CONSUMER ELECTRONICS  SMARTPHONES


PALM PRE 2 HP’s first Palm Pre could claim to be one of the more legitimate early ‘iPhone killers’, and the latest version has some significant advancements. Driven by HP webOS 2.0, the 5MP camera isn’t as hefty as the Nokia N8, for example, but the decent 1GHz processor helps it keep up with the competition where it counts. The OS is based on ‘stacks’, which are designed to organise apps intuitively, while HP Synergy


connects the device to multiple web services simultaneously, so Facebook, Google, Microsoft Exchange, LinkedIn and Yahoo!


automatically populates your phone with information.


GOOGLE NEXUS S Having made huge gains in the market with its Android OS, search giant Google recently decided to dip its toe in the hardware market with the Nexus S. It is the first device to run on Android 2.3 (codenamed Gingerbread for some reason) and was manufactured with Samsung. As the only string to Google’s hardware bow, it’s easy to see this as more of a showcase for its Android software than anything, but it certainly looks sleek and has some of the most advanced features on the market. Near Field Communication allows the phone


to read information from ‘smart’ objects, such as appropriately augmented movie posters or stickers, and Google claims it is also the first mobile phone with a curved screen. The hefty 1GHz Hummingbird processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), and combined Flash and HTML5 support makes this one of the beefiest offerings on the market.


IPHONE 4 For years now this has been the smartphone to beat. A combination of an ultra-intuitive interface, gargantuan app store and the simple fact the thing rarely stutters, crashes, or breaks down, has led millions to flock to Apple’s market leading device. In previous generations, it often seemed like the device could not be beaten – though competition is fiercer now than it has ever been. The latest version has the Retina display,


presenting a sharper image than previous models, and comes packed with the A4 processor, allowing multitasking, video editing, and FaceTime calls. The 5MP camera is


exceeded by many competitor phones, though one area the device really leads in is gaming. With the gyro and accelerometer adding extra control options, developers have flocked to the device and the App Store boasts a bigger collection of mobile games than any of its rivals.


HTC LEGEND HTC is probably the most serious contender to stealing Apple’s limelight in the smartphone space. The Legend, one of its most successful models, has achieved a great deal of critical acclaim. HTC makes much out of the fact it is ‘sculpted’ from a single piece of aluminum, which might not mean a lot to most people, but it does give it a certain solidness you don’t get with a lot of gadgetry.


Spec wise HTC phones generally bring the goods to the table, and though this isn’t the best-armed unit from the firm’s stable, it does enough to keep up with the competition with a 5MP camera and 600Mhz processor. But where the Legend has attracted most praise has been its solid, attractive interface as well as its physical robustness and sleek chassis.


BLACKBERRY CURVE 8900 BlackBerry’s have always had a reputation as being more serious than the iPhone’s and HTCs of the world. This is certainly where RIM’s lineage lays, and the phones remain some of the best formats for business apps and straight-faced software. However more recently less utilitarian elements such as social networking and video have increasingly featured, and the Curve is one of the better examples of this. The BlackBerry messenger service, one of the


most popular elements, is a notable example of this – now being marketed as a social platform rather than specifically a business tool. BlackBerry’s reputation for solid and reliable phones is justified, and its forays into the lighter side of tech have increased the popularity of models such as the Curve.


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SAMSUNG GALAXY S Samsung has looked to leverage its huge experience in the wider consumer electronics market with the Galaxy S, and it has been widely credited for pulling it off well. One of the higher spec models out there, it also comes with a large four-inch screen. Handy functions like ‘Daily Briefing’ which aggregates news and weather reports first thing in the morning help separate it from the crowd, while the firm’s experience in consumer tech clearly shines through with the solid construct and interface.


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