CNET Asia's top 5 picks at CommunicAsia 2007
By CNET Asia staff
22/06/2007
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62023374,00.htm
It's the time of year that either drives mobile tech journos wild with desire or sensory overload: The annual CommunicAsia 2007 trade fair. For four days, CNET Asia reporters descended on the Singapore Expo out in the boondocks to make sure you got the story on all of the show's most important gear. Having had a look at the best and the worst of what's going down at all the halls, we've picked the top 5 headturners at the event.
Without further ado, start clicking to see our best-of-best roundup (in no particular order).
Best in show: Pick 1
| Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5
 Mobile Wii: NTT DoCoMo P904i
We're resigned to the fact that the Japanese get all the fun while the rest of us in Asia can only whimper with envy. While it's not unimaginable for someone to lug his Nintendo Wii around just so he'll look cooler (and a lot stupider), why do that when you can get almost the same amount of fun on the mobile phone? The NTT DoCoMo FOMA P904i comes with built-in accelerometers that detect motion while playing games. It's not 100-percent Wii-like but, hey, who's complaining? Excuse us while we buy a ticket to the land of the rising sun.Best in show: Pick 1
| Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5
Shake those bonbons: Sony Ericsson W910i
With a novel SensMe song selection mode and Shake controls for random selection with a flick of the wrist, Sony Ericsson's W910i slider phone gets a workout as a music player that rocks and rolls, literally. There's even a Lumines Block Challenge game which is a modified version of the hit title Lumines on the Sony PSP. So appropriate for a Walkman phone. Going by previous experiences with the Walkman series of music phones, the W910i shouldn't disappoint when it comes to audio quality. Until it comes to Asia Pacific in Q4, it looks like we'll have to keep still for the moment.Best in show: Pick 1
| Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5
Dial M for modem: Huawei U550
The same company that provides huge-ass network solutions to other telecommunication organizations also brings us this clamshell phone with touch-sensitive buttons. These are on the top lid for music playback, with a secondary display for vital information. One of the coolest features is its ability to act as a modem for PCs. Nothing new, you say? Well, this one works the moment you plug it into a computer without having to install any additional software. No word on when this will be available, though.Best in show: Pick 1
| Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5
HSDPA on a diet: Samsung Ultra Edition 12.1 (U700)
The Ultra series was so runway flat, we had to scuttle around for the tightest pair of jeans to test it out. Now here's one that manages to squeeze an HSDPA chip into a 12.1mm-thin slider. There's also a 3.2-megapixel camera and a 2.2-inch LCD on this Ultra. Available in July for Southeast Asia.Best in show: Pick 1
| Pick 2 | Pick 3 | Pick 4 | Pick 5
TV round-about: LG KU950
While you're not yakking away on the phone, you can also watch TV on-the-go via the DVB-H network on this LG. But what we like is the screen slides to a horizontal orientation so you get to watch your favorite programs on the 2.4-inch screen in landscape mode. That's not all. The screen can perform a 360-degree rotation as well. The KU950 comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and a microSD expansion card slot. Alas, the HSDPA LG KU950 will be available only in Europe.
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