3GSM 2007 On-site Coverage

3GSM, the largest event in the wireless history is taking place in Barcelona, Spain, from February 12, until the 15th. More then 1,300 exhibitors from all fields of the wireless industry in aggregate here to exchange ideas and show their latest products. About 60,000 visitors are expected to attend this unique event.

Banners and ads from the major players in the wireless industry, such as Samsung, LG and Motorola took our attention as soon as we departed the plain. They are just everywhere – on buses, TAXIs and buildings.

Motorola KRZR K3 is the 3G successor of the K1. HSDPA data is supported, and the internal camera is used for video calling in 3G networks.

Both of the displays are now larger in physical size, but this is most noticeable for the external display. Below it is a speaker which the K1 didn’t have there. There is minor difference between the keyboards of the K1 and K3, but the usability is almost the same. At the beginning, the K3 will be available in only silver, but probably more color options will come later.

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It uses Motorola’s standard interface and is not based onLinux-Java or Symbian platforms, but an improvement is that the mainmenu is now in 3x4 grid instead of in 3x3. The browser built in the phone can open full HTML pages and ithas option for zooming in and out. Running on ARM11 processor, K3 ismuch faster than its predecessor.


Motorola KRZR K3 Video

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The RIZR Z8 is Z6’s successor and features an unique bend whenit is slid-open. When the slider is up, the back bends at angle inorder to achieve more natural form (similar to the one of a clamshell)when you keep it next to your face. A small inconvenience is that whenyou want to close it, the bottom slider should be pushed forward, andthen slid down. Getting used to it, you’ll to all with one finger onlyand with no effort.

The Z8 is slightly wider compared to the Z6 allowing it to have larger 2.2” display with same 240x320 resolution and colors increased to 16 million. The front is almost identical, with the same keys, and the only difference is the video-calling camera and the bottom part which is notched on the Z8, while the Z6 has smooth one.

Sliding the phone open is easy and reveals the keypad which is different from the one on the Z6 plus is slightly angled. The keys are separated by elevated horizontal and diagonal lines, making it easier to find the different keys. Usually most phones have a small bump in the middle of the “5” key. The Z8 has the whole “5” raised instead making it even easier to find the middle of the keypad without looking.

What is interesting about the functionality of the Z8 is that it is running on Open-Source Symbian UIQ but without the touch-screen support. Motorola don’t want to call the RIZR Z8 a Smartphone, but it is, in any aspect of the word. 3rd party developers can make software for it and customers will be able to install it without a problem. Keep in mind, that all applications for Symbian UIQ available now will not working on the Z8, as you need applications that are for the non-touch version of the UIQ. They do not have to be rewritten completely, but just adapted for the Z8.

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The Z8’s UI is very colorful and the main menu consists of large icons in three rows. The Home screen shows shortcuts to different application and out-of-the-box is set to call, send email, calendar and current profile.

Motorola call it a strong multimedia phone and that is how it will be marketed. Every person at the MOTO booth first showed us the video player, when we asked something about the Z8. It plays MPEG4/H.264 and on the QVGA screen, videos with high-quality look very good. The phone is powered by dual processors, one of which is dedicated to video processing.

The new Z8 is expected to launch in Q2.

Motorola RIZR Z8 Video

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The SLVR L9 is the newest phone of the Sliver series. Motorola positioned this as mid-level phone, with great design and functionality. Good looking silver candybar with internal antenna it has QVGA display, 2-megapixel camera and music player. In addition, FM stereo radio is built in. Stereo Bluetooth can connect to headphones or speakers and transfer the music wirelessly, but if it is from the radio, you need the wired headphones to be used as an antenna.



The memory of the SLVR is expanded through microSD cards. In addition to them, it supports MEGASIM technology which allows the user to use SIM cars which also have 1 GB storage capacity. The special SIMs will be provided by participating carriers only.

SLVR L9 Video

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The Q Q9 GSM is the successor of the Q, adds 3G, increases the camera resolution to 2-mega pixels and features new design. Of course it will come with Windows Mobile 6 (Standard Edition), and will run on 320MHz processor.

The curves of the phone are now rounded, and its keyboard is redesigned and the rows are in the form of a rainbow and the keys have very little space between each other. Depending on your taste, you may think of this as an improvement of the Q, or as a disadvantage, but most people find this one to be more comfortable. The keys are pressed very easily. The right side has separate up and down keys, with confirm in the middle, instead of the wheel present on the first Q; Motorola claims most people find this option to be more comfortable to use.

Motorola added to Q9 option to read Adobe PDF documents and to edit PowerPoint Presentations. By default, it has Word and Excel which are standard for all WM6 phones.

Being a quad-band GSM HSDPA device, the Q9 has very fast data and downloading Email or browsing the internet is times faster than the EDGE connection. Customers can now experience the world of 3G, including video calling. Motorola will launch a few versions of the Q9 with support for different 3G frequencies – a version for Europe and two versions for the States, one of which will support the new 1700 MHz which will be used by T-Mobile USA.

When we asked Mr. Amer Husaini, Motorola VP GSM Devices about the long delay of the Q GSM launch (it was announced together with the CDMA, and the latter one is available for more than a year) we were told that after the Q announcement, Motorola have realized that people want 3G phone and not a 2G. But after the 3G version has already been almost ready, they’ve decided also to do 2G only version for the people who don’t need (or have as a network) 3G and announced the two phones together.

