Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 will be held on 6 June, so perhaps the iPhone 5 will make an appearance here, although Jim Dalrymple at the Loop says the conference will be about software and not hardware.

Taking into consideration the typical release date of the iPhone’s previous models we may expect to see the next generation in late June/early July which has been the case every year so far.

The actual handset is expected to be a complete re-designs of previous models, with a new metal back instead of glass to act as the antenna, a larger screen, possibly 4 inches compared to the current 3.5, a faster processor and more memory.

Different versions of the devices have also been speculated including a smaller version which will act as competition for the cheap Android smartphones, as well as a white version.

Other rumours include, an 8 megapixel camera, NFC technology an A5 Chip found in the iPad 2 and a similar price tag to previous models.

Yes, I’m not a fan of Alcatel. At all. Granted, the last time I tried one was 11 years ago, but to this day, the word that flits across my mind is “abomination”. And that’s the problem, because whether the Alcatel OT-355 is a good phone or not, I won’t like it, because it’s an Alcatel. And I can’t be the only one, so… what other cheap QWERTY phones are out there, for those who feel like I do?

Well, if you’re looking around the £50 mark, I’ve found three; two Samsungs and an LG, in fact, which is fine by me. First, there’s the Samsung B3310, which I had a chance to have a faff about with before Christmas, and which I found to be pretty good, although the layout of the number keys is really weird, and alas, a little bit tricky to get used to. Similar to the B3310, there’s the LG KS360, another side-sliding QWERTY beastie, which looks quite funky, but (if I’m honest) isn’t the greatest phone. Not a bad phone, by any means, it just felt a bit fiddly and plasticky when I tried one.

Those are both side-sliders, so what about one that shares the same Blackberry-esque design as the OT-355? Well, then, there’s the Samsung Genio QWERTY, which is very similar in spec to the Alcatel, but is made by Samsung, and is therefore infinitely better. Oh, and it looks rather pretty, too.

However, my recommendation isn’t any of those three, because there’s another phone that’s a bit dearer, and it’s so, so, so much nicer. It’s the Nokia C3, and although it’s a bit dearer, I really do recommend saving up for a bit longer, and getting that instead, because while it (like every other phone on this list) doesn’t have 3G, it does have two things that every other phone here lacks. Specifically, it has Flash built in, and it’s got WiFi.

So, there ya go; the Nokia C3 utterly trounces the other phones mentioned in this post.

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Annnnnnnnnnd

Now, yes, I know the LG GT540 Optimus won this category on the general pay as you go countdown, but you might not see it being the best here, ‘cos there’s a difference y’see. I’m not just talking about PAYG phones in this post. No, I’m also going to be considering pay monthly phones, ‘cos this blog post is purely about them being mid-rangers, and not about them being good value on PAYG. Except the GT540. It is still sort of about that phone being good value on PAYG.

So, judging criteria. Well, basically, it’s whatever caught my eye, really, but I will at least try to tell you why I think each phone is one of the best examples of its breed. Don’t worry, it’ll make sense. I hope. Oh, and be ready for two phones at the end, that might surprise you. So, without further ado, let’s begin with…

LG GT540 Optimus

Right, okay, let’s begin with this one since I already mentioned it, and since I already told you why it made this list. It’s because it’s dirt cheap, and gives stunningly good value for a smartphone, at less than 100 quid on PAYG. However, there’s more to it than that, in this category. Y’see, it can also, apparently, be upgraded to Android 2.1, instead of the stock version 1.6 it comes with. Which is a brilliant thing, in a phone that costs less than 100 nicker.

Oh, and it’s named after a Transformer. Not officially, obviously, but I say it is…

HTC Wildfire

Anyone betting on the Wildfire not appearing on this list would’ve just lost their money. And they’d be a bit daft, too; of course it was going to appear on here, I bleedin’ love the little beastie, and it’s the dictionary definition of a mid-range smartphone done almost perfectly.

