Pocket Picks Xmas Special: Top Five Handsets

2007 has dominated by two handsets – Apple’s iPhone and Nokia’s N95. One was a not particularly advanced mid-range handset without 3G/Wi-Fi or a particularly good camera. The other was a handheld PC on your phone with a five-megapixel camera and almost unlimited potential for mobile apps. Guess which dominated everyone’s attention.

1. Apple iPhone
No mobile can ever have been hyped so much and got so much press attention as Apple’s first foray into mobiles. It looked great and featured innovative touch-screen controls with a huge colour screen. And yet. It wasn’t the best camera phone and you couldn’t send texts to more than one person at a time. And yet despite this, it’s safe to say that the iPhone was the biggest launch ever in mobile.

2. Nokia N95/ Nokia N95 8GB
Nokia’s self-styled ‘multimedia computer’ was an instant hit with consumers. It had the best of everything you could want in a handheld device including 3G, Wi-Fi, HSDPA, GPS connectivity and a five-megapixel camera. There was (is!) nothing this mass-market phone can’t do.

The fact that Nokia then made it even better with a lick of black paint and a massive 8GB of memory for music and video storage was just the icing on the cake for what is without doubt a true future-proof handset. It’s just a shame it was overshadowed by the iPhone.

3. LG Viewty
We could have featured either this or LG’s Prada phone, but we’ve plumped for the Viewty, if only because of a cool advertising campaign and the fact that this was an instant hit with consumers – so far over 300,000 sales in a few months and counting. It looks gorgeous, with a huge touch-screen and a five-megapixel camera. The Prada had the fashionable name tag, but the Viewty (despite the silly name) had the coolness.

4. Sony Ericsson K850
We could have plumped for Sony Ericsson’s W960 ‘iPhone killer’ Walkman phone. We haven’t simply because it’s not out until 2008. Luckily the K850i Cybershot can do all Walkman phones can, and it has top-end cameraphone capabilities. Continuing on from what was the then market-leading K800 Cybershot phone, the K850 kept the smart yet functional design, the intuitive usability, ramped up the already excellent camera and basically improved on what was close to perfection.

5. Samsung G800
Samsung’s attempt to grab some cameraphone market share resulted in the G800, which sadly failed to set the market alight (although it did get incredible interest from Pocket Picks readers). Samsung can already boast what are arguably the best screens in mobile, but couple this with a five-megapixel camera and its seductive design and you have what should be a winner.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more of our Top Picks for Xmas: