sony ericsson w995

• Phone typeSlider
• Height97 mm
• Width49 mm
• Depth15 mm
• Weight113 grams

With a model number like 995, you get the impression Sony Ericsson want you to know this is a high-end, top quality product. So surely with a tag like this, the W995 makes the tea, takes out the dustbin and prepares a lovely four course meal for you. OK, so it doesn't do any of those things, but this is one phone which brings the best of both the Walkman and CyberShot range of phones together in one fantastic package, whilst even finding space to squeeze in one of the most requested Sony Ericsson features ever – so we're prepared to forgive it!

Why You Should Buy the W995

• Walkman 4.0 music player.
• An 8.1 megapixel camera.
• Assisted GPS.
• The W995 is a 3G handset with HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity.
• M2 Memory Stick slot for increasing storage, an 8GB is included.
• A 3.5mm jack plug built-in!

Those in the market for an all-round mobile phone which satisfies both their camera and music player desires, usually have no choice but to purchase a top-end smartphone. But for those who don't want the fiddle of learning a more complex new OS, the W995 offers an almost ideal alternative. The Sony Ericsson feature-phone operating system is easy to use and attractive to look at, especially with the addition of the Flash Lite themes found inside this model.

This ease of use continues when you open the Walkman software. A direct access button can be found on the edge of the handset along with play, track forward and track back keys, each nicely illuminated for use in the dark. This is version 4.0 of the Walkman software so it includes all the equaliser and playback options one would need, plus the Sony Ericsson SensMe, Shake Control and TrackID features. Audio quality is also superb, with the W995 beating the majority of its competition. It's also great to see Sony Ericsson finally fitting a standard headphone jack on the body, rather than relying on an adaptor.

The camera is equally well specified. The 8 megapixel lens takes pictures at a maximum resolution of 3264x2448 and features autofocus, a PowerLED flash, face detection, geo-tagging, macro mode, exposure metering and an image stabiliser, so you should be able to get the very best from your pictures. An accelerometer handles screen rotation and the user interface is very similar to that found on most other Sony Ericsson camera phones, meaning it's simple to use and almost entirely managed by the D-pad and the side-mounted shutter key.

Assisted GPS is built-in, as is an FM RDS radio, the excellent Netfront browser, a YouTube client and a wide selection of motion controlled games. The W995 is similarly sized to the C905, but at only 118 grams, it's considerably lighter, however the slider form factor is not as smooth and rounded as the top range CyberShot phone. Three different colours are available, Progressive Black, Energetic Red and Cosmic Silver.

Summary of the Sony Ericsson W995.

If you want a feature phone with both a brilliant camera and a great sounding music player, the W995 is a perfect purchase. Alternatives include the Nokia N86, however this is a Symbian smartphone, and the excellent Samsung INNOV8, but for all out usability and a set of great features, it's hard to beat the new Sony Ericsson best-of-both-worlds offering.

samsung Marcel S3500

• Phone typeSlider
• Height99.9 mm
• Width48 mm
• Depth14.3 mm
• WeightTBA grams

The Samsung Marcel is the latest cool, slick, slim handset from Samsung and like everything coming off the Samsung production line at the moment, its great! Following on from the acclaimed Soul series by Samsung, the Marcel S3500 certainly doesn't disappoint. With a metal look and feel, the Marcel oozes quality and style, and boasts a great slide action which creates a very compact unit when closed. As a low to mid range handset the Marcel S3500 punches above its weight featuring a 2.2 inch display, 2MP camera with superb photo quality, great music player and FM radio. It's ideal for those quick snaps when you're out in the club, and with a fantastic Bluetooth connection they can be shared with everyone. You'll also find a card slot for expandable memory so you can store thousands of songs, images and documents!

samsung u600 baby pink

• Phone typeSlider
• Height103.5 mm
• Width49.3 mm
• Depth10.9 mm
• Weight81 grams

