The HTC Tattoo wants to redefine smart in smartphone. This affordable little thing was among the first droids to go mass-market. But run-of-the-mill specs don’t mean a boring personality. The HTC Tattoo wears its heart on the sleeve and a shirt for every day of the week means no shortage of sleeves. What do you know, HTC are busy running a tattoo shop.

Key features

* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
* 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
* Heavily customizable: exchangeable covers
* Android OS v1.6 (Sense UI), upgradeable to 2.1 Eclair
* 2.8″ resistive touchscreen of QVGA resolution
* Qualcomm MSM 7225 528 MHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
* 3.15 megapixel fixed-focus camera
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
* Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
* Standard miniUSB port for charging and data
* Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
* microSD card slot, up to 8GB support (a 2GB card in the box)
* Standard 3.5mm audio jack
* Direct access to the official Android repository
* Smart dialing
* Stereo FM radio with RDS

The top-notch connectivity aside, the HTC Tattoo is a standard smartphone package. This is a first-gen Android with all the inherent weaknesses. So, is the Tattoo really your kind of phone? You know, even if it’s not, that’s easier to fix than any other phone out there. The HTC Tattoo has been around long enough but it’s keen to offer a new experience every time. Let’s see.

The HTC Legend borrows a page from high-end laptop design – the aluminum unibody. The unibody design was touted as a game-changing breakthrough when it hit the laptop market. A lot of that was marketing hype, but the fact is that unibody metal designs still have a distinct quality feel to them.

Key features

* Aluminum unibody design
* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
* 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps
* Android OS v2.1 with latest Sense UI
* 3.2″ capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of HVGA resolution
* Qualcomm MSM 7227 600 MHz CPU, 384 MB RAM
* 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording
* Web browser comes with Flash support
* Multi-touch zooming in gallery and web browser
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
* Digital compass for automatic navigation of maps
* Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
* Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP); File transfer over Bluetooth
* Standard microUSB port for charging and data
* Standard 3.5mm audio jack
* FM Radio with RDS
* microSD card slot with support for up to 32GB cards (2GB one included)
* Tethering support right out-of-the-box
* Social networking integration with Facebook and Twitter
* Direct access to the official Android application repository

Android was a life-saving blood transfusion for Motorola. Not only did the MILESTONE put them back on the map – it gave them a license to experiment. They didn’t think twice to take it. So here we are, watching the BACKFLIP do the robot dance. This one is no ordinary droid, though at first it might look like a faithful follower of the G1. QWERTY keyboards fell out of Android favor soon after the G1 but we’re witnessing a strong comeback, much credit for which goes to Motorola.

Key features

* Unique form factor and sturdy build quality
* Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support (7.2 Mbps HSDPA)
* 3.1″ 256K-color 320×480 pixel capacitive touchscreen
* Android OS v1.5 (upgradeable to later versions) with MOTOBLUR UI and Live Widgets
* Folding four-row QWERTY keyboard
* BACKTRACK touchpad at the back of the screen
* Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz processor; 256 MB of RAM
* 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
* CIF (352 × 288 pixel) video recording @ 30fps
* Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
* 512MB storage, microSD slot, bundled with a 2GB card
* Accelerometer and proximity sensor
* Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
* microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
* Noise cancellation with a dedicated microphone
* Office document viewer

So, QWERTY it is but the Motorola BACKFLIP wants to have it its own way. So much so that it doesn’t seem to care what you think. Unique as in “shame no one thought of it before” or in a freak of nature sort of way, the BACKFLIP won’t leave you indifferent. It’s got a one-of-a-kind form factor written into its name but the whole backflip thing seems to serve a higher purpose than simply drawing attention to an otherwise ordinary package.

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is one of the shadowy leaked builds that have popped up since Windows Mobile 6.5 devices began arriving in October. Adding support for capacitive touch, multi-touch and a variety of user interface improvements that replace legacy menu and navigation elements, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is believed to be Microsoft’s attempt to improve on the lackluster 6.5 release while it readies Windows Mobile 7.

Aspen is part of Sony Ericsson’s GreenHeart line of environmentally friendly smartphones, which are built from recycled plastics and use water-based paints. For this reason, the company describes Aspen as a “business phone with a conscience,” although it’s unclear whether the device is actually sentient and able to discern between right and wrong.

For business users, Aspen features a QWERTY keyboard and offers users the ability to “view and edit office files easily and comfortably,” according to Sony Ericsson. Microsoft’s MyPhone service, which remotely wipes data from devices when they’re lost or stolen, is also part of the package.

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 has been hidden under the same shroud of secrecy that has obscured all of Microsoft’s mobile plans in recent months. Microsoft has been dropping hints about upcoming mobile related news at Mobile World Congress later this month and at MIX10 next month, but it’s anyone’s guess as to whether these will involve Windows Mobile 7.

