Touchscreens for the youth… whatever will they think of next.

Oh, wait, they have already thought of that. Hmm. Multiple times, you say? So many times you’re sick of hearing about how this phone or that phone are being targeted at ’style conscious youth markets’. Right. And you want to stab the next person who mentions anything to do with ’style’ or ’social networking’ or ‘being at the centre of a media revolution’ in the same sentence as ‘an affordable option.’ Okay then. Can we introduce you to the gloriously name JK Shin, Executive Vice President of something and Head of something else we really couldn’t give a flying **** about at Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Division.

Yo Jay-Kay, wasssup ma ni**a, what you got for us today bruvva, what you wanna tell us about the Samsung Genio Touch?

“We see strong growth opportunities in this sector and will continue to pioneer new markets with innovative technology. The Genio is consistent with Samsung’s legacy of developing new products and technologies designed for specific audiences and bringing new devices quickly to market,”

Fo shizzle?

“Samsung’s target audiences are at the heart of its business strategy and the design and functionality of Samsung Genio Touch meets the needs of a highly digitally connected and style conscious youth audience – as does the affordable price point.”

Fo real, is that how – oh, ****, someone just stabbed him. Someone just stuck a fork like right in Jay-Kay’s eye. Damn, dog, that gotta hurt.

Etc and so on and so forth.

Anyway, hopefully that pantomime was illuminating enough for you to want to find out more about the Samsung Genio Touch. No? It wasn’t?

God damn philistines, that’s all you are. Go read this Samsung Genio Touch review instead. Or feast your stupid little eyes on the official press release instead. Imbeciles.

Tags: Genio-02, Genio-orange, Genio-tmobile, Genio-vodafone, mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, phone, phones, S3650Genio, S3650Genio-contract, S3650Genio-contracts, S3650Genio-deal, S3650Genio-deals, S3650Genio-offer, S3650Genio-offers, Samsung, Samsung-mobile, Samsung-mobiles, Samsung-S3650Genio, Samsung-S3650Genio-deals

We have been doing a bit of soul searching this month at Best Rated Phones and have decided to compile a quick list of the best 8 phones out there and the best contracts to go with them. After all you don’t need to spend the earth to get these top class handsets, just so long as you shop around and compare deals. Anyhow, here is our list of the best phones and their respective contracts.
1. Nokia N97 deals – We reckon that this handset is a couple of firmware updates from being the best all round handset out there. You can pick it up for £40.00 per month on T-Mobile and for that you get 800 minutes and unlimited texts.
2. HTC Touch diamond 2 deals – A much improved handset on the original Diamond. The user Interface is great and at just under £30.00 per month for 400 minutes and 500 texts, you can’t go wrong. It’s also on O2, the largest UK network.
3. Nokia 5530 deals – The little sister of the Nokia 5800 just has to be included because it is so damn cheap. £20.00 per month gets you 600 minutes and unlimited texts on Vodafone. You also get Xpressmusic, meaning sweet music to your ears.
4. Blackberry 8520 deals – The best Blackberry yet has been working hard to improve its apps offering, the buttons are better and the screen is brighter, all for £25.00 per month on O2 with 600 minutes and 500 texts. This is an absolute bargain in our opinion.
5. Samsung Jet deals – Samsung’s first Android phone has perhaps been overshadowed by the HTC Hero, but we really like it. It’s definitely worth looking at if you are a facebook addict and let’s face it, who isn’t these days?
6. HTC Hero deals – We put it at number 6 because we felt sorry for the Samsung Jet in all honesty. It is a seriously good phone, although no touch screen left us slightly disappointed. You can expect the number of apps available to rocket this year and so expect a bump up the list in the near future. You can get the Hero on Orange for £26.00 per month with 400 minutes and 3000 texts at the time of writing.
7. Samsung pixon 12 deals – great for big users of their mobile phone, you get a massive 900 minutes and unlimited texts for £40.00 per month. Now that’s some serious minute and text action and the phone isn’t half bad either.
8. Sony W995 deals – The best that Sony Ericsson has to offer at the moment and it really should be higher on the list. The only thing is, we are so excited about the Aino and the Satio that we reckon it’s worth waiting for these to arrive. Having said that, the price is cheap. You can get it on T-Mobile for £21.20 with 700 minutes and 3000 texts, quite unbelievable.
Think we are missing out any handsets? Seen any better deals? Then let us know in the comments section.

