Flexibility

Sony Ericsson C902

2009-02-28T01:45:00.000-08:00

The C902 is the first in a brand new range of Sony Ericsson phones: "C" for Cyber-Shot™. Previously all Cyber-Shot phones were part of the "K" series, and the C902 is the replacement for the Sony Ericsson K850i. The Cyber-Shot phones have been enormously successful over the past few years, but we felt that SE had made a few mistakes in recent models with dodgy keypads and unreliable firmware. It looked like SE had hit a rough patch, so let's hope that with the C series they can leave all that behind and move on to greater things. The C902 is the flagship Cyber-Shot model, and so our expectations are high.

Physically, the C902 seems to be back to the old Sony Ericsson style at its best. It's a classic-style handset, but ultra-slim at just 10.5mm. The keypad is a good old-fashioned one that has good-size square keys giving tactile feedback and enabling fast texting. Hooray! We're also delighted to find a 5-way navigation pad that just works. Looks like SE have learned some hard lessons about keypads and have gone back to a design that works. It feels like a quality handset too, with a combination of metal and plastic, and an elegant finish. It's available in a choice of Black or Red, and both colour schemes look very nice indeed.

LG KC910 Renoir

2009-02-28T01:17:00.001-08:00

The LG KC910, released at the end of October 2008, is the replacement for the LG Viewty. We loved the Viewty, and we love the KC910 too! The KC910 is nicknamed the "Renoir". Renoir was a famous impressionist painter (you knew that, didn't you?) and so the name gives us a clue that the KC910 is a pioneering imaging device. It's LG's first phone to have an 8 megapixel camera, and it pushes the highly capable photographic capabilities of the Viewty to new heights.

The Renoir looks very similar to the Viewty. It's a flat touchscreen phone that's slightly larger than the Viewty, but more compact than the iPhone 3G. Weighing 110g, it's a fairly weighty phone, but feels about right for its size. Remember that heavier phones are better for taking photos, as you can hold them steadier. The size of the phone also gives space for a large LCD display - an important factor in a camera phone, and a fact that also makes the touchscreen user interface easier to use. The screen is exactly the same size as the Viewty in fact - a monster 3 inches across, with an ultra-high resolution of 240 x 400 pixels. We like the touchscreen user interface very much. It uses haptic (vibration) feedback to confirm that you've pressed a "button" on the virtual screen. New users may take a little while to get up to speed, but after some practice you should be able to text just as quickly as using a numeric keypad. Some things may be slightly trickier, but the sheer pleasure of using a virtual on-screen QWERTY keyboard and buttons more than compensates for this. The phone also supports T9 predictive text via a virtual keypad, and you can use handwriting recognition if you prefer. There are real buttons below the touchscreen, so you should have no problem turning the phone on and answering calls!

Sony Ericsson C905

2009-02-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

The C905 is a slide design phone, unlike the classic-shaped Sony Ericsson C902, and is quite a bit thicker and heavier than the 5 megapixel C902. It's still smaller than its arch-rival, the Nokia N96 though. It's available in a choice of colours: Night Black, Ice Silver (pictured) and Copper Gold. We've got to say that it's a very nice-looking phone, with a distinctive Sony Ericsson style - both square and curved at the same time!

Not only is this the first CyberShot phone with an 8 megapixel camera, it also brings back the xenon flash, which disappointingly was missing from its predecessor, the C902. Xenon flashes are considerably more powerful than LED flashes, and are used on "real" digital cameras, so it's nice to see that feature restored in the C905. It means that night photography is much less likely to end up as a murky blob (unless you were pointing the camera at a murky blob, of course.) There are so many settings and options on the C905's camera, that it can take quite a while to work out how to use it at its best - it will certainly appeal to keen camera buffs - but on the other hand all of these tools and gadgets make it easier to get a good photo even if you don't understand the principles of photography. As a CyberShot phone, Sony Ericsson have borrowed technology and features extensively from their range of market leading digital cameras. The camera has autofocus with face detection, plus an image stabiliser and red-eye reduction. A new feature introduced in the C905 is Smart Contrast, which automatically balances light and colour (a bit like the Auto Levels option in PhotoShop.) If you're still not confident of getting a decent shot with all this stuff helping you out, then BestPic™ will automatically take a series of 7 pictures, so that you can choose the best one!

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

2009-02-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

At first glance, it looks like it was worth the wait. It's a very stylish handset. All touchscreen phones tend to look pretty much the same to be honest. What distinguishes the 5800 is its sleekness: it's much narrower than the iPhone 3G, in fact with a width of 52mm, it's probably the narrowest touchscreen phone around. This means that you can easily operate it with one hand. It has a lovely big screen too, with a very high resolution (640 x 360 pixels), which helps to make the user interface easier to use. The device has a wide range of input options: finger touch, stylus and plectrum with a virtual alphanumeric keypad, full and mini QWERTY keyboards and handwriting recognition. The display will rotate automatically when you turn the phone to landscape mode. Normally the XpressMusic phones have dedicated buttons for music, and the 5800 has a dedicated virtual media bar for quick access to music controls, as well as functions like the gallery and web browser. There are also physical keys for power, send and end, menu, screen lock and volume. The big question is: "Is the touchscreen on the 5800 as good as the iPhone?" Sadly, no. But it isn't at all bad. It's just that you need to use the stylus sometimes and the whole experience isn't quite so much fun. But stick with the review, because the 5800 has a lot going for it, and beats the iPhone in a number of departments.

LG Cookie KP500

2009-02-27T23:28:00.000-08:00

Let's start by looking at what you do get. You get a genuine touchscreen-driven phone (not just one with touch-sensitive buttons) that is controlled by pressing virtual buttons and icons with your finger or the stylus that's supplied with the phone. Pioneered by the iPhone (and others), touchscreen is the hottest trend in mobile phones in 2008, and it's hard to underestimate the amount of fun that you can have pressing virtual buttons on a screen. Especially for people like us, who don't get out enough. In the early days touchscreen phones were often tricky to use, but these days they're all pretty easy once you've got used to them. We don't think that the Cookie will pose any trouble, although some may find the stylus a nuisance. Anyway, great fun to use! The KP500 also has a built-in accelerometer, which simply means that it senses which way is up and automatically rotates the display. The virtual QWERTY keyboard slides into view when you turn the phone to landscape mode, which looks very cool. The accelerometer is also used when playing games, so you can tilt and turn the phone Wii-style to control movement. You can shake and flip the phone at other times to control various functions. It's all great fun, as long as you don't mind being stared at by passers-by.

Samsung Omnia

2009-02-27T22:56:00.000-08:00

The Omnia is a smartphone running Windows Mobile 6.1. This has a number of advantages. Firstly, the user interface will be familiar to PC users, even including a mobile version of Internet Explorer for web browsing. Secondly, the system enables convenient access to Office documents such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word (for editing as well as viewing). Thirdly, you can download third-party applications and install them on your phone. The phone comes pre-installed with very comprehensive personal organiser functions. The touchscreen user interface can sometimes be a little slow and more complicated to use than conventional phones, but we've got to say just how impressed we are by its robustness. Most smart phones crash and freeze regularly, but not the Omnia.

Really, the Omnia is an amazing phone, and it's no surprise that it's moved right to the top of the best seller charts at launch. Touchscreen phones are the hottest product in 2008, and the Omnia is arguably the best so far. If you fancied the new iPhone or the LG Viewty, you should really be looking at the Omnia instead. The only issue is the Windows Mobile operating system, which is very powerful, but makes the menus on the Omnia more complex than a conventional phone. But even so, this is definitely a 5 star phone!!!