| In the past if you wanted to get the latest and flashiest | | | | just under £90 its looks alone seem to be worth |
| mobile phones you'd have to either lock yourself into a | | | | more. |
| lengthy contract or spend upwards of £300 if | | | | Motorola |
| you were on pay-as-you-go. | | | | Motorola, like Nokia, is one of the longest-serving mobile |
| But with the mobile phone industry moving along as | | | | manufacturers and can draw upon lots of experience |
| fast as it is, now is the perfect time to bag a good | | | | in the field. In recent years Motorola has become |
| deal on a cheap mobile phone. | | | | synonymous with making slim and stylish clamshell |
| First of all, mobile phones have now evolved from | | | | phones, with some ultra-thin standard handsets too. |
| simply a telephone to digital camera all the way | | | | The KRZR K1 fits this mould exactly: a narrow |
| through to a replacement for practically all the personal | | | | clamshell design houses an MP3 player, GPRS internet |
| devices we carry on us - MP3 players, cameras, even | | | | and a 1.3 megapixel camera that also can record |
| laptops. | | | | video. At £79 you get an ultra-sleek phone which |
| And these aren't new cutting-edge technologies, | | | | appeals to the technical crowd as well as the |
| they're fast becoming global standards with practically | | | | fashionistas. |
| all mobile phones on the market today. | | | | SonyEricsson |
| What does this mean for the consumer? Well, it | | | | SonyEricsson was formed from two of the most |
| means that mobile phones with all these features are | | | | recognisable tech firms in recent years: Sony and |
| coming down in price, not only on contract but also for | | | | Ericsson. The former Sony brings its experience with |
| Pay As You Go mobile phone customers. The | | | | cameras and portable music to the table, while |
| following are a selection of sub-£100 phones from | | | | Ericsson is well-known for its mobile phones. |
| the major handset brands. | | | | As a result, the new company has garnered much |
| Nokia | | | | respect for the amount of features crammed into |
| Nokia has long been one of the most popular handset | | | | each phone: Sony's Walkman and CyberShot brands |
| brands and has a wide range of handsets catering to | | | | help elevate their phones such as the W810i, a |
| different tastes. | | | | Walkman-branded phone which has excellent MP3 |
| The 1600 is a basic phone with colour screen and MP3 | | | | playing functions, but also a 2 megapixel camera and |
| ringtones which can be bought on pay-as-you-go for | | | | expandable memory using Sony's Memory Stick Duo |
| as little as £19.99. While it is basic in terms of its | | | | cards. |
| features, another phone for £80 is the 5300. This | | | | At £79.99 it stuffs a lot of specs into a small |
| phone has more impressive features, such as a 1.3 | | | | phone. The K800i is similarly priced but offers more |
| megapixel camera for basic on-the-go photos, MP3 | | | | digital camera abilities, plus an impressive 3.2 megapixel |
| player functionality, with the ability to take MicroSD | | | | camera with Xeon flash. The phone itself has a large |
| memory cards to expand space for both of these | | | | screen and is 3G compatible, so video calls can be |
| functions. | | | | made via the small pinhole camera on the front of the |
| Samsung | | | | phone. |
| Samsung has also been a popular handset | | | | These are just a selection of handsets from the main |
| manufacturer in recent years, as well as being a | | | | established handset manufacturers. It is by no means a |
| trusted brand in other areas such as televisions. The | | | | definitive list and mobile phone prices are constantly |
| compact M300 is a stylish clamshell design phone with, | | | | dropping as new handsets are released. Furthermore, |
| again, a basic camera but also FM radio and tri-band | | | | there are other companies entering the fray, such as |
| calling abilities making it usable when travelling abroad | | | | LG and networks like O2 releasing their own range. |
| to places like America. At just under £40 it is very | | | | Compared to just five years ago, mobile phones have |
| appealing. | | | | come a long way and there are a whole host of |
| In keeping with Samsung's very stylised design, the | | | | cheap mobile phones available now. It's worth also |
| E900 is a sleek sliding phone, with touch-sensitive | | | | mentioning that mobile network operators are also |
| buttons on the face that light up when the phone is | | | | beginning to offer SIM-only contracts which are very |
| active. It also packs a 2 megapixel camera, the | | | | cheap as handset costs are no longer subsidised. So if |
| industry standard at the moment, and also takes the | | | | you want to keep your current handset you don't have |
| aforementioned MicroSD cards and can be used as a | | | | to miss out on the good Mobile Phone Deals on offer. |
| MP3 player. All this and it only weighs 93 grams. At | | | | |