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LG is the new Nokia, or at least keeping up with Nokia in terms of introducing new mobile phones in the market. After the release of its Prada II and KC780 welcomes the LG Arena KM900, another of those touch-screen handsets, but it features a 3D user interface which has never existed in other mobile phones. LG’s latest also plays DiVx and Xvid videos to be catered by the 8GB built-in memory that can be expanded through the SDHC-compatible microSD card slot.

Measuring at 105.9mm x 55.3mm x 11.95mm thick and weighing at 105 grams, the LG Arena is a good-sized phone although it is too light that some may suspect that it is a cheaper handset (which is actually in the contrary). There are almost no side buttons except for the camera button and a volume rocker and the on/off switch on top. A sliding cover protects the power connector, which is also keeps the phone from absorbing dust. There is also a 3.5mm headset connector on the top edge. The LG Arena gives a kick-off design with mercury grey titanium backplate and a silver outer frame and black inner frame. It also features a fingermark magnet glass covering, but adds extra durability to the phone.

Generally, the Arena almost has the same look and feel compared to most full-face touchscreens (read: iTouch). It features a 3-inch screen with 480 x 800 pixels. Call and End/back buttons and a button that calls up the 3D user interface are beneath it.

Talking of 3D, this is the biggest buzz on this LG gadget, which is a victim of high expectations. Press the center button and a cube pops up in the middle of the screen that represents four home screens: shortcuts screen for the nine most used apps, a multimedia screen, a contacts screen and a customizable widgets screen. Tap a screen and it animates up into a full screen. A word like “3D” is a little heavy sounding feature in that LG’s attempt to showcase through a meager flicking cube is a little disappointing and anti-climactic.

Type texts and dial numbers using either the QWERTY keypad (in landscape) the mobile phone layout in portrait mode. Using the QWERTY is a little struggle. It also included an accelerometer for automatically changing the view according the way you hold the phone.

Connectivity options are promising for the Arena. It has 3G with HSDPA to 7.2Mbps. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS as well. The camera in front is designed for two-way video calling. Browsing on the large screen is easy with full page rendering, finger panning and pinch zooming possible. It is also equipped with TV-out capability.

Other impressive features in the Arena are music playback from Dolby Mobile, 5MP camera and software like Google Maps, G-mail, YouTube and Blogger, LG’s M-Toy tool, Movie Maker, alarms, a calendar, memo pad, stopwatch, voice recorder, calculator, world clock and unit converter.

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The HTC Vox S710 is a compact smartphone with a slider design that offers a full QWERTY pad and alphanumeric dialpad. Its keyboard is roomier with square buttons that are well-spaced for ease in typing-in texts, notes and emails.

It’s a comfort to hold at only 3.9 x 1.9x 0.6 measurement in inches. This, of course, makes the S710 light to carry at 4.2 ounces. The right spine is where the camera key is together with the microSD slot. In the left is found the volume rocker and the switch for voice command/recorder. You can locate the SIM card slot by opening the phone and looking at the back side of the front cover. Like the best of smartphones it runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition, and has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for connectivity. It has a Microsoft Office Mobile Suite that enables owners to use Excel and Word, and view PowerPoint. This smartphone also has an Audio Manager application, Windows Live Integration and Windows Media Player Mobile, though the Vox S710 doesn’t include 3G feature.

Its Direct Push technology will enable users to send emails in real-time and synchronize the S710 with Outlook through Exchange Server. It has a task manager and can also open POP3 and IMAP accounts, as well as view HTML formats.

What others are raving most about is the call quality it offers with a talk time of 7 hours, on top of the full Vox S710 tools that keeps in mind all the mobile necessities of a business professional on the move. You can bring it along anywhere as it is a quadband. It has the standard call features of smart and voice dialing, text and multimedia sending and receiving, and voice command.

Though it’s not a touch screen, it offers sharp texts and vibrant images on its 2.4 inch screen. It’s great on the reader’s eyes because it has a resolution of 320 x 420 pixel and can show 65, 536 colors. Users can adjust the backlighting and customize the screen background image, color scheme and home screen lay-out.

