What we think is worth trying

Dec 30, 2009 15:01 GMT  ·  By

The year 2010 is almost here, and, with 2009 getting ready to wave bye-bye, round-ups of what we had the chance to see, learn and experience over the past 12 months have also started to emerge into the wild. Since there have been quite a few handsets to enjoy in 2009, one better than the other, we thought of providing users with our thoughts on what we consider to be the top devices of the year. When purchasing a phone, it is rather hard to choose from the various operating systems available on the market, not to mention the wide range of brands and handset types that are present on shelves, and knowing which handsets rule the segment might prove useful in the end.

However, since there are some devices that stand up in the crowd, we came up with a series of top handsets on a few platforms out there, but also with a top 10 of what we think that can be considered the best mobile phones of the year. First on the menu is Windows Mobile, not because we're fans of it, but due to the fact that things are a little bit clearer in this area. Next in line our thoughts will come on the best Android phones out there, and there will also be a final top 10 smartphones of the year posted in the near future, so stay tuned.

When it comes to the handsets that are currently available on the market running under Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, the one that stands above all others is certainly the HTC HD2. Announced officially in October, HD2 has been already launched in a wide range of markets around the world, and should land in the US next year. The Taiwan-based mobile phone maker has done a great job with HD2, packing the device with a large 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display that boasts a 480 x 800 pixel WVGA resolution, and with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor.

A microSD memory card slot offers users the possibility to add more storage space into the equation, and HD2 also comes with 512 MB of ROM and 448 MB of RAM, as well as with a 5-megapixel photo snapper. Moreover, there are a great deal of connectivity options, as well as multimedia and Internet browsing features that one can enjoy, and it should be noted that HD2 is the first Windows Mobile-based handset from HTC to include the Sense solution as well. On the downside, there have been some software issues with it, though HTC already released a wide range of patches to enhance its capabilities.

Samsung Omnia II can be easily considered the second best Windows Mobile-powered device on the market today. The phone was launched on the market during summer, with the 6.1 flavor of WM on board, but received the 6.5 blessing as soon as Microsoft went official with the OS. A 3.7 inch AMOLED resistive touchscreen display that boasts a 480 x 800 pixel resolution makes Omnia II one of the most wanted handsets of the year. The TouchWiz 2.0 UI packed inside it and the typing capabilities it has courtesy of Swype are also features that appeal a lot to users, one should agree.

The handset also comes with a few GB of internal storage, and with a microSD memory card slot that supports up to 32GB of additional storage. In addition, there is a 5-megapixel photo snapper with dual-LED flash, auto focus and video recording, as well as a great deal of connectivity and multimedia features, not to mention the impressive Internet browsing features the device sports. If the display was a little larger, and a speedier CPU with more than 256 MB of RAM stacked inside it, Omnia II would have become the leader in the area, that's for sure. It can be already purchased in a wide range of markets, including Argentina, where it has just made an appearance.

The third Windows Mobile phone of the year is the HTC Touch Pro2, in our opinion. With a Qualcomm MSM7200A, 528 MHz processor inside, 512 MB of ROM, 288 MB of RAM and a 3.6-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen that delivers a 480 x 800 WVGA resolution, this phone was poised for growing popularity right from the start. HTC announced it as a world phone, and it arrived in almost all corners of the globe since its launch in May. Released with 6.1 on board, it already saw a 6.5 update from HTC, though not all carriers adopted it.

The goodies Touch Pro2 can deliver include the TouchFLO 3D UI (though the WM 6.5 update is said to have brought Sense to it too), a tilt screen, slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard, 3.2-megapixel photo snapper, and the usual array of connectivity, multimedia and Internet browsing options. On the downside, the Windows Mobile 6.5 update hasn't arrived on it in due time, and, it comes with a smaller display than the first two ones. However, business users can find it as a great option, mainly due to its QWERTY keyboard.

Toshiba TG01 comes in fourth in our top 5 Windows phones of 2009. It is a great smartphone, one should agree, especially with that Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor inside, with the 4.1-inch TFT resistive touchscreen display that delivers a 480 x 800 pixel resolution, and the 9.9 mm thickness it comes to the market with. Announced back in January, the phone arrived on shelves in June, and received an update for the new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system in October.

What it can offer to users includes a great deal of multimedia features, which are fueled by the speedy processor and by the 256 MB of RAM and 512 MB of ROM it comes with. 16GB of additional storage space can be included in the equation thanks to the microSD memory card slot it comes with, and there is also a 3.15-megapixel photo snapper to immortalize different moments of the every-day life. TG01 landed on the fourth position mainly for the lower camera and memory capabilities, and because its UI is not as popular as the HTC or Samsung solutions out there.

The last one on our list is a device that arrived a little late to the party, namely the LG eXpo GW820. The handset has made an appearance on the market only recently, but it has a lot of features that anyone would like to have in a mobile phone: a 3.2-inch TFT touchscreen display, a side-sliding QWERTY keyboard, a 1GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512 MB of ROM and 256 MB of RAM, and a microSD memory card slot for up to 16 GB of additional storage space. One of the most important features, however, is the fact that it comes with an optional projector that can be attached to its back.

A 5-megapixel photo snapper is included in the package as well, and a wide range of other features related to its connectivity or to the apps and capabilities of the Windows Mobile OS it sports. All in all, the LG GW820 seems to be one of the nicest options on the market today but, sadly, it arrived only recently on the market, and lost the beginning of the game, much to the advantage of other handsets. The phone can be purchased in the US via AT&T at the moment, yet it might arrive in other markets too, next year.

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Softpedia's Top 5 Windows phones of 2009
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