

As for the BlackBerry Tour, analysts think that Verizon Wireless has a genuine hit on its hands. Subscribers looking for QWERTY-equipped BlackBerries from Verizon have been stuck with the Curve for what feels like forever. Analysts believe that Verizon and its retail partners moved between 275,000 and 300,000 BlackBerry Tours in the first 24 hours it was available.

Neither Verizon nor RIM have confirmed these numbers, but it's not too hard to believe, given the pent-up demand for a good new BlackBerry for Verizon's customers.

One of the most awaited phones from Motorola: Motorola Evoke is all set to be released soon and has already created a lot of buzz around. The mobile is remarkably known for the size and unique design along with the features included in it. Let us look closely into the features and design of this mobile and predict whether the mobile will be a hit or a miss.

To begin with, let us start with the design. The official announcement claims that Motorola Evoke QA4 is small in size and the dimensions of the mobile are 108 x 50.5 x 17.5 mm. It is a slider based mobile but with a difference. The difference is that the sliding part does not have keyboard but normal numbered buttons. Needless to say, it also offers QWERTY but in software mode. The mobile weighs around 128 grams with the battery. The 2.8-inch WQVGA touch screen looks promising from the pictures. Overall, compared to different smart phones available across the globe, the design of this mobile disappointed me to be honest. Motorola Evoke QA4 has a good old classic design but not up to the level of the mobile phones that are coming up nowadays. Speaking of the screen resolution, it is believed to be 240 x 400 pixels, which should give high quality display with vibrant colors.

Keeping design apart, let us have a sneak peek into the features this mobile will offer. Motorola Evoke QA4 will have a 256 MB internal memory with room to expand as well. It has in built GPS and a stereo Bluetooth as well. It has a good mp3 player; there is also room for voice recognition techniques as well. Keeping in mind some of the unique features, it also has accelerometer inside which is very useful and makes browsing and image viewing extremely pleasant to our eyes. The news is that Motorola Evoke QA4 would be in sync with Google contacts and even with Youtube for better experience of multimedia.

The camera of this mobile would be disappointing. Motorola Evoke QA4 would come in 2 mega pixels camera which won’t be giving any extra ordinary pictures. The pictures and the video resolution is expected to be hazy sometimes in absence of light and this will surely be one of the turn downs of this mobile. But in spite of this, it can be branded one of the better smart phones brought out by Motorola which might have a tendency to surprise anyone after its release. The final verdict from my side is that the mobile will do well and keeping in mind the features, the design and the quality of this mobile, Motorola Evoke QA4 would get 7 out of 10 from my side. It would not be a competition killer by any means, but may give out good sales if the price of the mobile is made competitive.

Someone truly gave the boring economics professor a hit of the bong with this new phone - the Blackberry Curve 8900. It’s still got all the business capabilities of any other Blackberry, but something is different. This Blackberry is fun, it’s stylish. It is, dare we say it: Sexy.

Unlike some of Blackberry’s other newer offerings, such as the Storm, the Blackberry Curve 8900 is still true to the typical Blackberry design. Those who are used to the other phones (such as the Pearl) will have little trouble switching over. There’s no fancy touchscreen that you have to get used to. The classic Blackberry interface remains the same. It is easy to use, and while maybe not quite as cool to show off as the move-your-fingers-apart-and-zoom-in trick on the iPhone, it gets the job done just fine.

Upon first glance, one of the first things you’ll notice about the Blackberry Curve 8900 is its size. This is one of the smallest Blackberries that have ever existed in the product line. It’s a very comfortable size. While the Pearl was maybe a little too small to comfortably use or much less get work done on, this balances a large screen and a full QWERTY keyboard with a slender design that slides right into your pocket.

Now, there is one large downfall that we need to point out to you right off the bat, for the sake of honesty. With all the fancy features it offers, the Blackberry Curve 8900 does not offer 3G. That’s right, the latest technological marvel from Blackberry is not capable of accessing the 3G networks. This cripples the Blackberry Curve 8900 right off of the bat.

