Tech Digest Reviews

SPV C500

£from free

The lowdown
The smallest smartphone on the market, Orange’s latest incarnation of the SPV is a far cry from the previous, rather chunky and unattractive models.

What’s good?
The C500’s sleek and attractive appearance makes it easy on the eye – and easy on the pocket as well. The buttons are great and the UI has been improved to make it easier to use. As well as Bluetooth, Orange has also squeezed in a VGA digital camera, 64MB of RAM and a Secure Digital (SD) slot.

What’s bad?
The Smartphone OS won’t suit everyone and it’s not quite smart enough to replace a PDA if that’s what you’re after. The SD slot, which is of the newer Mini variety, is annoyingly located under the battery, which makes it a pain to get at.

Do you need it?
A smartphone you’d happily bin your normal phone for. Well-made, good looking, and incredibly useful, the C500 works hard for its keep.
9/10

Orange

Danger Hiptop II

£tbc
The lowdown
The Danger Hiptop 2 was launched in a blaze of publicity in the US a couple of months ago and now it’s being pencilled in for UK launched some time in the new year. A kind of cross between the Nokia N-Gage and the BlackBerry, this is a handset that’s aimed squarely at hip phone buyers.

What’s good?
Push the front and it flips up to reveal a 3.5-inch screen above a surprisingly spacious and usable QWERTY keyboard. There’s a good selection of messaging features, including an intuitve POP3 compatible email system and an instant messaging service courtesy of AOL. Most of the usual smartphone facilities are also on board including a PIM suite, VGA camera and a fast and effective web browser.

What’s bad?
It’s far larger than most smartphones available in Europe and while the design is unusual, it’s not a pretty handset. The absence of key features, such as MP3 playback, Bluetooth and flash memory card compatibility limits its appeal, while battery life is relatively poor.

Do you need it?
Despite its flaws, the Hiptop 2 is sure to find favour among text and email addited 18-40 year olds.
7/10

Danger

Sendo X

From around £100

The lowdown
It’s taken its time getting here, but the Sendo X looks like it was worth the wait.

What’s good?
This may be the first smartphone from the British company, but the handset feels surprisingly professional. It’s far less stocky than similar phones such as the Nokia 6600 and the Siemens SX1, and much more pocketable. The OS has had some nice additions to it and there’s a decent amount of memory, along with an SD/MMC slot.

What’s bad?
While far from ugly, it’s not the most stylish phone around. Still, you wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen with it. The letters on the keys are so tiny you can hardly see them.

Do you need it?
A highly usable little smartphone. There’s a good array of features under that plain exterior, and since it’s so compact you can bin your normal mobile. Excellent first effort from Sendo.
8/10

Tech Specs
OS: Symbian Series 60
Memory: 32MB
Touchscreen: No
Bluetooth: Yes
Expansion slot: Yes
Dimensions: 111mm x 49mm x 23mm
Weight: 120g

Sendo

Nokia 6600

£Free BUY FROM HERE

The lowdown
Nokia's most popular smartphone to date. However, Like the Siemens SX1, the 6600 now looks a little on the chubby side when compared with the newer, slimmer smartphones that have been appearing of late.

The good
The case may not be very attractive, but it's well made and easy to use.

The bad
You can't synch with your PC via USB - you have to rely on Bluetooth. Less memory than the Sendo X and far bulkier. Have to take the battery off to get at the MMC slot.

Do you need it?
If you're determined to have a Nokia, this is a decent enough smartphone, but there's better things out there now.
7/10

BUY FROM HERE

Tech Specs
OS: Symbian Series 60
Memory: 6MB
Touchscreen: No
Bluetooth: Yes
Expansion slot: Yes
Dimensions: 109 x 58 x 24mm
Weight: 122g

Nokia

Sony Ericsson P900

£from free

The lowdown
The P900 was the handset that took smartphones into the mainstream. Large enough to act as a PDA while still small enough to be used as a normal mobile many see it as the perfect smartphone.

What’s good?
The P900 is easy to use, with a great scroll wheel and a touchscreen that makes PDA features easy to access. The Opera browser is second to none when it comes to getting online.

What’s good?
While it may be easier to access than many smartphones, it's nevertheless starting to look a bit beefy next to the newer handsets. It's now been superseded by the P910 which comes with a qwerty keypad on the inside of the flip-down number pad.

Do you need it?
It may have been upgraded and it may be getting on in life, but this is still a great handset that will do you proud. It used to suffer from being overly expensive, but now you can get hold of one free on contract it comes highly recommended.
8/10

Tech specs
OS: Symbian 7.0
Memory: 16MB
Touchscreen: Yes
Bluetooth: Yes
Expansion slot: Yes
Dimensions: 115 x 57 x 24mm
Weight: 150g

www.sonyericsson.com/uk

Motorola RAZR V3

£from £75 to £500

The lowdown
If it’s true you can never be too thin or too rich, then perhaps you should be spending all that money on something thin enough to be seen with, like the newly announced Motorola RAZR V3.

What’s good?
It’s a catwalk model among phones, anorexically just 14mm thick, and made from magnesium and aluminium, so it’s light and tough. Motorola stresses that it’s using aircraft-grade aluminium, whatever that means in the real world, but certainly it feels great and looks even greater. There are two screens, shortcut keys for the Internet and messages (they're engraved on the metal so you can't change that), and the usual configurable softkeys.

