My Phone of the Year 2009 is.. (Part2)

Continuing from my first Part of the My Phone of the Year 2009, i wanna give you a quick heads-up of what went down yesterday so far, here are the ranks from 9 to 6:

• No.9 – Sony Ericsson Satio: a bug-infected SE handset with a great camera that sometimes appeared to have more issues than features.
• No.8 – Nokia 5800XM: i already got a lot of response to this decision, keep in mind that this is based on my personal tastes and experiences, my choices might not go along with your thoughts, and they’re not supposed to do that. anyways, the 5800XM, despite having the best stereo speakers i’ve ever heard gave me a world of troubles, spanning from damaged speakers and display to a totally useless homescreen (unless you get some 3rd party app help).
• No.7 – HTC/T-Mobile G1: The first ever google phone has sparked this Android love in me really well, resulting in eventually abandoning Symbian OS. But unfortunately the G1 was relatively unspectacular. Camera, Speakers, Battery Life .. nothing to really write a book about.
• No.6 – Nokia N97: a feature-packed mobile computer, which some hate to death and some praise as Nokia’s savior. i’m kinda stuck in the middle. while i liked the form factor with its extremely solid slider hinge and the overall features, i found the keyboard to be extremely annoying, resistive touchscreen is a matter of taste (i’m clearly against it) and RAM/phone memory issues that shouldn’t be found on a flagship device, right?

So much for the End of my List, but now let’s find out who’s on top, shall we!?

I’ll open my Top 5 with the Nokia E75, the red business-hotness i was lucky enough to trial in 2009. I reviewed this Handset in german for the first time, over at Sybo’s Symbian Mobile Blog, which was a lot of fun to write down! The positives were taking over on this Device, i absolutely loved the 4-row slide-out keyboard, the actual working Nokia E-mail (or however its called at the moment), the customizable quick-start buttons, the e-series active standby and much more all left a very positive impression of the E75. Scoring some negative Points are the rather bad, more N-Series like Build quality and minor Stuff like still a QVGA screen and only a Mono Speaker. Although i’m hoping the Build Quality was a rare blooper, The experience with the E75 has been overly great.

okay, to be honest, the Sony Ericsson X10 was in my Hands for roughly 10-15 Minutes on this Sony Ericsson Press Event i was invited to, back in November 2009. And i know its not even available yet, so my impressions are entirely based on Prototypes. So what gives the X10 the Rank No. 4? I guess it’s the high Expectations i have in this Device. It’s Sony Ericsson’s possible saving grace in the  smartphone world and although the Software was pretty buggy when i used it, Sony Ericsson is up to something and it could be good. Sony’s impressive X10, running on Android with a major overhaul including the brand new Timescape and Mediascape Applications, 8 Megapixel Camera for decent Snapshots, this HUGE 4 inch capacitive Touchscreen (no multi-touch though) and of course the Power of the 1 Ghz Snapdragon Processor have the Abilities to pull SE out of the Dirt and make this Wheel spinning again. i’m looking forward to get my Hands on this bad boy!

On Position No. 3 – my HTC Hero: No, this is not on Top of my List of Phones 2009. It’s close but it didn’t make it. I bought the Hero in June this Year, marking my Step away from Nokia and all it’s Problems, to something brand new, exciting. I knew Android already from my time with the G1 before and the Sense UI added this extra bit of spice to the overall experience. The Phone feels perfect in the hand, the materials are well-chosen with a bit rubber-like back plate so the phone always feels secure in your Hand. The capacitive, multi-touch Screen responds great and Software Updates made the Phone a lot faster than we experienced it at the Release – by the Way, HTC, you fancy giving us 2.0 or 2.1 goodness soon please? come ooon! But, the Hero is also not untroubled by some Downers, such as a weak Batter, a REALLY bad 5MP Camera and a slow 528 MHz Processor. We’ll see what the Android People has in store for 2010, cause one thing is for sure:  As much as i love my Hero, it will be replaced – but it’s still not decided which future Device will make it!

HA Gotcha! I bet some of you believed the Nokia N900 will lead my Top 5, after the awesome Time i had with it. But no, it’s not. Nokia’s Maemo Monster was a close Contender but was ultimately beaten only to it’s Newness. Yes, that pretty much gets it on Point. While the overall Experience with Maemo has been amazing, i was missing several Apps a lot. Twitter was a pain to use on a Device without Gravity and the bugging Mail Application reminded me a lot why i love Profimail so much. A slight Miss was also the 3-row keyboard, but at least this time the Button Feedback was a lot better than on the N97. Apart from that, the N900 offered sheer Power and huge Amounts of RAM to work with, the great to use Maemo OS with all its Widgets and extremely customizable Homescreen, a good 5MP CZ Cam, a VERY good resistive Touchscreen and so much more! The N900 has been one of the most satisfying, exciting Nokia Experiences i had in quite some Time and i’m really looking forward to try Maemo 6 in 2010! But as much as i loved the N900, it could not be beaten by ..

..my beloved Nokia N82! (The Picture shows the Trial Device i used, i have the black Edition) Yes even in 2009 the Nokia N82 has the Power to lead my Top of the Pops or so List. After trialing it, i decided to buy the black Edition Handset back in June 2008 and the N82 is still up and rocking. No Matter if it’s used as main Handset, or as a reliable backup Device on the road, it’s always there for me. No matter, where i go, what i’m doing, the N82 is always there. I’ve so much great Memories with this Device, i went through all ups and downs for the past 1 1/2 years, but at the end of the day always getting back up. Some messages stored on my N82 bring tears to my eyes, some pictures let me smile and lighten up my day. While some first SW Bugs have been terminated with Firmware Updates and is now running stabile, the Hardware has always been Money. The 5 MP Carl Zeiss Camera with Xenon Flash still produces Pictures that can easily go against all Kinds of Camera Phones and beat them down. Well, not all, but most of them Sure, the N82 may not be on top of the current tech standing anymore, but it’s consistency and reliability has proven time and time again why its not only my, but a lot of people’s favourite device, and that’s almost 2 years after it’s release. The Buttons was a bit of a headscratcher, but after a week i was used to it in such a nice way, typing was going like a breath. The D-Pad didn’t really attract me either, but it’s still solid and easy to use like on day 1. A Spec List that still reads along nicely, all that packed in a very handy Body are clearly making the N82 the Top Phone of my 2009 List. Oh btw, the N82 is the first Device i have ever bought a new Battery for, delivered just today. If that is no Indication how much this Phone still means to me, then i don’t know what is!

So there you have it, my Top Phones of 2009, i hope you enjoyed reading along – but tell us, whats YOUR Phone of 2009!?