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Consumer mobile phone roundup March 2009
Looking at the new consumer handsets for March, the focus seems to be very much on photography, with the Sony Ericsson C901, Nokia N86 and Sony Ericsson W995 all offering the budding snapper a host of facilities, gadgets and software to while away the hours.
First under the spotlight is the Sony Ericsson C901, which is being marketed as the ideal handset for photo and video bloggers. Coming in three colours – black, silver and peach (?!) this lightweight mobile with 5 mega pixel camera and 320 x 240 pixel resolution has an auto focus feature, Xenon flash to enable snappers to take better pictures in the dark and a smile detection feature (presumably, to ensure that it doesn’t take photos of anyone not smiling, so absolutely no good for Marilyn Manson). Photo editing can be done on the handset itself, with photo blogging and geo-tagging facilities included and You Tube/blogging compatibility. A small 120mb internal memory will become full quite quickly though. You can also access FM radio and record videos, with a media player installed for both video and music playback.
With Bluetooth connectivity, a talk time of 9.5 hours and a standby time of 430 hours, the W995 is a decent phone, especially handy for editing photos on the move. But – it has strong competition.
The Nokia N86 has the same resolution as the C901 and a larger screen at 2.6 inches. It has an impressive memory of 8 gb, with an 8 mega pixel camera, capable of competing with most digital cameras currently on the market. With a Carl Zeiss optic tessor lens, digital zoom, auto focus and flash, it’s also on the hot list for happy snappers.
Coming with standard 3.5mm stereo headphones, the handset has the Nseries digital music player, supporting MP3 and FM radio functionality, providing a playlist and displaying album graphics. Other nifty tools include Nokia maps, so you can see where you’re going, A-GPS, to see where you are, and accelerometer.
Not to be outdone, Sony has also launched the W995 in a much more appropriate choice of red, silver and black. With a 2.6 inch screen, stereo speakers and kick stand for hands free video viewing, this ultra light model has gone one better with an 8.1 mega pixel camera, boasting auto focus, face detection and photo flash.
Having both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, the W995 comes with Media Go software, enabling download of any image or music file from the internet, regardless of format. Its integrated walkman technology includes shake control, sense me and play now. It can record and play videos, browse the internet and of course comes with a range of addictive games.
And finally – the roundup wouldn’t be complete without at least mentioning the Vodafone HTC Magic, due to hit our shelves in the next few weeks.
This will be the second Google Android-powered phone, after the G1 and details are as yet still flimsy. We do know that this slimline handset will have both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and offer speeds of up to 7.2 mb download and 2 mb upload. Let’s hope it has a longer battery life than the G1!