Some of the advanced features that make a Blackberry what it is would be so much better if you could only access them on 3G. Wifi access is blinding fast, but when you leave the office and need to look something up, you will be slammed to a halt by the slow connection speed. It’s like getting out of a Formula 1 race car to have a kid drive you around in one of those wagons that are pulled by bicycles. Without 3G, you might as well mail a letter instead of send an email.

Okay, so it’s not THAT bad. But when all of the other competing phones offer 3G, it was a mistake not to include it. There is one upside though: 3G connections use a lot of battery power. By ditching 3G, the battery life of the Blackberry Curve 8900 is much better than that of many phones in its category.

One nice feature is the price. While the phone may cost a good bit (just like any smart phone) without a contract, this one just happens to be free when you enter a service agreement. That’s right: The phone is free with a new contract. Now try to beat that! The only way to get phone that cheap with a new contract is to rob the store. And that’s just not a good idea. You’ll get caught. They know who you are.

Unlike most Blackberries, Blackberry Curve 8900 has a mixed target audience. Not only does it appeal to the latte-sipping businessmen who want full office connectivity on their phone - this one also appeals to the younger crowd as well. Teenagers and twenty-somethings will be piling over this phone. With its features and trendy design, this is a popular one among people of all ages.

One feature that is very un-Blackberry in nature is the camera. Boasting 3.2 megapixlels, this one is capable of high resolution snapshots that compare to many pocket sized digital cameras. This one even has a flash. The LED isn’t very bright, but at least it helps a little bit in darker situations.

Blackberry Curve 8900 is also savvy in the area of multimedia. You’ll find a headphone jack on the phone, and it has a built-in jukebox that lets you rock out to your favorite MP3s. Even more, you can play videos - even the cool formats like Xvid and DivX.

Overall, the Blackberry Curve 8900 is a seriously cool phone for the seriously cool person. The features it has are perfect for office hours or party hours, and it has enough gadgets to keep anyone entertained. The camera is nice for a Blackberry, though compared to some of the other phones with high-resolution cameras, it maybe isn’t quite as clear. The flash is better than nothing, but for many shots, is pretty worthless. None of this is as bad as the lack of 3G, though. If these aspects of the phone don’t bother you, then you should seriously consider picking up a Blackberry Curve 8900 as your next phone.

Motorola and AT&T have launched the Motorola Karma QA1, a new messaging phone with a slight social-networking focus. Motorola says that you can have one-click access to Facebook and MySpace directly from the device's home screen. Of course there's also a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard for easy messaging. Other features include A-GPS, a 2.0-megapixel camera, an MP3 player, stereo Bluetooth, a 3.5-mm headset jack, a microSD card slot capable of holding up to 16GB cards, quad-band GSM, and 3G. The Karma QA1 will be available on June 28 for $79.99 with a new two-year service agreement.

Seoul, Korea / July 30, 2009 - LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in mobile communications, officially revealed today the full image and key specifications of the new LG Chocolate phone (model: LG-BL40).

The fourth handset of the Black Label Series boasts a distinctive 4.0-inch wide screen high-definition LCD with an 800 by 345 pixel resolution for a superb viewing quality. The wide screen breaks away from conventional screen designs with a 21:9 aspect ratio for a panoramic, cinema-like quality and optimal mobile computing experience.

With the enlarged screen, users will experience a surprisingly convenient and efficient mobile environment. Browsing the Internet is made incredibly easy because with 800 pixels at one’s disposal, there is no need to scroll horizontally to read entire web pages. The 4.0-inch display also features a Dual Screen UI that can efficiently display two different types of content simultaneously.

The wide HD LCD “Real VGA” screen provides a full range of natural colors for displayed images, making photos more crisp, videos more true-to-life, games more dynamic and documents more readable.

“The initial response to the new LG Chocolate phone has exceeded our expectations by a wide margin,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications. “Although much interest seems focused on the striking shape of the handset, the real surprise will be when people discover the advantages of the 4.0-inch screen in terms of viewing pleasure and ease of use.”

The new LG Chocolate’s wide screen is overlaid with curved tempered glass and is seamlessly encased in a glossy black finish and iconic red highlights. Although the screen may be much wider, the new LG Chocolate makes an incredibly slim and chic style statement that was also inherent in the original Chocolate.

The new LG Chocolate will be available beginning Q3 in 54 countries.

