Mobile Ameo

Here comes a phone with a hard drive. T-Mobile (a unit of Deutsche Telekom and one of the operators in Germany ) has unveiled a phone with a hard disk disk (HDD), saying the pocket-sized device with a 13-centimetre screen would go on sale in Germany just before Cebit show in March. Called Ameo, the phone contract manufactured by HTC uses Microsoft's operating system Windows Mobile 5.0. It would cost about 500 euros ($650) bundled with two years of phone service. It has a 8 GB HDDD and looks more like a mini laptop. Its best feature is its detachable 13-centimetre wide keyboard and upright display. However, T-Mobile has no immediate plans to sell it in the US or rest of Europe .

Nokia N6110

One of the hottest buzzwords in the mobile industry since sometime has been: Location-based services. The services primarily allow people to view where they are on a map, search for points-of-interests (POI) around them and create routes to get them there free of charge. However, navigation by mobile phone has been slow to catch on. Courtesy, small phone screens, short battery life and the directions and maps that often lacked accuracy. Taking a cue, the world?s biggest cellphone manufacturer Nokia unveiled its first mass market navigation-enabled phone, the N6110 Navigator. The launch unwraps company?s plans to make a big push in location-based services. Nokia 6110 Navigator is a GPS-enabled mobile phone that features integrated maps and turn-by-turn directions with voice guidance and turn arrows pointing users in the appropriate direction. The Nokia 6110 Navigator can also provide users with traffic information, weather services and travel guides. According to a company spokesperson, Nokia would launch "a number" of navigation devices in 2007.

LG Prada

This is the phone for which the maker LG Electronics has officially accused Apple of copying the design for its newly launched iPhone last month. LG Electronics and PRADA unveil the first completely touch screen mobile phone. The PRADA Phone by LG introduces the world?s first advanced touch interface which eliminates the conventional keypad. The phone comes with 3.0-inch display and Bluetooth 2.0 and a 2 megapixel camera featuring Schneider-Kreuznach lens and LED flash. It also features a player supporting MPEG4, H.264, a document viewer and an audio player with support for MP3/ACC/ACC+ /WMA/RA format. The PRADA Phone by LG will be available with prices starting from 600 Euros at selected PRADA stores in the UK , France , Germany and Italy by the end of this month, followed by countries in Asia such as Hong Kong , Taiwan , and Singapore by late March.

Samsung Ultra Smart F700

If Nokia has kicked so much dust in Barcelona , could Samsung be far behind? With its newest handset Ultra Smart F700, the Korean giant has joined Apple and its arch-rival LG into the club of touchscreen mobile phones manufacturers. The phone is Samsung's first that is compatible with 3G (third generation) WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) in addition to GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) . It also works with HSDPA and EDGE data transmission systems on 3G networks and can receive data at up to 7.2Mbps (bits per second). The phone features a 2.8-inch 440x240 screen to control calling, Internet access, and music functions. Media playback support includes multiple AAC audio formats, Real, and variants of MPEG-4 including H.264. It also includes VibeTonz, a vibration system introduced in the recent W559 that simulates tactile feedback to touchscreen presses. And unlike Apple's iPhone, where typing on a small screen with your thumbs can leave you sore, F700 includes a slide-out keyboard to accommodate typing. And that is not all! The phone has a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus that is far superior than iPhone's meager 2-megapixel offering. But of course, it has a microSD slot that will help expand the memory you would require for storing the humongous 5 MP photos, and music.

HP iPAQ 500

Another big launch at 3GSM World Congree 2007 was the Hewlett-Packard iPaq 500 smartphone. Hewlett Packard unveiled its first smart phone, a slimmed-down iPaq that will be among the first Windows Mobile 6 handsets when it launches by second quarter this year. The 500 series will be the first iPaqs that look like cellphones, with phone keypads instead of QWERTY keyboards or touch screens and styli. iPaq 500 comes with VOIP compatibility, push e-mail, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook Mobile. The phone features 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 64MB of memory and 128MB of storage with a micro SD card slot to expand memory. The iPaq 500 connects to the Internet via GSM/GPRS/Edge networks, as well as via Wi-Fi. The handset also allows users to play music and videos, store photos and play games on the device.