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While in the past Nokia used to dominate the handphone market with it’s dynamic range of mobile phones, that has all changed in recent years with Sony Ericsson learning how to adapt to consumers’ needs. It now has an even more dynamic range of phones for consumers to choose from: from their Cybershot series, to the Walkman series to the latest R series which all have FM radio receivers built in so that you need not plug in headphones to listen to your favourite local radio station. Among all the Walkman phones, one phone really stands out in my opinion, the Sony Ericsson W910i.

For starters, it’s a slider phone which is relatively slim and light and comes in multiple colours (black, white, red, bronze) all of which look great in their own right. Sliding open the phone will reveal the flat keypad hidden underneath, the standard 12 button keypad has all it’s keys tightly packed together, but each individual key is just large enough so that your fingers won’t hurt while trying to use it. However, this keypad will take some getting used to, oftentimes you’re not quite sure if you’ve hit a button or not due to the fact that there isn’t much tactile feedback from the keypad. On the bright side, this does make the keypad really, really silent, allowing you to type long messages without getting irritated by the keypad.

The layout of the buttons is slightly different from older Sony Ericsson phones though, it now resembles the layout of a Nokia phone, ie. a selection button on each side and a “pick up” and “hang up” button right below them. The default “back” arrow button is gone, but it’s relatively easy to get used to the new way of navigating around the phone as it feels pretty natural. The D-pad feels really solid and is a breeze to use to navigate through menus as well as your media.

Speaking of media, the phone has a great media browser that allows you to easily access and browse through your pictures, songs and videos. Everything is neatly organised and everything is easily accessible, allowing you to enjoy your media collection. The Walkman function of the phone is probably the highlight of the media browser, considering how it’s a Walkman phone after all. You’re able to view songs by artist, album or track and can create playlists as well. Not to mention album art will be displayed (albeit in a very small box in the top left hand corner) if it’s available. My only gripe is that the Walkman function won’t differentiate between songs and other sound files, for example even recordings are included in your tracks. It can get quite irritating at times to have your play mode on “shuffle” and suddenly have a recording start playing.

The phone has several other small but useful features as well, for example a motion sensor which will help the phone automatically flip landscape images to fill the screen when the phone is held sideways or flip the media browser menu. Also, while a song is playing, you can hold down the Walkman button and shake the phone left or right to change tracks. It’s more of a gimmick than anything else, but it’s a cool gimmick nonetheless. Another useful feature which is seldom advertised is that there’s a light sensor built into the phone somewhere as well. When you’re in darker conditions, the screen will dim and the keypad lights will brighten up and vice versa. I never knew about this function until I realised the screen kept changing brightness, and I must say it is a really useful feature as it really does help quite a bit.

All in all, Sony Ericsson W910i is a great addition to the Walkman series, with all the features you could want in a standard phone, and with everything in a slim and beautiful package, it’s an ideal phone for most people out there looking for an affordable phone to purchase.

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Many might be wondering why I’m bothering to do a write-up on a 3-year-old, GSM cell phone from Nokia. Recently, my Samsung U700 was sent to service for some hardware problem and I had to rely on my old Nokia 7270 as my only means of mobile communication. Imagine, downgrading from a stylish 3G mobile phone with a 3.2 megapixel camera to a blocky GSM one with only a VGA camera; most people would not be pleased with this transition. However, as I found out, things were not as bleak.

During these weeks when I had to make use of the 7270, I realized that this was a very reliable and durable mobile phone. This phone model was launched in early 2005 - that’s 3 years ago! At the current rate that mobile phones are launching and disappearing, being sufficiently useful even after 3 years is actually quite an astonishing feat. SMS functions are standard; this keypad is actually my favourite out of all the phones I have used. I have never used a better keypad, be it in practical terms of aesthetic. There was no problem for me typing text messages without looking at the keypad. Calling functions are standard, with good audio clarity. Call logs and other features are standard functions in a Nokia phone and still remain extremely useful.

To my surprise, this phone actually supports MP3 playback. I remembered during that time, MP3 playback was recently introduced into mobile phones and the feature was so sensationally hyped up. Thus, this phone spared me the embarrassment of using a MIDI ringtone while my U700 was on hiatus. The VGA camera, though, was a horror to use. In this day and age, where integrated cameras in mobile phones are almost or even on par with quality and performance of a digital camera, this VGA produces some photographs of abhorrent quality. Anyone who is still using this phone can give the camera a skip.

One downside that I discovered after a few hours is the incompatibility between 3G SIM cards and GSM phones. My 3G SIM card could hold up to 1000 contacts and profiles, however when used in the 7270, it only displays the first 250 contacts that were saved (non-3G SIM cards have a 250 contact limitation). Also, its extremely limited phone memory means weekly clearing of the message inbox and outbox, this is a particular hindrance if the user is a hardcore ‘text-er’.

