I have never thought of the resurrection of Canon’s S Series. (Yes, I thought the S Series had died as it has been four protracted years since the release of the late S80.) The release of S90 is thus a gospel to me. The heralded triumph of LX3 has testified the immense demand for compact camera with advanced features from the market. It is a surprise to see that it has taken so long for Canon to react to that. Canon S90 has finally arrived. It’s better late than never.

The package includes the S90 camera, a battery, a charger, a USB cable, an AV cable, a neck strap, a CD ROM and user’s guide.

The modest design of S90 is a plus. Its black understated professional-looking design has simply made the master statement that it does not want to distract the users from its powerful functions, so that a humble outlook would be an adequate match. Although it comes with delightfully portable dimensions (100.0 x 58.4 x 30.9mm) and weight (175g body), Even more compact than its main competition LX3. It does not sacrifice any of the shooting competence promised by the great line of S Series. It has the same large image sensor as the bulky G11 (1/1.7″, 0.43 cm²) which makes sure the details are captured. DIGIC4 image processor is also on board to guarantee the ever-so-speedy operation. The Dual Noise Reduction system is a powerful tool to stop noise from kicking in during low light situation, just to name a few.

Like a professional shooters, G90 allows flexible manual adjustment. On the mode dial, you will find full manual mode, custom mode, aperture-prior mode, shutter-prior mode, program mode, AE mode, low-light mode, scene mode and movie. You can add your creative input and manipulate the image and make it your own.

There is a dedicated shortcut key (button with an S) for you to assign specific function to it which saves you some time fumbling through menu.

The flash will automatically pop up when needed unlike the previous IXUS 200IS whose flash will pop up whenever the camera is on. However, for docking in the flash, you have to choose “no flash” from the flash menu and cannot press it down by hand. That may cause a little bit of hassles.

One of the main features of the camera is the control ring round the lens. You can adjust the focus, shutter-speed, aperture, exposure compensation, white balance or ISO by simply rotating it, just like the operation of DSLR. Although it is not as wide as LX3’s 24mm wide angle, the focal length of 28-105mm is still very useful. It has also a f/2.0 (W) – f/4.9 (T) maximum aperture. The 3.8 optical zoom is winning over LX3’s 2.5x.

When you turn the control ring, to adjust the aperture for instance, there will be a scale appearing on the screen. The monitor is an impressive 3 incher just like its more high-end cousin G11. It is highly viewable and is definitely a performer.

The battery compartment is at the base. The battery life can endure approximately 220 shots which is fair enough.

Canon once again hit the mark with S90. It is compact and solid. It has impeccable features that help shoot great images like how a Canon camera is reputed with easy operation that can cater even beginners. LX3 has finally met its match.

Wow…the stunning fourth handset of the Black Label Series, New Chocolate (LG-BL40) is now on my desk. This is another highlight-able phone after the transparency device-Crystal recently. LG never shied away from experimenting. The New Chocolate is not merely the next of the Chocolate, but in touch with the technology growth, just like Viewty Smart closes to Renoir and Crystal walks with the Arena. Let’s save the time and check it out.

What’s inside? The New Chocolate, a battery, a charger, a data cable, a handsfree, a CD-ROM as well as a user’s guide.

This bold new shape is designed with sleek sophistication plus an unconventional 4” wide screen. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but one thing for sure: it offers you more than the phone in the market with its extremely large display.

At the top, we have the 3.5mm audio jack and the Power/Lock key. Both are easy to access and nice to use.

Turn to left side, there’s a single key which starts the music player. The microUSB port is on this side as well.

The volume rocker and the shutter key are on the right side of the device. You may notice that the shutter key is very stylish, wide and rounded, and quite comfortable to use.

The 5MP camera is alongside the LED flash placing at the back. It is keeping the “less is more” style as the front.

Take off the battery, you may access to the SIM card compartment and the microSD card slot which is expandable up to 32 GB.

