Updated 26 May, 2012, 4:18 pm IST

Best of Singapore and CommunicAsia 2009

19 Jun, 2009, 5:04 pm IST | by Shayne Rana

From the humongous list of devices showcased at CommunicAsia 2009, here are my favorites.

I spent the last couple of days in beautiful but humid Singapore. Tech2 was invited to attend CommunicAsia and hopefully you’ve been following our updates and exploits on Twitter as well as the website with news of new launches and unveiling of new handsets and technology. Aside from the all beautiful women, the opportunity to play around mobile tech that hasn’t yet hit us here yet, new handset models and the beautiful women, did I say that already?... a few handsets also peaked my interest. I decided to compile a quick list of the handsets that I was eager to review first if or when they got here, so here are my choices of the best of Singapore and CommunicAsia 09.

GD900 Crystal
One of the handsets I was hoping to see at CommunicAsia 2009 was LG’s GD900 Crystal with it’s transparent keypad and LG’s S-Class UI. What intrigued me was the keypad itself that doesn’t just function as any other touch sensitive keypad that we’ve ever come across. It is in fact a navigation system as well that offers users more than just a method of data entry. Since the Crystal also supports multi-touch, the keypad’s surface can be used for pinch controls for zooming in and out of the images. It also has an intuitive shortcut system wherein you can assign specific functions to a design or alphabet and simply by tracing out the form on the keypad the function will commence.

The 1GB of internal memory, Wi-Fi and its 8MP AF camera are also what will make this handset quite a sought after device, aside from its unique and creative design and functionality. It’s not something that you can use on a daily basis of course, but for the luxury loving fashionistas, this handset is going to be right up there with the best of them.

LG GW525
Fans of the LG Cookie are gong to love this – the GW525 takes things to a whole new level with a full slide out QWERTY keypad. It’s a well designed light weighted handset and even though it may ‘seem’ a tad bulky, believe me, that’s well worth that slight weight addition. The key pad is well laid out and each key is well laid out for ease of typing quickly.

Its features are quite similar to the Cookie's but the screen size is just a little smaller at 2.8-inches. The 3 megapixel camera is still present and it’s loaded with features for social networking. A few business features like a document reader are also thrown in. The touchscreen was quite responsive and the UI is easily usable without a stylus.
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Samsung I7500 Galaxy
The Samsung booth at CommunicAsia had a lot going on - from its mobile projector unit to the plethora of Omnia variants and even its Pixon 12 camera phone. But my personal favorite wasn’t the newly unveiled super fast Jet handset. I rather liked the I7500 Galaxy, Android powered mobile. Having had limited opportunity to check out the OS and UI personally, the Galaxy was just what the doctor ordered. To start off with, the handset itself is very sleek with well defined curves and a refined yet somewhat sporty finish. It has a real feel good factor and a comfortable grip.

The Android OS is brilliant. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the layout and that’s all it takes really to have a great first impression. With its 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, 3.5mm earphone socket and large internal storage capacity the Galaxy will do well when it gets here sometime in July or August.

Tags: Communicasia 09 , Touchscreen , 5 Megapixel , 3 Megapixel