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Smartphones are hybrid devices providing the personal productivity applications of a handheld organiser (calendar, contacts book, to-do list, etc), combined with the communications capabilities of a mobile phone. All these models also have email and web browsers.
SIEMENS SX1 £300 with contract
The SX1 crams a vast number of applications into a phone package and has a manly, chunky feel that puts many of the girly phones to shame. Whereas most smartphones are content with email, personal organiser applications, camera and phone capabilities, the SX1 also includes MP3 and Mpeg4 movie format playback, bringing closer the time when you will be able squint at full-motion video on your mobile. The majority of the front face of the SX1 is given over to screen and navigation buttons, with the keypad split either side of the screen. This is the phone’s only drawback – the split keypad makes for miserable dialling and texting.
www.my-siemens.com
HANSPRING TREO 600 £199 with contract
The Treo is obviously a PDA that’s been made into a smartphone, rather than a phone that’s evolved into a PDA. It’s physically the biggest of our five and even sports a miniature qwerty keyboard under its screen. Unusually for a modern phone, it has an aerial, apparently included so the US market would know it was a phone - though this is denied by the Americans. Using the Treo as a phone just doesn’t feel natural unless you use a headset. Besides, if you do hold it up to your head to make a call, you risk leaving a greasy earprint on the screen. The Treo has a cluster of personal organiser applications, and typing short emails on the keyboard is easier than it looks.
www.orange.co.uk
MOTOROLA MPX200 £240 with contract
Motorola once had a poor reputation for phones, not least because their home-grown software was cranky to use and limited in scope compared with competitors like Nokia. But teaming up with Microsoft has changed all that: Windows Mobile Software for Smartphones makes this desirable clamshell phone our number one choice and instantly recognisable to those who regularly use a Windows PC. The clamshell design means the phone is diminutive when closed but opens to reveal a beautifully bright screen. There’s no camera on this phone, but let’s face it – cameras on phones are for kids.
www.motorola.co.uk
SONY ERICSSON T610 £100 with contract
The T610 is a triband phone that works in the US as well as Europe and chunks of Asia. It’s also Bluetooth enabled, so you can use it with a wireless headset and any other Bluetooth wireless device. At 95g – including battery - it’s the lightest of our five smartphones. It has two games, 32-voice polyphonic sound, a 1.8in colour screen and a 128x160 pixel camera that gives rather disappointing results. You navigate the on-screen icons using a stubby joystick and two softkeys above the phone pad.
www.sonyericsson.com/uk
ORANGE SPV E100 £130 with contract
The SPV E100 uses Microsoft’s Pocket PC software, so it will look very familiar to anyone who has used a Pocket PC PDA and vaguely friendly to Windows users. Again, this is a triband phone with Bluetooth support. It lacks a camera but makes up for that with the ability to play MP3s. The downside of this is battery life. In normal usage you’ll be lucky to get more than two days out of it, but this decreases significantly when playing MP3s. Navigation is straightforward and the screen is big and bright.
www.orange.co.uk
These items have been tried and tested by the technical team at PC Advisor magazine. The new issue is on sale now. To subscribe and save 33% call 01795 414836 and quote EJ03. www.pcadvisor.co.uk
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