It's only recently Motorola has got round to putting its call and end call keys in the right places - that is, like the rest of the industry - but thankfully it was in time to prevent the V3 from having a fatal flaw. Despite the fact that it has an internal antenna, there’s also room for a camera (VGA with digital 4x zoom) and Bluetooth.

What’s bad?
Not everyone will get on with Motorola’s notoriously user-unfriendly interface.

Do you need it?
it’s by far the most opulent phone out there (the titanium of the Nokia 8910i notwithstanding) unless you include the Vertu. And this, at least, will cost thousands less.
8/10

www.motorola.co.uk

David Phelan

Nokia 9300

£250-ish with contract

The lowdown
Nokia has taken its Communicator brick 9500 smart phone shed a bit of weight and size, and re-packaged it as the 9300 – a smartphone for busy professionals. It keeps some of the 9500’s core features such as its excellent QWERTY keyboard and its high contrast wide screen.

What’s good?
It is arguably the first pocketable smartphone (it’ll just about squeeze in) with a decent–ish QWERTY keyboard. Slap it flat on a desk and you can not only thumb type you can also speed things up by using a finger too. The phone also boasts a huge number of features including Blackberry push-mail, Opera’s superb web browser and a Real player for replaying video and MP3 audio. It is also compatible with many Microsoft Office files formats (Word etc) and is compatible with VPNs.

What’s bad?
There’s no camera, which although might not be top of the busy execs wants lists would still have been a decent touch. The Communicator style flip open form factor might not suit everyone and the screen isn't the most suitable for web browsing. Unlike the 9500 there’s no Wi-Fi either.

Do you need it?
In our book top of the smartphones key features list has to be a decent keyboard and the 9300 has one of the best around. It also has a good line up facilities Opera, Blackberry etc and a great operating system and interface. It will be well worth forking out £250 or so needed to secure one when it arrives in January 2005.
8.5/10

www.nokia.co.uk

Sharp TM100

£from free

The lowdown
Sharp has teamed up with T-Mobile to offer the TM100. A top-end camera phone free to many pay-monthly customers, the phone is not unlike the Sony Ericsson T610/630. The key differences are that the TM100 is slightly larger and features a pull-down number keypad.

What’s good?
Arguably, the TM100's best feature is its large screen, with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and 256K colours. Although its camera isn't megapixel, it takes top-quality VGA standard images. Users can shoot in landscape or portrait modes. Also on board is a POP3 compatible email client, a basic organiser and one-touch access to T-Mobile's Wap portal T-Zones.

What’s bad?
Notable omissions include Bluetooth, an MP3 player and a storage expansion card slot. Users are limited to just 2.5MB.

Do you need it?
It is not worth swapping networks to buy a TM100, but if you are a T-Mobile customer and fancy a top-end camera phone, it ought to be high on your shortlist.
6/10

T-Mobile

Samsung Z105

£TBC

The lowdown
The Samsung Z105, is being groomed by Vodafone to feature as its launch phone for its consumer 3G service. Vodafone customers who have been specially selected to participate in Vodafone live! 3G Customer Trial are currently the only ones able to get their hands on one.

What’s good?
Well the clamshell phone is about average size for 3G phones. It is roughly the same size as the NEC e616 (available via Three) and slightly larger than LG’s upcoming U8100. It is a very simple phone to use. The buttons are kind of half Samsung and half Vodafone (the lay out is a little reminiscent of Voda’s Sharp phones). The interface is fairly simple to use and access to Vodafone Live! service is a one-button press. At 240 minutes talktime and 110 standby time, battery life is good for a 3G mobile. Video calling is phone’s strong point in that it sports an excellent 256k colour screen, which delivers top quality moving images.

What’s bad?
There’s no Bluetooth, POP3 e-mail or MP3 playback. The LG U8100 has all three. To make video calls you have to don a headset, which is highly annoying as you have to carry it around with you everywhere. There’s only 3MB of storage and no expansion card slot. The 3MB will fill up very quickly with videos and images.

Do you need it?
This isn’t a bad phone. The screen and the video quality are great. However, upcoming handsets from LG and Motorola are likely to put it to shame. If you are Vodafone customers and are thinking about upgrading to 3G it might be good to hang on a while until other handsets are available.
6/10

Vodafone

Nokia 7200

£from free

The lowdown
The 7200 is Nokia’s first clamshell handset. However, the 7200 is not a traditional folding phone: it is thinner and lighter than many rivals and also sports soft textile covers, designed to appeal to the fashion-conscious.

What’s good?
The handset is a delight to use, courtesy of Nokia's intuitive menu system and prominent, comfortable keys. Nokia hasn't shirked on features, either, so the 7200 includes a VGA camera, video camera, integrated hands-free and FM radio. Also on board are some neat games and ringtones.

What’s bad?
The 7200 is, however, up against serious competition. In terms of design, it can't rival the "classic with a twist" styling of Motorola's upcoming V80 handset. Nor can it compete with the one megapixel camera and superb quality screen offered by the Sharp/Vodafone GX30. Those fabric covers also start to get a little manky after a lot of use.

Do you need it?
If you’ve been weaned on Nokia handsets, like the handset's quirky design and fancy a simple-to-use camera phone, the 7200 is a no-brainer.
7/10

Nokia
Buy here