With the widened 21:9 panoramic display plus 3D-styling with some visual effects on the menu icons, you may enjoy the new level of visual comfort by operating the apps. And it is very finger-friendly. The main menu can be view in portrait and landscape mode as well.

With LG’s upgraded and intuitive S-Class UI, everything from homescreen to dropdown menus rolls, sweeps in, unfolds and rotates are extremely smooth and responsive. We are now on the Cube interface. The four homescreen panes correspond to the four sides of a tall 3D block.

The keyboard on the New Chocolate. The QWERTY keys are big enough and it is much harder to tap the wrong key. The touch feedback is very responsive, and typing is very accurate.

The new Chocolate is essentially reinventing the way we view and use mobile phones. The unconventional wide screen enlarged the optimal space for “on-the-go” computing, offering entirely new experience on entertainment: Playing on the perfect music players, which is with the small virtual vinyls which can be lined up on a rotating dial to display the albums. Watching a widescreen movie via theatre-like movie player is very brilliant. The 7.2 HSDPA provides speedier internet and e-mail. The New Chocolate packs enough skill to make comparison with some powerful smartphones in the market like Hero and Onmia HD.

N97 mini is just like its name, a more compact version of its big brother the Nokia flagship N97. As a whole, the device is exactly the same as the previous which is with the tilting mechanism of the display, but only a bit smaller. There is purely cosmetic to the design though, the most significant one seemingly being the lack of both a sliding camera cover and a D-pad on the QWERTY keyboard. Let’s have a closer look on it.

What’s inside? Beside the phone, you get a battery, a stereo headset, a travel charger, a data cable, an external stylus, CD and user’s guide.

The 3.2” touchscreen is dominating the front of the phone, leaving only the call, end call and menu buttons lying on the edge. It is just the mini version of N97 which got 3.5” touchscreen.

At the top, we have the 3.5mm audio jack (in the same location of N97) and the power key is just next to it.

The left side hosts the stereo speakers at each end and the microUSB slot and the screen lock knob in the middle. There is no protective cover for the USB slot and the screen lock triggers a mild vibration every time it is engaged.

The camera key and the volume rocker are on the right.

The Nokia N97 Mini is shorter and more “pocket friendly” than the Nokia N97. And the accelerator is very responsive. When you slide open the phone, the screen changes to horizontal view immediately.

The keys are same size as the N97. And the only different is N97 mini has removed the D-pod on the Keyboard.

N97 mini is more “top-notch” than the Nokia N97 mainly due to the quantity of metal on the exterior. And it is designed in Finland.

The backside of the handset features the 5MP camera and the dual LED flash. The back cover is made of stainless steel which feels sturdy and expensive. However, it missed the protective cover of the camera. Not a big deal though.

N97 mini packs 8GB memory and can also be expanded a further 16GB by MicroSD.

The upper one is N97 and the N97 mini is at the bottom. They look exactly the same. Actually, N97 mini is slightly smaller in measurement.

N97 mini (which is measured 113 x 52.5 x 14.2 mm) is a bit thinner than N97 (which is measured 117.2 x 55.3 x 18.3 mm).

Many applications onboard such as Youtube, Facebook etc. You can also explore a dazzling array of downloads from Ovi Store and customized your own menu.

The audio quality of N97 mini is great because of two stereo speakers at the bottom of the phone. And the video is run quite smooth without hitch.

Actually, N97 mini is not only the things on N97, but a bit more than that. It packs most of the features in N97 and adds some more improvement to it: Becomes more fashionable with upgrading the stainless steel cover to replace the plastic cover, slightly smaller and slimmer overall.

The cheapest QWERTY keyboard mobile phone, LG GW300 is on my desk and ready to be served to the happy masses with the low-end pricing. LG are quite keen to build on a winning concept on QWERTY. Start from LG KS360, Best Handset Award nominee and then the midrange bestseller, LG KP500. After that, they have LG GW520 with QWERTY slider and finally come out with the GW300 which looks similar to a Blackberry. QWERTY keyboard no longer only appeared in the high-end device, but low-end also. Can’t wait to have a look on this cheapest luxury device.

