Gadget Reviews

The latest phone from social networking experts INQ is the Chat 3G which is a BlackBerry style phone that is dedicated to social networking. Looks-wise it’s pretty funky with a glossy finish, curved lines and bright red accents, it definitely adds some style and a splash of colour to the INQ range. INQ phones are designed to ensure you never miss a thing from your favourite social networking sites with integrated Facebook, Skype and Twitter as well as instant messaging and email facilities. The aptly named Chat features a full QWERTY keyboard so you can send messages, emails and texts from the landscape 2.4 inch screen in super fast time.

The operating system on the INQ Chat 3G allows you to stay logged in to your favourite online sites whilst using other applications on your phone and the homescreen provides notifications on Twitter and Facebook updates as well as support for push email. The Chat 3G features a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and it has built-in GPS. The phone has 120MB of storage with the ability to expand to 8GB, which is loads of room for photos and videos. This is a great phone if you love to stay in touch with friends while you are on the go. Buy it on contract with unlimited internet, free Skype-to-Skype calls and free Windows Live Messenger.

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Free on a pay monthly contract from £30 per month. Order now for delivery in time for Christmas.

The N900 is the latest generation, Maemo-based internet device from Nokia. Unlike previous devices such as the N800, the new N900 features full telephony and messaging. The Nokia N900 has a super sharp 3.5 inch touchscreen.. With a built-in accelerometer it automatically launches the phone dialler application when you turn the N900 into portrait mode, giving you quick access to make calls. The super powerful processor allows you to run multiple apps without problems. For example if you have a video playing you can switch to the task manager where everything will still be working, great for those who love to multitask!

The Maemo interface gives you four different homescreens that are easily accessible with a simple swipe of the thumb. To stay in touch with friends the N900 has combined SMS messaging with Instant Messaging and allows you to view the availability of contacts in real time. There’s a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for writing messages and emails with ease. Skype is also pre-installed, for making VOIP calls.

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The Nokia X6 has an impressive 3.2 inch touchscreen that covers almost the entire front of the phone giving it a very innovative and unique design. The phone is pocket and palm friendly measuring 111 x 51 x 13mm and it’s great for watching movies with the 16:9 aspect ratio screen. With 32GB of internal memory there’s plenty of storage too. The X6 runs on Symbian OS v9.4 and has a 434 MHz processor, which is enough to compete with many of other smartphones on the market. The new X Series range from Nokia, will replace the XpressMusic range. As well as launching the X6, Nokia will release the entry-level X3 slider phone iearly in 2010.

The X6’s TFT capacitive touchscreen gives a crisp, bright image and comes with scratch resistant glass. There is a built in accelerometer for automatically switching the screen from portrait to landscape, for widescreen images and videos. For texts and emails the X6 also supports handwriting recognition. The 5 megapixel camera from the Nokia N97 is built-in, it has Carl Zeiss optics, auto focus, LED flash and geo-tagging to take fantastic images of your favourite moments and stamp them with their exact location. The camera also has video recording capabilities and there is the ability to edit images with software provided in the package.

Connectivity-wise, the Nokia X6 has all the usual feature you would expect in a smartphone, 3G, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and a microUSB slot to transfer files with or without wires. To ensure you never get lost the X3 has Ovi maps 3.0 satellite navigation software pre-installed. The X6 combines style and technology to bring a fantastic, feature packed flagship phone to the X Series.

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Free on an 18m contract from £35 per month.

The Nokia E72 is the successor to the popular E71 business phone and has been upgraded to suit the business user even more. The new optical navigation key enables you to scroll through the phone’s features such as photos, web pages and maps, as well the menu, effortlessly. Connectivity is all there with Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3G and HSDPA now at 3.6Mbps for fast downloads. The E72 features a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, plus a secondary video call camera. There is also a handy flashlight available by simply holding the space bar key.

The E72 is a good size and of course it features the excellent QWERTY keyboard making it easy to send emails and messages to co-workers and friends. As with all Eseries phones, email is very easy to set and with the E72, push email is also available. There is a high quality feel to the handset and the chrome metal edging combined with the glossy black face makes it a very attractive smartphone.

A useful feature of the E72 is active noise cancellation which enhances the call quality and cuts out background noise. QuickOffice is included, offering compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007. Nokia Maps comes pre-installed and the E72 has GPS for sat nav and also a digital compass on board to ensure you are always going in the right direction.

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Expected November 17 and available to pre-order now.

The Samsung S5560 (also known as Samsung Marvel) features a large bright touchscreen display that uses Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. Users can add interactive shortcuts to the 3 inch screen, providing quick and easy access to social networking sites, messaging, multimedia and much more.

The Samsung S5560 includes a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, autofocus, plus smile and blink detection. Being a mid-range phone there’s no 3G but Wi-Fi is included along with a web browser, email, stereo Bluetooth 2.1 and an FM radio.

