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.

We have spotted two interesting cell phones at German operators’ stores: Vodafone is selling the lifestyle smartphone Puma Phone manufactured by Sagem Wireless. E-Plus is offering the dual SIM phone Samsung B5722 to its customers. The Puma Phone costs EUR 369.90 without contract and between EUR 29.90 and EUR 139.90 with 24 months contract at Vodafone stores. E-Plus offers the touch screen dual SIM phone Samsung B5722 for EUR 199.00 only to its customers who have to agree to an extension of their term commitment for another 24 months when buying this phone.

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.

With a mobile phone that holds two SIM cards users can easily select between different SIM cards for personal and a private calls or for domestic and international calls. These are just two examples of how users of a dual SIM mobile phone can save money. However, most dual SIM phones in the German market are pretty expensive and – in comparison to other smartphones in the same price range – don’t live up to current standards. With the dual SIM mobile phone Mobistel EL350 Dual of manufacturer Elson there is such a device that is available at German web stores for purchase prices beginning at a little more than EUR 70.00. It provides anything necessary for making mobile phone calls and texting (SMS) over two different connections – but that’s about it.

It’s not the 8.1-megapixel camera, the 1-GHz Snapdragon processor or HSPA and WiFi connectivity that make the Android 1.6 smartphone Sony Ericsson X10 unique – it’s rather the new interface “User Experience (UX)” with its Timescape and Mediascape sections. Watch this video to see how Timescape and Mediascape work on the Sony Ericsson X10.

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.

The Android 2.1 smartphone HTC Desire is finally available in Germany. T-Mobile is the first German operator selling this smartphone in its shops. Purchase prices at T-Mobile stores range between EUR 4.95 with an expensive 24-months contract and EUR 449.95 without contract commitment. Other operators such as Vodafone and O2 Germany have also announced to market the HTC Desire this month. At o2 Germany stores the Android smartphone will cost EUR 509.00 without contract or EUR 99.90 with contract. Vodafone has not published any purchase prices for the HTC Desire yet.

There it is: Apple has started selling the iPad in the United States. Again, people were waiting in line to be one of the first buyers of the mobile internet device, even though it seems as if there haven’t been such crowds as on the day the iPhone came out more than three years ago. Apple fans in Germany will have to wait until the end of this month until they will be able to buy the iPad here. While first apps for the new device are already available in the German iTunes App Store, there are only hints that Apple is planning to release the iPad globally on April 24th. Buyers in Germany will probably have to pay higher purchase prices for the iPad than in the US.

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.

The HTC Legend smartphone is now available at Vodafone stores in Germany. With a contract over 24 months the touchscreen smartphone costs between EUR 79.90 and EUR 179.90, without contract the purchase price amounts to EUR 419.90. The smartphone’s body measures 112 x 56,3 x 11,5 millimeters and is made out of one solid piece of aluminimum with a brushed metallic finish and shows the same bend as the HTC Hero. The HTC Legend is powered by 600 MHz processor by Qualcomm and runs on Android 2.1 with HTC Sense user interface and is geared towards the use of classical Google web services such as Search, Mail or Maps, but it also supports Microsoft Exchange.