Is that another iPhone? Nope, it just looks like one. It might have been coincidence that Samsung invited me to come Munich to a presentation of the Samsung Galaxy S I9000 smart-phone the very same day that Apple launched the iPhone 4 in Germany. But I don’t believe this – the Samsung Galaxy S seems to be too much a copy of the Apple iPhone. But, heck, I am not accusing Samsung of plagiarism. Lots of cell phone manufacturers have picked up the ideas and concepts that made the iPhone a success story. Since its launch the Apple phone has changed the smart-phone world dramatically and the users have benefited from that. The Samsung Galaxy S is just one example of how simple to use a smart-phone with such a broad range of features can be. Here is my short review of the new Samsung smart-phone and some information on how to buy it in Germany at a comparably low purchase price.

I am not sure whether you can really count on what the German tablet PC manufacturer Neofonie has announced recently. We still have in mind the Neofonie press conference in April when journalists could only watch but not touch the WeTab because the tablet PC being introduced was not working at that time. However, Neofonie has now confirmed that first WeTab devices have been handed out to developers for testing. The official launch of the WeTab in Germany should happen in the middle of September (probably on September 19th). Interested users can already pre-order the Neofonie tablet PC at the Amazon web store or at the Media Markt website. Amazon and Media Markt are both offering the WeTab for € 449.00 and the WeTab 3G for € 569.00.

Mobile phone users can now order the new Symbian 3 smart-phone Nokia N8 in Germany. At the Nokia web store it is available for € 479.00, but it will not be delivered before September. Other web stores in Germany alreday list the Nokia N8 as well. Here purchase prices start at € 440.00 without contract. This week I met Nokia in Berlin and had the opportunity to take a first look at the N8 and I want to share my first impressions of the smart-phone running on the new operating system Symbian 3. For Nokia fans going to buy a new smart-phone with good multi-media, social networking and messaging features it could be worthwhile to wait for two more months because the N8 shows that Nokia is back on the right track.

Since June 24th the Apple smart-phone iPhone 4 is available in Germany. As before, the operator Telekom (T-Mobile) has the exclusive marketing rights for the new Apple iPhone in this country. Telekom is offering both versions of the iPhone 4 with 16 GB and 32 GB storage capacity for subsidized purchase prices between € 1.00 and € 399.95 only to customers entering or renewing a contract with a term commitment of 24 months. But one month after the iPhone 4 has gone on sale there are some mobile phone providers in Germany offering micro SIM cards with prepaid price plans to iPhone 4 users – here is a short overview.

It really surprised me: My article about how I got mobile Internet access via UMTS in Denmark during my last vacations in April attracted interest of many readers. Since in that article I only described one prepaid plan (“Bredband-2-GO-Cash”) for surfing the web over the mobile network of Danish operator TDC, this time I will offer some kind of overview of several prepaid price plans for mobile Internet access in Denmark. The following prepaid starter packages of TDC, 3.dk and One Mobile can be bought by any visitor in Denmark taking his or her notebook or netbook with him or her at the operators’ stores, at supermarkets or at gas station.

There will be a new tariff option for customers of network operator O2 Germany for low-cost international calls from Germany to other countries by cell phone soon. With the “O2 Global Friends” tariff option, O2 Germany customers with an O2 o price plan can make mobile phone calls to five friends who are abroad for rates of € 0.15 per minute – that’s just as much as users of an O2 o price plan pay for mobile phone calls within Germany. “O2 Global Friends” will be available from upcoming Monday and can be booked with an O2 o prepaid or postpaid cell phone plan of O2 Germany. There is no monthly fee for this international calling service, but a one-time set-up fee of € 5.00.

Small but nice – that’s my impression after having tested the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini of the Xperia multi-media smartphone series. Obviously, the small size of the cell phone compels comprises – the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini fits into any pocket but is not suited for all smartphone application. But don’t be fooled: The X10 Mini is a powerful device despite its small size. Read in this review what I like and what I don’t like about the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini.

On the one hand, it makes life easier for mobile Internet users. On the other hand, it is potential cost trap for smartphone users who don’t about this and who don’t make the nessecary arrangements in time. Subscribers of a cell phone plan of German operator O2 Germany do not need to configure the mobile Internet access by themselves. They can access the web via GPRS or UMTS over the O2 Germany network with any access point name (APN) or even without any APN.

For three weeks the Apple iPad has been available in Germany. Several mobile phone providers have released micro-SIM cards for accessing the internet with the iPad WiFi + 3G over their mobile networks. At www.teltarif.de we have tested the micro-SIM cards and mobile internet accesses of the four German network operators Telekom (T-Mobile), Vodafone, E-Plus and O2 Germany. This is a short summary of our experiences regarding purchase of the micro SIM card for the Apple iPad and its activation, the selection of mobile data price plans with a short minimum term commitment, network quality and the use of certain mobile data services such as voice over IP or instant messaging.

With the Blackberry Pearl 3G 9105, Canadian manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) is trying the balancing act between a classical push email handset and a mass market device. The smartphone looks like a typical candybar cell phone because it is slim and because it does not have a full QWERTZ keyboard. To make the Blackberry Pearl 3G 9105 appeal to more cell phone users, RIM has given it UMTS and HSDPA 3.6 support because today consumers want a phone with UMTS support. Actually there is no need for that because of the data compression of the Blackberry server. On the other hand: In order to become a mainstream consumer device the Blackberry Pearl 3G 9105 did not get a full physical QWERTZ keyboard or – like previous Pearl phones – a compact QWERTZ keyboard with two letters on each button. In Germany, the Blackberry Pearl 3G will be available at Vodafone stores soon.