Hottest smartphones of 2009

Jan. 2, 2010 - PRLog -- Year 2009 saw a flurry of smartphones launched by various vendors to cover their flanks against the onslaught by the iconic iPhone from Apple.

Though the consumer spending took a hit due to slowdown, it didn't deter the cell phone manufacturers from introducing glitzy, feature-rich gizmodos to the ultra-cheap models in the market.'Touch' magic seemed to be picking a lot of traction. In a haste to cover their flanks, most vendors launched a number of smartphones based on touchscreen this year, some of which had features better than the iPhone.

From Canada's Research in Motion (makers of BlackBerry) to Taiwan's HTC and the market leader Nokia of Finland, all launched a slew of smartphones, some of which had the potential to give tougher competition to Apple iPhone, which saw the launch of its third generation model 3G S this year. The world's largest phone maker Nokia also created buzz with the launch of a touchscreen model in its NSeries range.

Here is a round-up of some of hottest smartphones of year 2009.

Apple iPhone 3G S
This year's hottest smartphone launch came, yet again, from Apple! In June this year, Apple launched iPhone 3G S, the upgraded model that offers faster speed and better features. iPhone 3G S can perform tasks up to 3.6 times faster than the previous second-generation model. Apple claims that it is the 'most powerful iPhone ever made.' The phone now packs an improved 3 megapixel camera along with video capturing, auto-focus mechanism and editing capabilities.

Users can shoot high-quality VGA video in portrait or landscape mode. They can also edit videos and share them. The new version also packs a built-in digital compass that helps users locate their way. Another sorely missed feature 'cut-copy-paste' was introduced in the new version. The new iPhone also has MMS capability and offers multimedia messaging allowing users to send each other photographs from the phone.iPhone 3G S also packs landscape keyboard. Users can rotate the phone to landscape mode to use a larger keyboard in apps such as Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari.This model boasts of improved battery life. Apple claims the new model supports up to 12 hours of talk time, 30 hours of audio, 9 hours of Wi-Fi, 10 hours on video playback, and 5 hours of 3G talk time.

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Nokia E72
Handset major Nokia recently launched a new high-end device in the business segment -- E72 -- priced at Rs 22,989.This new high-end ESeries device from Nokia is considered the successor to one of its most successful Eseries phone-E71.Though E72 is visually similar to the E71, there have been a lot of changes under the hood. The keypad has been rearranged,the phone also has a new noise cancellation feature which helps to have clear conversations.E72 boasts of a five megapixel camera and can also record acceptable videos, which can make it a formidable multimedia phone. However, E72 is likely to see some serious competition not only from the market, but from its own predecessors which are now available at lesser price points.

Samsung Omnia II
After the roaring success of Samsung Omnia, Korean electronics giant launched its second-generation Omnia, i8000 Omnia II, in the country. Full touchscreen Omnia II boasts of a 3.7-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 800x480 and displays 65,000 colours. Measuring 112 x 56.9 x 12.5 mm, the smartphone weighs 125 gram.It has 8GB of internal memory and can support micro SD cards of upto 32GB.
Samsung's second-generation Omnia is priced around Rs 28,990.


Sony Ericsson Satio
One of the biggest launches from Sony Ericsson's stable this year was the 12 megapixel Satio. Measuring 112mm x 55mm x 13.3 mm (LxWxD), the phone weighs 126 gm. It comes with a 3.5 inch, 360 x 640 touchscreen.Symbian-powered Satio is powered by ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz processor and PowerVR SGX graphics.

HTC Touch2
After the success of HTC Magic and Hero, HTC launched Touch2 in the Indian market. The phone comes pre-loaded with Windows Mobile 6.5 as its operating system. It features a 3.2 megapixel camera, 528MHz processor, 512MB Rom, 256MB RAM and support for additional memory via the microSD slot.

BlackBerry Storm2
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) also unveiled a new version of its touchscreen smartphone BlackBerry Storm2 as the company fights to sustain its supremacy in the smartphone market. The phone, yet to be launched in India, will be the successor to the first BlackBerry touchscreen phone Storm and does away with most of the gaping holes in the earlier version of its first touch screen.Storm2 features a 3.25-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 360 x 480 pixels.


Nokia N97 mini
After the success of Nokia N97, world's top cellphone maker Nokia launched a smaller version of the device called N97 mini in India. Touted as a smaller mobile computer, the phone boasts of a few changes vis-a-vis its predecessor N97.


Nokia 5530
Nokia launched another music phone in India called Nokia 5530 Xpress Music. The touch music phone is the company's second phone in Xpress Music series to be launched in India.The phone sports a 2.9 inch TFT touchscreen display, with a 360 x 640 pixel resolution.


Samsung Omnia HD and Pro   
Korean giant Samsung refreshed its popular Omnia line-up in the country with the addition of two handsets, Omnia HD and Omnia Pro B7320.Samsung claims Omnia HD is the world's first full-touch handset with an AMOLED screen size of largest 9.4 cm (3.7-inch). The Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode or AMOLED, touch screen offers sharpness of tone, vivid colours, greater clarity in direct sunlight and consumes less power. The phone has a 16:9 screen with 16M colours.

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HTC Magic
HTC became the first company to bring India's first smartphone that runs on Google's open source Android operating system. HTC Magic, popularly called G2 or the second generation Google phone, as priced around Rs 30,000 approximately.The phone has a 3.2 inch HVGA touchscreen display with 320 x480 resolution.


Samsung Pixon12
Samsung too joined the megapixel war with the launch of a 12-megapixel phone Pixon12 M8910 in the Indian market.Measuring 108x53x13.8mm, Pixon12 features a 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen display.


BlackBerry Curve 8520
RIM refreshed its Curve line-up in India with the launch of BlackBerry Curve 8520. Measuring 109mm in height, 60mm in width and 13.9mm in depth, it weighs 106 gram.

Nokia N97
Pitched as a Personal Computer, Nokia launched N97 in the Indian market. Described as the first real path-breaking smartphone by the company, N97 was priced around Rs 34,000 at the time of launch.The phone is the first device from the stable of Finnish handset giant to have Ovi Store pre-installed.

Sony Ericsson W705
Sony Ericsson added another Walkman series phone in India with the launch of W705.This phone has a 2.4-inch, 320 x 240 TFT display, 3.2 megapixel camera, 120MB of onboard storage with memory stick micro support and 4GB storage capacity.


Asus P565
Asus pepped up its corporate offering with the launch of P565 in India.The black candybar boasts of features such as an 800MHz processor and a 2.8-inch, 65K-colour touchscreen that can be operated through ASUS’ ‘Glide’ touch-responsive interface.
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