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.

Operator O2 Germany provides the personal navigation and mapping service Telmap to its customers. Effective immediately, the application is preinstalled on many new GPS-enabled mobile phones such as Motorola Milestone, HTC Touch HD2, Samsung Galaxy or Sony Ericsson W995. Customers who are already using GPS-enabled smartphones can download the Telmap client directly to their phones at http://wap.telmap.com/o2de/. O2 Germany offers the Telmap navigation service to its customers for free, regardless of whether they have a prepaid price plan or a fixed-term agreement. The only fees are for the mobile data transmission.

The iPhone App by Berlin recommendation platform Townster is available for free and does two things for users: It helps them find the good places to eat and drink in Berlin, and it includes a game that should make going out even more fun. Via GPS, the app lists restaurants, cafés, fast food joints, bars, and pubs in the users’ immediate surroundings and shows them on a map, including location details and user reviews.

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.

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.

Finding out where the next party is, how to get to the next shopping center or what the old building in front of you is – with a smartphone at hand you always have access to information you need on your way. All you need is an adequate mobile data plan and the right apps installed on your handheld. We present ten apps for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that help Berliners and Berlin visitors to get around. At the end of this article you will find recommendations to free WiFi hotspots in Berlin and to cheap mobile data plans (prepaid and postpaid) with a short minimum term commitment of German providers.

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.

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.

Car navigation specialist TomTom now offers prepaid cards for its Live services on portable navigation devices (PNDs). After a free three month trial period users can choose to buy a prepaid Live services card for six months (EUR 59.95) or for twelve months (EUR 99.95). Alternatively, users can book an ongoing subscription via TomTom Home desktop software for EUR 9.95 per month which can be canceled with an one month’s notice. With TomTom Live services latest traffic information (HD Traffic), weather forecasts, fuel prices, safety alerts and information about local shops and business found by way of Google search are sent directly to the SIM card in a compatible navigation device.

TweetAndroid smartphones are great for using Google web services on the way. Services such as Google Mail, Google Talk, Google Search, Google Maps and Google Chrome web browser are already installed on the mobile, new emails are automatically forwarded to the smartphone, and contacts and calendar on the phone are synchronized with the Google server over the air. In Germany, the first Android smartphone T-Mobile G1 appeared one year ago. Vodafone sold the second Android device in the German market, the HTC Magic. O2 Germany was the third German operator …