Top 10 mobile devices at CommunicAsia 2010

by Damian Koh | 17 June 2010 6:18pm SGT

Every June, the tropical island of Singapore plays host to a number of mobile phone launches. This year is no different except for the flash flood in downtown Orchard mid-week. But since the tradeshow is held way out in the boondocks at the Singapore Expo and you're probably sleep-deprived from the World Cup, you're excused if you never made it to CommunicAsia 2010. That's why we're here. Between roving the four halls and hotfooting it to the Nokia and Sony Ericsson fringe events, and after much deliberation, we've come up with the Top 10 mobile devices spoted at CommunicAsia. These are the highlights and our favorites in alphabetical order.

1. Alcatel One Touch Net

After the iPhone and Nexus One, Yahoo now has a handset to call its own. The Alcatel One Touch Net device is the first mobile that full integrates Yahoo's services, from push-email to social networking.

2. Altek Leo

The Altek Leo runs on Android 2.1 and comes with a 14-megapixel camera, 3x optical zoom and built-in Xenon flash. What's more amazing is the image sensor, which as a 1/2.3-inch module, is more commonly found in dedicated point-and-shoot cameras.

3. EPI Life

The EPI Life is made with the hypochondriac in mind, and comes with integrated ECG electrocardiography and health monitoring features as well as a personal health concierge round the clock. For a fee, of course.

4. Huawei SmaKit S7

Call it an awfully large iPhone or a tiny iPad, but China-based Huawei's SmaKit S7 Android 2.1 tablet scored plenty of attention at the show with its generous 7-inch 800 x 400-pixel touchscreen.

5. Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro

Finally, we can now call good, old mum from the remotest corner of Tibet or Everest, and not have to incur a mountain of phone charges. The Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro makes it relatively affordable for the average consumer to own a satellite phone that's built to work in extreme conditions and remote locations.

6. Nokia N8

The N8 is Nokia's first Symbian^3 smartphone that comes with a 12-megapixel camera and 720p high-definition video. It also has a 3.5-inch 640 x 360-pixel touchscreen and 16GB of onboard memory. With an image sensor that's between 26 and 37 percent larger than a dedicated digicam's sensor, the N8 is the camera-phone to watch out for in Q3.

7. NTT Docomo separable phone

Two for the price of one? Although this isn't the first time we're seeing a NTT Docomo separable phone, it still doesn't fail to amaze us with its capabilities. The keypad and screen stay connected via Bluetooth, so you hold the display in front of you while keeping the other half of the handset to your ear for 3G video calls. The latter also doubles as a controller for playing games.

8. NTT Docomo Sharp Lynx SH-10B

This mobile Internet device runs on Android 1.6 and has a generous 5-inch, 960 x 480-pixel touchscreen. With the bundled earpiece, you can even use this device as a mobile phone.

9. Samsung Wave 2

Although Samsung's Bada platform is meant to run on low to midrange devices, the first handset on Bada was the high-end Wave with a 1GHz processor and Super AMOLED display. With the Wave 2, Samsung is realizing its original plans for the Bada platform. Perhaps this will be Samsung's winning strike against Nokia in the emerging markets.

10. Sony Ericsson Xperia X8

Sony Ericsson's 6th Xperia-branded device is a midrange Android smartphone due to launch in Q3 with Android 1.6, to be upgraded to Android 2.1 later in the year. The X8 apparently has a 3-inch HVGA touchscreen that's scratch-resistant. We'll definitely put that claim to the test.

Honorable green mentions

We're all for sustainable infocomms technology, which is why we think these two green concept phones are worth a footnote here.

1. NTT Docomo Touch Wood

Made from authentic cypress wood, this handset claims to have excellent durability and resistance to water, insects and mildew due to a special three-dimensional compression molding. Since each piece of wood has its own distinct grain pattern and color, no two phones are alike. So you can be assured of owning a unique design.

2. ZTE Double

The Double is a clamshell solar-charging handset that flips open 180 degrees to become a single, rectangular slab for solar charging. The hinge also rotates 360 degrees, so when you're not juicing the device, the back of the phone is a touchscreen that lets you navigate the Web browser and text on the 3.2-inch LCD. Of course, it's also made from recyclable materials.