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.

Dirt, mud, rain, dust or shocks – these are things you want to protect your Puma Phone with its cheap plastic body against. And just because this mobile has been designed by the same company that is famous for its sportswear, this does not mean that the Puma Phone should be used when doing track and field or cross country. It sports a run and bike tracker with assisted GPS, a pedometer, a stop watch, a speed meter a yachting compass, but that’s about as sportive as it gets. Rather regard the Puma Phone as a nice and extravagant accessory to take with you when hanging out with friends. The operating system has been developed by Puma itself and it looks nothing like other mobile OS.

While movie fans have traveled to Berlin this week, the mobile industry met in Barcelona. At the Mobile World Congress 2010 show manufacturers, providers and network suppliers presented latest devices and upcoming trends. Some of it – like eye-controlled earphones by Japanese operator NTT Docomo – seems weird, other things like higher data transmission rates over 4G networks or efforts to introduce standards to the world of smartphone apps sound rather promising. And, of course, handset manufacturers showed lots of new devices with new features. Here is a short wrap up of the most interesting phones and platforms of the show.

Yes, it is the Apple iPhone again, still object of heated discussions among smartphone users. In Germany, only operator T-Mobile may sell the iPhone with contract (and SIM lock), devices available on the open market (and without SIM lock) are imported. Whichever way buyers choose in order to become part of the iPhone community, compared to most other smartphones the Apple phone is very expensive. At German stores, purchase prices for an imported iPhone 3G S without SIM lock begin at EUR 645.00. Still, it is one of the most popular mobile phones in the country. Now, it is also possible to get the iPhone 3G 8GB with a prepaid starter package of T-Mobile by finance purchase.

The Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani is the third fashion cell phone made by the Korean manufacturer. Supposedly, it is designed by Giorgio Armani himself. True or not, at least the smartphone bears the fashion designer’s name in big letters on the front. With the Fashion Weeks in Milan, Berlin and Paris in mind, I have been taking a closer look at the Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani. My conclusion: This is definitely not a phone for a bag of bones on the catwalk, but rather for a techie or a show-off who likes to spend his money before it burns holes in his pocket. The Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani is almost as expensive as the Apple iPhone 3G S – and it is even more powerful.

Good news: German mobile phone users can spare themselves the trip to an Apple store in Milan or other Italian cities in order to buy an Apple iPhone 3G S. In Germany, purchase prices for the iPhone have dropped to less than EUR 650.00: EUR 649.00 is how much customers pay for the iPhone 3G S with 16 GB memory at the web store RetailKeyShop, which in turn is approximately only 50 bucks more than they would have to pay at Italian Apple stores. The iPhone 3G S with 32 GB memory is available at the Retail Key Shop store for EUR 749.00. The Retail Key Shop web store can be found on the websites of the two German low-cost mobile phone providers Blau and Simyo.

The exclusive unveiling on January 5th in Mountain View arranged at short notice, the new category “super phone” invented by Google, the new sales model over the Google web store and new features of Android OS 2.1 on the one hand - poor customer support, poor sales on the first week and a high purchasing price whereas manufacturing costs are low on the other hand: The Google phone Nexus One built by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC is the talk of the town. My first impression after being able to put my hands on the new smartphone for a few hours: The Google phone Nexus One (still) is just another Android smartphone.

Although the new e-book reader from Sony, the Sony PRS-600 Touch Edition, has been available in Germany since last October, especially ‘professional readers’ aren’t convinced yet. Most agents and editors still use the precursor – the Sony PRS-505. This is a little ironic, because with its new reader model Sony obviously wanted to reach that target group. The new Sony reader’s impatiently expected touchscreen sometimes seems to be more of a mirror than a screen to read pages in a convenient way.

It seems as if Motorola has found its sheet anchor with new Android and Windows Mobile smartphones. The first Android smartphone is the Droid which is sold in Germany as the Motorola Milestone. In Germany, the Motorola Milestone is available at Vodafone stores for EUR 499.90 or at O2 Germany stores for EUR 481.00 without contract. My judgement after having testing the Motorola Milestone for a short time: With a great touchscreen, a real QWERTZ keyboard and the Android 2.0 operating system the Milestone is surely the most powerful Android smartphone currently available, but multimedia capabilities trail behind other smartphones.

With the smartphone LG BL40 newchocolate it is all coming down to design: Because of the slim form factor and the black double clear-coat finish the LG BL40 newchocolate is a real looker. For a good reason: The LG BL40 stems from the first cell phone of the Black Label series, LG KG800, which was very popular at its time. The handset’s dimensions of 51 x 10.9 x 128 millimeters are as unusual as the 21:9-format touchscreen with a 4.0-inch diagonal and a resolution of 345 x 800 pixels. The oblongness of the phone also brings the older Communicator handsets of Nokia to mind.