The Vox S710 has a 2-megapixel, no-flash camera that can shoot still and videos. It has standard options for picture-taking adjustments. Users can also shoot videos in H.253, Motion JPEG or MPEG4, and can include sound. This smartphone uses a 201MHz Texas Instrument OMAP processor and only has a program memory of around 24MB. A purchase of the S710 comes with an AC adapter, manual, software CD, USB cable and wired headset.

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If you have nothing else to do but lust after the HTC Touch HD but doesn’t have enough bills in the wallet (or not brave enough to your credit card, or your dad’s) then HTC made something especially for dreamers, not in bad way – the HTC Touch Viva. Of course, when we say that a phone fell in a budget conscious paradise, it has to sacrifice something and this time it’s the GPS and 3G. Don’t frown and let’s step back through the years, I bet you’ve lived the life without these perks, right? So let’s move on.

Don’t expect that the screen in the HTC Touch Viva is as flush as the other more expensive members of its family tree, but it’s considerably topnotch. It has an ordinary touchscreen that is responsive to finger presses; no need to add extra pressure with those pinkies. Despite the screen is a little small, the text and graphics remain bright and sharp.

On the back of the handset is the 2MP camera slightly hidden in a small recess probably to avoid any scratches when the phone is inside the pocket. The camera lacks auto-focus and flash, making its camera not recommended for night shots. It also develops a good deal of digital noise in low light.

Another problem arises in the music section, with the standard 3.5mm headphone jack sacrificed for a mini USB port for audio output. The same port is also used for syncing and charging the device, so it means that you can’t listen to your favorite while it’s charging o syncing data with your PC. The biggest surprise (or shock!) is that headphones aren’t included in the package. You have to buy them separately from the HTC accessories.

A little redeeming value for the HTC Touch Viva’s succession of turn-offs is the TouchFlo interface which offers finger-friendly access to most of the phone’s key features. Moving between functions such as text messaging, music player and Internet browser can easily be done with a finger running across a row of icons at the bottom of the screen.

Applications in the HTC Touch Viva include a dedicated viewer for YouTube, a handy RSS news reader and the Opera web browser, which makes browsing to websites much easier. It also includes preinstalled Google Maps, but the weird thing is the lack of GPS, a big moniker actually. The lack of 3G also means giving all the downloading tasks to EDGE which is only good for receiving emails, but definitely not for surfing.

We must not be oddly get dismayed with this metallic fella, as it still remains a phone, perfect for making text messages and voice calls, and you can still boasts its design to everyone, anyway. Just make sure you aren’t showing this thing to phone critics.

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The HTC Touch is the first ever phone to have an intuitive touch screen technology. This TouchFLO feature with HTC’s user-centric interface makes the HTC Touch very easy to use with either one’s finger or a stylus. This smartphone is not only finger-sensitive but gesture-aware as well. The HTC user interface greets users with a Today screen and a cube display that launches application with a flip of a finger. It brings users to the address book, music player, photos and videos. Swiping the 2.8” touch screen with one’s finger from top to bottom hides the HTC interface; and swiping up opens it again.

There is also an on-screen keypad, that would be better used with the help of a stylus, and a 5-way d-pad below the QVGA screen. Other buttons in this minimalist-inspired phone are the camera button, power-on key, volume slider and Windows Mobile keys. The slots for microSD and SIM cards are carefully hidden under the chrome trim. Music lovers will definitely appreciate the loudspeaker at the back. The operating system used is Windows Mobile 6 Professional with a Texas Instrument OMAP 850 processor of 201 MHz. For memory, it has a ROM of 128 MB and an SDRAM of 64 MB DDR. The Touch is also compatible with SD 2.0 which allows SDHC cards up to around 2 gigabytes.

Bundled in are HTC’s Audio Manager, Direct Push Outlook® email and Windows Media® Player that supports AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, eAAC+, MP3, MPEG4, QCELP, WAV and WMA formats. The HTC Touch is a tri-band that uses EDGE for DATA transmission. For connectivity, there is an 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 technology that will enable owners to use the smartphone as a modem for their laptop. They adequately make up for the absence of 3G.

