Holiday gift guide 2006

3G is in the house

The world is changing fast. So are the current mobile data transfer speeds. Today's high-speed data transfers allow seamless video and sound streaming to suit your multimedia needs in every possible way - from live TV to making video calls. Check out some of the contenders in the "fast" 3G lane. UMTS or also known as 3G is now commonplace in big metropolitan areas. There is no need to wonder that there are a lot of 3G solutions out there. We present you the selected few that managed to impress us this year. When picking up our contenders we didn't mean for them to be representative of the certain category, since there are a lot of highly sophisticated smartphones out there that have UMTS support. Instead, we chose to highlight devices whose focus is the 3G capabilities themselves.

First off is the Sony Ericsson K610 ($225*), which also seems to be the cheapest of the gang. The K610 is a trustworthy companion in the 3G world and although it has the smaller price tag, it does feature a secondary VGA camera for making video calls.

Talking about video calls, the Nokia 6233 ($259*), our next offer in that category, doesn't offer those, although you could theoretically make video calls with it - as long as you use the main 2 megapixel camera which also happens to record videos at VGA resolution - unfortunately, at a lower framerate of 15 fps.

Sony Ericsson K610 | review • Nokia 6233 | review

Samsung also have nice 3G solutions in the face of the clamshell Samsung Z510 ($275*) and the more expensive slider Samsung Z400.

Finally, a handset that is not so much of a 3G-centric solution but that manages to overwhelm the realm of multimedia - the Nokia N73 ($449*). Equipped with the finest 3 megapixel camera produced by Nokia up-to-date, it's powered by the Symbian 9.1 OS and doesn't leave no doubt that it's made for having fun. If not else, one thing's for sure - Nokia has implemented in it one of the greatest web browsers we have seen in a mobile handset during the past year. The browser integrated into the latest edition of the S60 user interface offers functionality and ease of use that exceeds the competing solutions by a wide margin.

Samsung Z510 • Nokia N73 | review

Also to consider

3G is still gaining popularity, while newer and faster data transfer technologies are being implemented in networks worldwide. The HSDPA or the so-called 3.5G is the next level high-speed mobile data standard and if you happen to be among the lucky few that live in an area with that sort of network coverage, please feel free to check the currently available HSDPA mobiles.

* All prices are taken from Plemix.com. Your local street prices might differ. All prices valid at the time of publishing.