Mobile Phones
BlackBerry 8800
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This isn't the latest Blackberry handset available but is one of the thinnest devices in the range and functionally very rich building upon the basic push email application with more consumer friendly media features. The biggest difference however, and one which I think is very welcome, is that the jog dial from previous models has been replaced by the mini trackball from the smaller BlackBerry Pearl handset. Placed in the centre of the handset, it's immediately more accessible, easier to use and also a lot more convenient if you're left handed as well as being ergonomically more comfortable for your thumb.
The 8800 measures in at a svelte 14mm that makes it perfect for carrying around in a pocket and it's noticeably more slender than its older siblings. All the usual BlackBerry push email and mobile office features are here along with welcome new additions including Blackberry Maps for GPS and a media player so you can watch video's and listen to MP3's. A micro SD slot provides memory expansion whilst a standard mini USB port is used for connectivity and charging. As with previous models, the battery supplied with the 8800 is a real workhorse and can comfortably last for over a week with light usage on a single charge. Build quality is excellent with the unit finished in a silky smooth glossy black that just begs to be touched.
Two things are immediately apparent when using the 8800: the mini trackball is an excellent addition whilst the revised keyboard is just dreadful. Let's start with the mini trackball, this is one of those simple ideas that's so obvious it makes you wonder why nobody thought of it before. The trackball is mounted flush with the rest of the device so it doesn't stick out and can be rolled very easily, neither sticking in any direction nor requiring the type of force usually reserved for playing the old Atari Missile Command game. You can press the trackball in to select and there is a pleasing clicking sound when rolling with full customisation for how sensitive the tracking is. In short, this is a genius of an idea and a very logical interface for a business moby where games are a secondary requirement.
However, as good as the trackball is, it can't make up for the dismal keyboard. Previous BlackBerry handsets had a great keyboard that was spacious, tactile and capable of fast typing. The version on the 8800 is the exact opposite with the main problem being the lack of space between the keys meaning you need fingers like toothpicks to ensure you hit the right one. Coupled with the poor tactile feedback, this is no better than jabbing your finger into a ball of wool and makes for awkward typing and fiddly control.
So a great feature packed handset that's slender, slim, good looking and beautifully finished and with a great trackball but ultimately let down by a poor keyboard. Take your pick as to whether the merits of the trackball and a wafer-thin form factor outweigh the drawbacks of the rubbish keyboard.
Orange SPV C500/i-mate SP3
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The Orange SPV C500 (also sold as the i-mate SP3) is not the first Windows smartphone available but is the first one that was seriously worth considering. Previous Windows smartphones were bulky, slow, full of bugs and power hungry to the extent that you'd be lucky to get a days worth of usage out of a full charge. Not so the C500! This is a slinky, good looking handset finished in retro black that weighs in at 100g and runs the Windows Mobile 2003 operating system which is stable, fast, functionally rich and best of all, offers superb battery life for a smartphone. On a full charge and with moderate usage, mine lasts for nearly 4 days.
The most obvious aspect of the C500 is the chunky rocker switch in the middle of the handset. This gives 5-way directional control (but not 8-way with diagonals) with the bias on up and down actions that are prominent in the menu style interface of Windows Mobile 2003. The rocker seems to divide users with many people complaining it's too spongy and poor for games. I actually think the rocker works really well though and providing you're not a hardcore gamer, is far more preferable to the joysticks on other models that are renowned for conking out alarmingly quick. In addition to this, the keypad is a wonderful affair and well suited to tapping out SMS and the odd email. Button travel is minimal but the keys are large and the tactile feedback is very good so you're never in any doubt as to what you've pressed.
The really great thing about Windows Smartphones is how powerful they are. Games in particular blow away any of the crappy java efforts you get on Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets (try Bejewelled, SkyForce or Pocket Mini Golf) and the addition of Internet Explorer and MSN make the C500 useful for the odd surf. Add to that expandable memory (mini SD), GPRS, triband coverage, Bluetooth, MP3 support, a VGA camera, all the usual customisation tweaks and Windows Media Player for watching movies and you have a feature rich handset that can do just about anything.
Siemens SL45
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Back in 2000, brainwashed mobile phone companies shelled out 22 billion for 3G licenses. Realising their folly, they then tried to peddle photo messaging, GPRS and a whole bunch of other crap that no one really wanted in a desperate attempt to claw back some of the money they'd forked out. Amongst the heavyweight moose's of first generation 3G phones that emerged, the SL45 towered above them all as a beacon of efficient design, stylish looks and desirable functionality.