Motorola Q Q9 Video

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Motorola Q GSM is absolutely identical to the CDMA version that Verizon and Sprint have offered for a long time, but running in GSM/EDGE networks. We confirmed that it doesn’t feature WiFi built-in, as Motorola’s press release quoted, but is only capable of it via the miniSD I/O slot. The Q GSM will ship running on Windows Mobile 6 Standard, which replaces the Windows Mobile 5 for Smartphones.

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Motorola W205 and W510 are two budget phones. The W205 will cover the ultra-low end of the market, which means this is just a phone and nothing more. It is dual-band GSM with small color display and very low price.

The W510 is advertised as a budget KRZR. Although at low price, it has very decent feature-set, including 2 color display and megapixel camera. It has slot for memory and stereo Bluetooth and will be offered in different color version.

Nokia Booth

Mobile television is getting more and more popular and broadcasting is now available in the US and many countries in Europe. While in the States, MediaFlo is likely the monopolist of this market, in Europe the most used technology will be DVB-H.

The N77 is Nokia’s second DVB-H capable phone, with the first being the N92 which launched commercially a few weeks ago. While the N92 is considered a high-end device, the N77 is a mid-level phone with a lower price.

It doesn’t have that “special mobile-TV” look but is plain candybar, resembling the N73 in many aspects of its design. In order to watch TV though, it can be put to lie on its left side so the display is in horizontal landscape direction. We are happy to see that the N77 is completely monoblock solution – you don’t have to rotate or open any hinge or display, or retract an antenna (it is internal) in order to watch TV.

The DVB-H service allows for up to 50 channels, but most service providers nowadays offer only about 15, The quality is almost regular TV-like, but still from time to time we noticed lag or missing frames. We contribute this not the actual phone, since the rest of the DVB-H devices we tested also behaved in a similar way. In the case of the N77, you have QVGA display with very nice quality and size. The sound of the TV comes from stereo speakers located on the bottom and the top of the phone.

On the right side you will find a dedicated TV key which starts the broadcasting application for a few seconds. When you are in it, moving the joystick left or right or just using the numeric keypad (0-9) will change the channel you are watching.

As this phone is TV-oriented, the camera is 2-megapixel unit and not 3-megapixel as it was on the N73. The rest of the phone’s functionality is the typical for all Symbian S60 handsets.

The N77 is tri-band GSM for Europe/Asia with single band UMTS data, and 240x320 display with 16 million colors. The features include microSD memory slot, Bluetooth and FM radio.

As we’ve said before, the N77 is very similar to the N73 by itslook, but also has some different aspects – for example its keypad istotally flush, the keys are still relatively small, but pressing themis easy and with very strong tactile feedback.

Nokia N77 Video

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Nokia announced the E90 as their most-converged and powerful phone, part of their Enterprice series. They actually call it E90 Communicator, which clearly states this is the successor of the 9500 Communicator, which until now was Nokia’s most advanced business device. The E90 features almost everything you may want from a converged device, and Nokia can really call it "multimedia computer" as they love to do with all their phones running on Symbian.

Building on the previous Communicator’s design, the new phone is side-opening clamshell. Being closed, it is a fully-functional S60 Smartphone with normal size QVGA display, numeric keypad and navigation keys. You can use all of its functionality in this mode, including camera, internet browsing, GPS navigation, etc. It has dual-position hinge, which will allow you to open it half way (similar to a notebook computer) or fully for tablet-like look. The opening mechanism is very smooth and comfortable to use, and feels solid at the same time. Open it a little more than the half, and you can put it on a table, where it will lie on small rubber "feet" positioned on its back side. In this mode, you have access to the full QWERTY keyboard. We really loved the large size of the keys, and the fact that you have a separate row for the numbers and they are not put as secondary characters to other keys. There’s also an additional line with shortcuts above, which opens the Calendar, Contacts, Notes, and other predefined menus. Unfortunately, the keys are not raised and you may not feel separate ones, but typing is still very fast and with almost no mistakes, ones you get used to them. The new E90 also has backlight, which was missing with previous communicators.

In the E90 to take or place calls, it has to be closed. You can also call when it is opened, but this will be a conversation, conducted through the phone’s speakerphone. If a call arrives while the phone is opened, you can answer it and use the speakerphone, or close it and then choose to either receive or reject it with the green and red keys.

Full of features, the E90 packs Wireless Lan, HSDPA and GPS. The first two are used for high-speed data, which can be used for the email client or for browsing the internet.

This is done via the Browser, which is exactly the same as those of other Symbian S60 phones and in our opinion is the best Internet Browser available on a phone. As you have 800x352 pixels resolution on the internal display, the need of horizontal scrolling will be greatly reduced.

The mentioning of S60 above is not a typo. Unlike the previous Communications, E90 runs regular S60 3rd Edition over Symbian v9.2, a very welcomed move, which should have happened even with the release of the previous models.

The GPS can be used for Navigation, and the phone comes preloaded with Nokia’s Maps software which is the same as the one of the N95 for example. Keep in mind that this one has fewer features than the one coming with 6110 Navigator, a phone specially designed for navigation. Still, the Sirf Star III chipset of the GPS is guarantee for robust and accurate positioning.

