Win phones

MICROSOFT may rule the PC operating system universe, but the software giant does not prevail in the fast-expanding smartphone sector.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 sports a very crisp 800x480 pixel, 3 inch display

HP's IPAQ 912c is all business and very little pleasure

XTC Touch HD is designed for eyeballing video content
Image 3/3 A potpourri of operating systems flourish on smartphones and PDAs, including RIM's BlackBerry OS, the Symbian OS, Google's new Android OS, PalmOS and the Apple iPhone OS.
Amid this throng is Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, which is due to morph this year into WM 6.5 and after that into a new mobile version of the Windows 7 replacement for the lacklustre Vista.
The Windows Mobile user interface is nowhere near as pleasing to use as Apple's touchy feely iPhone, but it does offer many advantages, especially for business use.
Email integration with the likes of Microsoft Exchange is mature and solid. The Office Mobile apps usually included with the package allow viewing and editing of MS Office formats and, unlike the iPhone, it allows cutting and pasting between applications.
There are plenty of styles, feature sets and price points to choose from when shopping for a phone that uses Windows Mobile. We looked at three.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X1
THE Xperia is the narrowest of the trio at 53mm but is also deepest at 17mm and feels quite porky at 158g.
The Xperia X1's big party trick is swapping the look and feel of the home screen on the fly. A button marked Panel on the front of the case brings up a selection of home screens.
The quick panel change feature is truly useful, and extra screens, such as a Skype-centric one, can be downloaded.
The Xperia sports a very crisp 800x480 pixel, 3in display, assisted GPS, FM radio, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack and communicates at up to 7.2Mbps HSDPA.
There's a 3.2 megapixel, autofocus camera out back with a light and a video call camera around the front.
SPECIFICATIONSFeatures: Slide-out QWERTY keypad, quick-change home screen panels, 800 by 480 pixel , 3in touchscreen
HP IPAQ 912c
HP's IPAQ 912c Business Messenger is all business and very little pleasure.
Done up in black and chrome, the 154g HP has a small, 320x240 pixel, 2.5in touchscreen with a QWERTY keypad below.
There's WiFi, assisted GPS, Bluetooth, a micro SD slot for more memory, but sadly the entertainment abilities are cramped by not having a universal 3.5mm headphone jack, although a mini-USB stereo headset is supplied.
At the back is a 3 megapixel, autofocus camera with light, but no front-mounted camera for video calls.
SPECIFICATIONSFeatures: 3.8in, 800 by 480 pixel touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, gesture-driven interfacePrice: $1499More at: http://www.hp.com.au/Rating: 7/10
XTC Touch HD
THIS has the brightest handheld screen I've seen.
Running a white background it made a great impromptu flashlight.
The big 3.8in, 480x800 pixel touchscreen uses HTC's Touchflo 3D gesture-driven interface and is designed for eyeballing video content. Although not iPhone standard, the screen interface works well under finger control and there's a stylus for picky work. The touch keyboard is superior to the iPhone's.
The 147g phone has a 5 megapixel, autofocus camera (but no light) and there's video call camera up front.
There's also FM radio, Bluetooth, GPS, a micro SD slot, a G sensor and 7.1Mbps HSDPA.
SPECIFICATIONSFeatures: QWERTY keypad, 320 by 240 pixel touchscreen, thumbwheel navigation, 3 megapixel cameraPrice: $849More at: www.htc.com/au/Rating: 6.5/10
Conclusion
ALL three of these Windows phones have their strengths.
While it won't win you much kudos in the my-phone's-flasher-than-yours wars, the conservative HP is a handy size, the cheapest here, simple to use and packs everything you really need for mobile business communications - if only it had a 3.5 headphone jack.