Live from CeBIT: smartphone roundup

Our man in Hannover, Eric Lin, reports straight from the CeBIT show floor:

We're going to skip the the regular mobile phones and go straight for the smartphones. You're not interested in the low-end stuff anyway, right? We're also going to ignore talking about the differences between each of the varios smartphone operating systems, because, well, either you already know which one you like or you simply don't care.

Microsoft:

I have seen them all, and honestly, it's going to be tough to impress me. Despite claims to the contrary, we totally missed the the i250 at the Samsung booth, though other sharp eyed websites caught it - still, I can't actually comment on it. The Motorola was clearly the bottom of the barrel. Being one of the lucky few who used a Sendo Z100 before Microsoft and Sendo split up, I can honestly say this phone gave me horrible flashbacks to that first Smartphone. Sure, it has Bluetooth and a decent camera, but it's big, feels stiff, and doesn't exactly reek of cool or quality. The Sagem is a little better, but I've also heard some poor reports about it's performance. The only thing I really didn't like about it was the joystick, which was difficult to use and unresponsive - other than that it was pretty typical. I didn't get a chance to play with the Mitac 8860 (pictured at right), just look at it, and, boy, was it big - still as big as the other beasts we've seen from Mitac.

Symbian:

Everyone has a new Symbian smartphone. The Motorola A1000 and BenQ P30 use the UIQ version of the operating system, and though neither are brand new, neither has gone on sale yet. The Motorola is the same size as the Sony Ericsson P900, which seems like a small miracle considering their previous UIQ models have all been as big as a house. The BenQ P30 is thin and narrow and feels so good in your hand, but the external antenna kind of ruins the form factor and the pocketability. The keys, despite the fact that they look like little lines, are well spaced and fairly high, making them very easy to dial with. It's pretty nice already, but BenQ says they're already working on a successor with an integrated antenna and additional features.

Samsung, Panasonic and Nokia each launched new Series 60 phones. The Nokia 7610 (pictured at right) is the same height as the 6600, but it is narrower and thinner (though not by huge amounts, but still enough to notice). The one megapixel camera is nice, but the coolest thing is the Lifeblog application, a little piece of mobile blogging software that could make converts out of many people, and the desktop version is equally nice. Nokia obviously put alot of thought into this. The Panasonic X700 is small and light. It feels great in the hand, and can even fit into your change pocket - a small miracle for a Series 60 phone. However, the camera is oddly placed near the hinge of the flip and taking a clear, steady picture is quite difficult. Other than that, this could be the cream of the Series 60 crop. Being a Series 60 user myself, it will be hard for me to choose between the 7610 and X700, I tell you. The Samsung D710 was a bit of a hog. See our evaluation in the Samsung review for physical descriptions. The one thing not mentioned below is the fact that the camera application is SLOW on that device. After taking a picture the Samsung said "please wait 15 seconds," which already sounded absurd, but when it actually took about 20 before we could do anything else, we just put the phone back down. And *this* was the long awaited successor to the D700, a phone that was delayed so long they simply scrapped it? SAD.

Though Siemens didn't really have any new smartphones, they showed off a limited edition glossy black "McLaren" SX-1. The color was the only thing new about it. It looks better in black than it does in white (which is pictured at right), but it still has a screwy keypad. The Samsung may be sad, but the Sendo X, well I don't even know what to say about it. I've obviously had bad experiences with Sendo in the past, but I was trying to look at the Sendo X with fresh eyes. Sure, Sendo have been true to form, delaying the release of the X again and again just like a certain other smartphone model, but that's a good thing because the X clearly is not ready for prime time. In the course of about four minutes, a friend and I managed to crash all three display models. For those who have been waiting for the Sendo X based on its impressive specs, I recommend you find another model to lust after. Unless, of course, you're a Sendo employee or have some crazy sort of attachment to the brand name (which would be a little weird, if you ask us).

Palm:

The only new Palm phone was the Samsung i520. While it doesn't look much different from its predecessor on the inside, the outside is new. It looks like a slightly larger Samsung e710, with the slick black OLED screen built neatly into its blue cover. If you want a Palm OS phone, at least this one doesn't look too dorky or just like all the other flip phones all your friends have. I think you'll be impressed with its design.