Which is the Best Mobile – Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola?
Today’s generation whose techno-babble gizmos make their lives complete rely on their mobile phones in a way that previous generations didn’t even dream of and, unless the modern mobile phone consists of wall-to-wall applications, then it doesn’t warrant a second glance in terms of the needs of this generation of mobile phone users. Having said that, how do you compare the merits of Nokia, Samsung, LG and Motorola mobile phones in terms of which one is best?
Mobile phone handsets tend to be very subjective and, what one person may adore, the person stood next to them might absolutely abhor. However, gone are the days when mobile phones simply fulfilled that function: nowadays they fulfill the dreams of every gadget-made user to the parameters of their imagination, from hands-free and voice recognition to email and Portrait Image Caller Identification plus, in conjunction with Nokia PC suite your mobile phone can interact with your computer?
The handset on the Motorola U9 has rounded edges with a sleek appearance to the basic clam shell shape. Detracting from this particular style is the difficulty in opening the clam shell – you can’t open this Motorola phone one-handed and you do tend to fumble around trying to open it: nimble fingers are a must! A particular favorite is the options of a secondary screen that can be used instead of having to flick open the clam shell for a limited range of functions such as using the camera, looking at the clock and reading text messages. The Motorola U9 handset comes in a variety of colors and finishes.
Meanwhile, the LG Lotus mobile phone is available in matt purple with an attractive design of flowers on it; it also comes in matt black. This particular model features a QWERTY keyboard which is rather neat. Detracting from this design is the rather small buttons and, for those people who frequently use the MP3 player you will find it needs outside controllers to make it work. The other feature that seems to cause people problems is the predictive texting which is, however, easy to turn off.
When taking into account design, the Nokia 7600 has it for utter originality: the teardrop shape of the handset is completely different to the ubiquitous rectangular wafer handset. The Motorola U9 phone tends to be rather small and easy to lose in the bottom of a capacious bag: it does, however, fit neatly into a shirt pocket. The Nokia 7600 features Bluetooth, real ringtones, camera and a sharp display – but then, so does the Samsung D500. Nevertheless, the digital camera and video recorder integral to the Nokia 7600 are both excellent features.
The Nokia 7600 camera can send the photos it takes via MMS message or the photos can be converted into wallpaper. You can record up to 60 seconds of video with sound and, downloaded to a pc. The Motorola U9 features an integral 2 mega pixel camera which I wouldn’t particularly recommend. A definite plus to this phone is that the additional screen makes an excellent viewfinder but the camera itself only really produces good pictures if the light is bright and clear – generally, the picture quality is not very good.
With the Nokia 7600 an internal music player enables music files to be played in both MP3 and AAC format. Although storage capacity is limited to 29MB, you can download files using WAP or Bluetooth: there is also a USB cable to download music from your pc. You can also convert your MP3 and AAC music files as ringtones. Meanwhile the ring tones include a range of polyphonic ringtones pre-installed, although you can also add to them from one of the websites that seem to be everywhere on the web.
Another of the features of the Nokia 7600 is the voice recording can is easily activated and ideal for recording info when you can’t find a pen [which, in my case, is fairly often]. There is also a voice activated function that uses voice tags instead of your fingers to dial a number. The display screen itself incorporates a TFT display, with 128 x 160 pixels providing the ability to display as many as 65,356 colors. Another essential service for any mobile phone is the text and multimedia messaging facility.
With the Nokia 7600 you can send video and pictures to another mobile if the handset is compatible and, when sending text messages you can make use of the templates of most common phrases to send pre-formulated messages, rather than laboriously tap our letter by letter. The Motorola, meanwhile, also features the predictive messaging facet but, on the Motorola, it is not quite as user friendly as on the Nokia. People seem to either love or hate the predictive texting feature and, if you are one of the categories of disliking this feature, you will want to switch it off. Many of the new Motorola phones seem to have two predictive text modes, both of which are difficult to turn off.
All self-respecting mobile phones nowadays must feature Bluetooth connectivity as standard. A Bluetooth enabled phone, once configured, can connect to other devices that are compatible within a range of 10 meters. The advantage is that you don’t need wires to use a headphone and Bluetooth technology is the concept behind hands-free kits in the car whereby you can answer your phone and make phone calls without the need to touch your phone. WAP 2.0 and GPRS facilities enable you to web browse: you can also send and receive emails from your mobile phone.
Nokia 7600 has a dual-banding roaming facility by which it can oscillate automatically between GSM900 and GSM1800, so that the Nokia 7600 can be used in as many as 130 countries. The Nokia 7600 also provides you with two integral Java games plus the option of downloading other games if required. If you have a picture of your contacts uploaded onto your phone you can use Portrait Image Caller Identification to bring up a picture of them using PC Suite software. The Nokia PC Suite allows your Nokia 7600 to interact with your computer via your Bluetooth connectivity or using a USB cable.
The Motorola U9 interface seems to be rather basic, with just 4 apps on the home screen. Although this phone does have an alarm clock and calculator, neither is particularly easy to locate. Also, it is not possible to assign interactive keys or customize the rather complicated menus which are definitely not user friendly and can certainly be improved upon. Another factor that detracts from the Motorola U9 is that when the phone is plugged into the mains for recharging you are not able to use the handset: unusual to say the least!
With regards to storage, you phone is able to store up to 500 contact numbers plus 150 received text messages. Moreover, you can enter up to 30 list notes to store and as many as 250 calendar notes. While these are the main gadgets, the Nokia 7600 also has a calculator, a currency converter, an alarm clock and a stopwatch. There are also the usual features you would expect with any mobile phone such as speed dialing and automatic redial, call holding, call waiting, call divert and call timer facilities so you don’t lose a caller unless you really want to!
Taking into account the features offered by all the phones, however, if its applications you are after, you should aim for the Samsung Eternity A867 which features full QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.0, TFT touchscreen, 3 mega pixel camera and up to 16G internal memory plus a whole host of other features that are all easy to access and user friendly. In fact, overall, the Samsung Eternity A867 is a mobile phone to recommend over all the other designs and makes to date. Nevertheless, people tend to have particular favorite mobile phone manufacturers and, once they have found the phone for them, tend to stick to that manufacturer as each subsequent model comes onto the market.