Despite its humble appearance, Nokia 7270 is a very durable basic cell phone. It has satisfactory calling and messaging features, as well as a GPRS WAP browser. It even has a changeable skin - choose from either black or red velvet skins or just opt for a bare metal outlook. The features are no match for many of the phones in the market today but this remains my ideal choice as a spare, backbone phone.

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The Nokia N82 is the much anticipated successor of the highly successful N73. On my first glance, the N82 looked like an oversized, cumbersome piece of shiny candy-bar (I still do think that it is) and without any doubt, the N82 is the most blocky and angular phone in Nokia’s N-series. Despite the awkward and bulky appearance, this phone is the phone that I’d recommend to my friends as its rich features more than make up for its ungainly looks.

The N82 features an elongated screen with rows of narrow, rectangular buttons below the screen. It looks cumbersome compared to the sleeker phones from the N-series as well as Samsung’s stylish sliders and Sony-Ericsson’s sleek and masculine shapes. However, the interface is user-friendly, as is the case with all Nokia sets. The buttons may seem intimidating to text on but they are actually sufficiently spaced out and protrudes from the keypad enough to make typing text messages a breeze. This is definitely an improvement over similarly-designed keys on Sony-Ericsson phones. The all-silver casing is sleek and the weight of the phone is distributed evenly, preventing the problem of it slipping out of your grip.

The most impressive feature has got to be the 5-megapixel camera with auto focus ability and Carl Zeiss optics. The 5-megapixel camera will guarantee focused and excellent photograph quality - edges are sharp and colours are accurate. This camera is similar to that on the more pricey N95 8GB. The camera is further equipped with a Xenon flash, which cements the position of the N82 camera as one of the best ones in the market. Taking pictures in the dark will not pose a problem for this powerful flash mechanism. Also, the video recorder is impressive, recording at a rate of 30 frames per second.

The other significant multimedia function is the music player. The media player can be easily accessed by depressing the multimedia key. Its functioning is simple enough, adding files into the playlist from your library. The N82 package includes a 2GB memory card which will ensure that there is plenty of space to store MP3s for either listening pleasure or for binding MP3 tunes to caller groups.

The Nokia N82 supports the Symbian operating system. The N82 synchronizes easily with your computer through Nokia’s PC Suite software - syncing your Outlook email contacts, notes, picture and video files can be done without hassle. If you switched to the N82 from a phone that uses a similar OS, data can be relocated over to the N82 through the onboard Switch application. With the N82, it is possible to read Microsoft Office documents like Word and Excel; however the shortfall of the N82 is that it lacks the necessary software to write and create these kinds of Office documents.

Connectivity and reception-wise, the N82 is formidable. Call quality is clear and crisp with excellent reception. I have found that the N82 could obtain better reception than earlier N-series phones under the same telcos (my friend’s N80 could not find any reception to make calls in my estate’s underground basement). Web-browsing is also a big plus on the N82. The web-browser allows for full-page rendering of HTML websites instead of the scaled down versions we have seen in previous generation phones. The N82 also has a GPS service and the standard Bluetooth 2.0 capability.

One qualm that most might have is the bulk of the N82. Weighing at 114 grams, it is not considerably heavy but its elongated form and slightly large width might pose a problem as it would not fit into tight pockets. Also, the buttons are a wee bit tiny. Although it is not difficult to press, however, users with large finger size will still meet with some challenge. Accidentally hitting two keys at once will be a frequent occurrence. The only negatives that I can find for the N82 are basically its layout and appearance. This speaks volumes about the depth and quality of the functions that it offers.

All in all, the Nokia N82 is a function-laden and powerful-looking phone equipped with a high-end Carl Zeiss-enhanced 5-megapixel camera. No matter what you use this phone for, be it office work or just as a fun phone, the N82 would not disappoint. This is, no doubt, a worthy successor to the best-selling N73.

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I always look for a balance between functionality and appearance in a mobile phone. In my opinion, a mobile phone is both an indispensable communication device, as well as a fashion accessory. Samsung managed to produce this balance somewhat successfully in the latest Samsung SGH-U700.

Launched in 2007, the newest member of the Samsung Ultra Edition II provides the user with an attractive slider phone which is fully 3G capable. It comes with a mini touchpad screen, metallic silver buttons, complete with a sleek, silver finish on the outer casing. This phone is one of the slimmest on the market, being only 12.1mm thick. Features-wise, it is equipped with a 3-megapixel camera with flash and video capabilities. The U700 supports multiple music file formats including popular ones like MP3, MPEG4 and WMA. What’s more, its phonebook comes with a predictive function, it can list out phone numbers from your phonebook even when only the first 4 digits are typed out. The U700 even sports a round scroll wheel, a la the iPod, which can be used in the main menu, as well as in functions like text messaging.

