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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.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520, also known as the BlackBerry Gemini, has a mixture of business and consumer market targeted functionalities. The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is part of a range of BlackBerry mobile phones (others include the BlackBerry Curve 8300 and the Curve 8900) that are relatively cheap mobile phones and which feature email, phone and texting services with more multimedia and social networking features.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 measures 4.29 by 2.36 by 0.55 inches. It weighs just 3.74 inches, making it one of BlackBerry’s lighter mobile phones. Its battery life allows for 4.5 hours of talk time and 17 days (408 hours) of standby time.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520’s main screen has a picture resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Somewhat disappointingly the screen size is on the small side, measuring just 2.64 inches. Also relatively basic is the camera resolution of just 2 megapixels, although it does have a digital zoom.

The inbuilt video player supports MPEG4, H.263, H.264, and WMV files and the music player supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WAV and AMR files. The mobile phone has a memory of 128 MB RAM/256 MB ROM. It has a full QWERTY keyboard, microUSB, Wi-Fi, 2.0 Bluetooth and allows for email services on IMAP, POP3, SMTP, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino and BlackBerry Connect.

All in all, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a relatively basic BlackBerry that achieves what it sets out to do, but does not dazzle. Many competitor mobile phones achieve similar results.

One of the first things to look at if you are considering a mobile broadband connection is whether or not your ISP uses a HSPA protocol. At its basic level it is a collection of two distinct mobile telephone protocols: High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), which extend and improve the performance of existing networks. A new standard known as Evolved HSPA, or HSPA +, was released in late 2008, and has become a worldwide option as of 2010. They provide increased performance for mobile broadband users by utilizing improved modulation schemes and refining the protocols by which mobile devices communicate with the network. The improvements have led to a better utilization of the radio bandwidth provided by cellular networks, but it has currently only been commercially developed by around 200 operators in roughly 80 countries. Right now the only way to know which broadband providers offer the service is to read the fine print and determine if they have updated their existing 3G network for HSPA access.

Making a mobile broadband comparison is a complicated business in itself without worrying about whether or not the ISP is giving you the preferred package or just a standard connection. If you are someone who only relies on connectivity for things like e-mails and Internet browsing then the standard mobile broadband connection is fine, but if you rely upon uploading and downloading information on a real-time basis, the only real option is an evolved mobile broadband connection, so be sure to compare the various broadband providers.

The Nokia X2 is one of the latest mobile phones in Nokia’s range of cheap mobile phones. It features a sleek candy bar design with a 2.2 inch graphics display and comes in a choice of black/red or silver/blue combinations. The phone is lightweight and slim line, weighing only 81 grams and measuring 111 by 47 by 13 mm.

As far as Nokia mobile phones go, this one is tailored to the music crowd. It comes with an FM radio, 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, and two powerful speakers. One touch keys make accessing music easy and free songs are offered via the Nokia Music Store.

Also included on the Nokia X2 is a 5 megapixel camera (for 2592 x 1544 pixel resolution) with LED flash, digital zoom, and video recorder. Photos can be uploaded via Nokia Ovi Share and email.

Internal memory for the X2 is 48 MB, which is expandable to 16 GB via microSD. High speed USB 2.0 and stereo Bluetooth connectivity make for fast and easy transfer of data. The phone also supports SyncML. Web browsing is via EDGE-enhanced GPRS via the Opera Mini browser.

Other essential applications included with the X2 include a 1000 entry phonebook, calendar, calculator, currency converter, world clock, flight mode, note pad, speaker phone/voice recorder, timer, and vibrate mode. It doesn’t include a document/ PDF reader. Several pre-installed games are also included.

Currently available in India for $113, it is expected to hit the UK soon at a price of around £80.

Phone Recycle Bank is another mobile phone recycling site operated by 20:20 Mobile, Europe’s number one distributor of mobile phones. This is a reputable, established organization. According to the mission statement of Phone Recycle Bank, with an official site at www.phonerecyclebank.com, the company aims at “creating financially productive partnerships with charities, businesses, and members of the public.” The company also seeks to assist the less fortunate and at the same time keep the environment safe from the harm of chemical waste from carelessly discarded old mobile phones.

Phone Recycle Bank offers several features. First it offers competitive prices of up to £280.

Second, it features a free. simple and easy online process for selling your old mobile phone. The simple 3-step process used by the company is: value your phone online and specify the order details; wait for the freepost envelope and send your phone in; and wait for the payment.

Thirdly, Phone Recycle Bank employs an Environmentally Friendly Service as it recycles mobile phones in line with the current EU regulations and it also provides affordable mobile phones to developing countries.

A fourth feature is a 4-day fast payment service. If your phone has passed the tests then expect your cheque to arrive at your doorstep within four days.

Another feature is an extensive list of phone models that the company wants to buy from you. The list is currently at 850 models and is expected to grow.

One last but very important feature of Phone Recycle Bank is a free Freepost or Free Courier collection. There are absolutely no costs on your part when you decide to have your phone recycled at Phone Recycle Bank. Free courier service is available if you have a minimum of 10 mobile phones for recycling.

When it comes to cheap mobile phones, Samsung does them well. The Samsung Genoa C3510 is amongst their latest offerings targeted to the pre-pay market – more specifically, to youth seeking to own their first prepay phone.

The Genoa C3510 looks a lot like the Samsung Genio phones, with an oval shape and smooth rounded look. The screen is a 2.8 inch TFT with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. Physically, the phone is small and lightweight, measuring 104 by 55 by 13 mm and weighing slightly more than 92 grams.

One of the key features is messaging – another indication that this is a young person’s phone. The Genoa C3510 integrates live update capabilities from all of the major social networking sites.

For music lovers, the phone offers good music audio quality and a microSD memory card slot allows the on-board 30 MB to be expanded to up to 8 GB so you can store additional tunes. The phone also includes a 3.5 mm headphone jack so that you can use your own headset.

The phone does support Bluetooth 2.1; however, connectivity for the Samsung Genoa C3510 is restricted to Class 10 GPRS and EDGE – with neither HSDPA nor 3G supported. Another indication of the budget nature of the phone is the camera – a mere 1.3 megapixels with not-so-great image quality results. However, it works fine for sending as MMS.

The Samsung Genoa C3510 is available on pay-as-you-go deals through several popular UK networks.

Those looking for Sony Ericsson mobile phones with strong camera capabilities are sure to be pleased with the C903.

Pros

The camera features on the C903 are quite a bit more advanced than those of cheap mobile phones, with useful editing functions and the handy BestPic system that begins saving images before the shutter is released and holds up to nine shots to allow users to choose the best one.  There’s also a very good zoom and nice video recording capabilities.

The bright screen displays colours beautifully, as evidenced by the fun wallpaper photo slideshow that comes preloaded on the C903.  There’s a clever GPS system with Google Maps and NearMe, a programme that pinpoints nearby restaurants, cinemas, shops, businesses, and more.

Cons

The C903 is available in black or red, but the glossy case looks decidedly plastic and less sophisticated than some competitors’ latest mobile phones.  Because it is so small, the phone may present problems for some users, and the keypad is rather cramped.  There’s no space between individual number buttons and not much travel in the keys, both of which impeded fast and easy dialling.

The C903 is not Wi-Fi enabled so pictures and video have to be transferred over a mobile signal.  Also, there’s no 3.5 mm headphone jack so users are resigned to the in-ear headset that’s packaged with the phone.

Conclusion

The C903 is a compact mobile phone with great camera function and an intuitive GPS.  The drawbacks are mere annoyances when compared to the many benefits of this smart, pocket-sized handset.