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This story was printed from CNET Asia.
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Top 10 phones for August

By Damian Koh
19/09/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62046320,00.htm

New to August's Top 10 list was the Sony Ericsson W980 Walkman, while the Nokia N95 (8GB) apparently fell out of favor with the crowds. The Nokia E71 smart phone maintained its lead in the chart, securing pole position for the second time after its debut in July. The Nokia 6500 slide came a close second, with the E66 hot on its heels. Other favorites that made it to the list were the Sony Ericsson C902 Cyber-shot, Samsung SGH-F480 and the LG Secret.

Note: Results are based on readership as well as data collected from retail outlets (Mobile Square and WhyMobile) and the major mobile operators in Singapore including:


MobileOne

SingTel

StarHub


Next five mobile phones | Last month's rankings



Click here for a feature comparison table.
1.  Nokia E71    
 
CNET Asia rating: 8.7 out of 10
The good: Slim and stylish design; solid build quality; full range of wireless features; works right out of the box; snappy performance; excellent battery life.
The bad: Counter-intuitive camera autofocus; media browser could do with a little upgrade; Easy Dial feature not available.
The bottom line: The Nokia E71 is easily one of the best QWERTY smart phones that combine strong features as well as a good balance between business and entertainment, at a competitive price.

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2.  Nokia 6500 slide
 
CNET Asia rating: 7.7 out of 10
The good: Solid build quality and one of the best sliders available; Carl Zeiss optics for the 3.2-megapixel autofocus camera; quadband GSM with dual-band UMTS; A2DP.
The bad: Autofocus doesn't work in video mode; no backlight adjustment feature; phone doesn't auto keylock after closing the slider.
The bottom line: The Nokia 6500 slide is an excellent basic camera-phone based on the S40 platform, though some tiny issues prevented it from getting a higher score.

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3.  Nokia E66
 
CNET Asia rating: 9 out of 10
The good: Solid and attractive build; HSDPA, Wi-Fi and A-GPS; excellent productivity tools.
The bad: Smaller battery compared with the E71; accelerometer can be a nuisance.
The bottom line: While we like the E71 better, the E66 is a great smart phone with class-leading features. If you want the functionality of a business phone without the bulk of a PDA form factor, the E66 is the phone you've been looking for.

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4.  Sony Ericsson C902 Cyber-shot
 
CNET Asia rating: 6.7 out of 10
The good: Fashionable, lean form factor; lots of camera features; flashier user interface; HSDPA.
The bad: Stiff, angled keypad; poorly located volume buttons; no Xenon flash.
The bottom line: The C902 Cyber-shot is mostly let down by some poor design implantations, but is still a decent camera-phone overall.

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5.  Sony Ericsson W910i Walkman    
 
CNET Asia rating: 7 out of 10
The good: Slim design; built-in motion sensor; large 2.4-inch LCD; HSDPA connectivity.
The bad: Walkman button too small; poor location of connector port; no onboard 3.5mm audio jack; sub-par camera.
The bottom line: The W910i is great for those looking to purchase a trendy music phone with a little bit of fun, but which doesn't lack in features, although it's a little pricey.

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Previous five mobile phones | Last month's rankings



Click here for a feature comparison table.
6.  Samsung SGH-F480
 
CNET Asia rating: 6.6 out of 10
The good: Compact size; solid build; cool widgets interface; HSDPA; Bluetooth stereo; microSD expansion card slot.
The bad: Vulnerable to fingerprints; software can be improved; lacks Wi-Fi.
The bottom line: The F480 is a stylish touchscreen handset with a wealth of features, but its user interface could do with a little improvement.

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7.  Nokia E51    
 
CNET Asia rating: 8 out of 10
The good: Slim, solid design; stainless steel construction; multiple dedicated buttons and shortcut keys; excellent tactility; HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth stereo A2DP; generous 130MB of onboard memory; snappy performance.
The bad: Rose Steel version attracts fingerprints easily; preinstalled Quickoffice is read-only version; no front-facing camera for video calls; average image quality.
The bottom line: Simple is good, and that's what the E51 is. It may not have a fancy design, but the E51 excels in nearly all other aspects with a truckload of connectivity features, good performance and attractive price point for an enterprise phone.

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8.  LG Secret KF750
 
CNET Asia rating: 6 out of 10
The good: Slim and trendy design; solid build quality; 3G with HSDPA; video-recording features; supports DivX up to VGA resolution; fun preloaded motion games.
The bad: Horrible control buttons; touch interface difficult to use; screen washes out in sunlight; glossy surfaces attract fingerprints; below-average performance for a non-smart phone.
The bottom line: It may be a stylish camera-phone with some entertainment features, but LG seriously needs to rethink the user interface of the handset, not just rely on pretty looks alone.

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9.  Sony Ericsson G900
 
First take
The Sony Ericsson G900 is part of the Japanese-Swedish company's series of Web-enabled phones and was announced at this year's Mobile World Congress. We got to spend a couple of days with this touchscreen Symbian UIQ smart phone. Here's what we think. Do note that this preview highlights the main differences between the G900 and G700.

First take | See full specs | Rate this
10.  Sony Ericsson W980 Walkman
 
CNET Asia rating: 7 out of 10
The good: Solid hinge; well-spaced keypad; Bluetooth stereo; HSDPA; 8GB onboard storage; FM transmitter; decent sound quality.
The bad: Fingerprint magnet; still no onboard 3.5mm audio jack; lacks camera features.
The bottom line: It may not outperform a dedicated music player, but the W980 is a Walkman that's great as a secondary (and fashionable) music device when carrying two players is just not possible.

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