Talking about the features, we just want to mention that it is powered by 330MHz processor, which may sound slow, but in reality the phone is very swift. Another (minor) upgrade over the previous Communicators is that this one now has a vibration.

Our overall impressions from the E90 are EXTREMELY positive. Converged devices have been on the market for a while, but all had some shortcoming, which were either features missing or too bulky or large size. The previous Communicator attempts were somewhat successful, but could not compare to the excessive feature-set of the new E90.

During the short time we spend with the device, we were just trilled with functionality, features and design. The display is superb, the keyboard is very convenient, the HSDPA speeds are there, the camera is 3.2 mega pixels, and it is ready to navigate you wherever you go!

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Classic is arevolutionary device for Nokia, as it improves almost any aspect of thefunctionality when compared to the phone it replaces – the Nokia 6070.Being part of the high-end of the entry-level class, the 3110 istargeted as a mass-seller phone with basic multimedia functionality.

Among its features are support for 1.3-megapixel camera, microSD memoryand Bluetooth with stereo sound. Connecting it to a computer is viastandard miniUSB cable, which hints us that Nokia are slowly but surelyabandoning their Pop-up Port. The display of the 3110 Classic is bigfor this class, but also is its keyboard, which is very usable and leftus with only good impressions.
Nokia 3110 Video

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Nokia E65brings the Enterprise functionality of the S60 phones to the stylishslider design. While the 6110 is slider dedicated to Navigation (GPS),the E65 is enterprice slider with WiFi. Talking about sliders – thisone opens extremely well! The phone is very well built and its back hasleather like surface for preventing of slippery but also helps for morepleasant feel. This is probably the E-series phone with the mostinconvenient keyboard. Starting from the upper slider, the navigationkey is very usable, but the four shortcut keys next to it take a lot ofplace, and the most frequently used keys – the soft keys and the menu,and the most important ones for a phone – the green and red receiversare very small and hard to press. Navigating through the menu, we oftenhit upper right shortcut instead of the right soft key, which openedthe contacts menu assigned to it. When we go to the bottom slider, thekeys are pressed well, but their size is very small. This is due to thefact that a great part of that slider is reserved for theslider-mechanism, similar to the N95 phone. Otherwise, thefunctionality of the E65 is the very standard of a modern Nokia S60phone. We find it strange that it won’t be available in a versionwithout a camera, because when it comes to Enterprise, cameraphones arenot always welcomed.

The E65 is quad-band GSM phone with UMTS for Europe, but strangely lacks HSDPA. The battery times are incredible – 6h of talk and 11 days of stand-by.

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Nokia 6110 Navigator

We started the rumors about the 6110 Navigator after we saw a NissanQashqai SUV with advertisement stickers for the 6110 over it, andexpected to see the new device at 3GSM in Barcelona. Nokia officiallyannounced it, and it appeared to be a S60-powered slider phone withbuilt in GPS (via Sirf Star III chip) and powerful new navigationsoftware.

The 6110 Navigator has size and design similar to those of the E65which is also a slider, but features GPS instead of WiFi. We find itskeyboard more comfortable to use due to the bigger key size. As thedevice is basically a standard Symbian S60 3G smartphone, we will notdiscuss its functionality, but will only focus on its navigationfeatures.

The chipset of the GPS it has is one of the best offered on the market,and the software coming preloaded is comparable or better of evenTomTom or other similar solutions.

The navigation view shows you a map with the roads and your currentlocation. You can choose to a specific address to go to, and the 6110will find the fastest or shortest way to it. Choosing Near-by allowsthe user to view and be routed to close to his current location POI(Points-of-Interest). Voice Hints are available which helps you findyour way without watching the display all the time. This helps youwhile driving when you have to keep attention on the road, but is alsovery handy if you are a pedestrian.

Unique about this phone is the “Pedestrian Mode” where you just choosethe destination, connect your headphones and put the 6110 Navigator inyour pocket – it will tell you where get there as a pedestrian, not asa car. In this mode, one-way streets are ignored and threaded asregular ones, the expected time-of-arrival is calculated based on theaverage speed of a pedestrian. This is very handy, and everyone who hastried to navigated as a pedestrian using a phone (even a Pocket PC) anda TomTom for example will know that “in car navigation” just doesn’t dothe job.

As this software is more advanced than Nokia’s Maps which come with N95and E90 for example, it has more features. Using it, you can findcinema, specific type of restaurant or other public place (POI - Pointsof Interest) near you by choosing the type you want, but that is notall. As the 6110 is a phone as well, from the navigation you candirectly choose to call this place or email it, if it has electronicmail.



Getting a meeting organized is also easy, as you can send your GPScoordinates as a message to other phone, and if it is compatible (a S60v3 phone with Maps), the other person will “read” them and navigate toyou.

In the box, the phone comes with a DVD with maps for about 50countries, but the maps for only one country are activate. If you wantto use others you must license them, which will cost about $13 (EUR10)to $65 (EUR50) for a country and about $105 (EUR80) for a region, whichwill depend on exactly which country or region you want. The priceswhich we were given are preliminary and might change.

Using the Map Manager software on your computer you will also be ableto see when a map is updated, and so will be able to purchase thelicense about this one with a discount if you already have it.

The phone features include quad-band GSM operation, plus EuropeanUMTS/HSDPA data, 2-mega pixel camera, 40 MB internal memory and microSDslot in case you need more.

