If you're a mobile maniac like me, you too would be bored by old-fashioned ways to input information into your mobile devices, such as using a (ugh) keypad. As I witnessed firsthand in our nation’s capital only a few days ago at Mobile Asia 2008, this year’s theme is Next-Gen Technology. From what I gathered, touch-sensitivity seems to be the hot new trend, so I decided to compile a list of phones with this technology. In this first part I’ve chosen phones that use nothing but touchscreen technology as a data input/navigation method. No keypads here – at least, not the physical button kind.

Apple iPhone – 8GB (Rs 21,750), 16GB (Rs 29,000)

Apple’s legendary iPhone is truly a marvel in modern mobile technology, with its superbly large 3.5 inch touch-sensitive display with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels and 16 million colors. Just the fact that the display is touch-sensitive isn’t enough; it’s not like that’s a revolutionary concept, but the iPhone also incorporates Multi-Touch as an input method and has an accelerometer sensor that automatically rotates the display according to how the device is held. It comes equipped with connectivity options like Bluetooth, USB (proprietary), EDGE and Wi-Fi support and multimedia diversity in the form of an iPod-like video and media player and a 2 megapixel camera. Google Maps and a YouTube browser are preloaded. The iPhone comes in three versions: 4GB, 8GB and now 16GB. The initial release of the iPhone left a lot to be desired, but with the latest firmware version things are looking up.

Samsung F490 – Launching in May (Approx. Rs 29,000)

The F490 doesn’t have a keypad; but then that’s why it’s included in part one of this feature. It relies on its 3.3 inch touchscreen display. It has a resolution of 240 x 420 pixels and 256K colors. Like the iPhone, it has a 3.5mm earphone socket and a decent video and audio player. There's a 5 megapixel camera with flash, and a secondary camera for video calling (since it supports 3G). It also has HSDPA, Bluetooth with A2DP, and USB support. In case you need more than the existing 100MB of internal space, it also supports microSD cards.

Previously, I highlighted some 'totally touchscreen' handsets that had no physical keypads at all and relied on virtual keypads (onscreen) instead. In this second installment, let's look at some handsets that offer the best of both worlds by incorporating full-screen touch sensitivity and a physical keypad for those who don’t like to mess up their screen with fingerprints.

Slider Phones

LG KF 700

LG's KF700 slider is equipped with a 3 inch, 240 x 480 pixel resolution TFT touchscreen display. The keypad slides down from behind and yet it appears rather slim at 14.5mm. It has a 3 megapixel auto-focus camera that uses image stabilization for better pictures. Other features include a media player, FM radio, Bluetooth and USB connectivity. For internet connectivity there's 3G with HSDPA and GPRS. It also supports microSD cards for external memory.

QWERTY Sliders

HTC Touch Dual (Rs 26,500)

The HTC touch has always had a great design, but things just got better with a slide-down QWERTY keypad. Unfortunately it seems HTC compromised a little, with the display being reduced to 2.6 inches from the 2.8 inches in the Touch. But that’s no biggie; considering features such as Bluetooth, USB (mini), EDGE, 3G with HSDPA, USB, and Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. It even has a 2 megapixel camera, with a secondary camera for video calling. Like the Touch, the Dual too incorporates HTC's TouchFLO finger swipe navigation

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Although this handset has not yet been released, it’s something to look forward to this year. The Xperia X1 has a 3-inch, 800 x 480 pixel resolution TFT touchscreen display with a superb QWERTY keyboard that slides out. The handset is well designed and lightweight, and will run on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. It incorporates a 3 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash, inbuilt GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth with A2DP, and USB v2.0 connectivity. It supports Wi-Fi, EDGE and 3G with HSDPA. There's about 400MB of internal memory and support for external memory. I particularly liked the optical navigation pad under the display and motion sensor with UI auto-rotate feature.