Tags: Blackberry, blackberry-8520, HTC, HTC-hero, mobile-phone, Nokia, Nokia-N86, nokia-n97, Samsung, Samsung-pixon-12, Sony Ericsson, sony-ericsson-w995

In much the same way as those idiots who wear Bluetooth headsets have been the objects of hatred / ridicule / casual violence for many years now, we think the Samsung S9110 is going to unleash a new wave of anger. Because, as lovely an idea as watchphones are, how in the hell are they going to work. We can picture only three possibilities, all of which are terrifying

1 – The user has to contort and twist their watchphone up to their ear / mouth region somehow, therefore making them look like either victims of horrific accidents, or contemporary dancers, neither of which are good things

2 – The speakerphone is the only viable option. Right. Yeah. Enough said. A bunch of geeks yelling into their arms next to you in the pub. That’s going to go down very well

3 – They have to use some kind of ear piece / headphone kinda thing. Which would kind of take away the portable / compact benefits of the thing, right?

Anyway, who knows, maybe as flash as this technology is, there’s going to be some other kind of solution with the Samsung S9110 (details are still surprisingly scant on the ground, even with this things supposed release date this month), but we just can’t see what it might be.

While you’re waiting with crossed fingers, have a look at this Samsung S9110 review, or at these Samsung S9110 deals. But seriously, don’t hold your breath. Or, if you buy one, and you’re thinking about answering your watchphone in the pub next to us: do hold your breath. Hold it very, very tightly indeed.

Tags: mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, phone, phones, s9110, s9110-3, s9110-contract, s9110-contracts, s9110-deal, s9110-deals, s9110-o2, s9110-offer, s9110-offers, s9110-on-contract, s9110-orange, s9110-tmobile, s9110-vodafone, Samsung, Samsung-mobile, Samsung-mobile-phones, Samsung-phone, Samsung-phones, samsung-review, samsung-reviews, samsung-reviews samsung-s9110, samsung-s9110, samsungmobile, samsungphones

Quite recently, the armed forces in these fair isles decided to stop choosing evocative names and phrases to apply to their missions and use instead a random word generator.

So, no more going blundering into a country, dropping bombs on weddings, stealing donkeys and generally causing a big mess, but getting away with it by doing it all under the title Operation Enduring Freedom. No more assassinating the wrong person, trying to cover it up, failing, but still winning everyone around by saying it’s all part of Operation It’s All Okay, Everything is Fine, and Oh, Yeah, FREEDOM FOR ALL.

Which we think is generally a good thing. However, it seems the mobile phone industry has gotten a hold of something similar. Which we think is a very bad thing indeed. Because now we have phones like the Samsung S5600 that come with names that are, well, just preposterous. Who in the hell thought that when the random name generator spewed out the name of a post-industrial malaise of a hole that is the pseudo-city in the north of England that that would be a good name for a pretty cool phone? Who thought that when people then had to write, go and look at these Samsung Preston deals, anyone would actually want to?