Weighing in at a featherweight 83g, the effortlessly slimline SL45 was a certified stunna' with its elegant brushed silver finish, large amber lit display and more curves than a Miss World contest. Reception was great and the keys were very tactile making a satisfying click when you pressed a button. However, it was when you popped the hood to take a look inside the SL45 that it really impressed with a comprehensive feature list. (click to enlarge) |
Not content with providing a full address book, built in voicemail, calendar, organiser, several games, ring tone composer, infra red, predictive text, currency converter, calculator and WAP for the two people who used it back in 2000, you also got custom ring profiles, a 32MB multimedia card (MMC), fully featured integrated MP3 player, dictaphone and Java compatibility.
It was the multimedia card and MP3 player that made the SL45 the real winner, both features that are common these days but were state-of-the-art back in 2000. The 32MB card was sufficient for about 30 minutes of CD quality stereo music and the MP3 playback itself was absolutely superb. Earphones plugged into the bottom of the SL45 with dedicated play, stop and volume controls mounted flush along the side of the phone. All the usual MP3 playlist features were available and Siemens even added a graphic equaliser with bass and treble controls. When a call came through, you could simply press a button on the stereo earphones cord to pause the MP3 player (the earphones also doubled as a hands free kit) and take the call.
The list of Really Useful Stuff continued with the way you could convert WAV files into ring tones (again, a very advanced feature back in 2000), SMS messages into text files and use the MMC card as a conventional file store for absolutely anything. The MMC card was also hot swappable, something that quite a few newer phones can't even do. Siemens bundled the Sync Station and serial cable for connecting the SL45 to your PC making copying files a slow yet simple matter of drag and drop from Windows Explorer. The SL45 software was Outlook compatible meaning you could sync your names, addresses, appointments and calendar between PC and mobile and even send text messages from your computer.
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It didn't stop there though with the SL45 packing in a dictaphone capable of up to 5 hours of recording on the MMC card. These could be converted into WAV files and you could even copy bitmaps to the phone to use as a background display. The Java functionality opened up a whole new world of time wasting games with hugely impressive versions of Pipemania, Loderunner, Pang, Asteroids, Pacman, Punch Out, Checkers, Prince Of Persia and even the old International Karate game from the 1980's. Games could be downloaded via WAP or copied across from your PC and there were even a handful of decent apps out there such as a mini Excel type thing, notepad, fully featured email client, world clock and Tube map, all groundbreaking for the time.
Siemens also made an SL42 which was exactly the same phone as the SL45 but sold with a 16MB MMC card and without earphones, Sync Station and cable. With an impressive integrated MP3 player that excelled along with genuine pocket sized dimensions, great performance and good looks, the SL45 was one of the most innovative phones ever made for its time.
Nokia E61
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With the advent of BlackBerry and push email, there has been a growing demand for devices with a full keyboard that offer the full suite of mobile applications. The E61 is Nokia's first effort in this market that actually hits the target bang on. The most important aspect of such a device is always the keyboard and the E61 has one of the best and most usable. Buttons are spacious, well arranged, have good feedback and make fast typing a real possibility allowing the whole concept of a mobile office to be actually feasible. Not only can I genuinely use this little beauty for IM, email and Microsoft Office, it's also ace for surfing the Web as the browser is fully HTML compliant and renders pages very quickly indeed.
A 5-way joystick completes the navigation nirvana and goes a long way to providing a top-tier interface that is a joy to use. All this doesn't come at the expense of the dimensions with the E61 remaining pocketable and petite, measuring in at a stick thin 14mm yet still putting in 3 days of heavy usage on a single charge. A micro SD slot is provided for memory expansion and the package also includes the ubiquitous Nokia pop-port stereo headphones that double as a hands-free.
The E61 runs version 3 of the Symbian S60 smartphone operating system. All the usual applications are present and a very welcome addition is the wifi module. Once setup, this works perfectly and has a good range being able to hold on to even the most tenuous wifi signal. As the E61 is more geared towards the business user, it doesn't have a camera as more and more organisations prohibit camera phones in the workplace in case you decide to take a copy of something sensitive and stick it on eBay. To appeal to the consumer market though, Nokia released the E61i which is the same handset but with a 2MP camera included and a joypad for navigation instead of a joystick. If you really must have a camera, this is the handset to go for otherwise the cheaper E61 with its superior joystick and more usable keypad is the better device. Both versions have expandable memory, a music player and bundled headphones making either one of them a top contender for most accessible business moby for the casual user.
