Mobile Phones

O2 has decided to give the popular Xda Atom Life a facelift. Although improvements are minor, the Xda Atom Life Limited Edition unit runs the latest Windows Mobile 6 OS, and is finished in an attractive, all-white colour scheme, ensuring it will stand out from the crowd. Specifications and features remain the same with HSDPA, a 2 megapixel camera, SRS WOW HD surround sound and MP3 and FM radio functions standing out as the main attractions.

Features

The Xda Atom Life Limited Edition is a tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900, UMTS 1900/2100, GPRS and 3.5G HSDPA phone. It performs quite well for voice calls, with reasonable in-call quality and good volume levels, but the quality of the hands-free speakerphone is poor. The Atom Life includes a hands-free speakerphone, speed dialling, call history, and a 1000 entry phone book. Being a 3G handset, it is also capable of video calling thanks to a front mounted VGA camera.

The Limited Edition unit runs the latest Windows Mobile 6 OS with Microsoft's messaging and security feature pack installed. Both the built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and the GPRS/EDGE wireless functionality make the Xda Atom Life an excellent email device. The standard Windows Mobile messaging application supports push email from a Microsoft Exchange mail server, as well as standard POP3 and IMAP email accounts such as Hotmail, GMail and Yahoo! Mail. Also standard is Bluetooth and infrared connectivity and the A2DP profile means users can stream music to a compatible pair of Bluetooth headphones.

The second model in the Xda II range, the O2 Xda IIs offers users an extensive array of features, delivering both a fully featured mobile phone and PDA.

Weighing 210g with a lithium polymer battery, the IIs is large compared to other smartphones (such as the Palm Treo 650), which makes the included case with belt clip almost essential. It scores points in the looks department, with a sleek black matte finish, and is dominated by the large 3.5" TFT LCD colour screen.

With a 240 x 320 resolution, the screen is bright enough to be used outdoors and provides plenty of room for working on calendar, tasks and Office applications. One useful feature is the ability to choose between portrait and landscape views, allowing full use of the screen width and height.

The IIs ships with Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, and is powered by an Intel PXA263 400MHz processor, meaning that multiple applications can be run concurrently. The standard Office applications come pre-installed as well as some basic games and a PowerPoint/PDF viewer. Email users will be happy with the Pocket Outlook interface and Calendar, while data services such as SMS, MMS and even instant messaging (through MSN) are all supported.

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.

Nominally aimed at business and corporate customers, Nokia's latest E-Series handset features a sleek and stylish look that also makes it appealing to regular consumers. The E71 features a full QWERTY keyboard and has a wealth of features; its thin build is particularly impressive.

Despite featuring a QWERTY keyboard and plenty of business features, the E71 is just 10mm thick and its sleek body fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. Despite the compact size, build quality feels superb - the gloss metal finish does attract fingerprints, but it also helps to make this handset feel like it's capable of taking a few knocks.

The full QWERTY keyboard is generally comfortable to type on. The spongy keys of the E71 have reasonably tactility but they are small and slightly squashed - a particular issue is just how close the first and last column of keys are to the edge of the handset. The shortcut keys - home, calendar, contacts and mail - are a welcome addition and the five-way navigational pad, selection buttons and call keys combine to create a pleasant user experience.

Amid the plethora of stylish, fashion-orientated smartphones, the ASUS P750 isn't going to wow you with its looks. Instead, this rather bland-looking smartphone aims to please under the hood, with a more than reasonable features list including HSDPA connectivity and GPS.

The P750 isn't going to win any awards for its design. This boxy looking unit is also rather chunky, but considering its size it's rather light. The handset is finished in matte black plastic, but shadow chrome edging and a row of silver navigational keys below the display do break up the bland look.

The P750's display is recessed rather deeply, so using your finger won't suffice to operate the phone. A stylus is located in the bottom-right corner of the unit, and the display is fairly responsive to soft taps. The screen has reasonable viewing angles, but the resolution is a bit low.

Despite the chunky size of this unit, ASUS hasn't included a keyboard, instead opting for a standard numerical pad. Thankfully, the handset supports T9, in addition to the standard Windows Mobile on-screen keyboard; heavy e-mailers will still be disappointed with the lack of physical keyboard.