Holiday gift guide 2006: On a shopping spree

Swiss army knife

Some people like them smart… Well this is as smart as it gets - in the mobile realm at least… Smartphones have become more and more affordable this year and it is a tendency that would last. Maybe among the cheapest one is the Nokia E50-1 ($249*), which is based on the latest Symbian 9.1 OS with the S60 3rd edition user interface. This version comes equipped with a 1.3 megapixel camera and except 3G and Wi-Fi it's got all that it takes to become a great choice for a gift to people that would fancy a smartphone but never could afford one.

Our favorite universal smartphone is again Finnish made - it's the Nokia E70 ($339*). Complete with a folding QWERTY keypad and a great 16 million colors TFT display with a resolution of 352 x 416 pixels, UMTS (3G) and Wi-Fi support it managed to win our hearts in every possible way. Add the 2 megapixel camera and the long battery-life, and your top-notch holiday gift is wrapped up and ready to go.

Nokia E50 | review • Nokia E70 | review

Another Nokia model, Nokia N80 ($439*), became very popular this year, a high-end slider that was among the first 3.2 megapixel mobiles on the European market. Its feature-rich equipment would make it the ideal Swiss army knife for the technology eager fans if it wasn't for its lack of auto focus and short battery life. After all a smartphone is only as good as its battery.

Maybe you have come to notice our inclination to Nokia smartphones and it's for a good reason. The Finnish manufacturer managed to surprise us all with their solutions in the upper market range and if it wasn't for the lack of GPS and a touchscreen we could whole-heartedly recommend them to everyone that might need a smart device.

Finally, we've come to a top-class PocketPC solution, the latest addition to the well-known line of smart devices produced and sold by HTC. It's the HTC P3300 and it represents in a way everything that could possibly be fitted into a portable device that's convenient enough to carry around throughout the whole day - Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, USB, a 2 megapixel camera, you name it. And all that is fitted into a stylish slim body. If it weren't for the somewhat weak 200MHz processor and the lack of 3G, it would be the ultimate smart solution. But in the world of PocketPC there is never an ideal combination of features and design - it's always a question of compromise.

Nokia N80 | review • HTC P3300 | review

* All prices are taken from Plemix.com. Your local street prices might differ. All prices valid at the time of publishing.