Cameras

In our opinion, its only the latest generation of mobile phones that have cameras with
anything more than novelty value. Its now not uncommon to find a 2 megapixel camera with
autofocus, light, macro mode (for shooting close-up), and low light mode. Obviously these do
not match the output of a dedicated digital camera, but surprisingly good results can be
obtained from phones such as the Sony Ericsson K750i and K800 and Nokia N80.

Mp3 Player

Many phones are now including mp3 (and fm radio in some cases) in their phones.
Sony, for example, has a range of Walkman branded phones but most manufacturers are
including this facility these days. The sound quality varies from model to model, but in some
cases is equivalent to a dedicated mp3 player. The quality that your mp3s are encoded at will
have a greater impact upon the quality of sound better quality (or higher bitrate) files sound
better, but take up more space the amount of tracks you want to listen to and the storage of
the phone/memory card will determine the best bitrate to use. Some people find 128kps
acceptable, but to our ears a good mp3 encoded by something like the Lame encoder
(available online) at a variable bitrate of around 192kps is noticeably better and well worth the
increased file size. One thing to look out for is the connector is there a standard 3.5
headphone jack, to allow you to use your own headphones? Most bundled headsets are not
great quality -although the in-ear models supplied with the Sony W800 is fantastic and
being unable to switch due to a proprietary input socket can be a major sticking point. (Note
that not many phones currently transmit stereo to Bluetooth headsets, although this
technology is now slowly starting to appear)

Storage & connectivity

With phones being used for storing music and photographs, storage and connectivity
have become important considerations. Most phones will have some onboard memory for
users to store their photographs, music, and downloaded content but chances are that youll
want more. Many phones offer expandable storage via flash memory cards -there are a
variety of formats (memory stick, MMC, miniSD etc). Access speed will probably not be a
major consideration (an extra few seconds when filling or erasing a card is really neither her e
nor there as most of the time youll be moving files a few at a time). Prices change all the time

have a look at the capacity and price of expansion cards at the time you choose your
phone, and factor this into the overall cost perhaps if you have another digital device (like a
camera or games console) that uses similar media you may choose to pay extra for a card
you can use in both

Manufacturers are starting to include USB cables with their phones these days, a
move we wholeheartedly welcome. The internet is a great resource for ringtones,
screensavers, and the like, and being able to transmit these to the phone without paying extra
for a cable is a huge bonus. Most phones these days support infra-red transmission this has
a limited range, reliability, and speed; in our experience this is best avoided if you have an
alternative. Bluetooth (available with many newer phones) is a huge improvement. The range
is much improved, and files can be transmitted between phones relatively swiftly. Modern,
(expensive!) models such as the Nokia N91 actually have full wireless 802.11b Wi-Fi
capability for ease of connection to computer networks, other phones, and broadband internet
hotspots.

Battery

Amazing advances in battery technology have been made over the last few years,
and the cells powering todays phones are cheap, compact and powerful. However, always
take the manufacturers quoted life with a pinch of salt these are under optimum conditions
and do not take into account any use of extra features. They also assume a new battery
cells degrade over their life, and eventually will hold very little charge. If you follow the
manufacturers instructions for charging however, you should have good battery life for at
least 12 months at which point you will probably be considering a new phone!!

In PART 3 we will look at finding the best deal.

We run and maintain http://www.fone-shaq.co.uk
Our site aims to put our advice into fruition by showing you the phones you need and where you can get them for the best possible deal