Considering the price tag, no one is really expecting wonders with the retail package of the GW300. It included the phone, a battery, a handsfree, a USB cable, a charger, a CD-ROM and a user’s guide.

The GW300 comes with the well spaced out QWERTY keyboard looks similar to a Blackberry Bold or HTC Snap, in as much as it has a similar shape with rounded edges and its front face is taken up by a 2.4”display and a QWERTY keyboard. The phone measures 115.5 x 61 x 12.8 mm and weighs just 95 grams.

GW300 has a very friendly four-row QWERTY keypad and excellent touch orientation. But doesn’t have the trackball here, maybe let’s not to request too much on the cheapest QWERTY phone.

3.5mm audio jack onboard here which is lacked on HTC Snap.

On the right, we have the camera shutter.

The lanyard eyelet and microUSB port are located at the top left corner.

And turn to the left, you may find the volume rocker and the microSD slot which is expandable up to 4GB.

The 2MP camera which is the same as the HTC Snap is located at the back and the speakers grill is hidden in the flower-shape hollow. The speaker is very loud here to make sure that you won’t miss any incoming calls.

The main menu here which is alive with color, much better than the over simple one in HTC Snap and similar to the Nokia menu.

It comes with an MP3/Mp4 player which is able to play most audio and video files while a stereo FM radio offers the ability to tune into local and national radio stations.

LG GW300 is an accomplished handset with a variety of basic features. The QWERTY keyboard is user friendly. Bluetooth wireless connectivity and a 3.5mm audio port for using regular stereo headphones are the other goodies inside plus a fair camera and the most eye-candy price. It is such a good choice for many. There’re the other choices of mid-range devices like Samsung B7300 Omnia Lite, HTC Snap.

LG GW300 Video Review

Samsung B7300 Omnia Lite just like its name, a more budget-oriented version of the Omnia II. Omnia Lite has found its best way to keep fit, the hardware has became more compact than its previous, but the software and more importantly the functionality are still there with what you would expect from a Samsung smartphone. It is a good new to those who want to have a device that with high-end features and specification but in an accessible and affordable package.

What’s inside? The phone, a battery, a charger, a data cable, a stylus, a handsfree, CD-ROM and a user’s guide.

Let’s start off with the screen. Understand that the Omnia Lite is a more affordable version of the Omnia II, so it is predictable that the screen is a bit smaller. Don’t get the wrong way, the 3 inch display isn’t small by any means, it just isn’t as large as the Omnia II display.

At the top hosts the microUSB port and the lanyard eyelet. The stylus is dangle on its string tied to the lanyard eyelet, it just remind me of Omnia i900.

The camera shutter, the Lock key and the microSD slot which is expandable to 32GB are located on the right side of the device.

Turn to the left, you may find the volume rocker and the special Main Menu button there.

The 3.2 MP camera is located at the back of the device, which lacks a flash, but at least comes with autofocus.

It comes with Samsung’s TouchWiz 2.0 interface plus the downloadable online widgets make the Omnia Lite even more user-friendly.

The touch-optimized QWERTY keyboards on the Omnia Lite. It is a bit too small to hit if you have a “big finger”, or you may use the stylus for your daily operation of the phone. It’s not a big deal though.

The Omnia Lite runs on Windows Mobile 6.5, it has the usual features that come with the Windows Mobile operating system.

The overall design of Omnia isn’t really eye-catchy. It looks nice though. It’s really happy to see Windows Mobile 6.5, GPS, accelerometer, a FM radio, multi-push email, and Wi-FI connectivity onboard and find out the personalization pack has been heavily reworked, plus an affordable pricing. The Omnia Lite sound good after all, doesn’t it?