I say almost, there, because it does have a couple of bits I would change, namely the poxy screen resolution and the fact the processor’s not a 1-gigger; other than that, it really is the HTC Desire, trimmed down a bit so it costs less.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini

Some might be powerful (the Wildfire). Some might be ludicrously cheap to buy (the GT540 Optimus). But the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini made this list because it’s so bleedin’ cute. I mean, look at it… it’s just ADORABLE!

Seriously, when I first saw it, I couldn’t help but fall in love with it. For what it is, it’s surprisingly powerful, and it runs Android, so it has proper smartphone credentials. But of course, none of that matters, because it’s just unbearably lovable. Not liking it would be like kicking a puppy…

Blackberry 8520 Curve

Right then, here we go, the first of the two possibly surprising ones, and the only non-touchscreen phone on this list. So, why is it here? Well, first, you guys seem to love it, as it’s consistently one of our most viewed phones, so it must be doing something right.

And secondly, it does something no other phone on this list does, namely that whole Blackberry push email thing that made their phones so famous. Plus, it has a QWERTY keyboard, which I like.

Sony Ericsson Satio

And here’s the second possibly surprising one, since when it came, this was a top-ender, and it’s now showing its age a bit. But that’s the thing, y’see; because it’s a bit older, it’s come down in price like you wouldn’t believe, sticking it firmly in the mid-range, now.

And let’s not forget it’s other big feature, ‘cos it has an absolute monster of a 12MP camera. You just won’t get that on any other smartphone in this price range, and for that reason, it’s earned its place on this list.

And there we have it. Them five are what I reckon are the top 5 mid-range smartphones money can buy. The ludicrously cheap one, the awesome-apart-from-its-screen-resolution one, the ooh-it’s-all-teeny one, the email monster and the one with a camera powerful to take a photo of the inside of Odin’s left nostril (go on, savour that mental image).

So, if you’re after a bleedin’ good smartphone, but you don’t want to go for one of the big hitters (don’t worry, their top 5 is coming up next), then have a look at these bad boys.

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I’ll be honest, for this category, you already know the winner. It was the Nokia 1661, ‘cos it only costs 90p. I mean seriously, come on, do you really reckon anything else is going to beat it, when it costs less than a quid to buy (yes, I know you have to buy it with credit, but that’s the same for any PAYG phone, so relatively speaking, it all works out the same in the end, right)?

Oh, and as you may have guessed (if you’ve ever looked on our PAYG pages), this list is made up almost exclusively of Nokia and Samsung phones. And one LG. And be aware, with all of these, you have to buy them with credit, which brings the price up, but it’s the same amount for all of them. Sorted? Good. Therefore, let’s begin with…

Nokia 1661

Right, this won the uber-cheap category when I did the general top 5 PAYG thingie, so it seems only natural it’ll come out on top as the best value uber-cheap phone out there, right? Well, yes it does, and I know I’m harping on about this, but come on: it only costs 90p!

The Nokia 1661 just perfectly fits the definition of uber-cheap and uber-simple that it was always going to be the winner in this category, even though I’m not doing this top 5 countdown in any kind of order. But I say again: 90p!

Nokia 1800

Told you it was going to be mostly Nokia and Samsung phones in this list, didn’t I? Well, next up, we’ve got the Nokia 1800, which is going for £4.95, plus credit. But like all cheapo Nokias in the past, it has some key features that make it stand out.

No, I don’t mean a camera, who expects a camera on a phone it costs a fiver? No, the key features are these: it’s bleedin’ reliable, and it’s bleedin’ simple to use.

Samsung E1120

Right, let’s mix it up a bit. Let’s stop talking about Nokia phones, and move on to Samsung, and the second cheapest phone on this list: the Samsung E1120. Or, as I called it in May, “the best phone for people who can’t use phones”.

What I said back then applies here, too, as this is the only phone on this list that has a raised keypad (well, alright, the E1170 does too, but it has silly sculpted keys), and therefore, is the best choice for people who have trouble with flashier phones. And it’s dirt cheap, so you can’t really go wrong!

