The Nokia 3610 Fold is a sleek, light-weight and affordable phone offering the vast array of features that have come to be standard in new trendy phones.

Nokia 3610 Fold

The phone weighs only 97g and measures 99.6mm long by 44.3mm wide and 19.6mm deep. It comes with 30MB of internal memory, which can be expanded by up to 4GB with the use of a microSD card.

Like most flip phones, the Fold has two screens – a small external one and a larger internal colour screen that also serves as a viewfinder. The keypad is sufficiently spacious to allow for easy manipulation. A navigation key adds to the ease of operating this stylish phone.

There is an integrated 1.3 megapixel camera which has autofocus and digital zoom functions. Given the size of the phone, photo quality is acceptable although this is not really the first choice as a camera phone. A video recording feature is also available and although resolution is low it is still handy for capturing those precious memories. The 3610 Fold supports video playback of MP4 files and other formats.

The Fold has a built-in music player which supports many music file formats including MP3 and WMA. Sound quality is quite good for those who need music on the go.

Keeping in touch online or up-to-date with the latest news is also possible with this phone as it has Nokia web browser and also supports WAP browser.

Other features include voice activated commands, Bluetooth connectivity, QUAD band technology and support for email attachments.

The Samsung Tocco Lite mobile phone is a striking touchscreen phone with an easy-to-use interface, offering features to be expected of any new phone released onto the market thesedays.

Samsung Tocco Lite

A light and compact phone, the Tocco Lite weighs 93.5g and is 104mm long, 53mm wide and 11.9mm deep. It comes with 50MB of internal memory which is expandable by up to 16GB when using a microSD card.

A touchscreen QWERTY keyboard is available which is ideal when using the email service. The built-in accelerometer allows the user to switch easily between portrait and landscape modes, perfect for viewing photos and surfing the net using the in-built WAP web browser.

The Tocco Lite comes with a 3 megapixel camera which has digital zoom and flash. For the price at which this is being retailed, picture quality is acceptable although it can never replace a dedicated camera. A Smile Detection function allows the user to take a photo as soon as the camera detects the subject is smiling.

The user has access to video recording capabilities, capturing footage at up to 15 frames per second. The high screen resolution of 240 by 400 pixels allows for a clear viewing pleasure of videos.

A built-in FM radio with RDS and MP3 player allows the user to enjoy their preferred radio shows and favourite tracks.

Bearing in mind that this is an inexpensive phone, the Tocco Lite lacks GPS, Wi-Fi and 3G, although it does support USB and Bluetooth connectivity.

LG KC910 Renoir

The LG KC910 Renoir is a classy touchscreen phone that is suitable for both personal and business use. Its 3” touchscreen is highly responsive and users can select widgets to appear on the screen.

For a phone that has some great features it weighs only 110g, is 107.8mm long, 55.9mm wide and 14mm deep. It has 70MB of internal memory and supports external memory of up to 8GB via a microSD card.

The Renoir mobile phone has an incredible 8 megapixel camera with Schneider Kreuznach optics, an auto as well as a manual focus and a Xenon flash. Picture quality is very high even in low light surroundings due to its ISO sensitivity, as is the video recording quality, which can capture video footage between five and 120 frames per second.

LG has integrated Dolby Mobile, which gives it an excellent music player system and provides a powerful bass to add to the listening pleasure. It supports the playing of virtually all digital music formats and has an in-built FM radio. The user is never lost for entertainment choice as this device supports DivX and Xvid which allow the user to enjoy watching videos on the go.

The touchscreen user interface is very easy and smooth to use. The phone supports both a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard and a keypad for virtual T9 predictive texting.

The KC910 mobile phone comes fully equipped with assisted GPS, high HSDPA speeds and with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.

LG KC 910 Renoir

The Blackberry Bold 9000 is a chunky, yet attractive smartphone with some awesome in-built features including

Blackberry Bold 9000

HSPDA and conference calling, as well as a full QWERTY keyboard which has its own backlighting.

It is the heaviest and largest Blackberry so far, weighing 126g, measuring 148mm by 66mm by 15mm. It has 1GB of built-in memory, 128MB of flash memory and the option to use a microSD card for additional memory.

The Blackberry mobile phone is certainly no replacement for a dedicated camera as its camera is only 2 megapixels, which does include an LED flash. Video recording is possible, although a microSD card may be required to enable such recording, if memory is low.

WordToGo and SlideshowToGo functions allow the user to edit Word and PowerPoint documents, and it is also possible to view Excel and PDF files. Security was clearly high on the creator’s mind as there is the option for password protection and keyboard lock as well as support for encryption when using the Blackberry Enterprise Server.

As to be expected of any swish mobile phone these days, an MP3 player is part of the package, and the user can listen to streamed music broadcasts thanks to its in-built streaming facilities.

Additional features of the device include a built-in speakerphone, GPS navigation which works with Blackberry maps, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity including the option to receive RSS feeds, although it does not support Flash.

The LG GD900 Crystal is the latest masterpiece to hit the markets. In a rather innovative and eye-catching design, the GD900 comes in a sleek silver casing, but its slide-out keypad is transparent.

LG GD 900 Crystal

The touch sensitive keypad illuminates when it is initially slid out, although the glow does dim after a short period. Created from colourless glass, the keypad is highly responsive and is an efficient input addition to the touchscreen.

The device has a 3”inch touchscreen, and is compact enough measuring 105mm long, 52.5mm wide and 13.5mm deep, but weighs 127 g. It supports 1.5GB of memory, which is expandable by up to 16GB through the use of a microSD card.

Aside from the coolness factor of being transparent, the LG GD900 Crystal comes complete with a range of user-friendly features and the latest technology. It has an amazing 8 megapixel autofocus camera at the back of the phone. An LED flash enables the user to take photos in lowlight environments. It also supports video recording, as well as 3G video calling through the use of a second camera.

The GD900 has a built-in music player as well as an FM radio, both of which emit music quality of a very high standard.

Unsurprisingly, the Crystal comes complete with WiFi technology and Bluetooth. The document viewer feature allows the user to view Word, Excel and PDF files.

For those users who are after a unique-looking phone, with a host of functions, this is a superb choice.