There have been lots of rumors about the tablet PC Samsung Galaxy Tab. Now, we know: It is real. Today, Samsung has presented the Galaxy Tab at the consumer electronics show IFA 2010 in Berlin. It will be available in October at all four operators’ stores in Germany with and without plan. Without plan the purchase price for the Galaxy Tab with 16 GB storage capacity will be probably less than the recommended retail price of € 799.00. Later on, there will also be a 32 GB version of the mobile device. I had the opportunity to take a closer look at the Android 2.2 (Froyo) tablet yesterday night. Here is a short review of the Galaxy Tab.

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.

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.

The HTC Desire is certainly one of the best Android smart-phones available right now. It offers a large number of functions and applications as well as a powerful processor, and it is easily operated. On the other hand, camera, music player and battery performance could be better. German operator Vodafone is selling the HTC Desire for € 479.90 without contract. At O2 Germany stores the HTC Desire is available for € 509.00. At Telekom (T-Mobile) stores buyers will have to pay € 449.00 for the Android smart-phone when he or she does not agree to a new cell phone plan with long term commitment. German web stores offer the HTC Desire for purchase prices beginning at around € 450.00.

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.

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.

The Samsung B5722 is now available at E-Plus and Base stores. E-Plus sells the touch screen dual SIM phone for EUR 199.00 only to its existing customers, while other German web stores offer the Samsung B5722 for purchase prices beginning at EUR 170.00 without contract. That’s quite a lot of money for a mobile phone that does neither support UMTS or HSPA for faster mobile data transmissions nor WiFi for accessing the web at hotspots. The Samsung B5722 also lacks a built-in GPS receiver for the use of location based services and it is not equipped with business software that goes beyond mere organizer features. What, on the other hand, the dual SIM phone Samsung B5722 does offer, shows this review.

The X10 of the Xperia series is Sony Ericsson’s debut Android smartphone. The list of features is rather impressive, even though it shows that the Sony Ericsson X10 is no high-flyer: 1 GHz Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm, 8.1-megapixel camera with HD video capture, HSPA and WiFi connectivity, and A-GPS. On the other hand, it runs on Android 1.6 - an older version of the operating system geared towards the easy use of Google services such as Google Search, Google Mail, Google Maps or Google Talk by mobile. This is why Sony Ericsson has put its own user interface User Experience with its Timescape and Mediascape views on top of the Android OS. How older software and up-to-date hardware work together will this review of the Sony Ericsson X10 show.

According to the manufacturer, the Nokia 7230 is made for the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Flickr – but at first glance it doesn’t show. This mobile doesn’t have a physical QWERTZ keyboard for faster texting, it does neither support HSPA for faster uploads nor WiFi for free internet access on the way, and its integrated camera seems to be below par. But let’s not get carried away: We should keep in mind that the Nokia 7230, which is running on the S40 platform, is just a regular mobile phone in a stylish design that offers quite a few ways to stay in contact with friends and to share pictures with them, as this review shows. And because of that it is less expensive than a high-end smartphone.

More and more cell phones appear in the market as shrunk-down versions of other mobiles that have been launched earlier. The Nokia N97 Mini is just one example of this, the HTC HD Mini will be another. In a few weeks, Sony Ericsson will also ship the Xperia X10 Mini Pro smartphone to stores in Germany, which is a small version of the Android smartphone Xperia X10. The Xperia X10 Mini Pro runs on Android 1.6 and has a physical slide-out QWERTZ keyboard for heavy texters which makes it well-suited for using Google web services, social networks and messaging functions on the way. The new mini smartphone by Sony Ericsson will be available in Germany for a purchase price of EUR 349.00 without contract.