Samsung E1170

Next up, the second Samsung on our list, the E1170, and this one has a silly sculpted keypad, compared to its brother from another mother, the E1120. However, that’s fine, because while that one does the regular keypad (for users with trouble using a phone), this one does pretty.

Other than that, they’re both virtually identical, but yes, this is the designer version, if you will, while the other one is the more functional version. But they’re both ace. And they’re both dirt cheap. So win, all round, really.

LG GB102

Here we go, the last one on the list, and since I’m bored of writing about Nokias and Samsungs, it’s an LG. The LG GB102, in fact, and it’s on here because it’s probably the prettiest of these uber-cheap phones (in my opinion, anyway), ‘cos it’s all shiny and sculpted and suchlike.

Others have called it dull as ditchwater, but I prefer to call it subtly understated. Not that I’m saying I’m right and they’re wrong or… no, actually, that is what I’m saying. It rocks. And it costs less than two quid.

And there you have it! That’s the top 5 uber-cheap, uber-simple phones on the market, just in time for Chrimbo. Well, in my opinion, anyway. If you’re after a dirt cheap phone that is just a phone, with none of this fancy, bourgeois “functionality” or “connectivity” rubbish, then these five are the beasties to have serious look at.

And I’m still shocked that Nokia 1661 only costs 90p…

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Yes, it’s the category that pulled my bottom out of the fire a couple of years ago when me and the whole family banded together to get me mam’s present; it’s the top 5 Pay As You Go phones for Chrimbo, presented in an entirely subjective manner by me.

That’s how I roll…

Anyway, yes. Top five pay as you go mobile phones. And I’ve divided them into five main categories, to make this a bit easier on myself. Y’know, otherwise I’d have no real judging criteria to say which is best, would I? So yes, let’s begin with…

Best ultra-cheap PAYG phone

Anyone who’s read this blog before will know that one of my little personal crusades (of which I have so many) is championing the idea that everyone should have the phone they want, and if they don’t want a smartphone, they shouldn’t be forced into having one. And that means talking about uber-cheap, uber-simple phones.

Besides, I love the idea of buying a phone where the price is in the single digits. Ah but the winner of this category does even better than that, yes sirree, because there’s a PAYG phone that costs only 90p. So, since it costs less than a quid the winner is… the Nokia 1661!

Best value touchscreen non-smartphone

Some people don’t like smartphones, but a significant number of the people who don’t like smartphones do want a touchscreen phone. Which is fine, because there’s a load of touchscreen phones out there that aren’t smartphones, and they offer some smurfing good deals on pay as you go.

However, we have to pick a winner, and what we have here is the cheapest touchscreen non-smartphone on our site (at just under 45 quid), unless I missed one by not looking properly, which is always possible. However, I quite like this phone anyway, and since it’s also really nice to use (‘cos of the TouchWiz UI), the winner is the Samsung Genio Touch.

Best value feature phone

When you’re judging a feature phone, there’s two big features people always seem to look for: 1/ camera; and 2/ music player. Well, let’s not beat about the bush in this category, the winner is the LG Viewty Lite, and I’ll tell ya why: it’s the only phone in this price range (that I can find, anyway) that’s got a 5MP camera.

Now, again, I may have missed another one that has a 5MP camera, but since the LG Viewty Lite is absolutely no different to the original Viewty (seriously, all they did was rebadge it as the ‘Lite’ when they brought out the Viewty Pro), and since I adored the original Viewty, it wins.

Best value mid-range smartphone

Right, here we go, a category where you might be surprised by me recommending a phone I did a review on, where I said it wasn’t as good as the HTC Wildfire (yes, I’m recommending the LG GT540 Optimus, well spotted). But there is a very good reason why…

While I still maintain that the HTC Wildfire is a better phone, there is a crucial difference between the to that many people pointed out in the comments on that blog post I did. Y’see, the LG GT540 Optimus, at just under £100, is £120 cheaper than the Wildfire. That means it’s disgustingly good value, and that’s why it beats the Wildfire, here.

