Smart, trendy phones launched this November

Smartphone is the buzzword in the world of cellphones. Some gaddget freaks believe that cellphone manufacturers will soon produce only smartphones and, as competition in this arena hots up, expects prices to climb down further.

India, being a huge market for these latest toys known as smartphones, saw a flurry of smartphone launches this September. Here are some of the smart and trendy cellphones that caught ThinkDigit's eyes.

Motorola officially brings its Android Charm to India for Rs 14,000

Motorola has launched its Charm Android 2.1 handset in India, available bundled to Aircel services, including a SIM card and a 2GB microSD card at about Rs 14,000.

Competing directly with the LG Optimus One, the HTC Wildfire, and its own Flipout and Backflip, Motorola's Charm boasts of a full QWERTY keyboard and a backtrack navigation pad to offset its relatively diminutive 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen.

Featuring the Eclair OS overlaid with the Motoblur skin, the QWERTY device will be aimed at the SNS and SMS market.

Among the low/mid-range Android devices in the market, the LG Optimus One P500 stands out for its up-to-date OS (Froyo), snappy performance, and bundled apps.

Fully featured, the only real compromises a buyer has to make for getting Android 2.2 at roughly Rs 13,000 are the relatively low resolution camera (3MP without flash) and the lack of free Office document editing.

Pros

• Responsive touchscreen
• Value for money (Froyo out of the box)
• Surprisingly speedy

Cons

• Low sunlight legibility
• No flash
• Poor loudspeaker quality (especially in-call)

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Samsung has just launched four new handsets in the Indian market, under its Wave and Omnia family of smartphones, starting from Rs 8,800. The three Wave phones will run Samsung's Bada operating system, while the Omnia handset will run Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard.

Check out specifcations of the four phones below:

Wave 525

• Display: 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 240x400 resolution, 256K colour output
• Camera: 3.15MP fixed focus camera
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, microUSB 2.0, GPS
• Storage: 100MB (internal), with microSD expandability up to 16GB.
• Price: Rs 8,800

Wave 533 (Wave 2 Pro)

• Display: 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 240x400 resolution, 256K colour output
• Camera: 3.15MP fixed focus camera
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, microUSB 2.0, GPS
• Storage: 100MB (internal), with microSD expandability up to 16GB
• Price: Rs 9,990

Wave 723

• Display: 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 240x400 resolution, 256K colour output
• Camera: 5MP auto focus camera with LED flash
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, microUSB 2.0, GPS, 3G
• Storage: 90MB (internal), with microSD expandability up to 16GB
• Price: Rs 13,500

Omnia 652

• Display: 2.4-inch capacitive touchscreen, 320x240 resolution, 65K colour output
• Camera: 2MP fixed focus camera
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, microUSB 2.0, GPS, 3G
• Storage: 220MB(internal), with microSD expandability up to 16GB
• Price: Rs 10,600

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With all the talk going around it seems that Micromax, the largest of the country's mobile brands, has decided to launch an Android handset, thus joining Videocon, Spice and Olive and offering Google's mobile operating system in India, apart from foreign brands like LG and Samsung.

Called the Andro A60, Micromax's rumoured Android 2.1-based mobile was spotted at a Micromax Delhi Bloggers event, and possesses a 600 MHz processor along with a 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen and a 3.2MP camera with auto focus.

The phone's expected Rs 8,000 price and specifications put it firmly in the same class as the Samsung Galaxy 5 and Spice Mi-300.

More news from the event leads one to believe that Micromax is also keen on launching a 3.5-inch display Android phone soon, as well as 7-inch tablet.

• Display: 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen
• Camera: 3.2MP camera AF
• 3G: HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps
• OS: Android 2.1 ( clair)
• CPU: 600MHz microprocessor
• Connectivity: WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM radio
• Weight: 105 gms
• Dimensions: 106.8mm x 59.2mm x 14.0mm
• Storage: 150MB internal, expandable up to 32GB (microSD)
• Battery: 1280 mAh

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Nokia has released its famous square form factor vertical sliding QWERTY phone in India, the Nokia X5, at an MRP of Rs 10,499.

Certainly novel looking, the Nokia X5 is sure to turn heads in the wild, and apart from being a capable messaging (SMS, email, IM) and social networking device with its QWERTY keyboard and native social networking and mail applications, the phone is supposedly an entertainment device, and indeed, is nicknamed the Nokia "Jukebox" X5 by the Finnish mobile giant.

Some of the Nokia X5's entertainment features include: dedicated music keys; stereo FM radio with RDS; internet radio support; Nokia 3.5 mm AV connector (audio only); 'Surprise me!' -- allows users to switch tracks by spinning their phones; 'Playlist DJ' -- allows users to create their own playlists; and 'Shazam' which allows users to identify songs that they don't recognize.

The Nokia X5 with its Nokia Messaging features will also appeal to the youth with its five trendy colours and reflective finish, as well as with its 5MP camera with 4x digital zoom, and a LED flash that can also be used as a flashlight.

