Over the years, mobile phones have grown, swallowing up just about every feature of any other gadget you carry around with you, yet managed to get smaller in the process.
But with so many different features now available, finding the right phone to fit your needs is harder than ever before. HSDPA, Haptics, GPS, MMS, 3G - this mash-up of smart acronyms and tech terms have gone beyond confusing. Which of these do you need, and which phones do them best? We show you the best on offer in every category to trump your tech-flaunting friends.
Haptics
Some phones have taken functions beyond simple button presses or touchscreen taps. Haptic technology creates feedback when you hit a virtual touchscreen button on some new phones, causing vibrations that let you know which option is which even without looking. This smart innovation is the perfect tool for listening to music on the move, or in the dark.
If this fits your lifestyle, the Motorola Razr2’s haptic features let users control virtual music keys with a few mere finger taps, giving you perfect control over your music with the maximum of ease.
HSDPA
A confusing acronym for an easy-to-understand cutting-edge feature. HSDPA stands for High-Speed Download Packet Access, a form of mobile connection that is up to ten times faster than 3G and the latest must have for smartphones with screens large enough for Internet browsing.
Do-it-all multimedia workhorse the Nokia N95 offers blinding speeds for web walking, and is one of the best phones that enables you to get a laptop online on the go (it doubles as a Bluetooth modem). If the N95 is a bit to chunky for your tastes, the Sony C902 offers similar speeds in a svelter handset.
Serious snappers
If you’ve ever missed a perfect photo opportunity because you didn’t feel like lugging your camera around, you’ll know how useful the camera function on a phone can be. Mobiles are catching up with standalone digital cameras everyday, and some of the best can rival mid-range single purpose snappers for your money.
Pick of the bunch is the LG Viewty, a touchscreen which rivals the iPhone in most aspects and beats it hands down when it comes to photographs. A crystal clear five megapixel camera is built in, with manual focusing that lets you frame the shot you want. Plus, it even enables you to shoot video at an astonishing 120 frames per second, meaning you can play back action in super slow-mo. This is serious cutting-edge mobile camera tech.
GPS
Global Positioning Systems do just that - locate you wherever you are, showing you all the shops and services around you and helping you get from A to B. No longer do you have to work out where you are on the map - the phone tells you, and shows you where to go.
The Nokia 6620 Classic may not look like a smartphone, but it’s one of the best with built-in GPS, locking on instantly and pinpointing your position on Nokia Maps 2.0.
Capacity
A memory card slot on the phone gives you a useful way to store and carry your media around with you, but SD high capacity HCSD cards can be expensive. A phone with large amounts of internal storage for the same price can solve that, and since the phones use flash memory with no moving parts, they use little power and are in no danger of breaking like traditional hard drives. The LG Viewty and Nokia N95 offer warehouse sized amounts of space, while the forthcoming N96 carries 16GB of your favourite snaps, shows and tunes.
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