Absolutely bizarre. Anyway, regardless of the name, this thing is actually a pretty decent mid-range touchscreen (it is in fact just the Tocco Lite with a few more additions… The Tocco Lite Plus, then. Or the Tocco Lite Heavy. Or the Tocco Not-as-Lite-as-it-was… see, anything is better than ‘Preston’). Check out this little Samsung Preston review, have a look at Samsung’s official page, or even, if you dare, take a little look at this video:

Tags: mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, phone, phones, s5600, s5600-contract, s5600-contracts, s5600-deal, s5600-deals, s5600-offer, s5600-offers, s5600-preston, s5600-preston-contract, s5600-preston-contracts, s5600-preston-deal, s5600-preston-deals, s5600-preston-offer, s5600-preston-offers, Samsung, Samsung-mobile, Samsung-mobiles, Samsung-S5600, Samsung-S5600-deals, Samsung-s5600-preston, Samsung-s5600-preston-deals, tocco-lite, tocco-lite-s5230

In that strange drive to always have the biggest / best / newest / shiniest / stripiest / glowingist / etc.ist, people often lose sight of what it is they actually need in their lives. Teenage boys really do think their Renault 5 needs an engine stipped out of a Porsche and those ultraviolet strip lights under the sides of their noisy machines, little realising not only how much they don’t actually need those things, but also how indescribably stupid those things make them look. Others buy 47-inch plasma TVs for their 9ft x 9ft lounges, bathing themselves in its glow and probably damaging their eyes forever.

And with phones, all-to-often we’ve had still-smelling-like-the-box gadgets shoved under our noses as some halfwit rants on about the how the HSDPA speed on the thing is like nothing the world has ever seen. Normally those people can be shut up by asking them what HSDPA stands for, and what it does, but not always. And all this is why we’ve been slightly refreshed by the Samsung Tocco Lite as it’s made its way into our lives with little fuss or fanfare. Because Samsung have actually stripped this thing down to the very barest bones, and we think it’s better for it. 3G? Nope. WiFi? Nope. And while HSDPA-man might be snorting laughter into his Bavarian wheat beer, we say: why the hell not. Most people don’t even use their apparently top-end functions beyond the first, say, 4 hours of owning their new phones, so why not have a phone that’s neat, light, dirt cheap and does just what you need it to, and very little else. Agree with us? Think the Samsung Tocco Lite might be just for you? Then have a look at this Samsung Tocco Lite review for more back-up. Or at the official page for some slightly less persuasive stuff. Or at this video… which might just confuse you, but we promise the Star is the same as the Lite… if you see what we mean.

Tags: lite, lite-deal, lite-deals, mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, phone, phones, S5230, S5230-contract, S5230-deals, Samsung, Samsung-lite, Samsung-tocco, Samsung-tocco-deals, Samsung-tocco-lite, Samsung-tocco-lite-contract, tocco-contract, tocco-contracts, tocco-lite-deals

For those of you too lazy to carry around an actual camera, the Samsung Pixon 12 is actually a pretty decent attempt at being a camera. Even if it is not – as you have to remember – an actual camera. It is a phone, with a camera attached. Just as it has an FM radio attached. And some 3G functions. And some other pretty cool stuff (check out this Samsung Pixon 12 review for the full rundown). Have a little look at this list of functions if you don’t believe us:

• Single camera button for instant photo-taking
• 28-mm wide angle lens
• Xenon LED flash
• Touch auto-focus
• Track moving subjects
• Smart Auto mode that adjusts to the conditions
• Saves images relatively quickly (for a cameraphone) – fire off the next shot within 2 seconds
• Instant uploading to Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket and more via WiFi

See, not bad at all. But, one word of very stern warning: just because the Samsung Pixon 12, as its name so subtly suggest, has 12 megapixels, don’t expect it to start taking pictures as good as any real camera with the same specs. Megapixels do not a better picture make, as someone might have once said.