When it is available, the 6110 Navigator will start at $590 (EUR450) sim-unlocked.
Nokia 6110 Video

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While the E65 and the E90 are totally new models from the Enterprise category, the E61i is merely a E61/E62 with a camera. The new phone also has minor design changes, like the battery cover, slight keyboard and battery time improvements. The navigation part of the keyboard is more different with two new shortcut keys and a 5-way d-pad instead of a joystick. Nokia claims that this controller is much more comfortable to use, and it actually is. It is strange to see that for connecting to a computer, the old PopPort is used as it was in the E61, and not a miniUSB and 2.5mm jack as in the E62 and new Nokia phones.

Running on Symbian S60 software, there are just a few changes when compared to the E61. You can choose on your own, which plug-ins to appear on the Active Standby screen, but it is not sure if 3rd party apps would be usable in this place. The E61i comes with Theme Suite which was available on the E50 but not on the E61, and helps for personalizing the appearance of the user interface.

The E61/E62 had great battery times, and the E61i improves those even further. The stand-by time has been increased from 11 to 17 days, while the average for today’s phones is about 8. The stand-by has gone up as well, and it is now 7 hours.

Nokia E90, E61i, E65 Video

Samsung Booth

Samsung phones are getting slimmer and slimmer with every new announcement, and we are not sure when this will be over – will there be a phone as slim as a sheet of paper?

The phones from the Ultra II series are slimmer than those of the Ultra I, but not at the price of features. Unfortunately, they are all European-bound phones and the U600 is the only one with quad-band GSM supports, which makes it fully usable in the US.

Samsung has always like to have the “world’s …” and they kept their practice and released the “world’s thinness” phone, or the U100 Ultra 5.9 The super-slimness is noticed from the second you take it in your hand. This is successor of the X820 and has smaller bulge on the back for the camera module, but it is 3.2-megapixel one instead of 2-megapixel, which is not a small improvement.

The keyboard of the U100 is completely flush, hard to press and without any tactile response, which makes it the worse we've tried so far– it seems that the slimness comes at the price of comfort. U100 has the same display as the X820 (220x176 pixels) but its main menu is comprised in a grid of 3x4 icons, while the X820 was 3x3 with larger image of the selected menu at the right. Sub-menus are similar to all of the other Samsungs, visualized as a list which shows the sub-options of each menu.

The phone’s speed is very fast, as with the rest of the current Samsung line. The device is tri-band only GSM for Europe, but we expect a US version as well.

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Ultra 9.6 or the U300 is the clamshell phone from the Ultra II series and replaced the D830 from the current line. Its whole front is of brushed metal, but the back cover is plastic. It has small caller ID display on the front, while on the inside there is QVGA. Interesting about this phone is that the whole keypad is touch sensitive. It is completely flush and the keys don't move at all, but unlike other phones using this technology, here you can just quickly tap on a key and don't keep your finger on it for a period of time in order to get it pressed, which makes them work lots faster. In order to give some tactile feedback, the phone slightly vibrates on every keystroke which definitely makes it easier to be sure that a key press was acknowledged by the device.


The flip is easy to open and reveals very bright and colorful 2.2” internal display. The front also has a small LED one which displays the most important information. As the phone is tri-band GSM only, it is destined to be released in Europe only

Samsung U300 Video

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The Ultra 10.9 U600 doesn't improve much on the D900, which it replaces. It has slightly different design with smooth surface and touch-sensitive keys on the upper slider – we aren't impressed by their performance, as their reaction is slow. The numeric keypad of this one is not completely flat as the previous two models, and so it more usable – although the size is not very big and the keys on one row and don’t have any space between each other, you can at least feel when you press one.
The camera resolution is kept the same as on the D900 and is 3.2-mega pixels.

Samsung U600 Video

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U700 is the 3G version of the U600, but it drops the 850MHz GSM band which means it is not suitable for the US. Pretty similar in other functionality, you can notice that the U700 has 2 more keys on the upper slider (between the soft and answer/reject keys) and that its navigation key is different. It is not only a standard 5-way navigation key we are used to, but the circle area around the center position can be rotated similar as a iPod wheel – this way you have an alternative for moving (scrolling) through the menus. U700 adds almost 2mm to the thickness of the U600.

Samsung U700 Video

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In addition to the Ultra II slim series phones, Samsung announced the new Ultra Multimedia phones, including the F510, F520 and F700 – Unfortunately all these are tri-band phones for Europe/Asia.

F510 is an upgraded version of the F500 – it is dual-faced candybar with rotating bottom part, which actually has multimedia controller with touch-sensitive keys. In addition to the DivX videos of the F500, the F510 now supports DVB-H for Mobile TV broadcasting on the QVGA display. When you rotate the controller, you can extend a telescopic antenna which will help for improving of the signal strength of the TV receiver.

When we tested the DVB-H of the F510, we experienced lag of theconnection in the first few seconds after a channel is chosen. Loadingthe TV at all is pretty slow operation, which took us 20-30 seconds thefirst time we did it.


Samsung F510 Video

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Samsung F520 is an interesting device with dual-slider design – you can slide it up for numeric keypad, or from the slide, to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. When it is closed, you still have large touch display to operate over Samsung's new Flash based interface, which will compete with the Apple iPhone and the LG Prada. Unfortunately the demo unit over at the 3GSM show was not working and we were not able to take a look over that interface, which Samsung claim to be better than the competition. We will not talk about the built quality of the phone, because it was so early prototype that even was able to open it to the both directions at the same time. You will not be able to do this in the commercially available phone.

