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Archive for the ‘Touchscreen’ Category

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.

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.

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 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.

HTC Magic, the second Google phone is an enjoyable phone that delivers a great user experience.  Like other Android phones, the HTC Magic is slick and effective, delivering a wide variety of Android based applications and software.  The Magic is a unique entry into the market, and while it may have its shortcomings, the phone as a whole delivers on its promises, and is able to deliver most anything you can expect from a modern smart phone.

What stands out the most about the Magic is the screen.  It’s a large, bright, vibrant, colourful display that offers a sharp image, and relatively low battery life consumption.  Entering text is a breeze on the virtual keypad, though it is much easier in landscape mode.  The responsive nature of the phone, with the high degree of accuracy, has eliminated much of the frustration that plagued early touch screen phones.

While the Magic is a great mobile phone to use, the media functionality however leaves much to be desired.  With no 3.5mm headphone jack, this is clearly not for music lovers.  While this was never the main draw of the device, it’s frustrating that such a simple addition was never made.  The camera has no flash, and has an unacceptable shutter lag, for such a modern phone.

As a whole, it’s frustrating when modern smart phones simply do away with certain pieces of technology.  A camera flash is nothing new or “smart”, and there’s no reason why it should not be included in such new smart phone models.

The HTC Legend is the successor to the very popular HTC Hero mobile phone. It is the first HTC handset to come in a unibody aluminium casing. The HTC Legend is an Android smartphone. Android mobile phones, developed by Android Inc and Google, use open source software to allow users to create and share mobile phone applications.

The HTC Legend is 4.41 by 2.22 by 0.45 inches. It weighs 4.44 ounces. Its battery life is an impressive 8 hours of talk time, 18 days (440 hours) of standby time. The main display screen of the HTC Legend is 320 x 480 pixels in resolution, is 3.2 inches in size, uses capacitive technology and is multi-touch.

The HTC Legend’s camera has 5 megapixels resolution, and the inbuilt camera has LED flash, autofocus and geo tagging. The video player has MPEG4, WMV, 3GP and 3G2 capability. The music player supports files in MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV, M4A (Apple lossless), AMR, OGG and MIDI format and has FM radio.

The operating software is relatively new: Android 2.1 following on from Android 1.5 (also known as Cupcake). Internet browsing is through HTML or flash and the HTC Legend has microUSB, Wi-Fi and 2.1 Bluetooth.

The unibody casing looks and feels great. In this respect, the HTC Legend is rather minimalistic and sophisticated. The screen is highly responsive and multi touch, allowing for multiple home pages to be scanned quickly. Sound and picture quality are good if not excellent.

If you are new to the touch screen concept and are looking for a budget range mobile phone which can offer you that first time experience, then the Samsung C3510 may be for you.

When this phone first made mobile phone news, it was obvious that Samsung was giving a much-appreciated nod to the low-end, pre-pay user – or the younger people who are looking for their first prepay phone. But this is no ordinary cheap mobile phone. It is compact and lightweight and sports a smooth, rounded look. The touch screen is 2.8 inches and supports a resolution of 240 x 320. The phone itself comes in black, blue, pink, and white.

While the phone doesn’t come with a lot of features, the ones it does include are essential and well-designed: an MP3 player for music-listening, FM radio, integrated web browser, integrated 1.3 megapixel camera, and integrated social networking.

As would be expected in a cheap mobile phone, connectivity is restricted to Class 10 GPRS and EDGE, there is no HSDPA or 3G, but there is Bluetooth 2.1 included, and A2DP is supported for stereo Bluetooth transmission. Our final thought on this phone: while intended for the young, prepay set, Samsung has stepped away from the crowd with the C3510 GenoA, a thoughtful and appealing cheap mobile phone.

The Samsung C3510 GenoA is available through several providers, so if you’re interested in this phone, you may want to compare prepay or contract mobile phone deals from a few different ones.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz features a smart new ergonomic body and HD video capabilities, both exciting new additions.  The 8.1 megapixel camera is a winner, and the 3.5 mm headphone jack sets it apart from most other Sony Ericsson mobile phones.

Pros

The strongest feature of the Vivaz is the extremely user friendly 8.1 megapixel camera.  There are dedicated buttons for video and stills, and on-screen icons and menus that clearly show the camera’s current settings and available options.  An 8 GB memory card is included in the produce packaging, as the HD video tends to use up a lot of internal memory.

Another strong aspect of the Vivaz is the addition of both a mini USB port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.  The music player itself is intuitive and feature-rich – users can view album artwork and create instant playlists.

Other positive features include good video playback, convenient shortcuts to YouTube and iPlayer, a preloaded Facebook app, comfortable design, fine call quality, and a really sharp TFT screen. 

Cons

Like previous Sony Ericsson mobile phones, the Vivaz has a frustrating resistive touch-screen, though it’s admittedly one of the best of its kind.  There is a stylus but no QWERTY keyboard so messaging can be difficult.

Powering the Vivaz on and off is sluggish, and the camera is slow to load.  Locking and unlocking the screen presents a real challenge, as the lock button is also the power button; pushing too hard will turn off the phone. 

Conclusion

For recreational users, this is a fine smartphone.  Users looking for great camera features and media playback would be wise to check out the latest Vivaz mobile phone deals.

The Samsung Monte is one of Samsung’s latest mobile phones. With a mid-range touch screen, this phone puts the emphasis on social networking – with dedicated applications to Facebook and MySpace already pre-installed, along with Twitter and Bebo widgets.

Externally, the Monte is a good-looking phone with a simple and sleek design. It comes in three different colour combinations: graphite and black, black and orange, and white and red. It is 108mm x 53mm wide, 12mm thick, and weighs 92 grams. The camera is a 3.2 megapixel camera with face detection, smile shot, and panorama. However, there isn’t a flash.

Internally, the phone features 200MB of onboard memory with expandability to 16 GM through a MicroSD slot. The phone features Wi-Fi and HSDPA, which really enhances web browsing and interaction with your social networking sites. Other great features include a capacitive (versus Samsung’s usual resistive) 3-inch TFT touch screen which makes using this phone a much more pleasant experience. The interface is still TouchWiz however. There unit also has a 3.5mm headphone connector, video calling, and push email.

If we were to compare mobile phones, the closet competitor would be the LG Optimus, which has similar spec, but weighs more, has less internal memory and no Wi-Fi. This latest mobile phone offering from the Samsung mobile phones range is impressive, incorporating pleasant design and user-friendly functionality with plenty of features.

The Samsung Monte is available on contract mobile phone deals through most UK providers, including Vodafone, O2, and T-Mobile.