Mobile Phones

Like the well-known Ocean that Pantech designed with Helio, the Duo (also known as the C810) is a dual-slider handset that sports both a traditional numeric keypad and a full QWERTY keyboard. In order to accomplish this, a few compromises had to be made. For one, at 102mm x 50mm x 22mm (4.0" x 2.0" x .9"), the Duo is not a particularly thin handset. Its 128g (4.5oz) weight isn't going to set any records either. But all in all, Pantech did a fairly good job of keeping the size and weight of the device under control, which keeps the Duo looking, for the most part, like any other slider smartphone.

The most interesting part of the Duo's physical design, as well as the part that involved the most compromises, is the slide out QWERTY keyboard. In order to keep the Duo's overall thickness in check, Pantech had to make sure that the QWERTY keyboard was very thin.

The overall design of the Pantech Duo is decent. If you look at it primarily as a regular slider form factor smartphone, one that just happens to have a QWERTY keyboard to help ease the occasional messaging need, then the design works. If your phone needs require more frequent and heavy text entry, then the keyboard's feel is probably going to leave you wanting for more.

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.

Telstra's latest Next G handset offers a 2-megapixel camera, a TransFlash card slot and a fully fledged media player. Although its design is far from outstanding, it should still appeal to those looking at a reasonably priced option to accessing Next G services.

Manufactured by ZTE, the HSDPA-capable F852 is a handset offered on a lower priced plan than many other similar featured Next G handsets. It's aimed at consumers switching to the Next G network for the first time, but aren't willing to pay a premium to do so.

Although it's far from an outstanding phone, the appeal of the F852 lies in the fact that it offers full use of Mobile Foxtel and BigPond services, including Sensis Search, BigPond Photos and WhereIs maps.

Considering the kind of content the Next G network offers, the F852 is a little disappointing in delivering it. The internal display doesn't have a great viewing angle and the sound quality using the included headphones is below average. With no 3.5mm headphone jack nor A2DP stereo Bluetooth, there are no options for changing this.

BlackBerry devices have been well known for their business use, with excellent email capabilities thanks to a full on-board QWERTY keyboard. But the disadvantage of previous units was that the keyboard made handsets large, bulky and not very attractive. RIM has attempted to change this with the release of the 7130g - a new BlackBerry that is aesthetically pleasing, smaller in size and that features a SureType keyboard.

Features

BlackBerry's main claim to fame is email. The 7130g, like all other BlackBerry units, uses push email; a service that retrieves emails from your account and forwards them directly to your handset. The 7130g allows you to access up to ten email accounts simultaneously and it supports many popular ISP email accounts as well as Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino. When located near a wireless network, the 7130g uses it to retrieve email, but do note that when you're on the road it uses GPRS, and thus you will be charged standard carrier fees. The email application of the 7130g is the same as previous units; unfortunately emails are still date stamped with the time they are downloaded rather than the time they were sent. Despite this, the fact that anyone with a regular email account can use a BlackBerry means it appeals to a wide audience.

The Sagem myC4-2 is similar to the budget level myC2-3, but it adds a few extra features, including a convenient external screen and a VGA camera.

Like its counterpart, the myC4-2 is similarly compact although slightly larger - measuring just 77mm x 42mm x 23 mm and weighing a mere 75 grams. Once again, despite the size, the myC4-2's build quality is sturdy. The myC4-2 is finished in a sleek silver and white design, but sadly still makes use of an annoying and outdated external antenna.

The myC4-2 sports a convenient external screen, useful when the phone is flipped close. The screen is a basic monochrome number, but it displays Battery life, Current Reception, Time and Date, Caller ID and Missed Call and SMS information. The myC4-2 also has a blue LED above the screen, which flashes on the receipt of incoming calls or messages. The myC2-3 lacks an external screen, so it's good to see it make an appearance on the next model up in the Sagem range. In a further improvement on the myC2-3, the myC4-2 adds a convenient volume control key on the left side of the handset.