Samsung F520 Video

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The Samsung F700 Ultra was announced a few days before the 3GSM show started, and we immediately called it "an iPhone competitor" – just as the F520, this one has big touch display (wide screen 440x240 pixels) and just a single key. Again, here is a side-sliding full QWERTY keyboard – although the size of the keys is relatively small and there is almost no space between them, we believe they will be more comfortable than the iPhone's on-screen keyboard, when it comes to typing a message. The F700 can be proud that is probably one of the most beautiful devices on the market and also of its 5-megapixel camera.

One thing thatruins its look though, is that it very easily catches fingerprints justas the KRZR, the Prada, the Pearl, (probably the iPhone), and everyother device with glossy surface.

Samsung F700 Video

LG Booth

LG cooperated with Prada in order to bring to market their high-end designer’s Prada phone. The Prada is one of those "touch-screen only operated" phones and will be a competitor to the iPhone, Samsung F700 and other similar devices. Its advantage is the Prada name, the Schneider Kreuznach lens and the unique (for now) touch-only UI.

The LG Prada has glossy black finish similar to the one of the Chocolate and KRZR from Motorola, and easily captures fingerprints. So easily, that the phone was cleaned almost all the time by the Prada girls on the LG’s booth.

The interface meets the expectation of the stylish exterior and is black and white with white icons and white text on black background. The interface becomes colorful only when you open an image or video, or turn the camera on and use it as a viewfinder. Different color themes though are also available for people who are not attracted to the lack of colors in the menus.

The virtual buttons on the screen must be pushed with full finger only, because the display will not detect a push by a pencil or something else, just as the touch keys of the Chocolate. Typing a message is done via a virtual keypad (numeric, not QWERTY) in combination with T9 system, which gives very phone-like experience. During our testing, we got acquainted with the UI and typing very fast. The Phone-Dialer buttons are very large, as almost the entire screen is used by the virtual keyboard, which makes dialing very easy. The Phonebook and Messaging keys are slightly smaller as more information must be displayed, but still very adequate in size. We would have really liked it, if LG had developed a key-press feedback system, similar to the slight vibration on every key-press on the U300. Despite that, we found the text input to be easy, but not as fast as regular keypad.

In stand-by mode, the screen shows an analog clock, which position can be changed via dragging it on the screen. A row of four icons, which act as shortcuts to the most used functions, such as Menu, Messaging, Calling and Phonebook are displayed on the bottom of the screen. When inside a Menu, the bottom shows only tree buttons, which are the Options, central OK and right Back.

The whole menu system is divided in 4 screens, each of which has a maximum of 2 rows of 4 icons each. The main screens are the Calling, Multimedia, Calendar&Calculator and the Settings. To switch between them, a row of four icons is positioned on the left of the screen.

The segment of luxury phone really needed more contenders. By launching the Prada and Shine lines, LG broadens the choice for people with discriminating palate. We do not feel the Prada will be in direct competition with the iPhone, and not even the Samsung F700. The Apple creation is youth oriented, for people who seek the different experience, not exactly the luxury feel of the Prada. Looking at the F700 specification, you notice it is completely different category as well with full QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA, 5-mega pixel camera with interface very similar to the one of Prada. The device target audience is not the fashion cautious user, who wants more basic functionality, but the high-tech seeking users, who still care a lot for the luxury feel. Comparing the specs, F700 just kills the iPhone and the Prada. Which one you choose, depends on personal preferences.
LG Prada Video

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The Shine phones come as the successors of the Chocolate – the Black Label Series of LG. They’ve already are available in Korea as CDMA versions, but the GSM world phones now become available in Europe as well. The Shine removes the touch-sensitive keys of the Chocolate and replaces the glossy-black surface with stainless steel and high-class metal feel. When the phone is in standby, its display conceals and becomes a mirror which sadly gets dirty fast and should be cleaned often.

LG KE970 Shine is the slider phone, which is the high-end model of the line. It is almost entirely made of stainless steel, which taken in hand gives extremely solid feel. Slim device, the Shine feels nicely in the hand both opened and closed.

As we said, it removes the touch buttons from the Chocolate. But it adds another interesting navigation key – a 2-way scroller. It is a small tube that you rotate to move up and down. The two ends of the scroller can as well be pushed and act as left and right. In addition, there are two soft-keys.

The call-management keys together with the Clear key and the numeric keypad are on the bottom slider – open the phone (the sliding mechanism is good) and you will find them. This top line of keys is harder to access because your finger will touch the upper slider, but the other keys are OK. Unfortunately they are all flush and without any tactile feedback, and very hard to push, so messaging is not the easiest thing to do. The blue backlight adds for the classy look of the phone, but in our opinion white would be nicer.

On the right side are total of four keys, which are too close to each other to be easily found and pushed. Only the camera key which is on the bottom can be felt as it is raised, you should look at the other to use them.

The Interface of the Shine reminds the one of the Chocolate, but this one as a list and not as a grid. Its easy to navigate through it, but may experience problems with the scroll and actually miss the option you want which should go away after a few days of use. In the sub-menus, you can push the left and right end of the scroller to move to the previous and next sub-menu, which are indicated as TABs as it is in the Chocolate.