Sholes is a touchscreen phone with QWERTY keypad and is powered by Android. Motorola had moved to Android by skipping Windows Mobile in order to "cut costs". Now, details of Motorola's Android based Sholes have surfaced on Motofan.ru, a Russian site. Motorola Sholes will support CDMA and EVDO Rev A networks and will have a 3.7-inch touchscreen. This phone is expected to debut via Verizon network in October for U.S. markets but no further details were available on its pricing.

After the details about Android based handsets Iron Man and Heron were leaked out, Motorola formally announced Heron as Karma QA1 where no details about the mobile operating system were revealed. Next Android based phone from Motorola is dubbed Sholes that will have a 3.7-inch slider touch screen that has 480x854 resolution. The slide out screen resembles that of the T-Mobile G1 phone. This phone will also sport a full QWERTY keypad along with the touchscreen so obviously, landscape to portrait screen rotation will take place.

Motorola Sholes will feature 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, 512MB Flash Memory, 256MB RAM, will support up to 16GB microSD or microSDHC card and GPS. Apart from CDMA and EVDO Rev A network support, Motorola adds the much needed WiFi support for connectivity.

* General features
o Announced in September 2002
o Dual band 900/1800
o Battery type: Li-pol 700 mAh
o Battery life
- Standby time: 180 hours
- Talk time: 4 hours
o Main Display: Color CSTN display with 256 colors and resolution 94x65 pixels
o Dimensions: 50x91x24 mm
o Weight: 95 g.


* Memory
o Shered for melody files
o Lists of the last 10 received / 10 missed / 10 dialed calls with date and time indication


* Ringing tones, call management
o Vibrating alert
o 24-channels polyphony
o Speed dialing for up to 8 phone numbers
o HR, FR, EFR codecs support


* Messaging
o SMS
o A possibility to send a receive ringing tones and animated pictures
o Templates

* Connectivity
o Bluetooth
o WAP
o GPRS


* Organizer and extras
o Java: MIDP 1.0
o Time, alarm-clock(once, recurrent, weekly), world time
o Games. Yes

Life has become much more easier and hassle free with the advent of new technologies. To cope up with the hectic and busy schedule of our everyday life, these inventions have contributed a lot. And one such contribution to us is the Internet which has played a major role in simplifying our lives. Internet has redefined the meaning of communication and connectivity. Now a days it is next to impossible to imagine a life without internet. Today we take the help of internet to do our day to day task and online shopping is one such area where it plays a major role.

Another device which has changed the meaning of communication is the mobile phone. Today we find mobile phones with varied size, colour and features. There is a wide range of mobile phones launched by many manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson etc. ranging from basic to business phones, music phones and camera mobile phones. The list is endless. The latest craze in the market is the new handset launched by Nokia – The Nokia N97. Nokia N97 is not only a mobile handset but is also a mini computer with various advanced features and great looks.

To grab a new Nokia N97 or any other handset of your choice, Internet can be the best place because there are many benefits that are offered while purchasing a mobile phone online. There are various vendors and retailers in UK who offer attractive mobile phone offers with free gifts and incentives. While shopping online, the user not only gets the comfort of buying these devices from his home but also gets many discounts and free gifts offered by the vendor which may include free laptops, iPods, free line rentals, cashback offers and more.

What’s more? There are various online mobile phone comparision portals where the user can compare and buy various deals available with the latest handsets and make an informed decision. On these portals, you can find several mobile phone offers on a particular model provided by various vendors. Only thing you have to do is visit an online phone shop, select your choicest phone with the most suitable deal and purchase it online to get all the benefits – hassle free shopping, free home delivery, free gifts, incentives and discounts.

So the next time you plan to buy a new mobile phone, purchase it online and get all the benefits that are provided with online mobile phone shopping.

By: Aparajita Shankar

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Visit site to get some great pay monthly mobile phone offers and cheap pay as you go mobile phones on latest Nokia N97 with price comparision

Arrgh! Where's My Phone?

Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of having your mobile phone or handheld device stolen ?
Have you ever misplaced or lost your mobile phone ?
Are you worried that something like this could happen to you ?

