Telstra launches hot new Next G phones

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 27 November 2008 09:03

IT Industry - Strategy

Fourth on the list is one of Sony Ericsson’s new flagship phones, the Sony Ericsson Cybershot C905. Outdoing the N96 with an 8.1 megapixel camera and real Xenon flash, it’s arguably the very best camera phone available today, while coming with a bucketload of features to challenge the N96.

It’s a tad cheaper than the N96 too, at $1199 outright, or $100 per month on a 24 month plan.

Sony Ericsson’s other flagship phone is the XPERIA X1. Long awaited as Sony Ericsson’s Windows Mobile 6.1 phone (and not WM 6.5 as has been predicted overseas), it has a touch screen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, four-way key (which can turn into an “optical joystick” presumably like the Samsung Omnia can) and has Wi-Fi.

Like the N96, this one sells for $1499, or comes on ye olde $150 per month plan over 24 months. It also won’t come to stores until “mid-December”, unlike the previous four phones which go into stores from December 1.

There is one phone available now, however, and that’s Samsung’s new F480T. It’s has a 2.8-inch touch screen, Samsung’s nifty “TouchWiz” interface, a 5 megapixel camera and plenty of other smartphone features.

This phone sells for $829 outright, or is $60 per month over 24 months.

So, while the Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung models are either already available on other networks or soon will be, Telstra’s versions still have the benefit of being on the 850MHz network, instead of the standard 2100MHz network, which means they “work better in more places” as Telstra is undoubtedly spending millions in its advertising campaign to tell us all.

For some that will be very important, while others will be forced to make do on inferior networks but at lower prices... your choice of phone and carrier will be determined by your needs, your wallet and whether you need a new phone or not.