Orange SPV C550
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More of an incremental upgrade to the C500 rather a whole new mobile, the C550 has a few new features over its sibling and was really designed to provide a stop-gap solution until the next major release of Windows Mobile. Like the C500, the C550 still uses Windows Mobile 2003 but the display is now QVGA resolution that's larger, brighter and wonderfully crisp bringing it up to the standard of the Nokia's and Sony Ericsson's that had long surpassed Windows smartphone's in the display stakes. Unfortunately, the camera is still stuck in the dark ages at a measly 1.3MP resolution which is a real wasted opportunity.
Gone too is the controversial rocker switch that has been replaced with a more conventional mini-joystick and a set of dedicated media player buttons that are mapped to the supplied Window Media Player application. The handset has roughly the same dimensions but because of the larger screen, the keys have now been crammed into the bottom half of the phone which makes them much worse for texting. The actual keys themselves are big enough but it's the tactile feedback, or rather lack of it, which really reduces the usability of this handset. Each key is slightly rounded but there is no sense of pressing a button unlike with the C500, Furthermore, the layout of the keypad has been altered with no space between buttons meaning accidental key presses are far more common.
Orange marketed this phone as a music player and included a generous 512MB mini SD memory card along with decent earphones. The latest version of Windows media player is also installed on the handset and pressing the play button immediately calls this up. Battery life is on par with the C500 and the funky Orange Fireplayer application is also included that lets you download tunes and remix them. As a gaming phone, the joystick is better than the rocker but is still only 5-way rather than the old 8-way joysticks of older smartphone's. More worryingly, the joystick on mine began to conk out after only a few weeks of use and wouldn't register the "up" action unless I pressed it like I was ironing a shirt. At the time, there were also relatively few native QVGA games and so existing games would either crash or run with a thick border around the gaming action. The few games that were native QVGA were usually compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 only that was the latest version available in 2005 and not entirely backwardly compatible.
The C550 was a nice handset with a lovely QVGA screen well suited to watching video clips. The bundled headphones with volume control and integrated music player with added 512MB mini SD card made it an attractive package for those buying their first Windows Smartphone. For anyone with a C500 though, this was a rather futile upgrade and didn't offer anything particularly groundbreaking.
Samsung i600
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Marantz are well known for their stereo amps and their expertise has been utilised in their AV range to great advantage. As a mid-range AV receiver, the stereo performance of the SR7500 is as good as a decent 2-channel budget amp and the high grade audio components used inside pay dividends with CD playback especially when the pure direct mode is engaged that switches off all the unecessary circuitry inside. If you're serious about your hifi as much as home theatre, the Marantz SR7500 is a big, muscular amp with a comprehensive learning remote control, contemporary looks and a beautiful high quality finish that would complement the modern home perfectly.
The Windows Mobile platform has full support for Outlook email and MSN so it's odd there are hardly any Windows Smartphone devices with a full Qwerty keyboard. Enter then the Samsung i600, a fully featured 3G and wifi enabled handset with full Qwerty keyboard that manages to out-Razr the Motorola in the design stakes. The i600 is a truly wonderful moby that is both thin and light (100g) whilst offering the full suite of functionality you'd expect from a smartphone. Ergonomics and usability are key selling points of the i600 and among the best you'll find on any platform.
A thumbwheel on the right hand side of the handset can be used for scolling through options or menus with a single click into the handset making a selection. This is accompanied by a back button just underneath the thumbwheel and together, it allows for one handed use and ensures navigation is a real breeze since it's much quicker to scroll a wheel than use a joystick. The Qwerty keypad is small but well spaced out with each key having a slightly curved, angled surface so that hitting them quickly and accurately is not a problem, even if you have sausage fingers. Tactile feedback is excellent for both the keyboard and two piece 5-way joypad that has a raised centre button for selection with an outer chrome ring for navigation.
The only fiddly bits are the 2 soft keys that lie either side of the centre button meaning they occasionally get pressed when hitting left or right. Also, because the softkeys are placed just above the call buttons, these too often result in accidental key presses when trying to dial a number. Overall though, the keyboard and navigation on the i600 exceeds anything currently available on the same platform and is a real lesson in usability and sensible ergonomics.
