The Christmas selection of mobile devices

Apple iPhone

It was impossible to talk about mobile phones this year without the Apple iPhone being mentioned. This device and its competitors offer numerous functions which deepen the user’s experience, with the iPhone really focussing on ease of use.

With little weight and multipoint touch screen technology, this device offers great freedom since there are no buttons or the need for a touch pen. Of course, the product has been mostly configured for its home market in the United States, which therefore means that it doesn’t support 3G, but instead MMS.

Its power of seduction was also greatly increased due to months of speculation in the media and on blogs. Since January 2007, the date that it was announced, until June when it was released in the United States, hundreds of thousands of web pages and leaflets were prepared for its arrival. And the most important point was that it didn’t disappoint those who braved the long lines in front of mobile phone shops!

But while speaking a lot about the iPhone this year, it became apparent that part of the reason it was so awaited was for the revolutionary economic model that it introduced. For the first time it wasn’t the phone carriers that imposed their conditions on the phone, but instead Apple who imposed the redistribution of some of the carrier’s profits back to them.

And it worked. Attracted by the buzz, the carriers agreed to heavy payments (30 to 40% depending on the case) to assure exclusivity of the handset’s distribution. The first sales, at the beginning of November in England and Germany and at the end of November for Orange in France, have demonstrated the real success of the phone with the general public.

iPhone Orange 555$ with a subscription or 1,055$ naked and unblocked.
iPhone sellers are compared by E-Prix

Nokia N95

The Nokia N95 is technically one of the most complete products on the smartphone market. It is marketed as being capable of bringing together all mobile terminals, capable of replacing computers for a certain number of tasks.

A high speed mobile, wireless connectivity, GPS receiver, 5 mega pixel camera, 8GB of storage space, the Nokia N95 is adaptable to all users looking to converge their digital devices.

The Nokia N95 is a real technological window which has a double slider system instead of a tactile screen, with one of them being used for the telephone while the other is dedicated to the multimedia tools. Even if it suffers from a few teething problems (battery life, average GPS receiver), things should get better with the new version which also has a larger screen.

Quite expensive, although not very big, it meets the needs of those that want to have all of their functions in the same device. This vision isn’t shared by all players on the market, but one which still places the N95 as the model of reference.

 This is without counting on the imminent arrival of the Ovi portal which will increase the possibilities available on the phone in terms of music, mobile games and location.
Compare the Nokia N95 with E-Prix

LG Viewty

This isn’t a smartphone in the strictest sense of the word, but the richness in functionalities of the LG KU990 Viewty makes it an attractive product. This terminal is representative of the Korean company who are producing exceptional terminals for the European market, adding real value to their brand.

Capable of using HSDPA high speed mobile, and with a 5 mega pixel camera, something which isn’t seen so often in the European markets, it surfs on an interface that is entirely tactile, presenting a minimum number of physical buttons on the façade.

The LG Viewety is also distinguished by its multimedia capabilities, and especially the possibility of watching DivX films and video output. The only noticeable thing missing on this kind of product is the absence of WiFi connectivity which would have been a real plus, even if Bluetooth is already present.

With the Viewty aimed at the general public and the KS20 at the PDAPhone market, LG has opened a new market with these high quality terminals after having seen success with the Chocolate and Shrine models, with the first having sold 15 million handsets while the second sold 5 million.

Compare the LG KU990 Viewty with E-Prix