Best value top-end mega-uber-superphone

This final category turned out to be a hell o a lot easier to judge than I expected, because it turns out that one of the cheapest high-end superphones on pay as you go is also one of the best (yes, that surprised me, an’all). And no, it’s not the iPhone 4, fanboys, that costs 520 quid.

No, the winner is, surprisingly, the PAYG Samsung Galaxy S. Considering that the Galaxy S is one of the best smartphones out there, I’m stunned that it’s also one of the cheapest on pay as you go. Of course, all things are relative, so it still costs 390 quid, but if you want a superphone on pay as you go, then this is undoubtedly the one to go for!

And there we have it! That’s my run-down of what I reckon are the top 5 PAYG phones for Chrimbo 2010, although I have absolutely no doubt people will disagree with me. But that’s what comments sections are for, so off you go, it’s just down there, give us a shout, and let me know if you think I’m wrong (or right, either’s good).

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Your reviews are flooding in to MobileShop HQ so I’ve decided to take the time to drum up even more reviews. And, of course, remind you that if you do send in a review you stand a chance of winning a lovely iPod.

All you have to do to is leave a mobile phone review on MobileShop.com, you’ll automatically be entered into a prize draw with the lucky winner getting, yes you’ve guessed it an iPod.

To keep the prize draw theme going, I picked three phones out of my ‘top mobile phone’ hat and had a quick browse of the huge library of mobile phone pages in our Pay Monthly section to see what reviews had been left for them so far.

The first phone I looked at was the Samsung Tocco Lite which had been rated nine times. You’d given the Tocco Lite an average score of 7.6 our of ten, with four people giving it top marks! However, not everyone’s a fan of the affordable touchscreen phone with two people giving it a mere two stars our of ten. Harsh scoring GG and John, while I don’t think it’s a ten out of ten phone, I’d give it five more stars than that (that’s seven TechnicalMarkus, hehe).

Next up was the LG Cookie, the phone that some people compare to the Samsung Tocco Lite. The LG Cookie, aka the LG KP500, currently has an average score of 7.2, indicating that there was an LG – Samsung battle taking place, Samsung may be just edging it at the minute. Not only is the average star rating lower but the LG Cookie also failed to get a perfect ten stars out of ten, with a high score of nine given by Grace, Jesiah and Rubina. At the other end of the scale Lex thought that the touchscreen phone only deserved a two out of ten.

Finally, the Blackberry Bold 9700. The smartphone led the way with a very tidy 8.6 stars out of ten. We say that the Bold 9700 offers the “classic Blackberry experience” with its QWERTY keypad, handy optical track pad and touchscreen interface. And it seems you agree, it so far has four people rating it ten stars out of ten (that’s you Sophie, Kirtsine, Ifan and Hazel). Its lowest rating comes from Bola who gave the Bold 9700 an uninspiring five stars.

If you’d like to let your views on your phone be known either because you love it or loathe it, want to help other people decide which phone to go for, or just want to WIN an iPod - leave a review.

It’s very easy to leave a review just go to any page on the main site, and look on the navigation bar on the left hand side of the page. Click on the bright green box, and fill the form in leaving your email, the phone your reviewing, a rating and a short explanation of why it scores that mark. Your name will then go into the hat. Alternatively, if you want a direct way to review a phone you’ve got (whether you’ve bought a Nokia 5800 or a HTC Desire), then go to that phone’s page, click on the review page and then click on the great bright green box. Fill the form in as explained above. I’d like to point out that your email adress will not be published and no purchase is necessary.

Now there are some rules with this competition – I’ve listed them before and I’m not afraid to list them again. So here goes:

Rule number one: Please, please, please fill in the email box with a valid email address – otherwise how can we get in touch to let you know you’re a winner, nevermind get in touch to send the iPod to you.