Well, it has happened to me, when I absentmindedly left my phone on the table of the train seat I had been using during a train journey recently. However, I managed to retrieve my phone (see how further down) and breathed a big sigh of relief as it had lots of things on there that I use in my work everyday (i.e. contacts, emails, SMS message etc), and also family photographs and a video of a birthday celebration that I had not had chance to upload to my laptop at that stage.

You can imagine the panic striken feelings I went through when I first realised that my phone had gone missing, and believe me, you do not ever want to find yourself in that same situation. I can vouch for it, it is not a pleasant experience.

I believe that I am not alone in keeping so much of my life and work on my mobile phone. It is just so handy and useful to have the information at my fingertips as I go about my daily business. It never really crossed my mind what I would do should the phone go missing.

My Mobile Security Software Rescued Me

Getting my phone back was down to a mixture of two things - information and software technology.

Information, in that I had read up on mobile security software products previously, and when I purchased my latest phone decided to invest in some software protection, especially as the relative cost when compared to a new phone was very low. In addition, I couldn't put a price on the contents of my phone.

Software technology in that I purchased and installed a copy of Kaspersky's Mobile Security software, which in addition to securing my phone against internet threats like malware and spam, has excellent anti-theft features.

Kaspersky Mobile Security Anti-Theft features

The Anti-Theft feature of Kaspersky Mobile Security is designed to ensure the protection of data stored on a mobile device against unauthorized access to it in case the device was lost or stolen.

The component includes the following functions:

SMS-Block - allows blocking of the device at the user's discretion.

SMS-Clean - allows you to erase personal data (all contacts, messages, gallery, calendar, log, network connection settings), and data from the storage card and files from folder C:\Data.

SIM-Watch - allows you to send to the specified phone number and/or to an e-mail address, the new phone number and to block the stolen device if the SIM card was replaced or the device was turned on without it.

SMS-Find - allows you to determine the geographical coordinates of the device and to send them to the requesting devices or to a certain e-mail address using an SMS message. This function only works with devices with in-built GPS receiver.

Stealth SMS - allows you to erase personal data from the device, block it and obtain its geographical coordinates using a special SMS message.

Using the SMS-Find feature, I was able to track down and retrieve my mobile phone. How great is that ? You can see how useful this software is, and in my opinion is much better than any mobile phone insurance you could have.

For those of us who have children that use a mobile phone, the Kaspersky Mobile Security software also comes with a Parental Control feature too. This can be used in addition with the SMS-Find feature to keep a caring eye on your young ones. Very useful if they have gone out and are long overdue in returning, and I dare say a multitude of other uses may spring to a parents mind - just great "piece of mind" stuff from Kaspersky.

Don't Leave It Until It Happens To You

When I look back on the incident now, I am forever thankful that I not only took the time to read about mobile security software, but that I purchased it and installed it on my phone. In fact, all the family now have it on their phones too.

I can't describe how much "piece of mind" it gives you to know that there are steps you can take to not only secure your phone should something untoward happen, but to also have the facility to locate it's whereabouts and get it back.

My experience is something I wouldn't wish on anyone, and I encourage you to take the same steps I did and get your mobile phone protected sooner rather than later. As the old saying goes "better to be safe than sorry" - in this instance, never was a truer word spoken!

By: David Grahams

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

David Grahams is a qualified Microsoft Systems Engineer specialising in System Security.He writes articles, blogs, ebooks and reviews specialising in Internet Security topics. He also review's and test products that come to market to really see if they are as useful as the manufacturers tell us. Learn About Mobile Security Protection Secure your mobile Protect Your Mobile Today!

The LG KP 500 or LG Cookie is something really special baked by LG. LG Cell Phones have proved with this model that touch screen phones with some very decent specs can be affordable and within everyone’s reach.

The LG Cookie is a wonderful phone having some decent specs and a very interesting user interface to say the least. The LG Cookie has a 3″ 256K-color TFT touchscreen. The first thing that you’ll notice about the phone is the fun widget interface. Linux users may be familiar with this interface as it is part of the Kubuntu desktop. Widgets have also been used in Windows Vista; the sidebar at the right of the screen that holds the time and calender and other widgets. Now that you are familiar with widgets, imagine this fun-interface on your mobile phone. Widgets can be added or removed, they can also be moved around. The Viewty could have used an interface like this :)

LG Cell Phones has made sure that the cookie comes in various flavors. The LG Cookie comes in black, brown, silver and gold. Cookie is also available in pink and silver but these two are exclusive to Orange.