Aside from being able to web-browse and email, listen to music and watch movie clips, send and receive text and multimedia messages with it, the Touch’ s call quality is rated very well. Its call features include call history and waiting, caller ID, conference calling, flight mode and voice speed dial.

The Touch has a decent CMOS camera with 2-megapixel and fixed-focus lens that takes 1200 x 1600 pixel photos. However, it does not have a flash. Users can opt for standard video for H.263, Motion JPEG and MPEG4 formats, or MMS for H.263 and MPEG4 formats.

This smartphone uses a rechargeable Li-Ion battery with 1100 mAh capacity. With moderate use, battery charge can last up to 3 days. Buyers can choose to own this tiny and stylish smartphone in either black or wasabi green. This 3.95-ounce smartphone comes with an extra stylus, manual with a shortened guide, slip case, software CD, USB connector world charger and USB sync. cable.

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The HTC Cavalier S630 is considered a T-Mobile Dash upgrade with 3G support. Like the Dash, the boxy Cavalier is compact at 4.4 x 2.5 x 0.5 in inches and 4.2 ounces. It has a 2-4-inch diagonal QVGA screen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixel and 65, 536-color. The display is easily read even when one is under the sun.

The QWERTY keys have more space between the rows, but have basically remained small and square, which must be noted by prospective owners with particularly large fingers. The left spine is where the power button, microSD slot, mini USB/headphone/power port and voice recorder

key are, while the right spine is where the camera key and scroll/volume strip are located. Camera lens and self-portrait mirror are at the back of the device. This smartphone uses the Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition operating system, which includes an enhanced Calendar application, Direct Push Technology and support for HTML email, Microsoft Office Mobile Suite, Windows Media Player Mobile and Windows Live Integration. Standard PIM tools like Adobe Reader, calculator, notes, task manager and voice recorder are to be expected.

With the above, owners can enjoy games, movies, music and video on their Cavalier smartphone; synchronize their Outlook email, calendar and contacts via ActiveSync; view Word and PDF documents; and browse the web fast.

To ensure that these applications and tools respond at acceptable speeds, the Cavalier has a Samsung SC32443 processor with 400MHz. There is also a ROM of 128 MB and RAM of 64MB. With the microSD slot, additional memory can be had. Since it has 3G support, speed reaches broadband level of 400kbps up to 700kbps.

There is also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity that allows object exchange, file-sharing, hands-free kits, and wireless or Bluetooth headsets.
The Cavalier is also a quad-band smartphone with an address book, caller ID, text and multimedia sending and receiving, smart dialing, speakerphone and voice dialing and command.

Its 2-megapixel camera has an 8x zoom but without a flash. It can take videos in H.263, MPEG4 and Motion JPEG formats. Both photo and video functions have the standard adjustment choices for resolution and quality settings. The Cavalier has a talk time of six hours according to the manufacturer. If users need to lengthen battery life they can limit the use of wireless technology. A purchase of a Cavalier S630 comes with an AC adapter, car charger, USB cable, wired headset, CD guide and manual.

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Just debuted at the CES 2009, RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 with no details on pricing and availability date, it is now finally out! Considered as the company’s top offering, the Curve 8900 replaced the 8300, with a parade of improvements: a sleek design, sharp display, a faster processor, a full HTML Web browser, and a 3.2MP camera. With the integration of Wi-Fi caused the omission of 3G-support, which actually didn’t demote the handset’s greatness.

A QWERTY Blackberry is supposedly robust, not with the Curve 8900 that sports a dimension of 4.2 x 2.3 x 0.5 inches and weight of 3.8 ounces, making it the slimmest and lightest Blackberry to date. This is the dream phone and messaging device, compact and very comfortable to hold. It has a solid construction, despite made from plastic.

Design-wise, the Curve 8900 kicks ass. It borrows the BlackBerry Storm’s tapered edges and painted it in metallic hues that gave it a fresh and modern, less masculine look, making it appeal to different users. The 2.4-inch LCD supporting 65,536 colors at a 480×360-pixel resolution offers an impressive sharpness and brightness and its user interface is very aesthetically pleasing.