Overall, the Shine does well what it is supposed to which is to catch attention. It has very eye-catching design with solid construction and feel and unlike the Chocolate, it is almost unique. The Chocolate glossy-black surface is present in many other phones – the KRZR, the Pearl, and the new F700 and more, while the only other similar all stainless steel device is the Nokia 8800.

When we add a good feature-set which includes quad-band GSM/EDGE, 2-megapixel camera with Schneider Kreuznach lens, QVGA display and memory slot, the Shine is definitely a good choice for people who are attracted by its look.

The HSDPA version of the Shine will have model number KU970 and will be available in April 07, with MSRP of EU600. The candy-bar version, KE770 will as become available in April.

LG Shine Video

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Sony Ericsson Booth

The K810 is the replacement of the K800 3-megapixel shooter, building on its platform. The new phone is slimmer by a few millimeters, and greatly reduces the camera bulge on the back, so the phone now can easily slip into your pocket. The camera-cover is redesigned and it is now smaller and covers almost only the lens itself, but opens with less efforts and a lot more smoothly. Keep in mind that even that dimensions are reduced, the camera module is the same and quality of images will not suffer.

The K810 has more mature look than its predecessor, and it is more elegant. The numeric keys are round, made of metal and reflecting the light. Although they look very uncomfortable at first, using them should not be a problem due to the empty space between the key rows. The tactile response is very good and comparable with that on the W880.

The soft and navigation keys are hard to press and almost without response, while the joystick can be uncomfortable because it has pretty small area around it and bigger fingers may not be able to push it to the left or the right for example.

An improvement when working with the camera is the addition of shortcut keys - the left column (which is bottom row in landscape) has blue characters indicating what the function of each key is. In picture taking mode, the short-cuts can adjust the focus, picture size, timer and flash. The keys are not-programmable, so their function cannot be chanted.

In video capture mode, the short-cuts backlit is off, but the #4 and #7 keys still function as allow image stabilization and focus adjustment.
The two keys above the display also have that blue backlight and act as camera shortcuts.

Sony Ericsson K810 is the first Cyber-shot phone to have PhotoFix functionality, which when was under development was called BestPic. The option allows to automatic brightness and contrast adjustment on images, which is standard functionally or most image editing software packages. This is the first time such an option is part of the phone's software itself, rather then an option in post-image manipulation.

Effect of image editing

Unfortunately, we found the implementation of the feature to be very flawed and we let K810 product manager know. The issue is that PhotoFix is not an automatic feature, but an option in the camera menus. First of all, it is very hard to notice over or under exposed images on the phone's small screen and that is why similar functionality is part of the computer software packages. Even if the user notices that the image is overexposed (too bright), he has to go to a menu and select PhotoFix which will in turn adjust the brightness. It would have been a lot easier as we pointed out to Sony Ericsson, PhotoFix to be turned on or off via a menu, and activated on every single shot taken automatically.

PhoneFix performance is nothing exceptional, and similar results can be accomplished with any computer based software.

The User Interface and actual software on the K810 is what can be seen on the K550 or the W880 devices (expect the Walkman music player) and is pretty standard. The response times were very good, without any noticeable lag when switching menus.

Overall, the new K810 is a good next step for the Sony Ericsson and their Cyber-Shot line. In our 3.2-mega pixel camera test, the K800 shared the first spot with Samsung D900, and the new K810 will perform similarly well. We only expect to high resolution, but from what we heard during the pre-3GSM SE press event, the company priority is not to increase its camera resolutions any time soon.

Sony Ericsson K810 Video

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K550 is mid-range quad-band GSM Cyber-shot phone with features similar to the K750. Its camera is 2-megapixel unit, with active lens cover which was hard to open.

Similar to the W880, the keys of the K550 are also with metal look but are not round. The narrow rectangular keys, depending on the person who tested them, were found comfortable or not. Still we valued the separation space between them, which makes mistakes less likely to occur.

The volume keys located on the right side are very flush and almost impossible to find without glancing at them and during a call, we think they would be hard to locate.

Instead of a joystick, the navigation is accomplished via a 5-way key which actually looks similar to a joystick. It is very comfortable to press it up and down (the key is raised in those directions) but left and right keys are hard to press, due to its small size. We are not happy to see that the shortcuts to the Internet and to "My Shortcuts" menu are very hard to press, which makes them almost impossible to use. Hopefully in production models those will be improved.

Sony Ericsson K550 Video

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Sony Ericsson W880 is the slimmest phone of the manufacturer - one of the Sony Ericsson's most talked about models. Part of the Walkman series, the W880 offers excellent functionality in slim design. It measures only 0.4" (9mm) in thickness, despite which still offers excellent feature set including 2-mega pixel camera, 240x320 pixel display and UMTS.

The small metal keys are very similar to those used in K550 and W610, but are actually shorter and with better tactile response and overall performance. We again did not like the navigation pad, which has easy to feel up and down direction, but almost unnoticeable left and right ones. Missing are the standard volume keys usually located on the right side. In order to adjust the volume, the user will have to do it during a call via the d-pad.