LG Cookie has various attractive features i.e. a Quad band GSM phone, a 3 MP camera (which is very good for its price), an accelerometer for auto screen rotate, multi-tasking with a real task manager and so much more.

LG Cookie is not all that good as it does have some disadvantages, the more prominent ones are no 3G support, no Wi-Fi, video recording could have been better, there is no autofoucus and unlike the Viewty the phone cannot support DiVX file formats.
Design:

The dimensions of the phone are 106.5 x 55.4 x 11.9 mm. That makes it the smallest and thinnest touch screen phones around, also at only 89 grams it is the lightest phone in its category.

The front of the phone looks pretty much like the LG Renoir due to the three hardware keys below the screen i.e. a Call and an End key on either side of the Multitasking key that brings up a menu of shortcuts and a task manager. However the keys don’t look exactly the same, I had mentioned in my review of the Renior that LG Cell Phones could have done a better job with the keys as it made the phone look a bit ugly. And it looks like LG heard our prayers and the hardware keys on LG Cookie looks nothing like those on the Renoir.

The buttons are smaller than the Renoir’s and are placed in a stylish chrome frame, they’re also much responsive. The keys are slightly concave, which adds to the excellent design and feel.

Above the keys we have a massive 3 inch touch screen display above the screen we have the earpiece and the LG Cell Phones logo.

On the left side of the phone we have the volume rocker keys and the universal connectivity port. The connectivity port is covered by a small plastic lid to prevent it from filling up with dirt. Whereas on the right of the phone we have the shutter key and the lock key. It would have been better if the keys on the right of phone had been made a little bit bigger as theyre a bit small and pressing them is a pain at times.

On the back of the phone we have the 3 megapixel camera with no lens cover and no flash to help us in low lit environments :(

Camera:

The LG Cookie comes with a 3 megapixel fixed focus camera with a maximum image resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. As I mentioned earlier, the LG KP 500 has no flash of any kind, so night photography would be a major pain.

Now don’t let the low price tag and 3 mp fool you, the image quality of this camera are superb, one would think that without autofocus the images would suck. But I’m glad to find out that the pictures taken with the LG Cookie are simply excellent.

As for video recording the camera captures video in up to QVGA resolution at only 12 frames per second. Well that is a kind of disappointment as phones such as the Viewty and the Renoir are able to record in higher frame rates and resolutions than this, but considering the price tag I think its reasonable. If you only watch your videos on your mobile screen then in that case you’ll find the videos to be of excellent quality.

Specification:

Display: TFT touchscreen, 256K colors, 240 x 400 pixels, 3.0 inches.

Network: 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 190.

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 900mAh.

Size: 106.5 x 55.4 x 11.9 mm . Weight: 89 g.

Camera: 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, video (QVGA@12fps).

Features: SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, WAP 2.0/xHTML, pre-installed and download able Games.

Connectivity: GPRS: Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps, EDGE: Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G: N/A, Bluetooth: v2.1 with A2DP, USB: 2.0, WLAN N/A.

Memory: 48 MB internal memory, MicroSD card slot supporting up to 16 GB card.

LG Arena may as well be the best phone released in 2009 by LG Cell Phones. This phone is the flagship of the LG touchscreen phones with their new S-class user interface.

What makes the LG Arena Special among other things is its brilliant S-Class user interface (UI) which LG designed specially for this phone. The S-Class UI promises fluidity that has never been experienced before in any of LG’s previous touch screen phones. One might even say that the Arena may be the only phone that can compare with the excellently smooth and super responsive UI of the iphone. The iphone has always been set as a standard for comparison of touch screen phones and it looks like the arena may finally be able to compete with the iphone. With the S-Class the user gets a cube interface, the screen contains a 3D cube that you can turn around to reveal one of 4 sides: contacts, widgets, shortcuts and a customizable home screen.

When it comes to memory LG Arena comes with an internal 8 GB of memory which can be expanded to 40GB via the microSD card slot. This even exceeds the capacity of iphone or any other multimedia phone.

