Top 10 3G phones in India

The 3G spectrum auction is off to a smooth start with top telecom operators, including Bharti, Vodafone, RCom and the Tatas in the fray to acquire the radio waves that could fetch the government up to Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion).

This slide show speaks about top 10 3G phones in India. Read on. . . .

1. Apple iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS is the new improved version of the phone from Apple.

The phone sports no new external design changes but the internal core components have been totally redesigned.

Some of the phone's key features are:

• 3.2 Megapixel camera with autofocus and also with VGA 30fps video recording
• Digital compass with automatic map orientation in Maps app
• Better audio quality
• Better battery life
• Oleophobic display coating
• Voice control , speaker independent
• Built in support for Nike+ jogging system
• TV-out outputs 480p instead 480i resolution
• Text to speech feature called Voice over
• System wide screen zoom

The phone's earlier version had 2 megapixel camera but the latest phone comes along with a 3 mega pixel camera. The camera can shoot video too. The same camera application can be used to go into the video mode.

iPhone 3GS also initiates voice support.

The phone's most featured application is the compass. The iPhone 3GS is able to tell the difference between magnetic north and true north.

Price: iPhone 3GS (16GB) Rs 40,500; iPhone 3GS (32GB) Rs 45,000. iPhone 3G (not 3GS) costs up to Rs 35,000 (prices may vary from city to city).

. . .

2. Nokia E71

Nokia scores high with this trim profile phone and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

QuickOffice let you create, edit and send Word/Excel/PowerPoint files easily and can browse PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Reader.

The Nokia E71 is among the best-equipped Nokia smartphones. It's quick and compact with great connectivity.

Key Features: 

• Quad-band GSM support
• 3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps support
• Landscape 2.36" 16M color display of QVGA resolution
• Comfortable full QWERTY keypad
• Symbian 9.2 OS, S60 UI with FP1 (topped with some FP2 goodies)
• 369 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM
• Wi-Fi
• Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS
• 3.15 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash
• 110 MB of internal memory, microSD expansion, ships with a 2GB card
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP support
• FM radio
• Provider-independent VoIP support
• Infrared port
• Office document editor
• User-friendly Mode Switch for swapping two home screen setups

Price: Rs 18,500 (prices may vary from city to city)

. . .

3. Samsung i900 Omnia

The phone's exterior features a metallic frame that surrounds the display.

The phone has the world's thinnest QWERTY slider at 13.7mm. It can help you navigate turn-by-turn. It has a 5MP camera with a flash, plus loads of great camera features and a DVD-quality recorder.

Key features:

• Symbian S60 operating system with touchWiz 3D UI
• 3.7-inch 16 million colour AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display
• ARM Cortex-A8 600MHz processor with HW Graphic Accelerator
• 256MB RAM
• 8MP auto focus camera with LED flash, geotagging, face detection, smile shot, image stabilizer, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), ISO 1600
• HD 720p video recording at 24fps
• WiFi with DLNA technology
• GPS with A-GPS functionality
• 8/16GB internal memory
• Wide range of connectivity options
• TV out (SD only)
• DNSe audio technology
• DivX/XviD video support with subtitles
• Virtual 5.1 channel Dolby surround sound for headset
• Accelerometer sensot for automatic UI rotation, turn-to-mute and motion-based gaming
• Magnetometer for digital compass

Accessories

• Samsung WEP301 (Black and Silver)
• Samsung WEP750 MicroUSB Bluetooth Headset
• Samsung WEP470 Progressive Noise Filtering Bluetooth Headset
• Samsung WEP250 Bluetooth Earpiece
• Samsung WEP350 (Red, Silver and Black)
• Samsung WEP460
• HKT600 Bluetooth Car Kit

Price: Rs 33,000 (prices may vary from city to city)

. . .

4. Nokia N96

Nokia N96 is the successor to the Nokia N95 8GB.

The phone comes packed with a lot of multimedia features.

The slider phone comes with smooth edges and round corners while the external keys and control protrude only slightly.

The phone has the 2.8 display screen which supports a resolution of 320x240. The phone can display 16 million colours.

Key features:

• Symbian OS 9.3 , S60 rel. 3.2
• Dual ARM 9 264 Mhz Processor
• SMS, MMS , Email , Instant Messaging
• WAP 2.0/xHTML, RSS reader
• Stereo FM radio with RDS , Visual Radio
• Available in Black, Silver, Quartz
• DVB-H TV broadcast reciever
• Dual slide design
• WMV/RV/MP4/3GP video player
• MP3/WMA/WAV/RA/AAC/M4A music player
• TV-out
• Organizer
• Document viewer
• T9
• Push to talk
• Voice dial/memo
• Kickstand

Price: Rs 22,500 (prices may vary from city to city)

. . .

5. BlackBerry Bold 9000

The BlackBerry Bold 9000 from Research in Motion is a quad-band handset with HSDPA, 3G and GPS navigation built in it.