The UI is identical to the one used in W610 and W550 (only the camera interface is different). The Walkman software installed is considered version 2.0 but still is almost identical to the original one. New is the TrackID software, which after 10 seconds recording of music will connect to a central database via any available data channel (GPRS/EDGE/UMTS) and will spit out the artist's name, album and song title and offers to send it via SMS. During out testing though, probably due to network congestion, the TrackID failed to get an answer from the server and timed-out about four or five times. We can give our final verdict only after a longer testing, which will happen when we get the device for a review.

One of the biggest shortcomings of the W880 is the tri-band only GSM support. In other words, do not expect it to be released in the US by any carrier.

Sony Ericsson W880 Video

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The W610 is mid-tier Walkman device, with similar to K550 design. It lacks though the active lens cover of the K550, as it considered music and not picture oriented.

Its numeric keys are identical in design to the ones of K550, while the soft keys are semi-round in shape, and hard to press.

Thankfully, the W610 actually does have a volume keys on the side, but they are flush and very hard to notice by touch. It is weight that unlike them, the camera key is actually raised, which makes having flush volume keys pointless.

A 2-mega pixel camera is positioned on the back, with two LED lights and self-mirror. The rest of the features of the quad-band GSM W610 include mediocre 176x220 display, EDGE data, FM Radio and POP3/IMAP email support.

Sony Ericsson W610 Video

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K200 is a budget model with low price but still someone stylish appeal. Available in white or black pearl colors, it comes with transparent keypad and blue backlight. Although both separate rows and columns are raised, you will hardly feel the keys without looking at them.

The software and navigation keys are pretty awful as they are not raised and are hard to press. The navigation key is 4-way only and lacks central "confirm" position. The K220 is FM-Radio capable version of the K200. Even they are low-class phones, they look attractive and fingerprints are hardly noticed on them.

Being an entry-level phone, both K220 and K200 will have dual-band US (850/1900 MHz) version and European one.

Sony Ericsson K200 Video

HP Booth

HP showcased their first phone without a touch display, which is the HP iPAQ 510 Voice Messenger running on Windows Mobile 6 Standard. It can be considered low-level device and is designed as low-priced easy to use model but with all the benefits of being a smartphone. It has very pocketable size and relatively small weight of 3.6 oz (100 grams).

It uses 200MHz Texas Instruments (TI OMAP) processor, has 64MB RAM and 128MB ROM and 2-inches 176x220 pixels display. We are very happy to see that it is quad-band GSM usable in the whole world, supporting Bluetooth and even WiFi. Using a microSD card you can also expand its memory in order to store more information or multimedia on it. The small display in combination with the 1100 mAh battery leads to another about 6.5 hours of talk-time with one charge.

IPAQ 510 compared to HTC Wizard

HP iPAQ 510 Video

i-mate also announced a few new of the Windows Mobile phones at the 3GSM. Announced were the JAQ4 (successor of the JAQ3) and the more interesting – Ultimate Series. We got our hands on the JAQ4 and the very-beta version of Ultimate 5150, which was the only working unit of the Ultimate phones. All i-mate phones from now on will ship with Windows Mobile 6 Operating System and DR. Jon Moss, i-mate’s Technology Director confirmed that people with JAQ3, PDAL and SPL will be able to update them from 5 to 6 via ROM images which will be posted soon on ClubImate website.

The JAQ4 is very similar to the JAQ3 but with slightly different not rounded-curves design, similar to the one of Nokia E61/62. The main improvement of the JAQ4 is the added SirftStart III based GPS, which combined with the Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS will give you powerful PDA and navigation in your pocket.

Different are the camera modules also as the JAQ4 has powerful hardware macro system and deals very well with taking photos of a text for example. In addition it also features auto-focus.

The JAQ4 has landscape QVGA display and full hardware QWERTY keyboard a la BlackBerry. Unfortunately the keys are easy to feel but hard to press.

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The 5150 is the only working unit of the Ultimate Series that i-mate presented on the show. Neither its hardware nor software is finalized, but our first impressions are positive. Judging by the specifications we were expecting an , in actuality it is rather handy. Coming with wheel on the side, Windows and OK keys on the front, this Touch-screen capable phone is easily operated even with one hand only.

The Ultimate Series are almost identical in hardware specification, but coming in different form factors. They all have Windows Mobile 6 Professional installed, running on 520MHz Intel processor and have 256MB Rom. All of them sport VGA 640x480 pixels displays, 2-megapixel cameras and Wi-Fi. The only thing that seems to be missing in this quad-band GSM, tri-band HSDPA phones is the GPS navigation.

Ultimate 8150 – candybar with 2.6” display and numeric keypad
Ultimate 6150 – candybar with 2.4” display and only soft keys and joystick
Ultimate 9150 – clamshell with 2.6” internal and 1.8” external display
Ultimate 7150 – clamshell with 3.8” internal and 2.2” external displays and full QWERTY keyboard
Ultimate 5150 – slider with 2.8” display

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We got a few shots of the i-Mate SPL running on Windows Mobile 6 Standard. This smartphone is already commercially available and now offered in a few colors, including Black, Red, and Blue.

HTC Booth

HTC officially announced and showcased the S710 Voxhere at the 3GSM, which is their first and only (for the moment) phonecoming with Windows Mobile 6 straight out of the box. Neither the newX7500 nor P3350 have this. The Vox is a device without a touch screenand so runs on Windows Mobile Standard edition, which was known as "forSmartphones" with the WM 5.