All that said though, if you do find yourself taking pictures more than most, the Pixon 12 could be just the camera for you. Just make sure you get all the expandable memory you can – those 12MP pictures don’t come lightly. And have a look at the video below too:

Tags: 12, 12-deals, 12-pixon, 12deal, mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, phone, phones, pixon, pixon-contract, pixon-contracts, pixon-deal, pixon-deals, pixon-offer, pixon-offers, pixon12-contract, pixon12-contracts, pixon12-offer, pixon12-offers, Samsung, Samsung-12, Samsung-12-deals, Samsung-12-pixon, Samsung-mobile, Samsung-mobile-phones, Samsung-mobiles, Samsung-pixon, Samsung-pixon-deals, samsungmobiles

It’s not often – but it is very enjoyable – that we get to ignore all the megapixels, mbps, gigabytes and other number-focused measuring that goes on most days in the mobile phone kingdom. But today is one of those days, as we announce the soon-to-be-released Samsung i7500, the first phone from one of the top three global manufacturers to be running Google’s Android OS.

So what does this mean for you and your sticky mitts then? Well, basically Android makes your phone something of a Google desktop, giving you instant (and fast) access to all the things that make Google our favourite techno-geeks ever. Amongst the top draws will of course be:

• Google Maps – GPS lets you use features such as Google Latitude and Street View
• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Google Talk
• YouTube
• Tonnes of other apps via the Android Market

So there we have it. Not a number in site and we’ve managed to persuade you why you should snap up a Samsung i7500 the day it’s released. What? What do you mean you’re not persuaded? Oh, you’re still using Hotmail. Bless.

For those of you who have actually entered this new century, check out this Samsung i7500 review of the Samsung i7500 or whet your appetite with this uber-geek presented Cnet video. As the bible said, one day the geeks will inherit the earth. And chances are they’ll do so with an Android phone in their back pockets.

Tags: i7500, i7500-contract, i7500-contracts, i7500-deal, i7500-deals, i7500-offer, i7500-offers, mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, phone, phones, Samsung, Samsung-i7500, samsung-i7500-contract, Samsung-i7500-deals, Samsung-mobile, Samsung-mobiles

We always shudder slightly when we hear the phrase ‘mid-range’ because it conjures up images of mediocrity, just enoughness; that idea of having to accept something that’s not up to scratch. And, to be honest, most mid-range phones are little better than this.

Not so with the Samsung Jet S8000. It’s a fully functional touchscreen, soon to be released from Samsung, and we can’t speak of it highly enough. The screen itself uses the AMOLED technology we’ve blogged about before, so even though not huge at 3.1”, it’s clear, crisp and with nice deep contrasts. The interface is the newest version of TouchWiz, again something we’ve written about before – using the fantastic 3D-cube interface to allow quick and easy access to all the phone has to offer. And all of this is running on an 800mhz processor that will eat up all you can throw at it.

There’s a few concessions, of course – the HSDPA connectivity is not the best, the camera’s only 5MP (although saying ‘only’ sounds ridiculous to us), the battery isn’t the most powerful or long lasting (but then that helps keep the weight down)… In fact, for every minor concession Samsung have made, there’s either a very good reason, or simply no good reason why the highest end option would have made the Samsung Jet any better at all.

So, here’s to a new celebration of the mid-range. The Samsung Jet S8000 isn’t going to wow your mates with it’s super-large-screen, crazy-fast-download or photo-journalist features, but it is going to fit very snuggly into your pocket, and not fall through the hole burnt there by an expensive price tag. Check out this Samsung Jet Review for more vital stats, and there’s a decent video below too:

Tags: Jet, Jet-contract, Jet-contracts, Jet-deal, Jet-deals, Jet-offer, Jet-offers, mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, phone, phones, S8000, S8000-contract, S8000-contracts, S8000-deals, S8000-Jet, S8000-offer, S8000-offers, S8000deal, Samsung, Samsung-Jet, Samsung-Jet-deals, Samsung-mobile, Samsung-mobile-phones, Samsung-mobiles, Samsung-S8000, Samsung-S8000-deals, Samsung-S8000-Jet, samsungmobiles

We’ve seen big screens, responsive screens, bad screens, screens that smudge, screens that crack… well, we’ve seen a whole lot of screens here over the years. But despite all this screenage, the Samsung Omnia 2 I8000 still made our jaws drop just a little.

