The entire mobile industry has shifted from traditional handsets to touch screen devices, thanks in large part to Apple’s iPhone making buttons boring and minimalism sexy.
Here we have our selection of ten of the best phones out this year for those looking for something to poke, swipe and tap at!
Samsung Tocco Lite
Since the original multi-million selling Samsung Tocco, touch has been a winner for the Korean manufacturer and they bring all of their expertise in the mid-range market to bear with the Tocco Lite (S5230).
The Samsung Tocco Lite is a stylish handset that doesn’t break the bank by bringing only the essential features to a touch phone. 3G connecitivty and Wi-Fi might be nowhere to be seen, making the Tocco Lite a 2G handset, but it makes up for this with an impressive a 3.15 megapixel camera with face and smile detection, as well as incorporating Samsung’s TouchWiz interface, making navigation around the phone quick and easy.
The 3” touch display manages not to pile the pounds onto the Tocco Lite, keeping it at a svelte 94g, whilst multimedia is ably handled with music and movie playback for most popular formats, stereo FM radio and support for microSD cards as large as 16GB.
The Samsung Tocco Lite manages to be cheap and yet a handset which for once doesn’t feel like concessions have been made in an effort to bring the price down. A confident and capable device, the Tocco Lite certainly isn’t light on features!
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LG Viewty Smart
Phones like the LG Viewty Smart are the number one reason that people are mothballing their digital cameras and using a mobile phone to capture their snaps.
Sporting an 8 megapixel Schneider-Kreuznach camera, a 3” full touch screen, and the fast and fun S-Class user interface that premiered on the LG Arena, the Viewty Smart brings an (almost) professional quality camera to the mobile phone game.
Whilst the camera is the focus (that’s a play on words!), let’s not overlook the full touch capacitive display, which enables users to manually focus on whatever they choose to in camera mode, pick a song or movie in the Dolby Audio-supported media player or easily navigate the 3D graphically rich menus of S-Class.
Setting alarms, using the in-built FM radio and sending a text using the virtual QWERTY keyboard quickly become second nature as the lack of buttons goes from curious to comfy.
With a bevy of ‘Intelligent Shot’ features including setting adjustments for various conditions, smile shot and multi-face detection, budding Rankins can certainly cut their teeth on a camera that puts much of the competition to shame.
Add to that Assisted GPS, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth support and Wi-Fi, the LG Viewty Smart is a great snapper as well as a more than capable handset.
HTC Hero
The HTC Hero follows in the robotic footsteps of the HTC Magic and T-Mobile G1 as the first wave of phones to run on Google’s ‘Android’ platform.
Touch-driven just like the others, the HTC Hero has drawn much attention due to running on a highly customised version of the Android software, offering a wilding different touch experience that many have dubbed ‘Sense’. It has also garnered attention to the unconventional design, because it looks like it has a chin.
HTC insists that it makes the handset feel more natural on the face, something we’d be inclined to agree with…
This Sense user interface brings a wealth of personalized content directly to the fingertips of HTC Hero users in a unique manner, including Facebook, and Twitter status updates, contact information and even weather at a single swipe.
The HTC Hero is also unique in offering different profiles depending on the situation, and we are talking far more than ringtone volume and the colour of the background here…
The Hero can be set to automatically change the entire layout of the phone depending on the time of day or week, showing stock information, world clocks and e-mails during the day and switching to Twitter and your personal favourites after clocking off time.
The HTC Hero confirms its smart phone credentials when you look at the specifications, with a 5 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack and GPS support as standard. Games and applications can freely be downloaded from the Android Market, and the Hero is undoubtedly the best of the Google phones currently on the market.
Also answering to the name G2 Touch on T-Mobile, the HTC Hero is an awesome all-rounder, and a powerful yet painless introduction to the world of touch phones.
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HTC Touch Diamond 2
The HTC Touch Diamond 2 represents a real sea change, both an evolution and a revolution that demonstrates just how far Windows Mobile-powered devices have come.
The iconic design of the original HTC Touch Diamond has been tempered slightly, resulting in a phone that is familiar and compact to hold, yet improves in some important areas.
The 3.2” VGA display is significantly larger, and combined with a touch sensitive zoom bar below the screen, the Diamond 2 makes web browsing a joy.
The zoom bar can also be used to navigate web pages, texts and photos, whilst the TouchFLO 3D interface makes navigating the handset simple yet effective.
TouchFLO serves to streamline the Windows mobile experience for the uninitiated into smart phone ranks, and the graphical flourishes as well as menu shortcuts make the Touch Diamond 2 a relative joy to use. TouchFLO undeniably has its fingerprints all over the Touch Diamond2 , doing for Windows Mobile what Sense did for the Android platform on the Hero…
Despite having a resistive touch screen, the Touch Diamond 2 is alert and responsive, reacting quickly to the majority of inputs and swipes with verve and tenacity. That’s not to say the endemic lag is gone, but it is down to an easilt manageable minimum on this handset.
Nestled in the bosom of the high-end market, the Touch Diamond 2 is a fully fledged multimedia device with 3G connectivity, built-in GPS and a 5 megapixel camera beefing up a rich feature set.
With the ability to upgrade to the new version of Windows Mobile when it comes out, the Touch Diamond 2 is a great bit of mobile kit that will remain future-proof for a long time to come.
LG Crystal
Who says that you can’t have both style and substance? Or a mobile phone with both an alphanumeric keypad and a touchscreen? Yeah, more people probably say the first thing than the second, but both are still proved very wrong by the LG Crystal (GD900).