Another thing one notices after turning on the phone is the WVGA resolution i.e. a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels which is extremely impressive for a 3 inch screen. The LG Arena also comes equipped with an accelerometer for screen auto rotate and the much loved multi-touch input.

Some of the features of the LG Arena are:

* 3″ screen with a WVGA resolution.
* Quad-Band Support.
* 3G.
* Wi-Fi and GPS.
* 8GB internal memory.
* 3D hardware accelerator.
* DiVX and XViD support.
* Mobile Dolby sound system.

While some of the more noticeable disadvantages of this phone are:

* Poor visibility in sunlight.
* Cannot record in DiVX format.
* Maximum email attachment size is 1 MB.
* Has an LED flash whereas such a camera should have come with either a strobe or xenon flash.

Design:

Unlike the other phones I have reviewed here, this phone does not have any form of hardware keys on the front panel. The three hardware buttons that we have seen on the cookie, viewty and renoir are not present in this model. Instead these keys are in the form of touch sensitive buttons and are present on the massive screen itself. These touch sensitive buttons are the “call” key, the “call end” key and the “multitasking/shortcut” key. Above these keys we have the massive 3 inch touch screen. The most beautiful thing about this screen is its massive resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. Such a high resolution on a 3 inch screen results in more pixels per inch than any directly competing handset can offer. Above the screen we have the earpiece along with the VGA video call camera. And thats all there is on the front of the phone.

On the left side of LG KM 900 Arena we have the USB port. The port is hidden under a nice sliding lid, the same one as was in the Viewty. The lid is a nice addition and prevents the port from getting filled with dust and dirt. It is sad that LG are still using their own proprietary cables and ports in their phones. It would have been nice to see a microUSB or miniUSB port on this phone. On the right side of the phone we have the volume rocker keys and the camera shutter key. At first these buttons appear too thin and a pain to use but one eventually gets used to them.

The bottom of the LG Arena is completely clean and has no ports or buttons. On the top of the phone we have the 3.5mm standard audio jack (A welcome addition :) ), the power key and the back panel release button.

The back side of the phone holds a 5 mega pixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics and the LED flash. For such a camera LG should not have installed an LED flash but instead should have gone with either a strobe or xenon flash. On the back of the phone you will also find a second microphone pinhole. This separate microphone is used for recording sounds during video capture. I’d also like to add that the back panel of the Arena looks pretty much like the first generation iphone.

Camera:

The LG Arena comes with a 5 mega pixel camera and has Schneider-Kreuznach optics. It comes with an LED flash and no lens protector to protect the lens from scratches. The 5 mega pixel camera is fairly decent and I’m sure that most users will be pretty happy with it. The camera can take photos in a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels and as I mentioned before the picture quality is very good.

In this phone we have an LED flash. This is a major disappointment. The LED flash is no longer considered a flash but is more useful as a torch or flash light. Like I already said before, for such a camera they should have added a strobe or Xenon flash.

The video camera is very good as well. Though its still not good as the video results of the Viewty. The arena can capture video up to D1 (720×480) resolution at 30 fps and the results are pretty nice. One more disappointment here is that the videos are saved in .3GP format which is an outdated video format. The files should have been saved as .AVI with DiVX encoding. The Viewty and Renoir are capable of recording in DiVX. The device can also capture slow motion clips at QVGA resolution and at 120 fps.

Specifications:

Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 3.0 inches.

Network: 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900. 3G Network: HSDPA 2100.

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1000 mAh.

Size: 105.9 x 55.3 x 12 mm . Weight: 105 g.

Camera: 5 MP, 2592?1944 pixels, Schneider-Kreuznach optics, autofocus, LED flash; secondary VGA videocall camera.

Features: SMS (threaded view), EMS, MMS, Email, WAP 2.0/xHTML, pre-installed and download able Games, FM radio; FM transmitter, GPS.

Connectivity: GPRS: Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 – 48 kbps, EDGE: Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G: HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps, Bluetooth: v2.0 with A2DP, USB: 2.0, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11b/g

Memory: Internal Memory of 8GB, MicroSD card slot supporting up to 32 GB card.