It comes bundled with a 2GB microSD card. Check out the full specifications of the Nokia X5 below:

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Spice Mobility has launched two dual SIM QWERTY phones, the 3G-capable QT-95 (right) and social-networking Wi-Fi capable QT-68. Priced at Rs 5,499 and Rs 4,999, both the phones both 3.2MP cameras, optical trackpads, dual expandable memory, as well as stereo Bluetooth support.

The QT-95 is supposedly India's first 3G+2G dual mode QWERTY phone, allowing for enhanced voice+data experience, and also features a front-facing camera meant for video calls.

Both dual SIM phones come bundled with social networking and messaging apps, such as Facebook, Snaptu, Yahoo and Nimbuzz IM.

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Sharp, the Japanese consumer electronics giant who recently made an entry into the Indian mobility market, has announced it will be bringing in 3D smartphones to India, China, and the United States by 2011, probably in the form of the recently introduced Galapagos Android hansets, featured here.

This information also matches the 4 to 5 month timeline Sharp had given us for bringing in high-end smartphones into the Indian market, as well as previous indications that Sharp would launch a 3D smartphone by the end of the year (the Galapagos 003SH is scheduled arrive on Japanese carrier, Softbank's network by December).

While it is not definite that the 3D-capable smartphones Sharp will bring into the Indian market will be the Galapagos 003SH and 005SH handsets, let us take a look at them to give us a fair idea of what we might soon have in store for us:

Both phones are nearly identical, with the 005SH featuring a QWERTY sliding keyboard in addition.

Both phones have a 3.8-inch auto-stereoscopic display similar to that on the upcoming Nintendo 3DS portable game console, with a resolution of 800x480 pixels. They will be powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and run Android Froyo.

While both phones are capable of recording 720p HD video, the 003SH has a 9.6MP camera onboard, while the 005SH has an 8MP camera.

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 Word is going around that Nokia will be releasing the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type phone in India in early December, and that the Finnish phone manufacturer has given it a suggested retail price of Rs 10,000.
 
 The phone features both a 2.4-inch resistive touch screen as well as a physical alphanumeric keypad, giving it its Touch and Type appellation.

 The phone was first launched by Nokia on November 12th in the United Kingdom, and is primarily a Nokia Messaging phone, made attractive by its stainless steel casing, its 5MP camera with LED flash, and bundled social networking apps.

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Sony Ericsson has been on the receiving end of innumerable jibes for updating the Donut Android 1.6-based Xperia X10 family with Eclair Android 2.1 instead of directly to Froyo Android 2.2.

While there are plenty of new features to enjoy, such as 5 homescreens, 720p HD video recording, etc, the Xperia X10 even fully updated still has some disadvantages compared to other Android smartphones in the market, including a 65K colour screen that still can't support 16M colours for software reasons, and the lack of multi-touch input.

Well, multi-touch input has been promised by Q1 2011 by Sony Ericsson, it's obvious the company is now going to be putting most of its hopes into its latest Xperia phone, the Xperia X12, thought to be the phone codenamed Anzu.

While current images of the Sony Ericsson Anzu device show Android 2.1 onscreen, the latest news is the phone will come with Gingerbread Android 2.3 out of the box when it releases in Q1 2011. What is also possible is that Sony Ericsson will release the Anzu / X12 with Froyo Android 2.2 out of the box, and offer a Gingerbread Android 2.3 update over the air at a later date.

In case you were wondering, the Anzu's screen is supposedly a 4.3-inch AMOLED LCD that supports 16M colours.

So far, a lot of information has been leaked about the device, found neatly compiled in the table below. The X12 is reputedly a very slim device (between 8.7mm and 10.9mm thick), as can be seen in the leaked pics, and will feature 720p HD video recording with its rumoured 12MP camera (with Exmor R sensor), HDMI-out, and multi-touch support.

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Sharp is marking its entry into the rather attractive Indian 'mobility market' with the launch of four colourful mobile phone handsets that are aimed at the youth segment, all priced under Rs 20,000. The models being introduced have been popular in many other markets including Japan (where Sharp happens to be mobility market leader), and Sharp feels the features they offer will suit the Indian consumers.

For now it has decided not to manufacture mobiles in India, though it does have plans to bring in many more models.

We were curious whether Sharp intended to offer higher-end smartphones to the Indian market, such as Android devices, and learned that Sharp is planning on bringing them to the country within the next four or five months. For now, Sharp will be concentrating on mobile phone sales and marketing through various retail channels.

All the four phones offer integrated social networking services, bright high-res LCD screens, and cameras. Three (Blink, Cyborg, and Tango) are of clamshell design, with the fourth (Alice) a full touch device.

• Blink is a dual SIM clamshell phone with LED illumination, and a 2MP camera available in pink, blue and silver, it's priced at Rs 6,500
• Alice is a responsive full touch phone with front stereo speakers, 3MP camera, and G-sensor available in red and black, it's priced at Rs 8,500
• Cyborg is a clamshell phone with a rotating ('Cycloid') high-res display and a 3.2MP camera available in green, blue and white, it's priced at Rs 17,000
• Tango is a clamshell 180 degree swivel touchscreen with a G sensor, pedometer and 5MP camera available in gold, white and pink, it's priced at Rs 18,000.

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