This Christmas you may be looking at treating yourself or a loved one to a brand new mobile phone. With all the features crammed into the latest models, the chances are if you were to splash out you'd condemn a few of your other gadgets to gather dust on the shelf.
Mobile phones are now more than meets the eye, with many being competent replacements to digital cameras, MP3 players and offering the potential to email your friends too.
So if you haven't been keeping up with the ever-changing world of mobile phones it may be difficult to know which brand is causing a stir with its impressive first handset, or which well known handset manufacturer is pulling out all the stops with their camera phone range.
This guide will give you an overview of the top five handsets available for Christmas, but with mobile phones topping many wish lists, you had better be quick as they surely won't be in stock for long!
Nokia N95 (8gb version exclusive to Vodafone)
The mobile heavyweight has been accused of being a bit lacklustre of late, with a lot of similar uninspiring handsets. This has been put to rest with the N-Series handsets, marketed as true mobile computing devices with the N95 spearheading this campaign.
It certainly lives up to its expectations too: a larger screen, better battery life and a large 8Gb built-in storage all improve on previous iterations of this handset. The phone looks marginally different too, in that it is a decidedly more stylish black design compared to the original questionable silver and lilac styling. To complement this change of colour Nokia is bundling the summer blockbuster Spider-Man 3, showcasing its considerable media-playing prowess.
The N95 has the new standard of camera quality in a 5 megapixel camera and superb DVD quality video recording quality. Rounding this handset off is the built-in A-GPS satellite navigation system, which stands out amongst other phones out today. In general Nokia has provided a resounding response to questions about its standing in the mobile phones race with the N95.
Samsung G800 (networks unknown)
Whilst Samsung is relatively new in the mobile phones market it has have a good brand name reputation and so buyers can trust they will get a reliable product.
As well as this, Samsung has recently been associated with very stylish and fashionable mobile phones, overtaking other companies like Motorola in popularity in recent years.
The G800 is by no means an ugly phone. While similar in dimensions as the bulky Nokia N95 it has a much more minimalist design and shirks the plastic materials of other phones in favour of brushed aluminium and a large screen.
The phone isn't lacking in substance either, with an impressive 5 megapixel camera with 3X optical zoom. The G800 has lightning-quick HSDPA 3G data too, meaning broadband-like speeds on your mobile phone. This handset can also accept MicroSD and SDHC memory cards to increase its storage, placing it on a par with the N95's 8Gb.
With similarly-specced mobile phones being larger and clunky, the G800 makes sure that you will turn heads for the right reasons when using it.
In the second part to this article I'll cover the latest mobile phones from SonyEricsson, LG and industry newcomer Apple also. There's still plenty more to look at this Christmas.
