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LG has created a little gem with the Pop. It is small and one of the lightest touch-screen phones currently on the market and despite its size it still has a 3-inch screen. It is a slim and compact phone that still manages to have a smart design with a brushed plastic aluminium look and black front piece.

The central control face has a single button that has different functions dependant on the screen it is used in. The side has a series of well-placed buttons for altering volume and operating the camera as well as a mini USB port.

The LG Pop is the eco-warrior’s mobile and is designed with green issues in mind. The components used are biohazard free and the packaging is completely recyclable. It is fitted with an audio alarm that indicates when the battery is charged to save on wasting power.

The casing houses a pretty decent 3-megapixel camera and its 8MB internal memory is capable of storing up to 200 mp3 tunes to listen to on the media player. The virtual QWERTY keyboard, when used on landscape, has no major issues but is a little tricky to master at first. One problem is that without the inclusion of Wi-Fi or 3G surfing the internet can be frustratingly slow, while the absence of a 3.5 mm jack is an obvious complaint users will have.

For a budget mobile phone the LG Pop is a good investment, straightforward to use and still stylish. Connectivity may be the only issue that will keep people away but generally it is a phone worth considering.

If you love Nokia mobile phones, then you are probably already familiar with the Nokia 6300 – still one of the finest basic mobile phones Nokia has ever presented us with. From looks to features, this is the epitome of the no-frills, no-nonsense handset.

Looking at it, you can tell it means business. A basic candy bar design, the exterior of the phone features clean lines and a conventional look – using the perfect combination of glossy black and stainless steel. The keypad is well-laid out and easy to use, menu keys are in standard Nokia format and straightforward, and the 2-inch TFT QVGA screen features 16.7 million colours (240 x 320 pixels) for a sharp, bright display.

The menu for the 6300 is the one found in most Nokia mobile phones and easy to navigate. The phone also includes a microSD card slot. Other features include EDGE technology for faster data transfer, a music player, an FM stereo radio, and hands free speaker capability which allows the user to get on with their work whilst having a conversation.

Because this is a very basic phone, the camera is only 2 megapixels and it doesn’t come with a flash. Also missing is GPS, Wi-Fi, and 3G.

Battery life for the Nokia 6300 is 3.5 hours of talk time or 264 hours of standby.

Despite being one of the older Nokia mobile phones, the 6300 is still quite popular today with the crowd who prefers basic, sturdy, and simple over all the bells and whistles.

The LG Optimus handset is an Android 2.1 and looks really stylish.  It has a 3-inch touch-screen that is easy and comfortable to use.  It also comes complete with Wi-Fi capability for those who like to keep in touch with their social networking sites whilst on the move.  This phone comes in four great colours – black, white, pink and grey.  With the dimensions of this phone at 55 x 109 x 13 mm and weighing in at 116g, it will fit nicely into your pocket or handbag.

The LG Optimus has Quad band coverage and gives up to 7 hours and 20 minutes of talk time and up to 500 hours of standby time.  It has a decent 3-megapixel camera and video camera and a video player is also included.  Its entertainment system has an audio player and FM radio, but that all important 3.5 mm headphone jack is missing. The LG Optimus comes with many more features including GPS, Bluetooth, web browser, 3G and email facility and gives you 130MB of internal memory.

This is a great phone to use and is ideal for browsing.  The Wi-Fi capability is very good and allows you access to all your favourite social networking sites whilst you are out and about.  Although it hasn’t got a QWERTY keyboard it is still very easy to use and send messages or email on.  It is also good for the businessman on the move as it allows you to work away from the office.

If the Sony Ericsson Naite is your phone of choice and you are looking for the best deal available for contract mobile phones then there are plenty of choices available. Depending on your usual or expected usage cheap mobile phones are a real possibility.

One example is for only 10.00 per month on an 18 month contract with 3.  They are offering a free handset with 75 minutes of free talk time and unlimited text messages. For low usage customers this could be a good option.