Samsung B7300 Omnia Lite Video Review

Scrambling for a winning position in the most ludicrous period of the retailing business (which is the Christmas gift market), Acer has upped the ante with the new handset neoTouch2. With a 3.8” display, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, you know Acer means business this time.

Let’s take a look at what the package offers us: the neoTouch phone of course, a charger, a battery, a miniUSB cable, a handsfree set, a pouch, a stylus, a user’s guide and a CD manual.

The monstrously wide 3.8”-inch display is one of the hottest selling points of the device. It has a 480×800-pixel WVGA resolution and 56K color compatibility to guarantee you the crispest and most vibrant of images (This is not just a promotional saying, the color does pop!) I am not a fan of the sharp chrome edge. It looks a little too intimidating and rigid for me. However, for a handset with such an enormous screen, it’s impressively thin and fairly sized. You may also check out its chief competitor Toshiba TG01 who is even thinner with a width of 9.9mm, but considerable more sizable.

The 3.5mm jack is a thoughtful thing to have.

The touchscreen is intuitive enough to the fingers but you still have the alternative of Stylus, though you have to be real careful when you pull it out of the silo because it could get stuck. You have the camera button and volume rocker on the right side.

On the left side of the phone lies the power button.

I quite like the simple design of the back of the phone, although some may find the plastic casing looking cheap. You have a 5.0MP autofocus camera with the complimentary of flash. The speaker grill next to it is one hell of a performer.

I like the scrollable menu of the new Windows Mobile 6.5 professional very much. It breaks away from the conventional menu design and gives you a nice twist.

Acer neoTouch is among one of those forerunners to have the Qualcomm® 8250 1 GHz CPU. (Guess what, Toshiba TG01 has it too!) The speed of the handset is incredibly fast. With an internal 512MB ROM and 256MB RAM and an expandable external memory up to 32GB, Acer neoTouch is a blowout triumph!

Accelerator is installed and auto-rotation is enabled. You get a full virtual QWERTY.

neoTouch definitely has its potentials in making it big for Acer. A high-definition screen, great portability, user-friendly with direct link to flickr, YouTube, Facebook, built-in Wifi and GPS support, it has the hippest features that you can ever ask for.

Scrambling for a winning position in the most ludicrous period of the retailing business (which is the Christmas gift market), Acer has upped the ante with the new handset neoTouch2. With a 3.8” display, 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, you know Acer means business this time.

Let’s take a look at what the package offers us: the neoTouch phone of course, a charger, a battery, a miniUSB cable, a handsfree set, a pouch, a stylus, a user’s guide and a CD manual.

The monstrously wide 3.8”-inch display is one of the hottest selling points of the device. It has a 480×800-pixel WVGA resolution and 56K color compatibility to guarantee you the crispest and most vibrant of images (This is not just a promotional saying, the color does pop!) I am not a fan of the sharp chrome edge. It looks a little too intimidating and rigid for me. However, for a handset with such an enormous screen, it’s impressively thin and fairly sized. You may also check out its chief competitor Toshiba TG01 who is even thinner with a width of 9.9mm, but considerable more sizable.

The 3.5mm jack is a thoughtful thing to have.

The touchscreen is intuitive enough to the fingers but you still have the alternative of Stylus, though you have to be real careful when you pull it out of the silo because it could get stuck. You have the camera button and volume rocker on the right side.

On the left side of the phone lies the power button.

I quite like the simple design of the back of the phone, although some may find the plastic casing looking cheap. You have a 5.0MP autofocus camera with the complimentary of flash. The speaker grill next to it is one hell of a performer.

I like the scrollable menu of the new Windows Mobile 6.5 professional very much. It breaks away from the conventional menu design and gives you a nice twist.

Acer neoTouch is among one of those forerunners to have the Qualcomm® 8250 1 GHz CPU. (Guess what, Toshiba TG01 has it too!) The speed of the handset is incredibly fast. With an internal 512MB ROM and 256MB RAM and an expandable external memory up to 32GB, Acer neoTouch is a blowout triumph!