At 3.7” this is the biggest screen you’ve ever seen. How do we know that? Well, it’s the biggest screen ever featured on a mobile phone. Impressed? Well, as you all know, size isn’t everything, it’s what’s inside that counts. And this screen features AMOLED technology, which means it’s not only thin, not only extremely bright and with great contrast, but it doesn’t need to be backlit, so it’s not a massive drain on the battery’s juice. It’s hard to put into words what a relief this is… one of the problems with increasing quality with screens – as they reach DVD-like quality, as they increase in size, etc – is that the increase in battery consumption has normally risen too. Now Samsung are using a technology that while it increases your viewing pleasure, actually decreases battery usage in comparison to similarly spec’ed screens.

All this is not to say the Samsung Omnia 2 is just a bit of a looker. It’s got just about every top spec feature packed into it’s thin (12mm) body too. All the 3.5G, GPS, WiFi, mediaplayers and so on you could possibly want. So, if you’re in the market for a top range smartphone that isn’t the iPhone, the Samsung Omnia 2 I8000 might just be for you. Check out a more detailed Samsung Omnia 2 review here, or have a look at this annoyingly low-res video below.

Tags: i8000, i8000-contract, i8000-contracts, i8000-deals, i8000-offer, i8000-offers, i8000deal, mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, omnia, Omnia-2, Omnia-2-i8000, Omnia2, omnia2-contract, omnia2-contracts, omnia2-deal, omnia2-deals, omnia2-i8000, omnia2-offer, omnia2-offers, phone, phones, Samsung, Samsung-i8000-deals, Samsung-mobile, Samsung-mobile-phones, Samsung-mobiles, Samsung-omnia, Samsung-omnia2, Samsung-omnia2-deals, Samsung-omnia2-i8000, samsungmobiles

A brief glance at the specs of the upcoming (though possibly not until October) Samsung Omnia Lite tells you not very much:

• GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA + WiFi data connectivity
• 3.0″ touchscreen with 240 x 400 pixels, 65k colours
• 3 megapixel camera
• TouchWiz 2.0
• 107 x 52 x 13mm
• 103 grams
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 250MB of internal memory, expandable with MicroSD to 32GB
• GPS
• FM radio
• OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

Not much apart from the fact that this will be a pretty average smartphone. But then that’s Samsung’s goal with this, as far as we can tell. They’ve been busier than normal announcing phones left, right and centre recently, and this might be judged by some to be the least impressive, but we think it’s not all that bad. Basically a slimmed, trimmed and streamlined version of the high-performance but slightly clunky Omnia phones, the Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 will not only be performing all your day-to-day smartphone tasks with ease, but also adds a little extra. That extra comes in the form of the neat TouchWiz interface that’s now appearing as standard on Samsung touchscreens, and as it’s now up to version 2.0, you can be confident it’s pretty slick. Check out this Samsung Omnia Lite review for more details.

And keep your fingers crossed that release date gets pushed slightly earlier, because we think you’re going to enjoy the Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 hits the shelves.

Tags: B7300, B7300-contract, B7300-contracts, B7300-deal, B7300-deals, B7300-offer, B7300-offers, lite-B7300, mobile, mobile-contract, mobile-contracts, mobile-phone, mobile-phone-contract, mobile-phone-contracts, mobile-phone-deal, mobile-phone-deals, mobile-phones, mobilephone, mobilephones, mobiles, omnia, omnia-02, omnia-contract, omnia-contracts, omnia-deal, omnia-deals, omnia-offer, omnia-offers, omnia-orange, omnia-tmobile, omnia-vodafone, phone, phones, Samsung, Samsung-B7300, Samsung-B7300-omnia, Samsung-mobile, Samsung-mobile-phone, Samsung-mobile-phones, Samsung-mobiles, Samsung-omnia, Samsung-omnia-deals, Samsung-omnia-lite-b7300, Samsung-phone, Samsung-phones