Forming part of Samsung's new Ultra range of handsets, the U600 exudes elegance and grace. Not only does it look the part, it also acts it too with a 3.2MP camera, MP3 player, FM radio, GPRS, EDGE, and Bluetooth! With its sleek steel keypad and at just 10.9mm thick, the U600 is a magnificent phone.

nokia 6600 slide

• Phone typeSlider
• Height93 mm
• Width45 mm
• Depth14 mm
• Weight110 grams

The elegant Nokia 6600 Slide offers a balance between discreet looks and a well featured mobile phone. Compact and sophisticated, the 6600 Slide has a simple organic design that fits into the palm of your hand. The Nokia 6600 offers a 3.2MP camera with autofocus, a 2.2" screen, 3G support, accelerometer, music player, FM stereo radio and expandable microSD card slot. Tap control allows you to discreetly filter the functions on your handset. With Nokia Maps, in conjunction with a GPS bluetooth dongle, you can also turn your mobile phone into a portable Sat Nav unit!

nokia 6303

A pleasure to see, hold, and use. The Nokia 6303 Classic combines enduring design with up-to-date features to give you a compact yet smart and stylish mobile phone. The 6303 Classic measures in at just 11.7mm thick yet still manages to include an easy to use keypad and crystal clear TFT display. In terms of features, the 6303 comes well equipped for any task. You’ll find a fun 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, digital zoom and flash, Nokia Maps for easy navigation, integrated speakerphone, conference calling and a music player to keep you entertained on long journeys. The web browser is especially impressive and offers a smooth and satisfying surfing experience. This is enhanced further by the large 2.2-inch screen that can support 16 million colours. And to help you make the most of all the functions on offer, Nokia have provided 64MB of internal memory and scope to boost this further by adding a microSD card. Whatever your needs, the Nokia 6303 Classic is up to the challenge!

• Phone typeCandy bar
• Height98.4 mm
• Width55 mm
• Depth11.6 mm
• Weight100.6 grams

The original Armani may have pre-dated it, but the Tocco F480 was the model where Samsung came of touchscreen age. Although they both share similar looks, the Armani's innovative but flawed Croix interface has been dumped in favour of the far more user-friendly TouchWiz system, which is also found on the Pixon. In fact, thinking of the Tocco as a Pixon-lite wouldn't be far off the mark, as it gives the 8 megapixel monster a serious run for its money!

Why You Should Buy The Tocco!

• Created using glossy plastic and shiny metal, this 100 gram, 11mm thick handset is a thing of beauty!
• A 5 megapixel camera lens can be found on the rear of the handset.
• It's a 3G handset with 7.2Mbps HSDPA support.
• An FM RDS radio plus a music and video player for entertainment.

The main attraction of the Samsung Tocco has to be its touchscreen. It's a 2.8” screen with a resolution of 240x320 and although that may sound a little small for a touchscreen device, it does the job perfectly well thanks to its brightness and sharp colours. This is the first Samsung to feature the TouchWiz interface, a clever little system which consists of a sidebar on your main screen filled with widgets. Dragging these widgets from the sidebar on to the main screen with your finger activates them, displaying everything from a clock to your music player and making it a quick job to activate your favourite features. The Tocco also has haptic feedback – a vibration when you press the screen – which best of all can be adjusted for sensitivity.

Samsung have overhauled their music player to make it finger-friendly and have included many custom options to ensure it never becomes a frustrating experience trying to listen to the song you want! Much of this is thanks to the widget, which does everything one needs without visiting the full on music player deeper in the menu. The large screen looks good when playing videos, however only a few formats are supported. Unusually, Samsung have given the Tocco just over 200MB of internal memory – which makes a nice change – plus there is a MicroSD card slot for extra storage.