With full 3G and wifi functionality, you'd expect the Samsung to be a real brick but it measures a very slender 12mm in depth and weighs just 100g. Windows Mobile 5 is supplied as standard and offers Microsoft Exchange push functionality along with improved battery life and enhanced bluetooth support along with the latest version of Windows Media Player 10. A micro SD slot provides memory expansion without having to remove the battery or switch off the handset and the camera is a 1MP affair with a smaller 0.3MP camera for 3G video calling. As with other Samsung handsets, a horrible proprietary Samsung port is used for charging the battery, synchronising with a PC and plugging in headphones. This use of a propriatary port is worst thing about the i600 and Samsung are just being obnoxious by not moving to a standard mini USB port. Build quality is excellent with a large, bright and very crisp QVGA screen and charcoal black matt finish to the unit.
Battery life has always been an issue with Samsung mobiles and sadly, the i600 is no different in this respect. Push email coupled with a few bouts of 3G or wifi usage will kill the battery within a day which really isn't acceptable. Switching off the 3G functionality, wifi and bluetooth improves standby time considerably as does reducing the screen brightness. However, Samsung seem to be aware of this as the i600 comes complete with an additional extended battery that can keep you going for 2 days on a 3G network with push email. The extended battery does make the i600 slightly thicker but rather than just plugging in a replacement, the extended battery has its own battery cover that makes the unit flush at the back and really doesn't impact the overall size at all. Trying to remove the standard battery though is an Olympian effort itself, the battery cover fits so tightly and snug that I seriously thought I was going to break the handset trying to prise it off. After a few attempts, it does get easier and there's a definite knack to getting the thing off.
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Thankfully, the extended battery cover is much easier to remove and a separate charger unit means you can charge the regular or extended battery from the unit whilst using the other battery in the phone. Windows Mobile 5 is little different from other versions, most of the improvements are "under the hood" but it is a little snappier and there's a new coat of gloss including all new icons rather than menu's for selecting options. Additionally, Samsung provides its own custom Windows Mobile applications that are great. Piscel Viewer allows you to view (but not edit) many document types and I also found Smart Search and Smart Converter very useful. Best of all, Samsung has included a home screen carousel type thing that allows you to use the thumbwheel to quickly scroll through different applications that are arranged like a deck of cards with each card being brought forward when scrolling through the list.
If you're after a Windows Smartphone with killer features including wifi and a full Qwerty keyboard that is still pocketable, the i600 is the one to go for. Its winning combination of looks, features and fuctionality are only let down by the lack of mini USB but this is still undoubtedly the best non-touchscreen Windows Smartphone currently available and unlikely to be surpassed for some time. Hugely recommended and a big round of applause for Samsung (with some boo's for the lack of mini USB!).
Nokia 3500
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An entry level tri-band handset that's a cut above the usual budget fare, the Nokia 3500 is both lovely to hold as it is to look at. Along with sleek styling and svelte dimensions, the 3500 is available in several colours that outlines its credentials as a fashion accessory as much as a mobile phone. A solid metal rim around the handset contrasts nicely with a glossy black screen that offers super clarity and pin-sharp images, even in the strongest of light. Functionality is good too with Bluetooth, mini-USB, a music player and radio and a 2MP camera that has an 8x digital zoom. Expansion is via micro-SD that is used for storing pictures or music and there's no doubt that this phone is geared far more towards the younger end of the market who are more interested in the media capabilities of a phone.
The spacious keypad is a pleasingly tactile affair. Each key is flush with the handset with a slightly raised divider between buttons that reduces the chance of your fingers slipping to the wrong key. All the buttons make a very satisfying click when pressed and it doesn't require a lot of effort to tap out an SMS quickly and accurately. A square centre pad for selection with an outer bezel for navigation provides good ergonomics and coupled with Nokia's class leading Series 40 platform, means you'll be up and running in no time with customisation particularly well served as you can quickly whiz through the menu's without fear of the joypad slipping to the wrong option.For such a powerful handset, the physical dimensions are excellent. Weighing in at only 81g with the standard battery, the glossy finish to the front of the handset makes it appear much thinner than the 13mm it is, especially when the phone is in your pocket. Best of all though, the Nokia 3500 is sold at a very competitive price and comes ready bundled with stereo headsets and a memory card to take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of the phone making the 3500 a very strong contender in the Best Value Budget Phone With All The Trimmings category.