Accelerator is installed and auto-rotation is enabled. You get a full virtual QWERTY.

neoTouch definitely has its potentials in making it big for Acer. A high-definition screen, great portability, user-friendly with direct link to flickr, YouTube, Facebook, built-in Wifi and GPS support, it has the hippest features that you can ever ask for.

Samsung has taken the crown by the strong presence of its touchscreen device. Their usual weapon is TouchWiz, which brings PocketPCs and feature phones closer together. Now, they are stepping forward on the new zone, TouchWiz for Android with Samsung I7500 Galaxy. It is the first mobile manufactured by Samsung that uses the source Android operating system. Let’s welcome Samsung to the Android party.

What’s inside? The Phone, a Battery, a Charger, a Data Cable, a headset, a pouch, CD and User’s Guide.

Galaxy is the slimmest Android phone on the market yet in only 115 x 56 x 11.9 mm. With the 3.2” screen and the hardware buttons below the screen are generously sized.

Galaxy is available in two colors: Onyx Black and White Silver.

You can find an array of function keys (Menu, Call, End, Home and Back) on the panel. What? The tracball is replaced by a directional pad with an OK sign. Actually, trackball is no longer the Android rule since the HTC Tattoo is out. However, I prefer trackball.

The microUSB port, a lanyard eyelet and a standard 3.5mm audio jack are located at the top.

The shutter key, which can be half-pressed to handle autofocus, and a hold key are located on the right of the phone.

And the left side only has the volume rocker.

The 5MP camera with LED flash is located at the back of the phone. A first glance, it seems like HTC Tattoo: round-edge, plastic finished. But the Samsung Logo at top reminds you it’s not from HTC.

You have to remove the back panel reveals the SIM compartment, but that’s how you get to the microSD card slot as well.

The Android UI is no longer only shown in HTC device, but Samsung also. It is exactly the same as the one on HTC Magic.

Here is the virtual on-screen QWERTY keyboard. Each touch on the screen is quite responsive. They keyboard is available to rotate in portrait or landscape modes.

Of course, the Google phone is empowered with access to the amazing Google services. The functionality of the music player hasn’t changed much and the Search of the YouTube/Browser feature is great.

The Galaxy is a great phone running an OS of great potential. With 3 .2″ AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, as well as the 8GB of internal memory and a card slot for 16GB more, provide you with enough space for all your favor music, plus a touch-wise feature. And of course, YouTube and Facebook sure add value to the 5MP camera with LED flash. The only archenemy is HTC Hero at meanwhile, who lack of flash in camera and with 512 MB internal memory only. However, its Sense UI is certainly a treat.

Samsung I7500 Galaxy Video Review

As Sony Ericsson has said that it plans to offer “all that it can” in a range of new phone, Satio is one of the model under the entertainment unlimited series to show the ability of Sony Ericsson. Actually, Satio isn’t new as it is the renaming of the previously called Idou, the one announced for a period of time but didn’t bring to the ground. With 12MP camera featuring 12x digital zoom, intuitive touch focus, Xenon flash, face detection and photo geo-tagging, runs on S60 5th Edition Symbian OS and features a 3.5-inch display. It is such a powerhouse. Let’s go into details.

What’s inside? The Satio Phone, a Battery, a Charger, a Data Cable, a Stylus, Handsfree and User’s Guide.

It’s about what you would expect of a 3.5-inch touchscreen handset. It is made of plastic which is quite handy. Below the display, there are three control, the call and end keys, and the menu keys is in-between them.

The on/off key is on the bottom of the phone just next to the speaker.

Turn to the left, you may find the screen lock slider, the connectivity port and the microSD card slot. Opps~ no 3.5mm jack on board as we were certainly hoping.

The right side hosts the shutter key, the shifting key for camera or video key, the gallery key and the volume rocker it also can be also used for zoom in and out of the image.

Turn to the back of the phone, it just remind me of C905 with is with the similar camera len cover. Satio is slide to left to reveal the camera whereas C905 is slide down.