The 5 megapixel camera onboard the Tocco is up to Samsung's usual high standards, taking detailed and colourful snaps. In order to make your pictures look the best they can, there is a variety of software enhancements which may help including shake reduction and face detection. The camera is an autofocus item with an LED flash for those lowlight shots, plus it will shoot video too. Completing the Tocco's feature line-up is an array of connectivity options, with GPRS and EDGE to back up super-fast 3G with HSDPA. Finally, A2DP Bluetooth is on hand for wireless talking and listening.

Summary of the Samsung F480 Tocco.

There is little to fault on the Samsung F480 Tocco, it combines the right features inside a very pocket-friendly casing which looks every bit as stylish as the designer-branded Armani and thanks to the excellent TouchWiz interface and responsive touchscreen, both first time and experienced touchscreen users will be satisfied with its user-friendliness. We love the little Tocco and are positive you will too!

And Now the Tocco has a big brother, the Samsung Tocco Ultra, which features the same Touchwiz User interface, a 2.8" touchscreen, an 8MegaPixel Camera, GPS and 3G connectivity.

sony_ericsson_c905_pink

• Phone typeSlider
• Height104 mm
• Width49 mm
• Depth18 mm
• Weight136 grams

Overview

The Sony Ericsson C905 is a slider mobile phone which when closed could be easily mistaken for a regular point-and-shoot camera, it's only when you pop the slider to reveal the keypad that the illusion is broken and the C905 becomes a phone. However, looking like a camera isn't any good if you don't have the tech to back it up, but the C905 has no problem here as it's a massive 8 megapixel Cybershot model!

Features at a Glance

• The huge 8 megapixel camera with autofocus and plenty of software enhancements!
• Built-in Assisted GPS with geo-tagging feature.
• It's a 3G phone with HSDPA and Wi-Fi for the fastest connections.
• Multimedia features include music, video and an FM RDS radio.
• 160MB of internal memory plus a 2GB Memory Stick Micro.

Why You Should Buy the C905.

The C905 is a thing of beauty with the slider closed, with the softly rounded edges for a comfortable grip, chrome highlights surround the sides where a selection of buttons for controlling the camera are found and the body has a soft-touch coating emphasizing the C905's high level of build quality. As you hold the phone like you would a camera, the capture button and zoom rocker fall naturally under your fingers and the screen, a 2.4" 240x320 TFT item, does a great job as the viewfinder. If you are wanting a phone which feels exactly like a camera, the C905 won't disappoint.

The 8.1 megapixel lens takes fantastic pictures, full of vibrant colour and detail and just like other CyberShot phones, there is a wealth of software to assist in this process. Naturally it has autofocus and the C905 also has a xenon flash for real low light shooting ability, face detection, red eye reduction and smart contrast too. When you activate the camera, there are several dedicated keys on the face of the phone which illuminate to allow control over your picture; these are located around the D-pad and to the side of the screen, providing a great solution to the issue of digging about inside a menu when all you want to do is take the picture!

The Sony Ericsson C905 is their flagship CyberShot model and it's loaded with features in addition to the brilliant camera. The 3G phone has HSDPA support for fast data speeds while out and about, plus Wi-Fi if you're near a wireless hotspot, giving plenty of opportunity to use the first class web browser installed on the C905. We love its intuitive scrolling and very handy zoom features, so much so we wish the phone had a bigger screen to display it on! A GPS receiver is built-in and comes with both Google Maps and a trial version of Wayfinder Navigator installed. You can also geo-tag your pictures too.

Finally, the music and video player are similar to those found on a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone without a few of the enhancements, but retaining the excellent sound and picture quality, plus there is an FM RDS radio and a wealth of organisaiton tools.

Summary of the Sony Ericsson C905

It may not be the smallest or lightest phone available, but the C905 is easily the most camera-like of the current crop of 8 megapixel camera phones. Picture quality is also fantastic, it has almost every essential top range feature and good looks too! Finish the package off with decent connectivity options and the excellent NetFront browser and the C905 emerges as one of the most complete mobile solutions available.