Mobile Phones

The U700 Ultra Edition 12.1 has been designed by Samsung to provide the user with an attractive slider phone complete with 3G capabilities. The U700 is a member of the Samsung Ultra Edition II range which includes other slim & feature focused mobile handsets which include the Samsung U100 Ultra Edition 5.9, Samsung U300 Ultra Edition 9.6 & the Samsung U600 Ultra Edition 10.9. The handset is available in a selection of colour combinations which enhance the overall look of the handset & add to its stunning design. The Samsung U700 comes with a smooth glossy finish & has a slide opening mechanism which is a pleasure to use.

The slide opening phone comes in a slim casing which measures only 12.1mm in depth which is ultra slim for a phone with the features & capabilities of the Samsung U700. The slim 12.1mm casing reflects in the phones name, the Ultra Edition 12.1. The handset comes with an expandable memory option which allows the user to expand their built in 20 Mbytes of memory further by adding a MicroSD^TM TransFlash memory card. The phone comes with a large 2.2 Inch screen which can be viewed by the user when the handset is in its closed or opened position. T

Palm's answer to Apple in more ways than one, the Telstra-exclusive Treo Pro looks and feels similar to the iPhone 3G, but differentiates itself by utilising the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS. Without doubt Palm's most stylish smartphone yet, the Treo Pro includes a few nifty design features that make the user experience a more pleasant one.

Aesthetically, this is a sharp and stylish handset. By now you are probably sick of the iPhone comparisons, but the Treo Pro makes them hard to ignore - the rear of this handset in particular looks very similar to the iPhone 3G. Its gloss black colour scheme and sloped, curved edges do little to discourage comparisons, nor do the shape and feel in general.

The major difference between the Treo Pro and the iPhone 3G is the fact that Palm has stuck with a physical QWERTY keyboard and regular buttons. The Treo Pro's keyboard should be reasonably well received by users who need to conduct heavy text entry. Very similar to the Centro, the keys look small and squashed at first glance. Those with large fingers may baulk at the small buttons, but in our experience they are comfortable enough and provide a reasonable amount of tactility - though we still rate the BlackBerry Bold 9000's keyboard higher.

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.

The Pantech S100 has earned itself the 2007 iF Design Gold Award for its stylish look. The tri-band GSM handset includes a 1.8" 262k color TFT LCD with a 128x160 pixel resolution, and a VGA resolution camera with 4x digital zoom. The S100 also features MP3 playback capabilities, Bluetooth wireless data, and speakerphone functionality. Polyphonic ringtones, photo and video caller ID, a flight mode, and voice memo feature complete the specification sheet.

The Pantech S100 shows that a budget phone can still be stylish. The handset was developed by Pantech's Mexican subsidiary, and as such should fit the market perfectly. Only time will tell if the manufacturer will be able to meet its sales goal.

The HTC X7510 Advantage is a laptop like smartphone with a focus on data rather than voice functions. Sure, it's a tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band GSM/EDGE phone, but it really wasn't designed with voice in mind. Heck, you can't even hold it up to your head to use it in a conversation.

But it is a pretty powerful smartphone none the less. It sports a VGA resolution touchscreen with a full 640x480 pixel resolution, runs the Opera 9 browser for a full desktop web experience, and has a massive 16GB flash drive built-in for storage. It also comes with a QWERTY keyboard that attaches with a magnetic latch and has a 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus as well.