Mobile Phones

Compatible with Cingular cell phone service, the Siemens A56i is a fine, economy phone running on dual band 850/1900 MHz that sports a comfortable design, picture messaging, downloadable ring tones and graphics, and more, all displayed on a five line, grayscale 101x64 LCD display.

Used as a phone, the A56i features ringer ID, ringer profiles, and vibrate alert, among others. The WAP high speed browser provides wireless Internet access and data transfer via GPRS. To help you stay organized, the A56i also comes with a calendar, address book, and even EOTD position location. The phone's Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) let you send text messages that can be enhanced with audio, animation, and graphics, and it comes with predictive text input for your convenience. It also supports digital TTY/TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf).

The A56i includes a 700 mAh Li-Ion battery rated at up to five hours talk time and 250 hours standby time, and a battery charger. The phone measures 4 X 1.7 X .8 inches, and weighs 3 ounces.

Curious about data devices, and looking to step up from a traditional handset to a smartphone with more power and features? Look no further than the Palm Treo 680 smartphone. Perfect for business customers, mobile professionals and just about anybody looking to get more out of their handset, the 680 is an amazing and affordable smartphone. With features like Bluetooth 1.2, 64 MB of internal memory, an SD card slot with support for up to 2 GB of memory, a digital camera with zoom and auto light balance, and a full QWERTY key pad with backlighting, the 680 goes above and beyond many far more expensive smartphones. It's also the perfect complement to Cingular Wireless service.

Design
Under the hood, the Treo 680 features Palm OS 5.4.9, 64MB of non-volatile flash memory available for user storage, and an Intel PXA270 312 MHz processor. The design retains the same popular form factor as the Treo 650 with a few subtle, yet significant, changes. The design is slimmer and lighter, while the updated OS provides for better phone and PDA application integration. The amazing 320 x 320 color touchscreen is still there, as is the full QWERTY backlit keypad. This time though, the expansion card slot is located on the right hand side of the unit. The expansion card slot is compatible with full sized SD cards, and supports up to 2 GB of memory (memory cards sold separately).

Other design features include an infrared port for line of sight data transfers, as well as a handy switch for turning off the phone's ringer. A five-way navigator controls most of the phone's menus and operating system functions, while quick application buttons on either side of the navigator get you to your favorite applications in a snap. The left side of the unit features a volume up/down toggle plus a handy user-customizable button that can be assigned to any phone or PDA function. The rear of the Treo 680 houses a loudspeaker, as well as the VGA camera unit. A touch-screen stylus can be tucked away on the right side of the phone. Meanwhile, a combined charging, data, and accessory attachment port is housed on the bottom of the unit, as is a standard 2.5 mm stereo headset jack.

The Sanyo MM-7500, an upgrade to the popular Sanyo MM-7400, keeps all the powerful features of its predecessor while adding some major refinements, as well as support for Sprint's awesome Power Vision high-speed data and media service. Other features include a 1.3-megapixel camera with video capture capabilities, Ready Link walkie-talkie communication, and much more.

Design
The MM-7500's sporty clamshell form factor features rubberized trim for greater durability. The top cover houses an internal 176 x 220, 262,000-color display. There's also a supplementary, 96 x 64, 262,000-color display on the outside of the cover that displays pictures, call information, battery life, time of day, signal strength and more. An extendable antenna is located on the top right side of the phone. The outside cover also features a large speaker/microphone for speakerphone and voice recognition applications. The camera unit and LED flash are housed just above the speakerphone. Snap-on faceplates are available, letting you dress up the phone to suit your style. Most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button above the handset's dial pad. The Ready Link service is operated by a button on the left side of the phone-- walkie-talkie style. A 2.5 mm stereo headset jack is also provided, as is a USB data port for use with the included USB cable. The phone contains 70 MB of embedded memory.

When you're used to enjoying fast internet access at home, browsing the web on your mobile phone can seem like returning to the dark days of dial-up. T-Mobile has addressed this need for speed with the MDA Vario II, the first handset to offer mobile broadband across the UK using HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) technology. Described as '3G on steroids', this provides users with connection speeds of up to 1.8 megabits per second, four times quicker than previously available.

Features

Besides super-fast web surfing, the MDA Vario II is crammed with functions that make it more like a mini-laptop than a phone. Running Windows Mobile 5.0, it includes mobile versions of Office programs such as Word, Excel and Outlook, along with Microsoft Direct Push, which automatically downloads emails as they arrive. A full Qwerty keyboard makes working on the move simple and handily switches the screen from portrait to landscape view when you slide it out. Other notable features include a two-megapixel camera with a sports mode (for capturing moving objects) and flash, a VGA camera for video calls, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.