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The Acer neoTouch F1 runs on the latest Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS and with a Qualcomm 8250 1GHz processor it is a super fast smartphone. It can easily cope with a number of demanding applications running at once, without slowing down. Watching videos and browsing the web is fantastic on the sharp and bright 3.8 inch WVGA screen. Users can customise their interface and homescreen with widgets and shortcuts. The neoTouch F1 has the latest version of Internet Explorer which lets users run multiple tasks and with HSPDA plus Wi-Fi, web browsing is fast.

The neoTouch F1 has a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash and geo-tagging as well as VGA video recording. For music on the go there’s Windows Media Player an expandable memory up to 32GB using a microSD card. An FM radio is also built in, with RDS and there’s a standard 3.5mm audio jack. For those who love to network from their mobile the neoTouch has Facebook and Flickr widgets for quick and easy access, plus instant messaging and email support for immediate messages.

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Free on Orange with 7 months half price line rental. Stock arriving 11th September.

The LG BL40 Chocolate is the fourth phone in LG’s Black Label series. First the LG Chocolate, then the LG Shine, followed by the LG Secret. The new BL40 Chocolate has a 4 inch HD touchscreen (800×345 pixels) with a cinema aspect ratio of 21:9. It uses the latest S-class user interface with multi-touch, gesture controls and an accelerometer for automatic screen rotation. The web browser, Google maps and messaging on this phone all look very impressive.

The BL40 has Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and HSDPA with speeds up to 7.2Mbps, where available. There’s a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with a Schneider Kreuznach Lens, which is welcomed as some of the current 8 megapixel units produce poorer photos in low light conditions. There’s 1GB of internal memory, expandable to 32GB using a microSD memory card.

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Nokia have announced a new range of media phones called Xseries. Two new Nokia phones are expected before the end of the year, the Nokia X6 and the Nokia X3.

The Nokia X6 has a 3.2 inch touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, perfect for watching movies. It has 32GB of memory and is should be arriving before the end of 2009. Expected price is £400.

The Nokia X3 is an entry level Xseries and will be the first Series 40 phone to be compliant with Ovi Store. It’s a compact music device with a slide out keypad. It has a 2.2 inch screen, stereo speakers, an FM radio, expandable memory and a 3.2 megapixel camera.

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Out now on contract, the Nokia E55 is a powerful, smartphone with a QW-ER-TY style keypad. It has a slim design and a 600 MHz CPU.

Identical in functionality to the Nokia E52, which has a standard numeric keypad, the E55 is a slender 9.9mm in depth and 98g in weight. It has a 2.4 inch QVGA display, a comfortable keypad, impeccable build quality and a fantastic specification.

The Nokia E55 has the latest Symbian S60 OS, it comes with feature pack 2 and you’ll find lots of finely-tuned improvements when comparing to previous Eseries devices. There are plenty of applications pre-installed, including all the document viewers you would anticipate plus support for MS Office 2007.

Connectivity covers everything including Wi-Fi, HSDPA (up to 10.2 Mbps), A-GPS, Bluetooth an FM radio and a digital compass. The 2.4 inch display has an accelerometer, which is useful for reading documents, web pages and emails, or for watching movies. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack and class-leading audio quality. In fact, the media capabilities are excellent for a phone that is aimed primarily at business users. A 1GB memory card is included, which can be upgraded to 16GB.

A basic 3.2 megapixel camera is on-board. It has a fixed focus with an LED flash, which is okay for taking occasional pictures but it won’t compete with the latest dedicated camera phones.

Overall the E55 is a great device and along with its E52 sibling, is certainly the best compact smartphone currently available.

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The Nokia E52 is a powerful, yet slim, stainless steel smartphone with a 600 MHz CPU. Aimed at business users, or people who like to keep their lives organised, the E52 is a third generation phone, following the E50 and E51. The newcomer is a slender 9.9mm in depth and 98g in weight. However it is not to be assumed that any concessions have been made to allow for the size of the phone. It has a 2.4 inch QVGA display, a comfortable keypad, impeccable build quality and a fantastic specification.

The Nokia E52 has the latest Symbian S60 OS, it comes with feature pack 2 and you’ll find lots of finely-tuned improvements when comparing to previous Eseries devices. There are plenty of applications pre-installed, including all the document viewers you would anticipate plus support for MS Office 2007. Connectivity covers everything including Wi-Fi, HSDPA (up to 10.2 Mbps), A-GPS, Bluetooth an FM radio and a digital compass. The 2.4 inch display has an accelerometer, which is useful for reading documents, web pages and emails, or for watching movies. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack and class-leading audio quality. In fact, the media capabilities are excellent for a phone that is aimed primarily at business users. A 1GB memory card is included, which can be upgraded to 16GB.

A basic 3.2 megapixel camera is on-board. It has a fixed focus with an LED flash, which is okay for taking occasional pictures but it won’t compete with the latest dedicated camera phones. Nokia’s Ovi Maps application is pre-installed and works nicely with GPS and the digital compass. Overall the E52 is a great device, quite possibly the best Eseries to date and certainly the best compact smartphone currently on the market.

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