Of course, it is totally different inside. Satio is powered with 12MP and C905 is only got 8MP. It is accompanied by both xenon and a LED flash so that it can perfectly covered in low-light for both still camera and camcorder mode.

Turn on the camera. You may see there are five shortcut on the right of the viewfinder. Those include Scenes, Shoot mode, Flash settings, Exposure compensation and Auto mode. We are on the shoot mode, which includes normal, smile shoot, tap to focus etc.

The picture can be sizable to 4:3 aspect ratio photo resolution (12 MP) or shooting in 16:9 aspect ratios (9MP).

It is the menu. As we mentioned, Satio is runs on the the Symbian Foundation upcoming mobile OS that’s already used on Nokia Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia N97. We already know quite much about the Symbian S60 5th edition. I won’t talk too much here.

The tabs of the homescreen match different parts of the UI (you may see the switching bar is at the top of screen), including favorite apps, gallery, favorite contacts, network services etc. We are on the shortcuts to a number of programs of your choice just like with the Bookmarks.

The QWERTY keyboard on board. I think everyone is familiar with.

HTC Diamond2 have Zoom Bar, Apple iPhone have Multi-touch. But Satio only got touch to zoom. That’s fine. Satio got another features to battle with them.

With the powerful camera on board. Of course we can’t miss the chance to try on it. Actual photo shot by the phone in an indoor office lighting environment. ( In 9MP camera only with 16:9 aspect ratios). Satio is come up to our expectation. Good!

The photo is taken with Xenon flash on. Feel soft compared to other camera phone. I can sure that you won’t need to bring your digital cam with you now because Satio can totally replace it.

One thing I would like to mention is the web browser here which is a really cool part of the Sony Ericsson Satio. It is an improved version of what we found on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic , the browser has excellent page rendering and pretty good speed, plus decently user-friendly UI. And it comes with full Flash and Flash video support. If you’re eager to live vicariously through a well-connected individual by the best pictures or video, I can say Satio is your only solution.

Sony Ericsson Satio (U1i) Video Review

Canon’s G Series has always been a guarantee of quality DC photography. After the all-hailed G10, Canon tries to continue the success by G11, literally. G11 has no ground-breaking, revolutionary leaps taken. (It has even made a retreat on its pixels from 14.7MP to 10.0MP) Some renovations have been made on its LCD and flash range. Is G11 sufficient enough to stand alone as one powerful shot?

The package includes the G11 camera body, a battery, a charger, a USB cable, an AV cable, a strap, a user’s guide and a CD ROM.

The build of G11 is as hefty and solid as ever. With a weight of 355g, it’s definitely not the portable DC you carry around day in and day out for snaps. The SLR-inclined quality is what you will look for in this juggernaut body.

You can find the three distinct dials for compensation, ISO and mode selection. With the enhanced DIGIC 4 image processor and the new Dual Anti-noise system, G11 has improved noise performance by up to 2 stops when compared to G10. Picture quality is still the trump card here.

There is room for improvement for the viewfinder’s accuracy which is at 77%. Nobody will complain indeed when you have one more option, but it has become more redundant when you have a flip-out LCD that is viewable from a plethora of angles.

G11 has also inherited from G10 its rear controls except that the continuous shots function has been removed from the four-way controller default.

The highlight of G11 is definitely the atavistic comeback of the swivel and tilt LCD. (which can be found in G6!) Although the size has dropped to 2.8 inches, it provides a more flexible way of photo framing.

Here at the bottom you can find the batter compartment.

Canon G11 still performs excellently in terms of its picture quality, the DIGIC 4 image processor is powerful. The Contrast Technology is an amazing light gatherer ensuring bright and sharp images in difficult lighting situations. The flash range has increased to 50cm to 7.0m for wide-angle and 50cm to 4.0m for telephoto. The Japan made body is solid and durable. It is a pity that it still does not come with HD video recording.