Mobile Phones

A bare-as-bones handset offered on both pre-paid and post-paid plans, LG's KG370 is a mobile phone with minimal features. Although this stylish clamshell does the job, the poorly designed keypad and controls are a turn off.

The first aspect of the KG370 that stands out is its size. This tiny clamshell is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and its lightweight frame means that it almost goes unnoticeable in your pocket. This has advantages and disadvantages - on one hand, the light weight means less bulk, but on the other hand the KG370 feels a little flimsy. The small size also means that this handset is very easy to lose.

The all-plastic frame of the KG370 is finished in a metallic grey and gloss black colour scheme. It won't turn heads, but the colour does give it a soft, subtle look. Unfortunately, despite being a clamshell, there is no external display for viewing caller ID and other details. Instead, the KG370 has a flashing status light for incoming calls or messages; this light annoyingly doesn't notify users of missed calls.

A slight upgrade to the Dopod D810, (now re-branded as HTC after a takeover), HTC has fitted the p3600i with the Windows Mobile 6 operating system, but it retains most of its brother's features - headed by HSPDA-connectivity, a built-in GPS receiver, 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The p3600i is a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), tri-band 3G (850/1900/2100), GPRS and 3.5G HSDPA capable smartphone. It performs quite well for voice calls, with reasonable in-call quality. Being a 3G handset, the p3600i is capable of video calling thanks to a front mounted VGA camera.

Running the latest Windows Mobile 6 operating system, the p3600i has Office Mobile, consisting of mobile versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications. There is also Windows Live, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player programs. Both the built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and the GPRS/EDGE wireless functionality make the p3600i an excellent e-mail device. The standard Windows Mobile messaging application supports push e-mail from a Microsoft Exchange mail server, as well as standard POP3 and IMAP e-mail accounts (Hotmail, GMail and Yahoo!). Connectivity is in the form of Bluetooth 2.0 (with support for A2DP) and USB 2.0. Unfortunately, the media support is let-down by a mini-USB headphone jack instead of the standard 3.5mm.

Even as mobile phones converge and take on the functionality of an increasing manifest of devices, there is still a need for the basics and Sony Ericsson has come to the party with the release of their W200i. The W200i is a standard GSM handset, without the bells and whistles. Though it still offers the popular Walkman function, an FM radio and digital camera the lack of Bluetooth is a real negative.

Features

The best feature of the W200i is the Walkman function, although it isn't the newer 2.0 version of this software. A press of the orange 'W' button on the left side of the phone takes you straight into the music application, which is both simple and effective in its design. The W200i includes menus for Now Playing, Artists, Tracks, Playlists and Videos. Any tracks loaded onto the device are automatically sorted into these folders, which makes searching for a specific file simple and easy. You can create playlists by searching through your files and marking which tracks you want to add to that particular list. Unfortunately the W200i doesn't allow users to rename music files from within the device. This has to be done using the PC Suite software (which doesn't support Mac).

The Sony Ericsson Z310i is an entry level handset that features a compact, stylish design together with some funky light effects, handy notification icons and an external display, which becomes camouflaged when not in use.

Features

Conversations sound a little distant and aren't crisp. Volume is more than adequate, but the overall performance of the Z310i for voice calls is a little disappointing. Thankfully, the hands-free speakerphone works well, although it struggles noisy situations, such as when in a car due to wind noise. The Z310 includes basic phone features such as a 1000-entry phone book and polyphonic ring tones.

The Z310i has Bluetooth, infrared and USB connectivity, so it's well served in this department despite the low price tag. Unfortunately there is no included USB cable in the sales package, and no PC Suite software disc is included in the sales package. Instead, users will have to download this, free from the Sony Ericsson website.

The first Walkman handset to be offered on Telstra's Next G network in Australia, the Sony Ericsson W760i continues the fine tradition of quality Walkman mobile phones. Although it doesn't offer any absolutely outstanding features, the combination of HSDPA capabilities, built in-GPS, good multimedia abilities and a great interface make the W760i an excellent all-rounder.

The silver and grey finish gives the handset a more professional than fashion-orientated look. Importantly, the phone's build quality is superb - the spring-operated slider feels smooth and sturdy.

The W760i is extremely easy to use, largely thanks to its slick interface and good controls. In particular, the keypad is excellent - each key is large, well spaced and has good tactile response, so sending messages or even e-mails shouldn't be an issue. The navigational pad, selection buttons and answer/end call keys are also perfectly positioned and comfortable to use.

A large part of the W760i's appeal is access to Telstra's range of services, including Mobile FOXTEL. Other BigPond services include Sensis Search, Yellow Pages, Trading Post and BigPond Photos.