A handset that definitely cannot be accused of being designed by committee, the LG Crystal is a gorgeous testament to cool, chock full of ‘wow’ factor and glitz, but with the specs to back it up!
The LG Crystal is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera, a 3” touch screen, HSDPA 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, and is another device to sport the S-Class user interface, making it more than just an estoteric choice.
The see through touchpad is undoubtedly the crowning glory of the device, the 12 keys etched onto it whilst any action causes the entire lower frame to light up with an eerie glow.
The silder also doubles as a trackpad when surfing the web, but can’t but feel a little defunct at that point as pawing at the screen itself offers largely the same effect.
Nevertheless, the LG Crystal is the perfect combination of brains and beauty for those who demand more from a fashion phone.
Samsung Jet
Touted as being ‘smarter than smartphone,’ the hook of the Samsung Jet is less what it can do, but how quickly it can do it. With a super-fast processor under the hood, this otherwise unassuming Samsung handset offers a world of applications, faster navigation, and a touch device that feels far more responsive.
The Jet has a 3.1″ touchscreen to showcase Samsung’s new TouchWiz 2.0 user interface, introducing 3D elements to their handsets for the first time. A cube interface with motion controls can quickly access contacts, favourites or menu options on the device. Yes, it is a gimmick, but a decidedly cool one.
In terms of general specs, the Samsung Jet is more Maverick than Goose, with a 5 megapixel camera with dual-power LED flash, aGPS, and Wi-Fi. Music and movies are ably handled with MP3, MPEG-4 and DivX support, as well as an FM radio with RDS and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Memory-wise, the Jet’s 2GB internal memory can be easily expanded via a microSD slot supporting up to 16GB.
The Samsung Jet is a great all-rounder that is just flying off the shelves!
Apple iPhone 3GS
You know it, and whether you love or loathe it, there is no denying that the iPhone have been as influential to the mobile phone landscape as the iPod was for music.
Getting the design so right first time has given Apple the ability to reiterate rather than revolutionize, and the Apple iPhone 3GS is the second update to the highly successful formula.
The ‘S’ on this new model’s chest stands for ‘speed,’ and in terms of loading applications, web pages and general handset use, the iPhone 3GS trounces its forebears.
Little else has been changed, but the addition of an internal compass has enabled the device to provide full turn-by-turn GPS (with the help of a forthcoming application).
All this is moot – as iPhone owners know – the hook is the brilliant interface. The 3.5” touch screen, the multi-touch input methods, the ambient light sensor and menus created with touch in mind have all been around since the first iteration and are still the reason that people have flocked to the device in droves.
Ahead of the curve in so many ways and yet glaringly behind in others, the iPhone approaches mobiles from such a different perspective, and is largely why it is such a revelation to use. The browsing on Safari may lack Flash (for now), but is arguably the smoothest, fastest and most enjoyable web experience on a phone, bar none.
Use an iPhone and your current mobile - touch screen or otherwise – will feel archaic in comparison. The only thing that will stop you tearing into your local store and snapping one up will be the exorbitant price tag.
LG Cookie
Don’t underestimate the humble LG Cookie, an entry level device that has managed to sell in excess of 5 million units since release. The secret? Just that it is a truly impressive touch phone for the money.
Weighing only 89g and at a thickness just shy of 12mm, the phone is certainly a nice looker, with the 3” screen taking much of the real estate on the front of the device.
Focusing on specifications, the LG Cookie has a 3 megapixel camera, accelerometer based gaming, an FM radio with RDS and a microSD slot to expand the memory to 8GB.
Features getting the chop to keep costs down are all based around connectivity. It is a 2G quad-band phone, also lost at sea are GPS and Wi-Fi support, but it has managed to keep a hold of some Bluetooth.
Pound for pound, this is arguably the best touch screen phone on the market, and is poised to sell over 10 million by the end of 2009. We are entirely sure that they can do it!
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is the epitome of cool by committee. With a plectrum for a stylus, endorsement from today’s fashionable young things and an eagerly awaited touch design, the 5800 was bound to be a hit.
A music phone at heart, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic ticks all the specs boxes with 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi support, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a hefty 3.2” high resolution touch display. Your music selection is handled by an 8GB memory card (included in the package), and a 3.5mm audio jack means that your favourite headphones can be plugged in with little trouble.
Despite the novel form factor and touch input, it is business as usual for anyone familiar with a Nokia device, the icons and menus will be entirely familiar for those used to any phone from the Finnish manufacturer in the last five years. Which is everyone.
Despite this, the funky combination of old and new has made the Nokia 5800 hugely popular for hip kids as a first foray into mobiles without (as many) buttons.
Nokia N97
The N97 steps into mobile computer technology according to Nokia, as their latest flagship device combines touch and a slide-out full keyboard to offer the complete experience.
The Nokia N97 features a 3.5” touchscreen with haptic feedback, a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss optics camera with dual-LED flash, 32GB of internal flash memory, expandable up to 48GB, A-GPS with compass sensors, and Nokia Maps 2.0.
As an always-connected device, the N97 shows initiative with live widgets on the homescreen, feeds which can update news, weather and even Facebook statuses throughout the day. Making all of your important functions available at a glance, the N97 is equally about fun and connectivity as it is function.
The business side of things is taken care of, as a full suite of software enables the writing of documents and viewing of spreadsheets.
The touchscreen is complimentary rather than essential to the N97 thanks to the keyboard, so if you have only wish to dip one toe in the high-end tactile game, this handset is a perfect choice.
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