Mobile Phones

The Motorola Sidekick Slide is a messaging & Internet focused mobile phone which comes in a sleek looking black coloured casing. The overall size of the casing is compact when considering it slide design & the handset has a solid feel to it. It weighs 150 grams in total & measures 119.4mm tall by 61mm wide by 17.8mm deep when in its upright position. The Sidekick Slide comes with a slide opening casing which allows the user to slide the screen to the side to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard has individually spaced out keys which makes it easy to use. The user can use the Motorola Sidekick Slide with the screen closed as it comes with an external navigation tool & control keys. The front of this desirable phone is taken up by a large QVGA screen which displays up to 65k colours & has a high screen resolution for a beautiful viewing experience.

The Motorola Sidekick Slide is sold exclusively on the T mobile network & this handset provides it user with high speed access the Web & comes with a wide variety of messaging services. The Motorola Sidekick Slide comes with 128 megabytes of internal memory & it has a memory card slot which supports MicroSD^TM type memory cards which can expand the phones memory capacity up to 4 gigabytes. T

The Samsung F400 is a dual slide opening 3G phone which comes in a sophisticated high gloss black coloured casing complete with metal accents which adds to the design of the handset. The F400 comes with the same opening system which is present on the Samsung i450 which allows the user to slide the back section of the handset up when using the built in speaker feature or to slide the back section down when the user needs to access the keypad. This desirable 3G phone comes with twenty four megabytes of built in memory plus the added feature of a memory card slot which allows the user to insert a MicroSD^TM memory card to suit the user's storage needs. The overall size of the casing is compact which measures 16.9mm deep by 48mm wide by 103mm tall. The phone comes with a 2.2 Inch colour screen with a screen resolution of 240 pixels by 320 pixels. The Samsung F400 comes with metal finished control keys which well positioned for ease of use & look highly stylish regarding the handsets design.

The F400 supports high speed EDGE technology & GPRS data transfers which allows the user to experience fats transfer speeds on their phone. The Bluetooth® technology complete with A2DP support which allows the user to enjoy a wireless connection between the F400 & other compatible devices including Bluetooth® compatible head phone for a wireless music listening experience.

Featuring a strange behind-the-ear design, Jabra's BT2020 is a solid budget Bluetooth headset that offers reasonable voice quality.

Jabra describes the BT2020's design, which is different to most Bluetooth headsets, as discreet. The BT2020 is hardly inconspicuous and it may cause some slight discomfort depending on the size of your ear. To help, Jabra includes three different sized ear buds in the sales package, made of a soft silicone-like material.

Thankfully, the BT2020 is easy to pair to your phone and operate. Simply put the unit in pairing mode by turning it on, find the headset using your phone and pair (the default pass code is 0000). Once paired, the BT2020 will automatically connect to your phone each time it is switched on.

The headset's sound quality is average. Like the BT2010, the BT2020 has better outgoing sound than incoming sound. In noisy environments, such as walking down a busy city road, the sound isn't loud enough and overall not very crisp or clear. The outgoing sound is clear and loud.

There are only two buttons on the unit - a call handling button and a volume button. Functions are accessed by tapping, pressing or holding one of the buttons. For example, pressing the volume button increases the volume, while holding it down decreases it. A status light next to the volume button lets you know whether the unit is in pairing mode, or connected to a device.

LG's KF390 is the first HSDPA 7.2Mbps mobile phone to feature Telstra's Blue Tick of approval, which means it should have excellent coverage in regional areas without the need for an external antenna.

Gone are the days when phones designed for use in rural Australia were large and overbearing in size. Its relatively compact shape and design feels comfortable in the hand. It feels reasonably well built and the spring-operated slider is firm and responsive. The handset is finished in a dark, metallic blue colour and has a glossy front. It's an appealing aesthetic, but the front of the handset is a fingerprint magnet and can be difficult to view in direct sunlight.

Slid open, the KF390 reveals a small keypad featuring large, raised keys. For general navigation, a five-way navigational pad does most of the work, but there are also a number of touch-sensitive keys - two selection buttons, music and shortcut keys. These work reasonably well and are generally responsive, but they don't add much in terms of useability.

The fact that the KF390 is HSDPA 7.2 capable is certainly its most impressive feature. Being a Telstra handset, the KF390 offers access to a host of content including FOXTEL mobile, Yellow Pages, BigPond Music and WhereIs maps. For these services, loading times are fairly quick. For mobile Web browsing, however, it's best to look elsewhere - the browser included on the KF390 isn't ideal for rendering Web sites that haven't been optimised for phones.

The first HTC Touch device to come equipped with built-in GPS, the Touch Cruise features a similar feature set to the TyTN II, minus the slide out keyboard. The Cruise boasts HSDPA-connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus and a 2.8in display.

Aesthetically, this is a smaller device than the TyTN II, but it's still quite large for a smartphone without a keyboard. The chrome surrounding the display and sides gives it a nice touch. Below the screen is a five-way navigational pad that doubles as a scroll wheel - it's quite convenient for scrolling through long lists. The most disappointing aspect of the Touch Cruise is its display. It's a standard VGA screen which doesn't do the TouchFLO interface justice.

The Cruise is quite easy to use. Though it's a standard Windows Mobile 6 device, HTC's TouchFLO interface means you won't have to use the stylus as often as usual. It allows quick access to functions like favourite contacts, weather, an application launcher and sound profiles. Unfortunately, the finger panning and scrolling feature, used to scroll through long lists and documents by sliding your finger up and down the screen, is a mixed bag and does take a while to grasp.