The 3 Network are also offering the Sony Ericsson Naite on their Flext 300 price plan.  It is an 18 month contract complete with free handset and included is 300 free minutes of talk time and 300 free text messages. This deal is only £15.00 per month.

One that may appeal more to the ladies is an offer currently available from O2; for £20.00 per month on an 18 month contract you can get a free Sony Ericsson Naite handset with 100 minutes free talk time and 3000 text messages included, but the deciding factor may be the free gift on offer – GHD Hair Straighteners.

It shows that just by shopping around you can get any kind of deal suitable for you, and even some of the cheapest mobile phone deals can yield surprising offers. There are so many internet sites that offer deals and many of them have mobile phone reviews so you can get honest opinions of the phones from people who have actually used them.

The LG Cookie is the first LG phone to offer an affordable touch screen experience in the UK.  The LG Cookie retails for around £100 and is also often free with the purchase of a monthly service plan.  Despite being a relatively low priced unit, the Cookie delivers exceptional performance, close to, and easily mistaken for the level of performance seen in similar mid range LG devices.

The most notable feature of the LG Cookie is the simple touch screen interface, which guides you through each and every feature available on the phone.  During initial setup, it’s easy to customize your home screen with whatever widgets you choose.  Compatibility and ease of use is clearly LG’s goal with this handset, as demonstrated by the Cookie’s ability to play MP3, AAC, and WMA files.

The cookie however begins to fall short once you discover that there is absolutely no 3G support, Wi-Fi, or GPS technology.  While some may simply prefer to use the touch screen for all purposes, arguably it’s best used for mobile web content, which is sorely lacking in this device.  Text messaging for some will quickly become a burden without a full QWERTY keyboard.

While the Cookie is a great step in the right direction (affordability of touch screen mobile devices), there’s still a long way to go before this technology is both affordable and effective. Mobile phone deals are possible on higher spec models, with a monthly service plan, so if the Cookie does not entice you, compare mobile phones from LG or other manufacturers.

The Sony Ericsson Spiro is part of the Sony Ericsson Walkman range of mobile handsets designed for music lovers. The phone, set to be released later this year, is designed to appeal to the lovers of cheap mobile phones, without compromising on features.

Visually, the Spiro features a 2.2 inch 240 x 320 pixel QVGA TFT display on a slide up handset. Dimensions for the phone are 48 by 92 by 17 mm, with a weight of 90 grams. According to Sony Ericsson, the battery life is up to four and a half hours of talk time and 476 hours of standby.

Music features include the Walkman 4.0 player and instant access to TrackID. Also included are Bluetooth stereo for wired and wireless speaker capability, FM radio, and a proper 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack. The phone’s 5 MB of onboard memory can be expanded to 16 GB via a microSD card.

Social networking features include Facebook and Twitter applications and SMS chat with easy-to-read conversation bubbles.  Non music-related features include a 2 megapixel camera (no flash) with video camera capability, email capability, and web browsing. The Spiro is dual band and does not include 3G, HSDPA, or Wi-Fi.

The phone will be available in ‘Stealth Black’, ‘Contrast Black’, ‘Sunset Pink’, and ‘Spring Green’.

If we compare mobile phones, the Sony Ericsson Spiro is comparable to the LG GS290 Cookie Fresh, with similar look and size, features and functionality.

The phone is set to be released in the UK in late 2010.

BlackBerry’s latest mobile phone offerings include the Pearl 3G 9105. It owes much of its shape and styling to the older Bold 9700 but is a slimmed down, more compact version. Much of this is due to BlackBerry replacing the QWERTY keyboard with a good quality, well-designed alphanumeric one. This is not to say that it has lost any of its quality; this phone still includes plenty to text home about.

Email is where all BlackBerry phones excel and the Pearl 9105 is no different in this regard. Starting an account is easily organised and there is excellent space on the screen for reading messages and emails. They have introduced an integrated mail service that allows users to receive messages from a wide number of sources including Twitter updates and Facebook messages as well as traditional emails.