Rule number two: Try to give us a little bit of information about why you gave the phone a set rating. We want the reviews to be useful to customers; it’s your chance to tell your fellow shopping human beings whether a phone is worth it or why it’s an absolute must-have. This doesn’t mean you have to write a War and Peace epic about your phone – a paragraph or two will do. For example, I could give my scratched Nokia 6500seven out of ten. I could then say the reasons being it looks nice (or it did before I got my mucky, clumsy mits on it), has a more than adequate camera, is great for browsing the internet and Facebook-ing friends on the bus; but it has been fairly flaky and sometimes dies on me momentarily for no known reason.

Rule number three: Keep your comments clean and useful and make sure criticism is constructive, rather than just moaning “it’s rubbish”.

PS. We have drawn April’s winner out of the hat, so more on that later.

Read the post I wrote last week announcing we had our first winner!

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And then I hit a snag, because every single one of those phones they count down is completely absent from our site. And there’s actually a good reason for that: they’re actually not that easy to get hold of (the Nokia they talk about notwithstanding… in that case, it’s just not appeared in our product feeds).

Oh, and as an aside, they’re all relatively expensive. Seriously, the Emporia and Doro models might be the ultimate in no frills handsettery, for people who want things simple, but blimey, do they cost a pretty penny!

So, I thought of a different angle, and it’s one I reckon that might actually be useful. I know, me doing something actually useful is an alien concept for me, as well, but here goes.

Judging criteria

So, first of all, let’s get down to the meat of what makes a good phone for the elderly, the infirm and the bewildered (yes, I know that’s a phrase The Register used, I just like saying it). Well, there’s the obvious thing, first: they need to be simple. Now, me, I like complex phones, like the HTC HD2 or the HTC Desire (note, I said complex, not complicated… there is a difference), but the level of phone we’re talking here is one that won’t make my mum go, “Oh, but I might break it, I don’t know what to do.”

That also means no touchscreens, because for people who’s sight might be going (or might have gone), touchscreens are next to useless without some serious software trickery being added to them, which all adds expense.

Secondly, there’s a big clarification to make. Simple doesn’t mean stupid. A phone can be simple and clever. And clever doesn’t mean loads of features like web browsers and what have you; clever, in this context, means making it easy for the user to do the things they want to do. Third, I reckon big keys is a must, based on the fact I do know how to work really complex phones, and I myself hate fiddly keypads. So big keys are a must.

Fourth, it has to be reliable. Obviously.

Annnnnnnnd, finally, I reckon price is an issue, so they’ve got to be good value. Whether you’re strapped for cash (ie/ on a pension, given the tiny pensions our government gives out), strapped for cash in a different way (ie/ on health benefits) or don’t want to spend a lot of money on a phone (ie/ you’re tighter than a gnat’s bottom… and no, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing), you need a phone that won’t cost the earth, right?

The big question: Which is the phone to buy?

So, with those criteria laid down, what phones are we looking at? Well, how about a selection of pay as you go phones that cost under a tenner (although, bear in mind, you’ll have to get them with credit, as well, which will put the price up into the teens for each)?

Let’s start with the most expensive, the Nokia 2330, coming in at £9.79, which is also probably the nicest looking phone on this list. And it’s a Nokia, so the menus’ll be nice and intuitive. However… it also has a keypad where the keys aren’t separate blocks, which I reckon would potentially make it harder to use, especially for partially sighted users. So it might not be the best choice. Pretty phone, though.

The other Nokia on this list, the 1661, suffers from the same problem of having flat keys, which is a shame, as it costs less than a fiver.

So, we come to the LG GB102, which… ah, dammit, it has the same problem. The keys do look to be raised up slightly from their surround, it’s just that they are, like the two Nokias, made from one single strip, instead of having separate raised keys. Again, it’s a shame, because the LG only costs £3.95.

