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Buyer's guide to mobile phones

Mobile news

Introducing Samsung's all new smartphone, the F 700. Not completely
dissimilar to the iPhone, it has both a
touchscreen and a Vario-style, slide-out
QWERTY keyboard, so you get the best of both worlds. Due for a UK release before
Christmas, it should make an ideal present for your over-paid business chums who have got everything else already. It's going to be exclusive to Vodafone initially, and free on contract.

Top tips

  1. Onboard mobile memory can be, shall we say, limited. If you want to store loads of tunes or videos on your phone, purchase a model with a memory card slot.
  2. When it comes to picture quality, camera phones can’t match proper cameras. However, the Sony Ericsson K810i and the Nokia N93 snappers are both very good,
    especially in daylight.
  3. To access email on the move, get a phone with push email, eg RIM's BlackBerry series. Email is forwarded (pushed) to your phone as soon as it arrives on the server.
  4. Increasingly, mobiles let you sync all your contacts with Outlook and its ilk. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work with Mac's Address Book, so make sure you
    check compatibility.

3G/HSDPA phones

SONY ERICSSON K810i

£200

Performance: No other phone can touch the K810i when it comes to shooting pictures. With a 3.2-megapixel camera, 64MB of internal
memory and an M2 card slot for expansion, super-intuitive menus, a bright two-inch LCD, ten hours of talk time and 3G, it's quite simply a prince among phones. Say cheese.

Love: Terrific for pictures. Simple to use. Loads of extras.

Hate: Looks a little dull. Fewer megapixels than some rivals.

Buy one here

NOKIA N95

£390

Performance: The word versatile was invented for this
phone. The N95 doesn't just have a five-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, it's also packing heat in the form of satnav fucntionality, HSDPA, and Wi-Fi. If that just looks like a random selection of letters and numbers to you then let us put it in layman's terms for you: This phone is teeming with extras.

Love: Stuffed with extras. Good camera. Outstanding screen.

Hate: A bit bulky and plasticky. Feeble battery life. Some bugs.

Buy one here

MOTOROLA RIZR Z8

£350

Performance: The Z8 has a cracking, 2.2-inch screen and a zippy frame rate for video playback. The screen's small, granted, but movies have never looked so good on a phone. The Z8's also got state-of-the-art connectivity, with HSDPA, A2DP Bluetooth and Sky Anytime. Oh, and the included phones are not only wireless, they actually sound pretty good, too.

Love: Terrific media features. Non-sucky earphones.

Hate: Screen’s too small for such a good movie player.

Buy one here

SAMSUNG G800

£300

Performance: With an optical zoom, autofocus and zenon flash the 5MP G800 is a phone that thinks it's a camera.

Love: Good camera features, excellent flash. Decent-sized keys and a terrifically bright screen.

Hate: Chunky. Shutter lag on camera.

Buy one here

2G phones

Motorola RAZR2 V8

£290

Performance: Moto's added a touchscreen and two-meg camera to its latest RAZR update.

Love: Vibrating touchscreen. Iconic shape.

Hate: Although thin, it feels heavy. Not 3G.

Buy one here

Sony Ericsson T650i

£330

Performance: With a highly capable, 3.2-meg snapper and twinkling keypad, this is enticing.

Love: Stereo Bluetooth. Lovely design.

Hate: Sony persisting with stupid little buttons.

Buy one here

Smartphones

Nokia E90

£660

Performance: Throbbing with power, the E90 boasts HSDPA, GPS, Wi-Fi, a 3.2-megapixel
camera, and push-email messaging.

Love: Raw power and stunning widescreen.

Hate: Really rather large, even for a smartphone.

Buy one here

Sony Ericsson P1i

£375

Performance: The P series gets a makeover with a new, sleek chassis for the suits. With loads of
features and a powerful processor, it's a good 'un.

Love: Built-in Wi-Fi. Business card scanner.

Hate: Annoying and fiddly keyboard.

Buy one here

T-Mobile Vario III

£220

Performance: A formidable Windows Mobile 6-powered Pocket PC that's packed with extras.

Love: GPS receiver. Wi-Fi. Three-meg snapper.

Hate: 'Pocket-hostile' best describes its size.

Buy one here

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