This is a departure from BlackBerry’s traditional business user market and the Pearl is most definitely styled for the teen consumer market.  While the camera and media systems are not top of the range they do have some interesting settings and are easy to use, especially with the media player controls being accessible from the top of the phone.

Some of the apps could do with updating and if, when released, the new BlackBerry OS 6.0 is made available to the Pearl then it will go some way to increasing the browser performance.

This is a great little starter BlackBerry, not a business user’s mobile created for mass typing and constant surfing, but a good phone for general daily use and keeping in contact with friends.

The Samsung Jet or Jet Ultra Edition is a slim line mid-range touch screen phone that when first making mobile phone news, featured a launch slogan of “Impatience is a virtue”. But is the Jet that fast?

First of all, the phone features a powerful 800 MHz processor, which is faster (theoretically) than the iPhone 3G S. However, it also has the resistive screen – a feature which not only can frustrate some users, but also slow them down. Physically, the phone is gorgeous. It features a polished black front with a reddish black back. And it is both sturdy and compact.

The 5 megapixel camera includes auto focus, smile detection, digital zoom and dual LED, which means it produces good pictures in daylight. But, the absence of a xenon flash means that pictures taken in lower light conditions, or from a distance, will lose quality.

The phone can play back video in high resolution in DivX or Xvid without conversion. There are two gigabytes of memory built into the phone, which can be expanded to 16 GB with a MicroSD card. Other features include music player, FM radio, and a 3.5 mm headphone socket.

While the Jet is not a Smartphone, it does have multi-tasking support via the TouchWiz interface. And it includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, and a GSP receiver (but doesn’t come with Google Maps).

So, is it fast? Well, it doesn’t really feel like it; but, that being said, it is still a good phone for the price.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz, the successor to the Satio, features a delightful ergonomic design, with an 8.1 megapixel camera and a proper 3.5 mm headphone jack to take advantage of the Sony Walkman audio we love so much. For consumers looking for the latest mobile phones, this mid-range offering stands up well against its competitors.

We will start with the camera – it is an easy-to-use 8.1 megapixels with separate buttons to launch video and still photo options. Onscreen icons clearly guide you through changing settings, and there are plenty of them to choose from.

The HD video camera function is also simple to use and the phone comes with an 8 GB memory card to facilitate HD video recording. Or you can set the phone to lower res VGA or QVGA, although after experiencing HD, it is a bit of a letdown.

Gone from this phone is the proprietary FastPort connector, replaced by a microUSB port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Needless to say, the sound quality was vastly improved with the ability to use proper headphones. As with most of Sony’s phones, the music interface was easy to use with extra features like album artwork and playlist creation.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz has an ergonomic design that feels nice when held. The TFT screen is also lovely and sharp but has the resistive touch screen we find frustrating to use. Menus, however, are nicely laid out.

For consumers looking for deals on contract mobile phones, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is available on most networks.

The MOTOKZR K3 is a clam shell type phone that just flips open. It looks good and is of solid construction, made with high quality materials. It boasts a phone book which will hold 2000 contact names and a 2 megapixel camera. It supports video calls and HSDPA and offers an internal memory of 50 MB; it has an SD memory slot so the memory capacity can be expanded as required. It has external music controls and is Bluetooth compatible.

Overall, this a perfectly serviceable mobile phone available at a great price if a little time is taken to check out mobile phone deals. It does have some drawbacks though. The front plate seems to pick up finger marks very easily (even if your hands are clean) and the keypad is very difficult to use by touch because it just doesn’t feel right. The absence of a flash unit and the lack of auto focus make the camera difficult to use effectively. There is no facility to set up weekly alarms on the clock, only daily times and there is no way to set up SMS proof of delivery on a permanent basis. You have to do it before sending each text.  The MOTOKZR K3 does not have an FM radio and is sadly without call filtering facilities, or a voice recorder which will record calls.

This particular Motorola model seems to concentrate on design and looks but it does not put the same importance on functionality. It is a fairly decent quality phone for basic use and the design is excellent, but it seems to be all looks and little substance.