So, we come to the last one, the Samsung E1120. And woohoo, we have a winner, because it has a raised keypad with separate keys! Now, it is one of the most expensive on this list, coming in at £9.75 (plus credit), but I reckon it’s the best, and I know Samsungs are easy to use, since me mam’s got one (although her’s is a pricier Samsung U600 what we got her for Christmas).

So there you have it, folks. The best phone for people who can’t use phones (and who can’t afford/won’t pay for anything more expensive) is the Samsung E1120.

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IT ARRRIIIIIIIIVVVEEEEEED!!!

Woohoo, I finally have the phone I’ve been mithering on about for months. Yes, folks, my HTC HD2 arrived today, and it’s a good job really, because if I’d gotten any more excited, I’d have done some serious damage to the wallpaper, when I went off like a pressure cooker with the lid nailed down. I’m serious, I couldn’t sleep last night, I was so excited. It was like Christmas!

So, as promised, here’s my hands-on review (finally) of the HTC HD2, and I’m sorry to say that my excitement was premature; it’s an awful phone, and I hate it with a passio- haha, had you going! Yes, I’m kidding; it’s a stunning phone.

But since me saying “OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, it’s the best thing EVER” isn’t what you’d call the best review technique, I suppose I’d better go into some detail about why it’s so gob-smackingly, mind-breakingly awesome.

Hardware

Right, first stop, the hardware, and this accounted for my first “oh dear god, yes” moment with the HTC HD2, specifically the moment I opened the box, and saw that beast sitting there, waiting for me. When discussing the hardware, there’s one thing everyone’s going to dwell on, and I’m not going to be any different, because it’s the screen. I knew it was going to be good, but dear god, it rocks. Put it this way, everyone in my family who’s seen it has gone, “Whoa, that’s amazing!”

Even my mum.

As for the build quality, it’s second to none, and the phone feels rock solid; it’s nice and substantial (without being overly heavy), and I hesitate to use the word ‘flawless’, but it so very nearly is. The only downside I’ve found is that the screen is a massive, massive, massive, massive, massive fingerprint magnet. Other than that, I can’t fault the hardware.

Interface 1 – HTC Sense

You may have noticed there’s one bit about the hardware I didn’t mention in the hardware section, because you’ll only see the benefits of it when you actually use the phone; I’m talking about, of course, the Snapdragon processor. When fiddling about with the HTC Sense interface, you can really see the benefits of having a 1GHz processor. I’ve never seen a phone as responsive as the HTC HD2. As for the Sense interface itself, the best bits of it, in my opinion, are the music player and the photo viewer, which are both brilliantly brilliant…

The music player is wonderfully slick, and the photo viewer let me do the ol’ multitouch pinchy gesture thing, so that gave me my second “oh dear god, yes” moment of the day. Also, bleedin’ hell, the photo viewer’s fast, too.

However, I didn’t just stick to using Sense, and so…

Interface 2 – SPB Mobile Shell, what I downloaded and installed

My opinions of SPB Mobile Shell are well noted throughout the pages of this blog, but to reiterate, I love it. And on the HTC HD2, with that super-fast processor… well, there’s my third “oh dear god, yes” moment of the day. It goes like a rocket! In fact, the only downside to SPB Mobile Shell is that it doesn’t have access to the HTC Sense music player.

So, simple answer, I got an app to switch between the two interfaces instantly.

In other words, yes, I have both of the best two interfaces in existence running on my phone. That caused a tiny bit of a problem with the 3D accelerator in SPB (the carousel isn’t working properly, with 3D acceleration turned on), but it’s a small trade-off with being able to flick between the two instantly.

[UPDATE: After re-installing, the 3D acceleration is now working. Perfectly. And dear god, is it nice!]

Web browsing – Opera Mobile, Internet Explorer and Opera Mini 5

Here we go, the thing the HTC HD2 is really, really the king of the hill at doing: web browsing. It comes with Opera Mobile (which has pinchy zooming as standard) and Internet Explorer (which supports Flash, and is now, shockingly, good) out the box, so I stuck Opera Mini 5 on there, as well, to cover every possible base. There’s Opera Mobile for my general web browsing, there’s IE for any time I fancy viewing Flash sites, and there’s Opera Mini for when I’m in an area with rubbish bandwidth.