The new Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the second installment in Sony Ericsson’s new lineup of communications entertainment smartphones, a mash-up of its well-known Walkman, Cybershot and messaging concepts. Like its Android sibling, the Xperia X10, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Symbian smartphone offers a new “human curvature” design philosophy. Sony Ericsson says this will be the way to instantly recognize this type of smartphone in the future, and if you’re looking for an all-in-one smartphone solution tailored to consumers, the Vivaz will be a smartphone to keep an eye on in the months ahead.

Customizable Vivaz UI

When we played with the Sony Ericsson Satio a couple of months ago, its user interface came across as a rich cell phone interface rather than a smartphone interface. With the introduction of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz, however, a new and important tweak has been made: The five “home screen” panels first seen on the Satio have been extended and made more user-configurable on the Vivaz, including the ability to select Flash Lite content such as apps, games and animations.

Sony Ericsson has included Twitter and Facebook apps written using Flash Lite 3.0, and the manufacturer encourages third-party developers to offer Symbian and Flash content through its expanded PlayNow ecosystem, previously only available to music publishers.

This Android-based model will supposedly have a shape somewhat similar to the popular Motorola Droid, but without many of the high-end features.

Like its big brother, it will be a slider, with a landscape-oriented QWERTY keyboard. It will apparently have a smaller, lower-resolution screen than the Droid, though.

On this device’s front, next to the touchscreen, will be three touch-sensitive buttons and an optical trackpad, rather than a trackball or D-pad.

The Droid Devour will allegedly debut with Android OS 2.1, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system, and have the standard suite of software for connecting to Google services.

In addition, it will have support for Verizon’s EV-DO mobile broadband network, plus it will include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The Devour is also allegedly going to have a 3 megapixel camera, 3.5 mm headset jack, a GPS receiver, a microSD memory card slot, and a 1420 mAh battery.

Samsung have announced The Samsung Monte, a low-end touchscreen mobile phone that is expected to follow up on the success that Genio left off on.

The Samsung Monte has an equally humane name (as opposed to Vodafone’s recently announced 547) to the Genio and looks just as compact and smart from Dialaphone’s pictures.

The S5620 Monte has a WQVGA 3.0″ touchscreen display and is supported by 3G HSPDA. Monte will have 200Mb internal memory plus a MicroSD slot for expanding memory. And in terms of connectivity there is a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones, plus GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. A Touchwiz operating system (exampled in the video below) is expected on the Samsung Monte handset, and is expected to appear at MWC and released later in March.

The Good: This is a tri-band flip phone identical to the Samsung SGH-309 with the addition of Bluetooth and a different color scheme. It has a VGA camera on board with a variety of photographic options and picture resolutions. The phone can also be customized via a number of operational and thematic settings. Call quality is excellent both through the earpiece and when using the speakerphone.

The Bad: The phone is very pricy for the feature set. Both displays are hard to see especially in bright light. The keys are small and rather flat, making dialling by feel difficult and causing frequent mis-dials. Standby time is also disappointingly short, lasting just 3 days despite the rated 9.

The Bottom Line: This phone isn’t likely to win any beauty or technology awards anytime soon, and those wanting anything more than super call quality should probably look elsewhere.

The Good: The Samsung T409 is a mid-range phone with a simple feature set, featuring internal and external displays, a 1.3 megapixel camera, support for e-mail and the most popular instant messaging clients and a WiFi receiver for connecting to pre-configured wireless networks. For ease of use the phone has a number of programmable shortcut keys and a hotlist where five ‘favourite numbers’ can be listed for easy dialling.

The Bad: Despite a wide range of photographic options, the T409’s camera is disappointing with pictures appearing washed out and hazy. The speakerphone also suffers from poor sound quality.

The Bottom Line: This phone’s greatest asset has to be, without doubt, the wireless connectivity which allows users to browse the web, make and receive VoIP calls thus saving money, particularly on long distance calls. The phone is simple yet effective and is more than suitable for business and leisure consumers alike.

The Good: The Voyager also known as the VX10000, is one of LG’s first touch screen phones to target the US and includes a more iPhone-like interface based on that of the Prada phone; users can place calls, play AAC/MP3/WMA music, and take 2-megapixel photos almost exclusively from the screen. It offers a generous features set that includes EV-DO support, V Cast Mobile TV Bluetooth, a top-notch Web browser, and an integrated GPS application. And if that’s not enough, its call quality was excellent.

The Bad: The LG Voyager VX10000’s camera lacks such extra options as a flash and Wi-Fi, and its photo quality was below par. The touch screen can be clunky at times, and the streaming video quality and EV-DO connection speed were sporadic.

The Bottom Line: Though we had some minor complaints here and there, the Voyager’s sleek design, generous feature set and excellent performance make it the best LG messaging and multimedia phone by far. What we like most about this phone is the improvements LG has made to the Verizon Wireless interface. Verizon Wireless believes, that users like to learn an interface and then find it useful on the next phone they buy. We don’t buy it. Phones are improving too fast, with too many new features every season, and users want a phone that makes sense. Maybe it made sense to bury the touted HTML browser under the “Get It Now: News and Info” submenu in the past, but now, that’s the last place we’d look.