Many have labeled this a ‘fashion phone’, with some critics calling this a ‘bimbo phone’ prior to the official launch. Yet this phone has gone on to dispel the criticism with its rich functionality, despite the attractive exterior. However, I must say that this phone was over-hyped and much of its plus points have lost their shine as a result.

The first thing I noticed when I removed the phone from the plastic wrap is the stunning appearance of the phone. The minimalist design is more beautiful in reality, than in any pictures posted on any brochures. The simple yet distinctively elegant design stands out from the more outlandish designs of mobile phones we have seen in recent years and this design remains one of my personal favorites. I was pleasantly surprised by the sliding function - one only has to slide it halfway before the automatic spring system finishes the job of sliding the screen smoothly upwards. This was a marked improvement over previous Samsung slider phones I’ve used, as the screen usually encounters difficulty while sliding up and down.

I have heard many complaints about the chrome finishing on the perimeter of the screen peeling off, to reveal a white coat after a few months of usage. The outer surface is rather frail, indeed I have seen the ‘peeling’ on quite a few U700s. This problem, however, is easily rectified by giving your device a transparent wrap (which I did). Even after 6 months of usage, I encountered no peeling of the surface beneath the wrap.

The camera is satisfactory, it can take photos of sufficient clarity in different kinds of lighting, but there is that occasional camera lag I experienced. The zooming capability was pretty much a letdown, with no optical zoom function. The text messaging system worked brilliantly, the buttons are easily depressible and I got used to the messaging dictionary style rather quickly. It is possible to personalize phonebook entries with images, custom ringtones and even descriptions. What I did not like was that, in order to assign a MP3 track to a particular group of contacts, the MP3 file must be stored in the phone memory. With the song in the memory card, it would be unable to program that as a ringtone. The same is true for grouping contacts into phonebook caller groups.

The most annoying feature of the U700 has to be the touchpad just below the screen. Aesthetically it looks gorgeous lighting up when you slide open the phone, fading away when you close it. The downside is that Samsung made this oversensitive. When you slide open your phone to answer calls, the slight brush of the touchpad against the cheek can disconnect you from your call. Many a times this has happened to me and I had to slide the phone open, wait a moment to make sure the touchpad auto locks itself, before pressing it to my ear to answer the call. This sensitivity also poses a problem during text messaging - an accidental brush of the ‘cancel call’ button would erase the entire message typed out. This would be an issue the user would have to get used to while using the phone.

Despite some exasperating flaws in the working of the U700, this phone remains pretty much glitch-free, user-friendly and very much pleasing to the eye. Beware though, not for the clumsy, you would not want to drop this fragile thing.

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New mobile phones are released practically every other week nowadays, users are definitely spoilt for choice when it comes to mobile phones with so many different brands out there. From Nokia, to Sony Ericsson, to LG, to Samsung, to even Apple with the iPhone. The number of different phones out there for users to choose from is really staggering. Yet, in my opinion there’s one phone out there that has survived the “onslaught” of these new phones, it’s the Sony Ericsson K750i.

First, the K750i just looks great. the entire cover is black except for the sides which are silver in colour, this makes for an extremely stylish and sleek phone that has a very professional look to it. The keypad itself is pretty solid and is a standard keypad as one would come to expect of Sony Ericsson. One has to use a joystick to navigate around the phone instead of a d-pad, but that’s pretty common among Sony Ericsson phones now. Unfortunately, the joystick is probably the phone’s weakest point for me since its completely wonked for me. Most of the time, the joystick won’t register when you try to push it in any direction and I’ve had instances when I had to push on the joystick so hard that my finger hurt quite badly. Yet, the next day the joystick would work fine again, but then it’d go back to not registering your inputs again after awhile. Many people I know have encountered this problem with Sony Ericsson joysticks as well, even on other phones.

Still, that’s the only weakpoint of the phone and it has a ton of other features to make up for it. Where do I start? It has a 2 megapixel camera with auto-focus built in, a built-in radio, and everything else you’d usually find in a Sony Ericsson phone (Bluetooth, infrared port, ability to change themes, etc.) Every single one of these functions work great and are still pretty useful even more than 2 years after the phone’s introduction back in 2005. Basically, you won’t find any new surprises in this phone except for the camera which works really well. Then again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering how Sony Ericsson has always delivered relatively good phones.

All in all, it’s a pity the joystick is as bad as it is as it greatly affects your experience with the phone since you have to use it all the time, it can be a real pain after awhile. But that aside, this is a really good phone which has all the features of any other Sony Ericsson phone. Of course, it wouldn’t be a good idea to buy this phone now, but anyone looking for a second hand phone should definitely consider getting a Sony Ericsson K750i since it lives up to all the expectations one has of a mobile phone as a whole. Just pray hard that you get one with a proper joystick so that your fingers won’t hurt after prolonged use.

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