Except for the new OS version, there is nothing spectacular about itsspecifications. It is quad-band 2G GSM only, has slightly outdated TIOMAP processor at 200 MHz, QVGA display (which is almost a standard)and WiFi.

The Vox has interesting form factor – it is standard candybar withpocketable size and normal numeric keypad, but also slides-opensideways from the left to the right side to reveal a full QWERTYkeyboard. This sliding mechanism is very smooth and easy to use, andthe keyboard is also comfortable, with easy to press keys which arewell separated. Opening the slider will automatically turn the displayinto landscape orientation, and you'll have to use the soft keyslocated on it – they are just below the display, clearly appointed tothe left and right position. In this mode, we don't like the usabilityof the navigation key, which is hard to reach while you have the phonein your hand.

HTC S710 Video

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The P3350 was announced as a new Multimedia device, but it isactually a version of the P3300 – using the same design but withdifferent color, it cuts the GPS off and adds

"Media Hub" software. Using the P3300 design, the phone can benavigated with one hand only, thanks to the trackball. It can be usedto control a pointer (arrow) which gives experience very close to usinga trackball mouse on a computer. The ring around the trackball can berotated, similar to an iPod' wheel, which acts as a scroller.

The P3350 feature set includes quad-band GSM, 2-mega pixel camera, Wi-Fi and microSD memory expansion.

HTC P3350 Video

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HTC showcased also their top-of-the-line X7500 Advantage (which was named Athena in earlier rumors) and we got the change to play with it. On pager, the phone looks nearly perfect, but in reality this is not case. We don't blame it for the enormous size, but having a 5" display is not worth when the OS is standard Windows Mobile 5 for PocketPC Phones, as the results is a standard PPC with huge size. In addition, why didn’t HTC use WM 6 and 800x480 resolution, but opted for the old WM5 and its top 640x480 resolution? There is almost no need of a stylus because even the smallest buttons like the X (close) are huge in this display.

Another gripe we have is about the keyboard which is way too large and can not be held comfortably in hands and used, so it has to be placed on a flat surface.
Featuring a few magnets, it is easy to plug the keyboard to the port on the bottom of the phone when you want to type with it, or to put it over the display ("close" the device) when you will not use it.

Otherwise, the specifications of the X7500 are very just superb as we've already noted – quad-band GSM with tri-band HSDPA 3G, it has 624MHz Intel processor, 8GB of hard drive, memory expansion slot, WiFi and GPS.

Our overall impressions from the Advantage are negative. The body is too bulky, the keyboard is too uncomfortable and we think the target market for such device is not very large.

HTC X7500 Advantage Video

Toshiba are trying to take a position on the market of Windows Mobile powered mobile phones by introducing a couple of new devices, one of which run Windows Mobile 5 for Smartphones, while the other runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional (phone with touch display). Not very new, but still interesting is the feature called "Fingerprint Sensor". Located on the back side of the device is sensor, which you should touch in order to unlock your device, if you have activated this option.

Toshiba Portege G500 is standard slider, based on Windows Mobile 5 for Smartphones – it is one of the very few slider Smartphones which makes it a phone with great functionality, small size and stylish design in one. The slider spring offers very strong performance and opening and closing it is a pleasure. The keyboards on both the upper and bottom slider are also very comfortable to use.

The main features of G500 include high-speed HSDPA data, Wi-Fi, 2-mega pixel camera and tri-band GSM for Europe.

Toshiba Portege G500 Video

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Toshiba Portege G900 is Windows Mobile 6 Professional (previously known as Pocket PC) device. It is also a slider, but is opened horizontally, to reveal full QWERTY keyboard as the one of the HTC TyTN (Cingular 8525). The spring for this slider is also very strong and it opens the keyboard very abruptly. One of the greatest things about the G900 is its display, with W-VGA resolution of 800x480 pixels, cramped in 3" large wide-screen. This allows it to display more information than a standard QVGA or VGA display, with very high detail thanks to the high dots per inch ratio. All the web pages designed for 800x600 resolution are viewed without a horizontal scroll.
The features of the G900 are identical to the ones of G500 and again include HSDPA, Wi-Fi and 2-mega pixel camera

Toshiba Portege G900 Video

BlackBerry Booth

We spent short time with the BlackBerry 8800, which is the just announced successor of 8700 high-end BlackBerry and the Pearl’s bigger brother. The phone has all the lines of the stylish Pearl with the glossy black surface, the metal sides and of course the trackball.

The specs are identical to those of the 8700, and are quad-band GSM/EDGE, full QWERTY keyboard and QVGA display, etc. The improvement here is the SirfStar III GPS module built-in, used for navigation.

The 8800 comes with just very basic map software which even doesn’t support routing meaning you can not type an address and expect the phone

to find the location and show you the route to it. Fortunately, RIM has partnered with several mapping software vendors like Navteq, and a additional navigation software packages are available. The features will depend on the software you choose, but the performance will always be very robust, thanks to the chipset of the GPS.

Coming from the Pearl to the high-end series are the memory card slot and the multimedia players, which the brand offered for the first with the smaller smartphone. The memory slot position is still under the battery cover, but the battery does not have to be removed in order to change memory cards.
Still, there is no digital camera built-in, as this is highly enterprise targeted device.

The 8800 is expected to launch on AT&T Cingular network later this month, as this was officially announced by the carrier. Rumors say that it will have WiFi capable version called the 8820, which may be for T-Mobile USA.