A navigation array, consisting of Talk and End keys, a menu shortcut, a back button, and the trackball navigator, sits below the display. The buttons are laid out sensibly simple and spacious, so using the controls and navigating the phone are easy. The layout is simple and spacious, even the side controls, so there are no problems using the controls or navigating the phone.

The keyboard is similar to the BlackBerry Bold although smaller to fit the size, meaning the keys aren’t as roomy yet are still easy to type with. Press the buttons and they will provide tactile feedback. The buttons are also well backlit in red.

Curve 8900’s operating system is the BlackBerry OS 4.6.1.114, which provides applications like DataViz’s Documents to Go Suite for editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and other personal information management tools like Calendar, task list, memo pad, voice recorder, calculator, password keeper, and more.

Web browsing is a feat in the Curve 8900 by offering full HTML Web browser that support RSS feeds and streaming media, including YouTube clips and presents easier browsing and navigation. There are zoom in/out functions as well. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi or T-Mobile’s EDGE network.

Voice features include quad-band world roaming, a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, smart dialing, conference calling, speed dial, and text and multimedia messaging. It has built-in GPS and media player as well.

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Research In Motion Ltd, or RIM, has attempted to bridge the gap between the casual buyer and the corporate world with the new Blackberry 8800. The new smartphone is still aimed at business moguls but RIM gave it a little twist for the tech savvy yuppies who are also always on the go. Blackberry 8800 is more like a combination of the strictly business 8700 and the consumer-oriented Pearl.

The Blackberry 8800 is stylishly designed with its thin and sleek built, measuring 114 x 66 x 14 mm and weighing 134 g including its battery. Sure, it’s a little longer than the 8700c, but it’s unquestionably thinner. It is easier to slip into your purse or pocket. However, the phone is considerably wide, making it awkward to hold it to your ear during a call. Its smooth and glossy appearance matched with a bright color screen would surely catch your eye. It is coated in a deep midnight blue and chrome accents, giving it a sexy allure.

This blackberry unit sports a stunning 2.5 in. screen with a 320 x 240 pixels and 65,000-color primary display resolution, which has a light-sensing technology feature that adjusts the backlighting of the screen automatically depending on your location—indoors or outdoors.
With the said technology, texts and images are remarkably clear and vibrant even under harsh lighting. The light-sensing feature also adjusts the backlighting of the keyboard and trackball as well.

The 8800 is just the right size for comfortably typing with both thumbs on its full QWERTY keyboard and the same time, small enough for single hand typing whenever necessary. This is remarkable as most QWERTY type phones cannot pull this off. However, people with large hands may find it a little cramped and too small for their thumbs.

As a rip off from the Blackberry Pearl, this unit also sports a glowing pearly white trackball instead of the jog dial that most businessmen have gotten used to. Yes, it make some time getting used to but we must admit, a glowing orb is definitely more attractive than a primitive jog wheel on the side. Don’t you just love having a pearl to slide your thumb onto? This elegant trackball offers five-way navigation, making paragraph and specific letter navigation a lot easier.

Blackberries have been famous for its superb email capability and the 8800 is of course adequately equipped with the famed push technology. It can also sync with the Blackberry Enterprise server of your company supported by IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise for real-time delivery of corporate email. What’s more, the unit can support up to 10 email accounts, which can include POP3 and IMAP4. However, its wireless option is limited to Bluetooth 2.0 and there is no A2DP support for stereo headphones. The device also has no Wi-Fi capability and 3G connectivity. It operates on EDGE for net surfing, which supports HTML Web browsing.

The quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) smartphone also has built-in GPS and Push-to-Talk (PTT) feature—added functionalities that can be extremely useful to people who rely heavily on electronic gadgets.

As it this smartphone is a crossbreed of business and leisure, the 8800 included built-in media player which supports MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and MIDI formats for music and MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 files for videos. However, as it still more business-focused, it excluded camera in its list of features.

The Blackberry 8800 comes with a 64MB of flash memory but a separate microSD card would come in handy if you plan to use it for your daily commute playlist of songs. RIM promises a 5-hour talk time and up to 22 days standby time on this device.

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