The phone appears to be heavier than the other BlackBerry handsets. The phone measures at 114 x 66 x 14 mm and weights about 133 grams.

Key features:

• Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard
• Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA
• Wi-fi and built in GPS
• 2 megapixel camera , LED flash
• 624 Mhz CPU , 128MB Ram
• BlackBerry OS v4.6
• DivX and Xvid video support

Price: Rs 35,900 (prices may vary from city to city)

. . .

The Palm Treo 750 smartphone combines a world GSM phone2, email3, broadband wireless4, and Windows Mobile 6.

It reviews and edits business documents and access corporate data. Answers calls as you check email.

With Microsoft's Direct Push Technology built in, you can get your Outlook email, as well any changes calendar, contacts, and tasks in seconds.

You can kick back, play music, shoot videos, and surf the web at fast, HSDPA speeds.4

Key features:

• Personal speakerphone
• Hands-free headset jack
• Microphone mute option
• TTY/TDD compatibility
• multi-party calling
• Memory 128MB
• 300MHz Samsung processor
• Expansion miniSD card slot; up to 4GB card supported
• Removable 1200 mAH Lithium-ion battery
• Talk time: up to 4 hours
• Standby time: Up to 250 hours
• Data preserved by persistent file system
• Screen 240 x 240 colour TFT touchscreen display
• 16-bit colour displays over 65,000 colours
• Bluetooth 1.2 wireless technology
• USB
• Infrared (IR)

Price: Rs 22,990 (prices may vary from city to city)

. . .

7. Nokia N85

The new Nokia N85 multimedia phone is endowed with 15 pre-loaded N-gage games.

The sleek phone has a slide which covers the number keys when not in use. The 5 mega pixel camera of Nokia N85 has Carl Zeiss optics and location tagging capabilities. The mobile phone also comes with a three months' license for turn-by-turn voice navigation.

The mobile comes with 3.5 HSDP and WiFi connectivity.

Like the N95 and N96, the N85 slides in one direction to reveal a numeric keypad, and in the other direction to reveal a set of dedicated music playback keys.

Nokia N85 also offers 2.6-inch OLED screen and an 8GB microSD card. The battery life of the multimedia phone is superb with 30 hours of non-stop music playback.

Price: Rs 27, 299 (prices may vary from city to city)

. . .

8. Motorola Q9h

Motorola recently introduced its newest QWERTY, the MOTO Q 9h Windows Mobile 6 Standard.

This sleek and robust device is packed with power, functionality and offers a cool design

Key features:

• QWERTY keyboard and large, crisp display
• Quad-Band (GPRS/EDGE) functionality
• Video capture and playback at 30fps
• HSDPA technology for fast data transfers, streaming media and web browsing
• Connectivity: EMU, USB 2.0 full speed transfers and data access
• Integrated Class 2 Bluetooth wireless technology (A2DP, AVRCP - stereo) for hands-free connectivity with compatible Bluetooth enabled stereo devices
• Messaging via MMS, SMS, Instant Messaging and Windows Outlook Mobile
• Supports a variety of audio formats including AMR NB, AMR WB, MWA, MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WAV, MIDI
• Video formats supported include H.263, MPEG4, WMV, H.264 decode
• Up to 2 GB of optional removable storage space with a microSD memory slot
• Integrated 2.0 megapixel camera with digital zoom and LED photo indicator light

Price: Rs 12,000 (prices may vary from city to city)

. . .

9. Sony Ericsson C702

Sony Ericsson C702 is endowed with a 3.2 megapixel camera and a built-in GPS receiver.

The phone comes with Speed Black, Cool Cyan and Energy Black colors to choose from.

The phone features 950 mAh Li-Polymer battery, which has an official lifetime of approximately 300 hours in standby mode and 7 hours in talk-time mode.

Sony Ericsson has included quite a good battery, as well as a good sound for those who use the phone as a music player. The handset does not sport anything innovative with its features but is a well designed device with good value for money.

Key features:

• SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
• WAP 2.0/HTML ( NetFront ) , RSS reader
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Available in Speed Black, Cool Cyan , Energy Black
• IP54 certified - dust and water jets resistant
• MP3/AAC/MP4 player
• TrackID music recognition
• Picture editor /blogging
• Organiser
• Voice memo/dial

Price: Rs 12,000 (prices may vary from city to city)

. . .

10. Samsung Corby PRO

The Samsung Corby PRO takes after its older cousin, the Corby. The phone also features Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS connectivity, an updated camera and beefed up hardware in addition to new firmware for executives.

One of the few hardware changes made to the phone is the new camera. This time, the mega-pixels have been upped from 2 to 3.15.

Key features:

• Chic youthful design
• Comfortable slide out QWERTY
• 2.8-inch 256K TFT capacitive touchscreen
• 3.15MP camera with geo-tagging
• Secondary camera
• 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity
• GPS with A-GPS support
• TouchWiz with Cartoon UI
• Smart unlock feature
• DivX video player
• Social networking integration

Price: Rs 13,900 (prices may vary from city to city)