TOUCHSCREEN phones are the hottest gizmos today. For many people changing cellphones, a touchscreen phone is always on their radar.
That is what Apple's iPhone has done for the market here and abroad. Two iPhone wannabes launched before the iPhone 3G touched down in Singapore on Aug 22, were sold out in stores.
Apple's iPhone
In the next three months, more touchscreen phones are arriving to try to unseat iPhone's pole position.
The grand daddy of push mail phones, Blackberry has one such gizmo. Called Blackberry Storm, it features the world's first "clickable" touchscreen display.
Each tap gives a click very much like how a keyboard would sound. The screen is supposed to depress slightly when touched allowing the users to feel the motion.
The Blackberry Storm
Photo: AP
Like the iPhone, screen is sizeable at 3.25 inches, big enough to see text, watch movies and display slideshows.
Picture rotation to landscape mode is possible thanks to a built-in accelerometer which like the big screen is a common feature in today's touchscreen phones.
Naturally, Storm can deliver e-mail messages, Blackberry's traditional strength. It can also do instant messaging. Unfortunately Storm will not be sold here but in the United States and in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Joining the Blackberry Bold's arrival in Singapore stores before year-end will be the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music touchscreen phone. Nokia, the world's largest phone maker.
Nokia's offering
Photo: Reuters
From the Web, the 5800 looks really chic with a standard touchscreen size of 3.2 inch. Only three physical buttons are on the phone – which is in sleek black - for talk, end keys and a menu control button.
It also comes with a stylus for users who don't want to use their fingers to tap the screen. A 3.2 megapixel camera with video recording, messaging and stereo Bluetooth are among its other features.
Joining the duo is the highly anticipated Xperia 1 from Sony Ericsson. Apart from the 3-inch screen and built-in accelerometer, the key difference between the other two phones is that it has a physical QWERTY keyboard.
It has a 3.2megapixel camera as well as a video cam and it is a music player as well. Sony Ericsson said it will be available before year-end but some online stores are already taking pre-orders with a price of between US$850 (S$1241) and US$1000.
The arrival of these touchscreen phones are significant. Coming from established players, they legitimise a market segment which has finally recognised that the touchscreen phone is far from being a toy but is really preferred by a large number of users.
For me, there's no turning back. The touchscreen phone will always be my primary phone (yes, I've more than 1 active cellphone).
I've always favoured easy access to features especially e-mail. And once you've used one of these devices, it's really hard to turn back to the standard phones.
Stay tuned to the all-new Digital Life blog. We will be writing about our experiences at major IT events held throughout the world plus our observations of the consumer electronics and computer industries.