An Xperia and a half

IN STORE

Mobile phones today aren't just communication devices "" they are radios, cameras, torches... anything you want them to be. And manufacturers are feeding the trend with new launches that focus on "user experience". Here's a pick of some new and soon-to-be-launched phones.

The Xperia X1i, from Sony Ericsson's swank new Xperia line, has a unique arc slider with a wide pitch QWERTY keyboard in a metal-finish body. The display panel is large and finger-friendly, making it easy to access applications.

It has a ridiculously high-resolution screen and an amazing list of multimedia features "" modem, 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, video recording and streaming function, FM radio, support of Bluetooth stereo (A2SP), Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer coupled with RSS feeds, GPS and wireless LAN connection.

Skinny beauty

LG's new KF510 slider phone is a skinny 0.43 inches deep, with touchpad control, slide-out keys, and animation-loaded user interface. It has interactive touch lighting on the navigation pad.

The LCD also includes power saving auto-luminence control and is covered by tempered glass, which gives the phone sheen and durability. Its smart camera has a startup time of a second, image stabilisation, LED flash and red-eye reduction.

Mobile theatre for all

The highpoint of Samsung's SGH-i450 is its dual slider, like Nokia N95. With audio from Bang & Olufsen's ICE power technology, the speaker provides surprising clarity to the music.

The i450 brings alive the pulsating experience of 3D surround sound. Since the phone runs on Symbian S60, it means that plenty of third party applications are available.

Second, it has a 2-megapixel camera and a VGA camera in front for video conferencing. Internal memory tops out at 60 MB, which isn't much, but the phone will accept microSDHC cards in capacities upto 4GB.

The phone connects to headphones and PCs using Bluetooth and USB of the 2.0 variety, including A2DP for stereo Bluetooth headsets. The SHG-i450 is priced at Rs 15,000

Talking heads

The LG-KF600 is so intuitive it can almost read your mind. Its InteractPad has virtual navigation keys that feed-forward menus tailored to fit any task and can be programmed to accomodate any device.

So you can have intuitive media controls for a music player, a scroll wheel for lists, zoom dial for pictures, or extra input keys for messaging. The LG-KF600 is stylish with a high-gloss finish and easy-to-grip trapezoidal shape. No wonder, it won the 2008 iF product design award.