Or when I’m close to my usage limit…

The crucial thing is that whichever browser I use, the combination of the Snapdragon processor, HSDPA and (joy of joys, I finally have a phone where it works) WiFi makes browsing an absolute joy.

Conclusion

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that this review hasn’t told you everything about the HTC HD2, but then, I’ve only had it for less than a day. So, really, this is more a first-impressions review than a full I-have-the-phone-and know-it-backwards review. But even after just a few hours, I can confidently say it’s the ingle best phone I’ve ever used. It’s frighteningly powerful, ludicrously responsive, and a pleasure to use, and I can think of no better recommendation than to say that the last few ours have gone by in a blur, because I’ve spent them fiddling about with the phone, occasionally whimpering in pleasure…

So, yes. Without hesitation, it’s a perfect 10. And now, I just need to get my hands on an HTC Desire to compare the two, because that would be one hell of a match-up!

10/10. If you’re a power user, this is the phone for you.

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But anyway, enough of the puerile jokes, on with the mini-review!

First, setup: good god, it’s easy! I nicked my mate’s Virgin dongle for the night, and the installation process was, basically: 1/ plug in dongle; 2/ watch it installing; 3/ go online looking for stuff to get him in trouble with his missus, if she ever gets hold of his history.

Y’know, I often wonder why I don’t have more friends…

What was also nice to see was how good the coverage on Virgin Mobile Broadband was, and by that, I mean I actually got decent coverage. Not only that, but I did a speed test, and I was getting proper broadband speeds. Based on that, I have to come to one of two conclusions. Either I was across the road from the Virgin mast, or their coverage is actually rather good.

I’m inclined to believe it was the latter, which is always a good thing. Other than that, there’s not really a lot more I can tell you, in a review of mobile broadband. With mobile phones, I can go “ooh, look, huge screen“, or “ooh, massive camera“, or other such phrases. With mobile broadband, I’m a bit limited in what I can say, to “you plug it in, and it goes fast“.

So based on that, do I recommend Virgin Mobile Broadband? Well, yes, because you plug it in, and it goes fast, and it’s basically a seamless and very enjoyable experience. And, of course, you get to use the phrase Virgin dongle with impunity…

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“Hmmm,” says I, my interest piqued. “If those two big names are getting behind it, it might actually be rather good. I’d best try this for myself.”

So, I thought I’d give it a try, to bring you, my dear readers, an impartial review. I have to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. The whole idea of swiping your fingers across the screen to type seemed like such an alien concept. I have to concede, I thought it would be rubbish, despite the news about Nokia and Samsung.

And then, I have to concede I was wrong.

It. Is. AWESOME.

The basic principle of the Swype keyboard can be summed up thusly: you drag your finger across the screen, roughly, more or less, sort of, in the direction of the letters you want to type. No individual tapping of letters, and you really don’t have to be that accurate when using it. So, that’s one benefit: it’s an absolute doddle to use, even on my phone, which only has a 3 inch screen.

And then, there’s the other benefit. Speed. Not only is it really easy to type (although you’re actually typing at all, in the traditional sense) words, Swype lets you do it at double-quick-super-pronto speed. Seriously, I’m not joking. Not only was I inputting text on this faster than on any other virtual keyboard, I was faster than using my hardware keyboard!

Sweet zombie jeebus, am I impressed. And bear in mind, this is on a year-old Sony Ericsson X1. Since Nokia have pumped cash in, imagine this on something like the Nokia N900, with a bigger screen and faster processor. Or, for WinMo phones, imagine it on the big screen of the HTC HD2.

I can say only one thing in conclusion. Swype is easily the best keyboard I’ve ever used on any phone, virtual or hardware-based.

Wow. Just wow.

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