Samsung seems to be pretty successful with low-cost smartphones such as the Samsung Corby S3650 or the Samsung B3410. Such smartphones cost a little more than EUR 100.00 without contract and offer a touchscreen, mobile internet access for instant messaging and social networking services such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter and sometimes even a real QWERTZ keyboard which makes typing messages and status updates easier. The Nokia 6760 slide is another example of this phone line. With purchase prices beginning above EUR 200.00 without contract at German web stores it is more expensive than the Samsung B3410, but it offers a broad range of features as you can read in this review.

Prepaid mobile data price plans are suited for notebook and netbook users who need mobile internet access via GRPS or UMTS at irregular intervals or just sporadically. Since there is no long minimum term, such prepaid data price plans also lend themselves to being used by travellers, exchange students or business men abroad who stay in Germany only for a few weeks or months. This article gives notebook and netbook users an overview of current prepaid starter packages including an UMTS surf stick and a mobile internet price plan of mobile phone providers in Germany.

In a few days mobile operator Vodafone will start selling the new Research in Motion (RIM) handheld Blackberry Curve 8520 in Germany for 1 euro with contract or 269.90 euros without contract. The slim low end smartphone Blackberry Curve 8520 will also be available at o2 Germany stores and – at the beginning of October – at T-Mobile shops. Before it will actually be available I had the chance to put my hands on the Blackberry Curve 8520.

There are a few new features of the Blackberry Curve 8520 that we haven’t seen yet at any other Blackberry device. First of all, with this device RIM introduces a new trackpad that will also be built into forthcoming Blackberry smartphones. Another difference of the Blackberry Curve 8520 to previous smartphone models by RIM are the media player keys on top of the chassis. What is missing is UMTS support, built-in GPS and a foto light.

The Samsung Jet S8000 comes with the TouchWiz 2.0 user interface with widgets of several online services, a new visual upgrade and a new 3D cube system of selecting applications that brings a blend of the Apple iPhone and the LG KM900 Arena to mind. A 800 megahertz processor ensures that apllications start quickly and run smoothly and that the touch screen is responsive under the finders. This makes the mobile phone easy to use, however, you won’t experience any jet-like feeling using the Samsung Jet S8000.

The AMOLED touch screen is one of the strong points, the large number multi media features another. On the other hand, the smartphone gives the user some kind of plastic-feel and there is no app store by Samsung yet.

The highlight of the new cell phone Samsung I8910 is its AMOLED screen and touchable user interface. You’ ll see that once you take the cell phone in your hand and switch it on. Even though the Samsung I8910 sometimes carries the name affix HD, the screen with a size of 3.7 inches has got only a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels and shows 16.7 million colors. But: Pictures on the screen are sharp, colors are bright, and contrast is strong. Even from an angle of up to 160 degree you can still recognize what the touch screen displays.

To sum it up: The Samsung I8910 is a great entertainment phone with a very good touch screen and a huge memory.

This month, Nokia started selling its new touch screen device Nokia N97. In Nokia’s online shop the Nokia N97 is available for 649 euros while German operator Vodafone charges customers a regular price of 700 euros without subscription. With a new 24 months contract Vodafone customers pay between 200 and 350 euros for the Nokia N97. That’s quite a lot of money for a new mobile phone – but is it still a good deal? Having tested the Nokia N97 the past few weeks I come to the conclusion that the new flagship mobile phone of Nokia offers a great wide variety of features and applications, but almost none of the features represent state of the art.